A fairly well known weblogger named Robert Scoble has posted a relatively long article making the case for Windows Media and strongly suggesting that people who have not yet purchased an iPod or a TiVo think twice about doing so.

Scoble suggests that by 2006, Microsoft will have a comprehensive set of multimedia technologies that will be deployed and accepted on every sort of device that an individual might want to use to watch video or listen to music. He suggests that the ubiquity and synergy of Windows Media-related software in portable audio, home theater, and in-car systems will make customers of the iTunes Music Store and TiVo regret the fact that they use them.

Without rebutting each point Scoble makes, this is one of the more egregious attempts at engendering FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) in the minds of prospective customers for non-Windows Media devices that has made the rounds recently. Remember that Apple sold close to 1 million iPods in its 2003 Fiscal Year. This figure was in before the holiday shopping season ended.

Current iPod users didn't think about the potential synergies of Windows Media devices circa 2006 when they bought their iPods. They bought because they wanted a portable music device that lets them carry a substantial part of their music collection with them wherever they go. The iPod is the best device ever built for this purpose.

If there was no iTunes Music Store, the vast majority of these people would still have bought iPods. They just would have ripped their CD collection to MP3s and synced the resulting files to their iPod. The fact that iTunes made a lot of iPod users comfortable with buying music one song at a time was an unexpected bonus.

iPod and TiVo users get value from their purchases everyday. If you want to enjoy the benefits of digital media technology today, I recommend that you choose from products that are available today or have been recently announced. If you like devices that support Windows Media, buy them. But, don't allow yourself to be scared out of buying the gadget you like best just because someone who works at Microsoft says you'll be sorry someday.