New open source start up to challenge iTunes

The open source movement is now taking aim at Apple's iTunes and microsoft's Media Player. The ambitiously named start-up, Pioneers of the Inevitable, is building a piece of digital-music software called "Songbird," based on much of the same underlying open-source technology as the Firefox Web browser.

With their first technical preview expected early next year, the programmers want to create music-playing software that will work naturally with the growing number of music sites and services on the Web, instead of being focused on songs on a computer's hard drive. That's where iTunes, which plugs only into Apple's own music store, falls short, they argue.

But with Microsoft now owning 45% of the market for listening to music via PC's and Apple with 17%, Songbird has an uphill battle. Mind you, so did Firefox. Never underestimate the power of open source software. 2005 has really proven that open source software has a major niche to fill in the global software industry and they're filling it fast. This category was screaming to get the 'open source' treatment!