The Huffington Post | The Blog Well I never thought I’d see the day when I agreed with anything whatsoever that Hillary Rosen, former head of the RIAA, had to say — but then she goes off and writes an artical criticizing Apple and iTunes for their closed system.
Although I loathe to even link to Rosen after the bitter taste that is left in my mouth after her years of persacution at the RIAA, I think the article that she has written indeed bears examination.
Hilary says that the new iPod is a trap. It’s cute and trendy and a great music player, but it is a trap in that it requires exclusivity with regards to online purchases from iTunes. Although I don’t purchase music online (why would I ever want to pollute my library with DRM), an even bigger problem for me is that there is no compatibility with the device with regards to Windows Media Player.
While I can easily hook my AudioVox SMT 5600 up to my PC and have it sync with my Windows Media Player, you can do no such thing with the iPod. The few times that I’ve tried to help friends with their iPods it has been a disaster when trying to get .mp3s on the unit through Windows Media Player.
Rosen asks the question, ” Why am I complaining about this? Why isn’t everyone?” and as much as I may dislike the source of the message I too have to ask the same question, why isn’t everyone?