External Links -> Closed systems leave song buyers out in the cold
http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2006-10-15-music-war_x
The top consumer complaint at online music service Napster: Songs purchased at Napster won't play on Apple's iPod.
It's not Napster's fault. Apple's (AAPL) hugely successful iPod business is built on a closed system. You shop at iTunes Music Store for digital songs and use iTunes software to transfer them effortlessly to the iPod.
The system works great for iPod owners. For others, there's a chaos of competing formats.
Songs sold at Napster, Rhapsody, Yahoo Music (YHOO) and other online stores are geared to Microsoft-endorsed (MSFT) digital devices, not the iPod. These digital music players from SanDisk (SNDK) , Creative Labs and others can't easily play songs from iTunes.
BREAKDOWN: How the iPod, Zune and Rhapsody compare..........