Yesterday the CEO of RealNetworks (RealPlayer, etc) made a public claim that Apple is forcing customers into a proprietary format (AAC) with iTunes and iPods and said "...the only way to presently put songs on an iPod it to buy them from iTunes." WHAT?! Either he's totally ignorant (doubtful, know your enemy, right?) or he's just out and out lying (seems to be a common thing these days with people in power) to produce FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) and get people to look at his competing solution. For the record, you can easily make an MP3 with a plethora of programs and add them directly into your iPod - without buying them from iTunes. In fact, my iPod contains probably 90% MP3 files from my own collection of CDs. Oh, and don't be afraid of AAC files, they rock.