Apple and other content vendors have always been the target of the anti-DRM campaigns. It was said that they were the ones who wanted to impose restrictions on the users and limit how content can be viewed.

Now, we see that the software/hardware vendors were doing so mainly at the behest of the record labels and TV studios. Apple had been claiming this for a while, but the company couldn't do much about it until the iTunes store had garnered a large enough audience to give Apple any leverage.

Now that Apple has taken a position against DRM, the studios and labels are getting in a huff and proving Apple's claims.

But let's not go assigning horns and halos just yet. NBC's claims that Apple is artificially keeping prices low in order to sell more iPods. It's an interesting concern, and not something which is completely unplausible.

We also don't know what Apple promised the studios when the deals were first made. Universal passed on Apple and then went on to test its own DRM-free program. Perhaps this has more to do with Apple's negotiating and business practices than its stance on DRM.

Regardless, NBC and Universal are doing this at a time when the iTunes store has a virtual stranglehold on the market.  Turning your back on the top legal content store at a time when the only real comparable alternative is piracy doesn't seem like the best business move.