iTunes 4.5: Just Say No

to the tune of: Friends In Low Places by Garth Brooks

I must say, Apple's getting sleazier by the day.

The new iTunes 4.5 trumpets exciting features like playlists you can re-arrange while playing (like the ones in WinAmp years ago) and lossless encoding (like Windows Media 9). Tempting eh?

The real reason Apple is releasing an upgrade is to break all the cracks in its copy protection. MyTunes and getTunes no longer work, nor does FairPlay. Although someone's already cracked the new security, it may take a while for someone to release a Windows version.

But worse, the new version is completely incompatible with older iTunes 4.x. If you upgrade, you won't be able to listen to anyone's iTunes 4 libraries. But if you don't you won't be able to hear 4.5 music collections. And the only compelling reason to use iTunes goes poof in a cloud of brushed metal smoke. So sleazy. Apple's getting good at this coercion thing. Even Microsoft makes its stuff backward-compatible...

Lemme know if you find a replacement for MyTunes that works with 4.5.