A Minor Apple Convert?

So while I wait for my iPod Touch to arrive, I've been trying to get into the whole iTunes groove lately. Recently, I've been on the hunt for a new desktop media player. While I praise iTunes' interface on many levels, the lack of customization and overall bloat of the program is a turn-off for me.

But still, I've noticed a few things about iTunes lately that has me very interested:

• First with MacWorld '09 here, Apple has finally done away with DRM on their audio tracks, which means iTunes is a very viable place for me to finally buy music. I simply will not buy digital music that is bound with DRM. While Amazon is still my first stop for quick, easy, cheap MP3 downloads, the lack of DRM on iTunes music means whatever I can't find on Amazon I can turn to Apple for.

• The Genius playlist option in iTunes has turned out to be really awesome for me. The feature generally states that it will "find songs in your library that go great together." I'm not sure what metrics Apple uses to build these playlists, but so far I have seen terrific mixes of my favorite music come together with it, and I'm already addicted to this great new feature.

• HD content on iTunes is (variably) watchable on my PC, and I'm going to take some of this content for a spin next week to see how it looks, and if all is well, I might consider getting into TV and movie purchases or rentals via iTunes.

I won't necessarily be bound to iTune's with regards to syncing music - Songbird and Winamp also handle this task well (I'm told) - but the iPod Touch has many other features (photo, video, apps, e-mail, calendar) that do require iTunes, so I figured now was a good time to suck it up and learn to live with Apple's bloat. But feature-wise I'm still impressed with it. Let's hope that lasts.

Out.