Norway et al. against the iPod/iTunes

[diablojota]

Trust me, M$ did not bail out Apple because of the UK. There were already other choices such as OS/2, Sun's OS, Linux and Unix. Small, yes, but yet still competitors. I think that one of the major reasons why M$ kept Apple in business was so they could get some great ideas from them, partially. The other part is that Apple, if successful, would provide microsoft with another stream of revenue.
As great as a place the UK is (I should know, I lived there for a while), they are not large enough to make Microsoft bail out a company.

Originally Posted by Tommo

But in this case you don't, certainly in the UK. The courts take action to prevent companies gaining a monopoly, the is not a lot you can do once they have. That was the original reason Microsoft bailed out Mac years ago so as to keep another OS/computer player in the market place.

[Tommo]

It looks like I should have split that paragraph up. I was not suggesting that it was because of the UK that Microsoft bailed Apple out. At the time there was no other viable desktop OS, linux was in its infancy and still open source. OS2 may have been a choice in the DOS days but was long dead by the time Winodws 98 came along. It was in their interest to keep their main competitor going.

I agree with you about the DRM issue, but it doesn't change anything. I have to stick by my view that by tying iTMS to the iPod it stifles choice and interferes with choice. Something that Apple seems to hold in high regard that people should have. It just seems a ploy to get people to buy the players who might otherwise have gone down another route.

I have recently purchased my first iPod having owned Creative and Sony models in the past and am very impressed with it (battery life aside). But I would not be very happy if another company, record or otherwise,put up another on-line music site and I had to buy another player to use their content.

We may just have to agree to differ on this.