Walt Mossberg's latest column on the Smart Money Web site focuses on the rent vs. own dilemma currently happening in digital music. He concludes that "iTunes and the iPod are the better choice," but first he runs down the pros and cons of each service.

Apple's iTunes Music Store, which offers 1.5 million songs for sale and holds approximately 80% of the market for legal music downloads, allows users to own their music forever and use it on up to five computers, along with an unlimited number of iPods. Individual songs can be burned to CD an unlimited number of times, but playlists are restricted to being burned to CD seven times.

Meanwhile, as Mr. Mossberg points out, the rental services have a variety of restrictions. Some songs can only be streamed, not downloaded to a computer or MP3 player, and an extra payment is required if listeners want to burn music to a CD. And, of course, anyone who stops paying the monthly rental fee will find that they can't listen to their music anymore.

Mr. Mossberg writes: "So rental users are stuck with inferior portable players that don't sell well and thus don't attract the huge number of accessories available for the iPod. Apple estimates the iPod has about a 75% share of the total U.S. portable player market, with the next-highest brand at just 5%. There are over 500 accessories sold for the iPod, such as customized car mounts and leather cases, and just a few for other players."

He continues: "Given all that, why would anyone use a rental service? Well, the rental model is better for people interested in sampling a wide range of music without a large out-of-pocket expense. That might make it attractive to curious but cash-poor students, for example.

"The rental services also have many more "community" features than iTunes does, features that allow friends and families to share music recommendations, see what others are listening to and discuss music. So they may be better for people who view music as a social activity.

"But for most people, it's no contest: Right now iTunes and the iPod are the better choice in digital music."