Remember the French the next time you think of Apple.

Originally Posted by Matt

Why can't Apple just get a hold of the proper MP3 player companies, give them the neccesary code to implement AAC support on their hardware and call it a day?
That's what I don't understand.

You're missing one big detail of Apple's business model.

Apple doesn't actually make much money off of the iTunes Music Store. Most of the money goes to the nasty record labels, and a lot of the money that's left over for Apple is eaten up by bandwidth and fixed costs. The idea behind the music store is that it will lead people to buy iPods, which are quite profitable for Apple. If any MP3 player could play music from the iTunes Music Store, then there wouldn't be enough incentive for Apple to run it.

Jam it back in, in the dark.