There is no doubt this is the Christmas of the iPod and iTunes. From Letterman to almost every local newscast, iPod is the word. And It is welded to Apple’s groundbreaking iTunes, which showed the industry how to license music online. Microsoft is working on a strategy with other player manufactures to turn the strong iPod - iTunes alliance into a marketing weakness. Real Networks, Musicmatch, and iTunes are three big players that compete head-to-head with Windows Media Player. Each of them has their own music store tied the player. Given its reputation, many expected that when Microsoft released the new Windows Media Player 10, it would be strongly tied to the new MSN Music Store. Just the opposite is true.
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