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Dave Fester at Microsoft (via Matt Deatherage):
iTunes captured some early media interest with their store on the Mac, but I think the Windows platform will be a significant challenge for them. Unless Apple decides to make radical changes to their service model, a Windows-based version of iTunes will still remain a closed system, where iPod owners cannot access content from other services. Additionally, users of iTunes are limited to music from Apple’s Music Store. As I mentioned earlier, this is a drawback for Windows users, who expect choice in music services, choice in devices, and choice in music from a wide-variety of music services to burn to a CD or put on a portable device. Lastly, if you use Apple’s music store along with iTunes, you don’t have the ability of using the over 40 different Windows Media-compatible portable music devices. When I’m paying for music, I want to know that I have choices today and in the future.
Windows Media DRM offers customers choice?
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What he means is that every hardware player except Apple is standardizing on WMA. However, with 31% of the complete market for digital music players. (and, heck, 100% to people in the know), Apple owns the market, so it doesn't really matter at this time what the others do.
So, "In Fairness," what you're saying is that Microsoft admits Apple might have trouble cracking the market due to the fact that MS has already leveraged their platform dominance to enforce their own "standard?"
Where are the lawyers when you need them :-)!
