Gee it’s certainly taken me some time to blog about the whole Apple licensing their iPod hardware to HP thing. I could crap on about how this is a good thing for Mac users, PC users, HP, Apple and every one who wants an iPod, but Mr. Gruber says it far more eloquently than I so here: The H-Bomb. Todd Dominey also says it betterer than I: The HP / Apple Dance.
Like Gruber, I think the fact that the HP iPod will not support/play WMA files is a complete non issue. I also find this article Hewlett-Packard: No WMA for IPod, just some more indirect Apple bashing. Oooooo! You can’t play WMA files! Why the fuck would you when mp3 and AAC are both superior and platform independant? Maybe I just think this as I don’t buy music from the iTunes store or other such stores. If I like something I buy the cd and let iTunes turn it into a cd quality mp3 or AAC playlist and whack it on my iPod. Just a thought, why don’t Napster and other such people offer mp3’s as well or instead of WMA? Why are these people jumping on the proprietry band wagon? Maybe I’m just out of the loop…
Any way, you can checkout the HP branded iPod in HP grey in this video on Cnet.
WMA – HA!
RSS – Posts
sbszine
20 January 2004 at 11.37 am
Napster etc use WMA so that they can cripple the files in an attempt to prevent copying. The success of iTunes is due in part to its easy CD burning aspect. Less hoops to jump through == more sales for Apple.