Russell Beattie Notebook - Napster, Real and Yahoo! vs. Apple... Winner: Microsoft: "So all this and I really didn't mention Apple. Yes, Apple has lock in right now for their 10 million iPod users. Big Woop. It's such a small piece of the pie it's not funny and they're going to get crushed like a bug. The thing is, by holding the only competitor to the Janus codec (FairPlay) so close to their chest, Apple is not only bringing about their eventual demise in the media market, but also everyone else as well. I'm sure Yahoo (like every other Music/Media service out there) begged Apple to open up their codec for the YME and Apple said no. That just gave Microsoft a little more power. It's like 1989 all over again when everyone was begging to license the Mac OS. Two years later Windows 3.0 showed up and Apple is now at 2% market share. If you don't think the same thing is happening in the media space, you're dreaming."