My Songs, My Format

"One of the problems I see a lot is that people who are using iTunes-iPods have ripped their entire CD collection to the AAC format because that is the default setting in iTunes," said Grahm Skee, who runs the Web site AnythingButiPod.com, in an e-mail interview. "Now they are stuck with a format that can only be played on iPods."

This article is from The New York Times, so you may be prompted to register prior to reading it.

The AAC format, while superior to MP3, has not been adopted by many other digital music players. But it is an open format, not a proprietary one like WMA. The real problem is Protected AAC (and, of course, Protected WMA). I can't listen to any of my U2 songs through our TiVo's Music streaming feature. And instead of making it more accessible, Apple has made things even worse by taking away burning capability from Toast. Their claim that I "own" these tracks is patronizing at best and ridiculous at worst. I can still live with purchasing individual songs for 99¢ but I find little benefit in purchasing full albums when I know I'll have full quality and freedom with a CD. Of course, if the labels continue creating more "copy-protected" CDs, I guess they'll also lose those sales.