iPood - its the busness model, duh.

Those few of us using Linux have been watching with much concern since the new crop of iPods came out complete with a new encrypted checksum in the iTunes database file that basically broke all third-party applications for managing the iPod. As Apple continues its unfortunate and monopolistic iPod+iTunes business model, largely to ensure continuing profit from the iTunes store (and keep the RIAA et al. of their backs), I can't see why anyone was surprised. But take heart, the folks in the open-source community are at least as smart as the ones in the commercial programming world and now there are some apps coming out (in beta) that support the iPod Classic and 3G Nano, although the Touch may be a tougher nut to crack because of its markedly different interface. Some of the options are the newest versions of:

- Floola
- YamiPod (which works on OS X and Windows as well, for those of you who have the option of iTunes but just don't like it)
- Any Linux media player using libgpod (you'll need 0.6.0), such as Amarok or gtkpod.

Because, lets face it, the iPod itself is still pretty cool after nearly 7 years and 6 refreshes to the product line, its the business model that sucks, at least for the end user. Apple is laughing all the way to the bank, have you seen their stock price lately?

Yes, Apple's recent 'evil' behavior is upsetting, but I would rather have the choice between several big tech companies who are evil in different ways, than just have to deal with whatever crazy scheme Microsoft is pushing this month.