"But Apple did come late to the party, and through their evil use of DRM
and monopoly power wrested control of the market from *Rhapsody*."
Oh come on, could you be any more ridiculous? The online music market was tiny until Apple built the industry. Just because some small companies had streaming music services beforehand doesn't mean that there was a multi-billion dollar industry there. Hell, I'd be suprised if it were multi-million. Apple built the online music market. Period.
Regardless, your characterizations border on the absurd. Apple invented a truly breakthrough product in the iPod. They then built a music service that worked seamlessly with it. People bought music in droves. That's called "innovation".
There's no "evil". There's no "monopoly power" at play. There's no wrestling, either. Apple built superior products and won fair and square. The complaints about "monopoly" came AFTER they were successful, and they're still absurd. DRM wasn't an issue. The only folks complaining about DRM are folks like Rhapsody (which has their own DRM that they wouldn't release the specs for either), Microsoft (do I REALLY have to explain why this is silly?), and folks like you, Leo.
Leo, this is exactly the kind of statement that gets my fingers itching to point out your flaws. It's unreasonable, unfair, shows an ignorance of history, and is just plain obnoxious. If you want _anyone_ on this list or in the real world out there to take you seriously you've got to stop spewing out hyperbolic crap like this.
If you don't like Apple, don't buy their products, but please stop ranting on the list about it. Taking my own advice, I'm going to exit this particular thread as well.
But Apple did come late to the party, and through their evil use of DRM and monopoly power wrested control of the market from *Rhapsody*.
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"He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself." -- Thomas Paine