Windows is designed as a platform to run third-party apps. The iPod is just another hardware device, like a printer manufacturer who doesn’t make their cartridges compatible with another manufacturer. Sure they all interface with software on some level, but they do their own thing, and might print best on their own papers. Should every DRM-based (WMA included) online music store be forced to open up their format because they’re using proprietary DRM technology? I don’t think so. Should the creators of CD and DVD technology, who collect royalties every time a blank disc is sold and hardware is manufactured, as well as collect hefty licensing fees for their proprietary formats, shut shop, because they aren’t playing nice with their competition, and made it very hard to share music and video on different devices for many years? Should they open up their formats and implement competitor specs? I don’t think so. Whether the consumer is dumb or smart enough to buy from them is another issue. There is no substitute for an educated shopper.