Slashdot Mirror
Apple's iPod Chip Supports WMA?
John writes "Chip manufacturer Portal Player in Santa Clara builds the embedded PP5002 chip in Apple's iPod (allowing the playing of AAC and MP3). It has emerged that the chip firmware, by default, allows the playing of WMA. However, for some reason this is locked by Apple."
A, I'm not only a Mac user, I used to work for them; B, Apple dropped the floppy at the height of its popularity as well, and that worked out okay for them. It's called progress. Ditching MP3 without a suitable alternative is suicide, ditching it for something better, cheaper, faster (The Bionic Man of audio formats?) is good business, and progressive thinking. Face it, 90% of Mac users will buy iPods and use iTunes simply because of brand loyalty. What Steve says is good IS good to them. If Steve-o pushes OGG, within 6 months, everybody will use OGG. But of course, he won't, since he needs his DRM fix, ineffective as it is....
The solution? Keep MP3 and AAC capability on the iPod, but *add* OGG and start pushing it. Apple is the ONE company who can make the revolution happen. Instead, the rumors are they will not add OGG (which gives greater freedom to the user), but WMA (which places greater restrictions on the user)...
And yes, I am delusional. Doctor Scooby is self-prescribing again.