Should Apple add WMA suppot on the iPod?

[jackdahi]

There are countless opinions on weather apple should add WMA support to the iPod, I want to know yours?

[brianleahy]

I know very little about WMA. Is it one format, or a suite of them, like AVI? Is it a very complicated format?

If playback would require expansion of the iPod's firmware, then no. Anyone notice that when they added AAC capability to the iPod, they *DROPPED* AIFF capability? They may be maxed out on formats.

[boi]

supporting wma will allow users to use roxio's music downloading program with their ipods (as opposed to itunes'), and will also enforce microsoft's ability to create their own standard because they own such a large share.
no way will apple support this. i think every effort to force people to go away from microsoft's own standards is a good effort.

[lilbandit]

God I hope not, why would Apple work so hard to promote the mp3 based ipod and then jump into bed with Microsoft (who will problably want to get involved in an iTMS venture of their own at some point)

[Arden]

You mean like Napster?

While it would nice for Windoze Weenies to be able to play their WMA's on their iPods, they should wake up and ditch Microsoft already.

WMA stands for Windows Media Audio and is only one, proprietary format by Microsoft. Despite their claims, it is lower quality than QT-based, open standards like MPG, usually with a larger file size.

[mindbend]

I could be wrong, but I thought WMA (like some of its WMV siblings) was a bastardized version of the AAC format (or some other open standard format) that Microsoft "proprieterized". Can't seem to find info on that right now…

I hate to say it, but WMAs can sound fantastic. I'm working with a client now who is sending me WMAs, which is really irritating cuz I have to jump through hoops to convert them, but anyway, they sound great. Of course, high rate AACs sound great too. I have yet to do any thorough comparisons. Suffice it to say, they both sound good to great depending on the encoding.

As for playing WMAs on the iPod, I was originally going to make a strong case for saying yes, but then someone pointed out that there are other options besides iTunes for WMA DL-ing, which would be a disaster. iPods are just the "in" for iTunes. Apple wants to sell iPods, sure, but that's just the beginning. It's really about iTMS. A perpetual cash cow. Now if Apple could somehow allow non-iPod technology to work with iTMS, that might be a sacrifice worth taking in the long run.

Or maybe not, what do I know? So far, Apple has made very good decisions (as of late, not in the early years, but we won't go there), delivered great products and done extremely well under dire circumstances. They should keep doing whatever they're doing that's got them this far.

[Arden]

WMA very well may be a bastardized version of some open standard (certainly not AAC, MPEG-4 was created long after WMA's had propagated), but either way it's a proprietary format that only works for players that encode for it. And in general, they sound worse than comparable sound files of other formats. It's Microsoft's way of trying to monopolize the audio market, just like they try to monopolize everything else.

[hulkaros]

In a word:

NO!