[Sirius Lee]

Apple won't exist in another 5 years. It's become some sad combination of Digital Electronics Corporation and The Sharper Image. And now they've screwed over a customer base who perhaps bought their second or third Apple product because of a desire to retain their iTunes library that they either bought online or loaded locally, one painful CD after another...

There's really no reason to ever buy an Apple product/service ever again. Like the iPods who batteries you can't get any longer, they'll just screw you over and over again.

[marajade]

And they are not very good at retention either. You can only load them onto five devices, after that you have to buy them again.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

…loaded locally, one painful CD after another

If a user did that, all those digital files are on his or her machine in mp3 format. They are not lost. And the files you bought from the Apple Store are also on his or her machine, unlocked and without DRM.

Don't get so overwrought. The business people at Apple are not as stupid as you make them out to be.

[roadcat]

Apple won't exist in another 5 years.

I heard that in 1980. And every year since then. Meanwhile, most of the other companies are long gone or a tiny fraction of the base they used to have. Apple will probably be around long after you're dead.

And you can still get batteries for every iPod model. I recently replaced the battery in my 2005 iPod, and it works just fine. Go buy some other maker's product, most likely a Chinese ripoff and worry when the commie government makes it go belly up.