Vista, Zune, and iTunes???

Do you think it'll happen? With iTunes adopting DRM-less music, and MS soon to follow, is it possible that both stores' content can be played on a Zune?

What of the reported Zune v. Vista battle not going so well...has there been any updates to it?

 

I think Microsoft will eventually cave into DRM free stuff, just not now, or maybe they will partially. I think the context of the download (the mp3) will be playable on any player (if it isn't already). I don't think Microsoft will begin to support Itunes, however.

 

Yea I agree. The whole thing about Vista and Itunes not supporting each other will be a pain for many many MANY customers. Since majority of the pc users are still on Windows and iPods are such a hit, theres going to be problems.

 

Sorry for being a noob , but iTunes doesn't sell MP3s???

 

I don't get it???

I don't own an iPod, but unless you have been relaxing in a remote island for the last few years, you'd know that Itunes is connected to some sort of a store service where you can download music, and then play it on your mp3 player.

Then again, I could be completely wrong since I have never downloaded music .

 

No...I've just been on NBR too much.

I don't own an iPod, and have no idea what format the songs are downloaded in. I've always assumed it been some proprietary format that keeps the songs on iTunes and the iPod only...but with DRM-less music to come I was hoping for something that could be played on any device.

 

Haven't we all, Greg?

Hmm...I never thought about that. Perhaps? I always assumed that "DRM" (a term that encompasses many things - i.e., a privacy container term) was a protection layer added on top of MP3 format files.

Can someone verify this?

 

I have owned both an iPod and now a Zune.

Itunes does use a proprietary format which is some ultra compressed format only the iPod uses. If you were to buy mp3s from somewhere else, itunes would convert these as soon as you added them. The ipod will not play MP3s which can be stored on it if you are using it as an external HDD. If the DRM-less happens, I am going to assume itunes will go to mp3, else... they have simply found a way to say they are going DRM-less while staying proprietary. Zune probably uses its own format to. I can't be sure if it can play apple's format, when I first installed Zune it, it did go out and grab my itunes playlists and seemed to grab songs from itunes.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipod

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zune

iPod uses AAC with encryption from the iTunes Store.
Zune uses Protected WMA from the Zune Marketplace.

 

zen vision m ftw!

 

Apple uses AAC as WackyT stated, which is not an Apple proprietary format. It is actually a format developed by Dolby, and is playable on both the Zune and the PSP (among others). Apple simply adds their Fair Play DRM to the AAC format in the iTunes store. The Zune (and the Zune store) use Microsoft's proprietary WMA format by default.

 

I just bought the Zen Vision M and have already been very happy with it. It can play many formats, Divx, Xvid, mp3, avi, etc. Dell is offering a great discount on the Zen Vision M.

One of the complaints I have already heard about DRM-free w/ iTunes is that it still won't play on other media players even though DRM-free and after conversions of the media. I know that the Zune music player supports ACC, but the Zen does not. DRM-free is good for all.