MUMBAI: China has blocked Apple's iTunes music stores after an album of protest songs compiled by a US-based Tibetan activist group was downloaded by Olympic athletes.

Alleging that some athletes are listening to protest songs, the Chinese authorities raised its 'Great Firewall'.

The album Ë?Songs for Tibet' featuring songs by Sting, Rush, Damien Rice, Underworld and Alanis Morissette is a compilation produced by the Art of Peace Foundation, a US-based Tibetan activist group. The Foundation invited Olympic athletes to download the album free of charge. By listening in Beijing, the activist group said, athletes would communicate that "compassion and non-violence can overcome intolerance and oppression - beautiful ideals to be associated with the Olympic spirit".

An official press release points out that more than 40 athletes downloaded the album forcing China to turn off the iTunes music store. Following the ban, iTunes users in China found that the software wasn't working. Even when they were able to download songs from the US-based online store, attempts now resulted in errors. Support forums filled with complaints, with reports that Apple had washed its hands of responsibility saying that the store was being blocked by Chinese internet providers and the so-called "Great Firewall of China".

An internet portal managed by the Chinese government's Information Office of the State Council, china.org.cn reported that "angry netizens" were "rallying together to denounce Apple in offering Songs for Tibet for purchase". Some of these "netizens", the article said, wished to ban any of the album's performers from entering China.

This comes as a blow to Apple as it had just opened its first Chinese bricks-and-mortar store. Apple CEO Steve Jobs is negotiating with Chinese mobile phone operators. With some Chinese citizens allegedly calling for an Apple boycott, the company will have to tread lightly balancing its business in China with its relatively progressive reputation in the rest of the world.