Los Angeles - Apple (NASD: AAPL) has added studio-backed copy-protection technology to its line of MacBooks that prevents movies purchased from the iTunes Store from playing on non-approved external monitors, causing some anger among customers, according to published reports.

The HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) technology is intended to prevent users from transferring media content between devices that do not have locks in place to protect against unauthorized copying.

The standard is typically used on devices like Blu-ray players and HDTVs. However, the industry has no defined labeling system for HDCP-compliant devices, and even newer televisions may not support the standard.

So if a new MacBook owner wants to watch a movie purchased from iTunes by plugging a cable from the laptop into his or her television, they may be out of luck.

"I certainly won't be purchasing anything else from iTunes until this is fixed," wrote "zcam," a poster on Apple's support discussion boards.

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/63ts0 (Ars Technica)

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/11/apple-adds-copy.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDCP

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8472731