Jason Schultz is spot on in his comments about the balkanization of digital music. Funny enough, I had just been making exactly the same point in my keynote address to the IEEE Consumer Electronics Symposium 2004. People are going to get fed up having their music players dictate which music they can play and the nonsensical need to buy a separate player for music supplied, for example by Microsoft, Apple or Real. And what happens when you decide to buy a new player that won't play any of your old music?

Stefan Motte from Phillips, in a terrific talk this morning, made the point that the key things for digital consumer electronics devices in the home are usability, seamless integration and interoperability. I wonder how long it will be before the Microsoft/Apple/Real/entertainment business balkanized markets collapse in on themselves. I just hope not too much permanent damage is done in the interim.