Mac owners and anyone who runs the Linux operating system should quit whining about DRM and copy-protection technologies that are incompatible with their systems and "consider purchasing a regular CD player".

That's the message from Tommi Kyrrä, of the Finnish divison of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), local-language newssite Tieketone reports this week.

Inflammatory stuff, and comment that quickly provoked a such sufficiently large outcry among Mac and Linux users that Tieketone editors quickly expunged the more controversial part of Kyrrä's argument. You can see the two version side by side here. We're indebted to Ars Technica's Ken Fisher for pointing it out to the world.

Kyrrä's incendiary comment translates into English as:

"Now, we need to understand that listening to music on your computer is an extra privilege. Normally people listen to music on their car or through their home stereos... If you are a Linux or Mac user, you should consider purchasing a regular CD player."

The irony, that Linux was developed by a Finn, in Finland, appears lost on IFPI Finland's spokesman. And who is credited with providing the first solid alternative to illegal downloading from P2P sites? A Mac user...

Kyrrä's claim that listening to music on a computer is an "extra privilege" is too daft to warrant further comment - if you're going to penalise, say, Mac users, why not also penalise anyone who buys, say, a Panasonic CD player? But it also prompted a silly response from Ars' Ken.

DRM, he says, is an "encroaching affront to our culture being brought about at the behest of the entertainment industry". No, Ken, three-quarters of the rubbish put out on CD each month is an affront to culture. Don't get me wrong, I just bought a stack of Judas Priest downloads. I get a kick out of it, but that doesn't make it any less commercial pap. It's certainly not culture, and neither is half the stuff people listen to. Put it in its proper perspective, folks.

Modern music is ephemeral. It's ear candy. There are great records, but for every one that you can and do listen to year in, year out, there are hundreds more that aren't - albums that you could have quite easily left in the shop and your life would be no less rich than it is now.

So an album comes out and it's a copy-protected to the hilt and not supported by your preferred operating system - don't buy it. Ignore it - don't steal it - and spend your hard-earned on something else. Your life isn't suddenly going to become you don't own it.

And if you still can't cope, then we're sure IFPI can find something suitable for you... ®