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iTunes, WMP, iPod, iTMS and choice

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There's been lots of discussion following the release of Windows Media Player 10 regarding choice. It's a bit complicated because there are so many axes of choice, and so many things to pivot around. I'll try to summarize some of the issues here.

iPod:
OS: You can use Mac OS 10.1 or later, or Windows 2000 or later (although Windows 2003 isn't listed)
Player on computer: iTunes only
Music stores: iTunes music store only or anything seling unprotected MP3s (ignoring Real for now)

WMP DRM compatible player:
OS: Windows 2000 or later, no Mac OS support
Player on computer: Any WMP DRM compatible player, including WMP, MusicMatch, WinAMP, and clients included with music stores (like Napster)
Music stores: A bunch, including MSN music, Walmart, Napster, and MusicMatch.

iTunes:
Devices: iPod only
OS: You can use Mac OS 10.1 or later, or Windows 2000 or later (although Windows 2003 isn't listed)
Music stores: iTunes music store only or anything seling unprotected MP3s (ignoring Real for now)

Windows Media Player compatible players:
Devices: Lots and lots
OS: Windows 2000 or later for DRM support, other OSs including Mac OS for unprotected content. WMP 10 is Windows XP only.
Music stores: A bunch, including MSN music, Walmart, Napster, and MusicMatch. Note: the best integration is with WMP 10, which is Windows XP only.

It's not that cut and dry, is it? If you have a Mac, iTunes and iPod is the obvious solution. You don't have a choice :-). If you are on Windows, basically have two potential pathes (ignoring the others for now). If you take the Apple path, you lock yourself into an iPod and iTunes, but have the option to move to the Mac if you want. If you take the Microsoft path, you can choose between a variety of devices, a variety of player apps, and a variety of music stores. If choice in the option of Mac vs. Windows isn't important to you, then the Microsoft path clearly has more options. What makes the decision hard is that the iPod is arguably the best device out there, iTunes is arguably the best player out there, and the iTunes music store is arguably the best music store out there. :-) I don't know how long that will be true.