gates wants to own the world.

Wow. I see this whole thing getting really out of hand once Micro$oft gets in the fray. They have a penchant for really f'ing things up.

Woo boy, things are sure gonna heat up and get interesting. Hopefully this backfires on MS. And is the iPod still the only player on the market that supports AAC?

At least we can rest assured that Pearl Jam will always be on itunes

I think with the support that Apple has gained by making everything Windows-friendly will help them a lot in this matter. Now that Windows users have gone and downloaded iTunes, bought iPods, etc, they'll be a little angry when they can't use an iTunes compatible player...

One would think that M$ will be able to weather this storm, though. M$ just has to release a utility for their music player that converts AAC to WMA (legality of which I'm uncertain), and winows users will buy 2nd gen M$ music players instead of 5th gen iPods.

I could be wrong. I also thought M$ would throw so much cash behind the XBox that they'd dominate the console market, but that hasn't happened.

All this brings up a bigger issue: has Apple's refusal to distribute the AAC format hurt them?

iTunes 4.6 on Windows converts WMA to AAC, doesn't it?

Wow...why don't they? I thought Apple was all about open source? Why would it hurt them by distributing it?

I think he meant WMA. Or maybe not, in which case I'm confused.

My take on it is that Apple is all about OTHER people's open source. Ask the Mac clone builders.

Apple has been reluctant to allow other companies to build music players that could compete with the iPod and make websites that could compete with the iTunes music store for iPod owner's dollars.

Then again, I'm often misguided, misinformed, and always misbegotten!

Is there a way they can let other devices play AAC and not create them, or do they go hand and hand?

MS threw lots of money at the Tablet PCs, and look what that's gotten them.

One can at least trust the mp3 format for compatibility. I never bothered with buying my music online anyways. From reading what microsoft intends on doing, I'm glad I haven't. That would REALLY suck if you could only buy something from a certain artist from just one server. With Apple, Microsoft, and Sony all in the fray, that could mean that I'd need 3 mobile players! WTF!!!

CDs are really the best still. Some day AAC will be old and all your music is gone. Give it 3-4 more years.

It's a bit too late Bill. Sorry.

Okay, I'm a little confused... is there a new iPod mini out or not? I don't see anything on the apple store about it. 179 pounds comes out to about 328 dollars... which is roughly the price of the new regular ipod.

the iPod just went up for sale in europe; previously it was only available in the US.

That's the reason I wouldn't worry too much about this. Microsoft doesn't win at everything.

Besides, the music industry is a $45 Billion dollar a year industry. As successful as iTMS is, it's still a minor player in the distribution channel. It took Apple how long to hit $100 million in sales? And how much was profit on that? $100 million vs. $45 Billion is a big difference.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's for the future. But there's no telling what the landscape is going to look like in 5 years. There could be a whole new paradigm shift in how music could be delivered. Until then CD's rule and there doesn't seem to be a real threat near them.

Wasn't Microsoft supposed to take over the gaming world too? Didn't they have to start selling the X-Box at a loss just so people would by them? Anyways I don't give a hoot.

CDs don't last forever.

The vast majority of Microsoft's forays outside of the OS have been failures.

being the behemoth, it must really hurt their egos these days to be missing the bus on many fronts, ipod/itunes is probably the most lucrative one to miss probably also the most fashionable. I guess m$ never had the cool factor to begin with so they might really try really hard here, like they do with xbox. If there really is going to be a m$ attack into this area, I think they may just about go for a marketing plan like giving away free players if you can subscribe to msn for one year or something like that. Apple should really move on to the next level and get hold of radio stations to sell music through itunes. To beat m$ and sony in this game you just have to get more creative besides holding on to what you have.

well, they'll have a longer life-span than AAC files though...

As soon as no more players support AAC your music collection is gone

Not as long as you have iTunes and can burn CDs of your AACs, though.

And once they stop making CD players in favor of something else, all your CDs will be obsolete.

And once all the musicians switch to Esperanto, all of our English language recordings will become obsolete too.

... and of course, when evolve in gigantic-brained bobble heads with no ears and vast psychic powers, their will be no more recorded music.

Hell, I'm getting rid of my CDs and vinyl now. And just think of the room I'm gonna free up on my hd!

Who cares! All I know is I am making bank off of their stock, the divided payout, and come on? How many companies do you know of have enough cash on hand to literally go buy a country? And I am not talking about something small like Luxemberg, I mean something like Sudan or Paraguay.

It seems like all I ever see around town are iPods. They vastly outnumber all other music devices (walkman, cd player, mp3 player) combined. I mean, when half the people on the bus are listening to music and only one isn't doing it on an iPod, you start to wonder who is buying the other stuff. Is anyone else even making a profitable digital music device?

Also, the Betamax slam, that was just harsh. It maybe that if Sony had made Betamax the hip movie player that everyone wanted, we wouldn't even remember VHS. Many people are going to buy what's coolest, and I don't see that being anything coming out of Redmond.

Anyway, selling music online isn't a very lucrative business at the moment. It's selling the hardware that rakes in the profits. If you have the hardware, you can get the music through traditional channels (i.e. CD stores). I really feel the article put too much weight on the music store side of things. If the online music industry really does split up into multiples, people will choose their music player based on function, style, and popularity. I really don't see anyone competing with the iPod there for a while.

Cheers!

I think there's a bit of confusion here. AAC is an open format that anyone can make use of. What Apple hasn't licensed is their fairplay DRM, so other vendors can't distribute something that can play music bought from the iTunes Music Store.

or as long as you have apps to convert AAC to something else..

It seems that he already does when it comes to computer software.

Thanks man.... that makes sense

This was inevitable!

At least I was kinda close. Once again I find myself asserting that while I strive for accuracy in everything I say and do, accuracy is far too much work and vastly overrated!

The iPod is already far more popular than BetaMax. I don't think anyone at Apple is seriously worried about that.

The thing Apple might be worried about is not being able to sign key artsists. As the article stated, if Sony can keep certain artists off iTunes that might have some effect. However, as the laws of economics continue to kick in, Sony will have no choice than to sell their music though the dominate outlet for digital music, or lose sales. This goes for any artists. The artists like Radiohead who are "too cool for itunes" yet can be found at wal-mart of all places, will lose sales. Not that they probably care.

Personally I would rather buy from the artist direct. In the case of They Might be Giants, you can buy from itunes, or buy from the artists directly. They've secured rights to distribute their own music, and they do it in 256kbs MP3 (DRM free), and keep the $1 per song you pay. I much prefer this scenario. They trust their fans to buy and not mass distruibute the music.

yeah anyways

If sony only allowed it's music to be used via it's propietary hardware/software, doesn't that verge on antitrust?

No, who makes you buy their stuff ?

-t

Exactly. Microsoft's position is to force everyone to go through them if you want to buy music... from anywhere. If it's online, it'll be MSN with DRMed WMAs. If it's a CD it'd be DRMed WMA. If it's a DVD it'll be DRMed WMV. All your products will be using Microsoft something, and you'll have to go through them.

Which might not even be a problem if there were options to use something else. Unfortunately, Microsoft has a habit of securing an entire market for themselves, forcing everyone out of it, the proprietizing it so no one else can compete. And when they get in trouble, they have so much god damn money they can buy everyone off and pay whatever fees.

It's cheaper for Microsoft to break the law and monopolize markets, than it is for them to actually obey the law and allow for fair competition.