/snip/
There is also the possibility that Apple might lose the top position in the next portable music player tech. All those with old CDs or MP3's will be able to convert to a new format or play on any new player. Where as itunes DRM'd music users will be required to repurchase their entire music catalog. /snip/
Not true. Look, all they have to do is take a bunch of audio (or better yet, rewriteable) CDs and burn the tracks on there and import them back into iTunes as mp3 or aac or whatever they prefer. The DRM is then gone and the user can do whatever he wants with the digital files he has created. And wipe the CDs and go again with the next batch if he used cdrw media. I make mp3s for my non-iPhone cellphones that way, and also to play them through iTunes on an old ibook in my kitchen that's maybe a little too old to trust with an iTunes authorization.
I just made a pile of mp3s and stuck them on a Juke after I read in an Apple forum how to reformat the internal drive space on those things so it acts like a Mac HFS+ USB drive you can just drag the mp3s onto. Works great! (The Juke is cute, too... it's no iphone but it gets the job done when I'm over in Verizon territory).
I have never understood the big whine about DRM in general and iTunes DRM. in particular. First of all, I'm pretty darn sure that some of the complainers just want to steal music, which in my opinion is way wrongheaded. Let them try to write 8 bars of music sometime. Round up the talent, the place to practice, the gear to get the demo done, the time to slog around and find someone wants to sell it...
Then, to the extent some in the music industry won't ditch the DRM, I say at least the iTunes version is comprehensible, the statement of rights is clear and generous, plus the burn-to-convert option is simple and foolproof if you need to have a DRM-free version for some reason. I've converted some of mine but by no means most of it. Probably around 10%. The rest I just use on my computers or on my iPods or iPhone.
And hey, you can always make up a nice playlist in two parts, for the A and B sides of a 90-minute cassette tape. Then play those lists right from your iPod into a dual-cassette boombox to create an audio tape. I make a few now and then, and stick them in the glovebox to play in my no-CD-player vehicle on those days when I forget to bring an iPod or its FM transmitter along for the adventure.
And as for people who forget their password, you can get it reset. And, you can get your authorizations reset once a year.
Anyway I say congrats to Apple and iTunes store for all those music and movie sales. I have certainly been having a lot of fun dropping my entertainment dollars without having to drive a zillion miles to do it. I love shopping at iTunes Store for music and have now rented or bought a pile of movies as well. I like renting them onto my MacBook Air... when they're gone, they're gone and my precious SSD disk space reappears. And for TV shows, now I'm watching the first season of The Wire on my iPod touch, and am happy to see that they just put up Season Two!