A “very paranoid” Apple deleted some music from users’ iPods without them knowing from 2007 to 2009 according to consumers’ attorneys in an antitrust suit against Apple on Wednesday. In the U.S. District Court in Oakland, Calif., attorney and legal team representative for a group of iPod owners Patrick Coughlin accused Apple of giving their users the “worst possible experience,” according to The Wall Street Journal. The group claims that Apple forced them to pay more to play music and use their products. The suit is seeking $350 million in damages, and antitrust laws could cause that number to triple.

Coughlin said that Apple intentionally deleted songs from competing music services when users attempted to sync their iPods with their iTunes. He added that Apple instructed the system to not to reveal the problem to users.

Coughlin explained that when an iPod owner tried to sync their iPod with their iTunes, Apple would instruct the user to restore their factory settings and an error message would pop up. Then, users would restore the settings, but when they returned to iTunes, their songs were nowhere to be found.   RealNetworks built Harmony technology into RealPlayer in 2004. The technology allowed downloaded music to be played on MP3 devices–including iPods.

Apple claimed that their actions were legitimate for security reasons. Augustin Farrugia, the director of Apple security, testified that Apple did not give the users any explanation for the error message because they did not want to give users too much information or confuse users.

Farrugia also claimed that names such as “Requiem” and “DVD Jon” caused Apple to be “very paranoid” and want to make a greater effort to protect iTunes. The move to rid of non-Apple songs was also intended to protect users from system break-ins by hackers, according to Farrugia.  He said that the system was “totally hacked.”

However, the plaintiffs in the case did not see the move in the same light. They saw Apple’s choice to withhold information from their users and delete the songs as a method of stifling their competition for downloads and music players. Apple has chosen not to comment outside of the courtroom.

The suit included a never-before-seen video of late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs as evidence.  His emails also surfaced in the case. In an email that Apple software chief Eddy Cue listed as an exhibit, Jobs claimed that he was concerned about hackers and music pirates breaking into Apple’s “house.”  Jobs was also concerned breaking contracts that including sales agreements with artist labels which caused a rise in the digital rights management (DRM), according to Apple Insider.  Jobs said that iTunes did not sell DRM-protected music anymore, but iTunes desperately needed to protect hackers from finding new ways around the system.

Jobs also wrote about Music Match in an email presented as evidence. He specifically stated that Apple needed to exclude Music Match from using iPod when they launch their download music store.

Sections of the video of Jobs from 2011 are expected to be released this week, according to The Wall Street Journal. Eddy Cue and the head of Apple’s marketing department Phil Schiller are expected also expected to testify this week.