RTP-area local music and culture

[Nathaniel Florin <npflorin AT yahoo.com>]

--- stablenet AT nc.rr.com wrote:
> As many closed technologies have proven in the past,
> this is a poor business model. Betamax was superior
> to VHS, but the latter won the war because of more
open 
> distribution and licensing.
> Apple doesn't care if you use a Rio or an iPod -
> they will sell you an MP3 regardless. 

Unfortunately this isn't exactly true. The iTunes
Music Store sells you MPEG-4 AAC (Advanced Audio
Coding) files which have a Digital Rights Management
code built in that, among other things, only allows
you to play them on an iPod (though you can burn them
to a generic audio CD as well). There are ways around
this to get them on your Rio, but they tend to be
complicated and tedious and are definitely not
approved of by Apple. Apple, on the whole, detests an
open system (though it loves an open source on which
it can build a closed system). The company has always
relied on high sales margins rather than high volume
and so the more proprietary something is the better.
This is part of what has kept me in the business of
buying vinyl and CDs, and IMHO is the major weakness
of the iTunes store.

I say all this as a long-time Mac user, btw.

Nate