There's one thing about Apple using the AAC format: why is it that a lot of third-party portable music players now support the AAC format? Not to mention the fact Apple has such a huge percentage marketshare of the portable music player market that they could get away with using AAC as the primary encoding format?
I'm first going to point out that AAC is not an Apple-created format. I get that impression from you saying "third-party portable music players." I just did a Wikipedia search and saw that Sony was part of the group that developed AAC, and Sony also uses it as the standard on the PS3, PSP and Walkman. Heck, I didn't know this until after about a year of owning an iPod.
Anywho, Apple basically took a stand on a better, newer format with the iTunes Store instead of doing the tired old deal of trying to make crap compatible for every device ever made. If you have an iPod-like device that only plays MP3 (and maybe WMA), you have a crappy player. The use of MP3 is the main problem I have with the Amazon Music Store. I buy stuff from Amazon, but usually only the heavily reduced items. AAC is better at the same bitrate, so I'm getting better quality at iTunes.
On this Robertson douche, sounds like he just wanted to be heard. Until someone makes a digital media player that is anywhere close to the iPod, creates software as easy to use as iTunes and creates a store as easy and loaded as the iTunes Store, people aren't going to switch en masse. Microsoft is going to throw up another whiff with the Zune HD when people complain about battery life, and nobody else really comes close.
