Apple tried to make its iPod an iTunes-only' device by deleting music from rival services, a court heard yesterday.
The company stands accused of deleting songs from music libraries competing with its own between 2007 and 2009, as consumers fight a class-action antitrust suit against the tech giant.
Users claim that Apple scanned their devices for music not bought from iTunes, and forced them to perform a factory reset of their devices if any was found.
Under antitrust laws, Apple may have to payout $1 billion in damages.
Users who synced their iPods with iTunes would receive an error message instructing them to restore factory settings, which would delete all non-iTunes content, according to the court case.
"You guys decided to give them the worst possible experience and blow up [a user's music library]," said Patrick Coughlin, attorney for the plaintiffs at the District Court in Oakland, California.
Users are seeking a collective $350 million in damages after being forced to fork out for new iPods, but that sum could triple under antitrust laws to hit $1 billion.
Apple defended its actions as legitimate security measures against hackers, with security director Augustin Farrugia claiming that cyber criminals with names like "DVD John" broke into the system the factory reset would protect consumers, he said.
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Late co-founder of the company, Steve Jobs, showed concern about music pirates, the tech giant added, citing an email in which he says of them: "Someone is breaking into our house".
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