Jobs on Music: redux

part 1

It appears that Apple were prepared to rock the boat after all.

With the launch next month of the ‘premium’ versions of EMI tracks, I can begin to see a world where I am prepared to buy music online. I’m happy to pay the slight extra cost for the DRM-less tracks - especially given their higher quality.

However there remains for me one barrier to this utopia; iTunes remains a proprietary application that is only available on Mac and Windows. Given they don’t have DRM as an excuse anymore, will an open alternative become viable?

I say “viable” as I know there are already unburdened music stores out there. But without the “mainstream” artists available through their sites, the appeal is unfortunately limited.