I heard an ad about Sony Connect today. They're really pushing it. I'm not impressed. I installed the software a couple of weeks ago, but I've already uninstalled it. They won't let me burn CDs of my downloaded songs. As a matter of fact, the only way Sony will allow you to burn CDs with the songs you've downloaded into the Sony Connect software is if you have a Sony Vaio computer. Yeah. Right. I'm going to buy one of your computers after you've strong-armed me like that?

I also checked out the new Napster. They expect you not only to pay 99 cents per download, but they expect you to give them a $10 per month subscription. Say what? No, thanks. I uninstalled that software, too. A lot of people don't realize that the new Napster is not the same as the old Napster. The original guy has nothing to do with it. A company called Roxio (makers of the Easy CD Creator software) bought the rights to the name. Hell, that alone would be enough for me not to use the new Napster. We bought the Easy CD Creator program and could never get the damned thing to work right. Customer Support at Roxio was rude and largely unhelpful. So now you want me to give you $10 a month plus the cost of my downloads?

No, thanks. I'll use iTunes. While Apple certainly has their own issues, for the most part iTunes is what you would expect a download service to be. There are no monthly or subscription fees. You just pay for your downloads (99 cents each). You can burn a limited number of CDs and can use your songs without limitations on an iPod. The iTunes software also makes it really easy to import your store-bought CDs into iTunes, and hence move those tracks to your iPod. In short, we're going to be using the hell out of iTunes in the future, and will be buying an iPod in the near future.

Clearly, Sony and Roxio / Napster just don't get it.