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USA Today: Closed Music Systems Bad for Users
Sunday, October 15th, 2006 at 3:00 PM - by Bryan Chaffin
Closed music systems -- music and video downloads that can be played only on one brand of digital media device -- "leave buyers out in the cold," according to a USA Today article. While iPod owners and iTunes customers are able to easily and seamlessly listen to their digital downloads, customers of other online services and hardware maker face "chaos" and "confusion," according to the article.
The article doesn't offer much to substantiate the claim made in the title, that closed systems leave buyers out in the cold," but it does offer the example one 20 year old programmer who rejects the iPod and its wicked, closed ways. "With Apple, you have to play by their rules, and use their hardware and software, and I'm not a fan," said Josh Tichauer of Los Angeles.
Mr. Tichauer is instead looking forward to buying a Zune from Microsoft, a digital media device that will only play digital media downloaded from Microsoft's Zune Marketplace (in addition to media obtained offline) in Microsoft's closed, proprietary Windows Media format. The irony of Mr. Tichauer's position was not noted by the eagle-eyed reporter or editors of USA Today.
What the article does tackle fairly well is in contrasting a variety of online music services and digital media devices, though most of the assertions made in those contrasts are backed up by executives from those same services.
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