iTunes and Technology Lock-in

So the iTunes store is now the #1 music retailer in the U.S. What a disaster. Imagine if Bestbuy spent years selling CDs that would only play in Sony players. This is what iTunes is doing - the music they sell can only be used on Apple devices (and only on a LIMITED number of them!).

On top of it, they music is inferior in quality to what you would get from CDs or from competing stores like Amazon (from which I recently downloaded the new REM album - $9 and I can use the music on any device now and in the future).

This is a tremendous market failure - one of information. I don't think most people realize that when someone other than Apple comes out with a new kick-ass device on which to listen to music, they will have to repurchase all that music because Apple has encumbered its music with computer code that prevents it from being played elsewhere. People who think Apple is some people-friendly alternative to Microsoft are sadly mistaken.

Fortunately, we have an alternative. Amazon has a lot of popular groups at higher quality without the restrictions (look for mp3 under digital downloads). CD Baby has a great variety of independent artists. And once you buy something from CD Baby, you can redownload it later if you lose it. These are the music stores you should support online.