“Um…what’s the iPod exactly? A single platform. Put down the Kool Aid (or should we call it Apple Juice?) and take a deep breath.”

Wrong, bucko. iTunes and the iPod are compatible with more platforms than anything else — OS X, Windows, Motorola and Cingular cell phones and Linux with a little tweaking. If you want to criticize the iTunes/iPod phenom, it should be for FairPlay, the DRM, not platform incompatibility. That is not a valid criticism. But, be careful since most other download services and MP3 players use a flavor of DRM, too.

“Um…what’s the iPod exactly? A single platform. Put down the Kool Aid (or should we call it Apple Juice?) and take a deep breath.”

Wrong, bucko. iTunes and the iPod are compatible with more platforms than anything else — OS X, Windows, Motorola and Cingular cell phones and Linux with a little tweaking. If you want to criticize the iTunes/iPod phenom, it should be for FairPlay, the DRM, not platform incompatibility. That is not a valid criticism. But, be careful since most other download services and MP3 players use a flavor of DRM, too.

Google gets it. YouTube gets it. They provide their video in flash 7 format with the understanding that a third-party extension exists to allow viewing that content on any computer on any operating system.

In a rush to appease movie studios by implementing a draconian, proprietary DRM whose development Amazon itself cannot control, it has shot itself in the foot.

Google gets it. YouTube gets it. They provide their video in flash 7 format with the understanding that a third-party extension exists to allow viewing that content on any computer on any operating system.

In a rush to appease movie studios by implementing a draconian, proprietary DRM whose development Amazon itself cannot control, it has shot itself in the foot.