Bob Cringely points out that Apple's long term strategy hinges on the ability of iTunes to be the dominant content delivery and management platform.

If you've used iTunes and felt the same vendor lock-in chills you get when using an Exchange server, your thinking along the right lines.

iTunes leverages several technologies already available separately, and bundles them all into a sweet smelling irresistible package. The users buy in, and then realize that there are no competitors that offer all of the capabilities, such as syncing with iPods and leveraging song metadata.

Alternatives NEED to be created before Apple owns this field. The fear is that once Apple gets enough of a grip on the market, it will start implementing far more egregious DRM on portable video and audio, not just because it can, but because it is ingratiating to the MPAA/RIAA flacks.

Not only that, but the leading music player app being so closely tied to one product does limit you to using apple music players. Gatekeepers are bad in any industry, and we don't want one in the portable music player market, the online music distribution market, or the movie distribution market.

Considering Apple's past behavior, I don't think we should give them a chance.