re: The iTunes/iPod Monopoly

Mack. Mack, Mack, Mack. It grieves me to write this memo to you since I consider you a kindred spirit. However, advocating an iTunes monopoly? Brother. Where's your spirit of competition? France is RIGHT to require iTunes to open it's service up to more than just the iPod.

There are those who, like myself, prefer not to pad Steve Jobs ego by paying a premium for his over designed and over priced mp3 player. We choose the competition for the very reason that the iPod is too expensive. Why shouldn't itunes be open to us to make our music purchases? I mean, can you picture a world where certain television channels would only be viewable on a SONY TV? Or MS Word only available for a PC? Need I remind you that one of the things that saved Apple's bacon was the Microsoft Office Suite (and a key stock purchase of Apple by Gates himself)?

It's no secret that the "cult of Apple" doesn't want the rif raff in. And sadly, Mack, I fear you may have been corrupted by it.