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I'm as much in favor of competition in markets as anyone else, but the particular complaint you make is pretty silly.

You do realize that AAC is an mpeg-4 standard that Apple does not own, right? Anyone can use it, including Napster and Dell.

Technically speaking, yes. You can also bypass the DVD region code system, but the theoretical possibility does not justify the restriction. You don't really expect people to burn their songs to CD every time they want to use them outside iSomething? It is indeed justified to criticize Apple for this.

No, it's not. AAC is an MPEG-4 standard, developed independently of Apple by the same Motion Picture Experts Group that developed standards such as MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and mp3. It is not an Apple-proprietary format. If your portable player of choice does not support the standard, it's not Apple's fault.

If you insist on using a non-DRMed format (and Apple's is the best DRM around, in that it expertly balances both the fair use rights of the user and the draconian demands of the fanatical recording industry), then you are likely a tinkerer by nature, and there are options available. For example, you could "burn" the tracks to an Image Drive, and then "rip" the tracks off the iso image to another format. I'm sure you could even bang up a script to automate the process and transfer the metadata to an ID3 tag. No physical media need be involved.

My point is that Apple is doing things right. The average user has a great deal of freedom with the songs they have purchased. This is a big accomplishment, considering the demands of the recording industry. Don't be so quick to dismiss Apple's efforts.

for me. Once I tried foobar2000 there was no going back.

Features
* Open component architecture allowing third-party developers to extend functionality of the player
* Audio formats supported "out-of-the-box": WAV, AIFF, VOC, AU, SND, Ogg Vorbis, MPC, MP2, MP3, MPEG-4 AAC
* Audio formats supported through official addons: FLAC, OggFLAC, Monkey's Audio, WavPack, Speex, CDDA, TFMX, SPC, various MOD types; extraction on-the-fly from RAR, 7-ZIP & ZIP archives
* Full Unicode support on Windows NT
* ReplayGain support
* Low memory footprint, efficient handling of really large playlists
* Advanced file info processing capabilities (generic file info box and masstagger)
* Highly customizable playlist display
* Customizable keyboard shortcuts
* Most of standard components are opensourced under BSD license (source included with the SDK)

If you've ever tried writing a plugin for Winamp you'll fall in love with the fb2k SDK, its like heaven compared to the other player. ;-)

"..licensing the AAC technology to a third party to allow them to set up their own store.."

I thought Apple licensed the AAC technology from some consortium of companies?

http://www.aac-audio.com/

While AAC itself is a standard, the DRM is not. They can't distribute Protected AAC files because they don't know how to make them and can't legally find out. That's unless Apple tells them, which they won't (they wouldn't let Real in on it, so why Napster?).

Interesting views on Apple...but those aside, do understand that the more you insist "AAC format is [Apple]'s own format", the more you make a fool of yourself.

MPEG-4 AAC is actually the next generation of MPEG (.MP3 files would be a previous generation).

So be sure you know what you are talking about, other wise it makes you look like..er.."CRAP".

But supporting open standards isn't compatible with their business objective.

Uh, kinda odd for them to be using AAC then, isn't it?

And why exactly would Apple be charging royalties for AAC use? It's one of those open standards you seem to champion (despite your lack of familiarity with them), and Apple not a creation of Apple's.

Ah, quite right, Linux support is important.

Of course, I do understand that Neuros *officially* supports Linux, in beta, while Apple hasn't; it's all be community stuff for the iPod.

Oh, and aac is a standard, though arguably not open, while ogg is open, but not a standard. Semantics are a bitch, aren't they?

Now if only there were an alternative.

Note the tests at 128 kbps seem much more difficult to discern a clear winner without resorting to some statistical work.

The music formats supported by the Nokia Music Player are AAC (Advanced Audio Coding), secured with InterTrust digital rights management technology, and MP3.

By providing AAC within InterTrust's DRM system, distributors can not only rest assured that the codec will be used appropriately, but they may now offer innovative DRM-based licensing models for the technology.

Nokia 5510 * Availability: Europe, Africa, Asia * Operating frequency: EGSM 900/1800 networks in Europe, Africa, and Asia Pacific
No mention of a US version as far as I can find.

Sounds like this item is pretty much inline with RIAA rather than being their nightmare.