[Wayne Luke]

Originally Posted by Andrew

Is iTunes really that big of a deal for PC users ??? I never really considered that as being a negative aspect of the iPod's, and actually I've always considered it a good thing.

For me it isn't exactly bad though the iTunes application requires unneeded services and memory usage on a Windows PC. It is the lack of variety and the limiting of choices. With iTunes, I am limited to my PC or an iPod to listen with instead of the hundreds of other players on the market. They are the only source of music and radio whereas with my WMA based player, I can purchase music at many different stores or listen to radio stations powered by half a dozen companies. I can also purchase video already.

I also don't have to worry about licensing issues to play the music on Media Connector devices such as and XBOX360 or a set-top box from another company. Nor do I have to burn it to a CD and then rip it back and risk file degradation and artifacting.

And I can do all of this from a single application, Windows Media Player 10. I don't have to use the software that ships with the MP3 player if I don't want to. Combine that with a customizable interface, the ability to expand the codecs used and a lot of other little features and iTunes really starts to pale in comparison.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...s/default.aspx