Apple has met with overwhelming success in their release of the popular iTunes client for x86 architecture, with approximately one million songs (at USD$1 a pop) being downloaded from their online music store in just three days, and marking a new sales record for a music distribution model that was hitherto viewed with considerable scepticism.

However, the name 'Apple Computers' represents more than mere stylistic gallantry and over-priced computer boutique. For starters, their use of the Apple name is subject to some precarious legal agreements with Apple Records Pty Ltd (the label responsible for distribution of The Beatles' music):

The launch of the iTunes Music Service, which encompasses agreements with hundreds of multi-national record labels, has no-doubt been greeted favourably by Apple Corp executives, and will no-doubt spurn yet another lawsuit.

Jobs' choice of name is indeed rather ironic, for iTunes for Windows represents a veritable Apple of Discord. The launch offers a slice of the Macintosh pie to those most thoroughly set in their Redmontian ways, but it is far from innocuous. All but the most stalwart PC user have found themselves lured ("Geek 1: Apple? No way, man, I don't do Apple. Geek 2: But it's so pretty. Go on, just one click.") to try the new media player. Little do they realise that they have already begun their slow descent into the depths of the Apple Aesthetic, for with one bite of the Apple comes a knowledge so singularly corrupting that there is no turning back.

First love then marriage (do forgive the patriarchal tone), as one Slashdot user so incisively noted. The Windows user, unmoved by the dismally unsuccessful 'Switch' advertisements, sees no harm in trying out the fabled iTMS of yore; they may scoff at the embellished, candylike interface; resent the ubiquitous Apple logo branded so obviously on every window and dialog; they may even complain that - attempt aesthetic transcendence though it might - static, brushed metal textures are no match for free-form XML skinning. In time, however, the simplistic, uncluttered interface (with all its idiosyncrasies and overt Philip K Dick cleanliness - a strange sight to any Windows user) will come to grow upon them - and so begins the Fall.

Bedazzled by iTunes' wondrous simplicity of use, our innocent PC user feels a peculiar urge to listen to their music on the road, but it can't just be any MP3 player - the Apple bug has bitten, and it now has to be suave and sophisticated. Enter the iPod. Now Jane Windows can seamlessly synchronise her files and trade documents and sounds with her friends. Alas! She can't access all the features, for only Macintosh computer users can transfer photos, record voice conversations, and enjoy more complete interaction with her desktop PC. $2000 later, and the choice is clear. The true genius of Apple's marketing tactics reveals itself.

At this point I should seek to point out that I deplore any idea of brand loyalty, particularly in relation to technological equipment. For the most part, I use what's cheap and what works. Zealots aside, that's probably true of most computer uses. To this end, Apple PCs (no, this is not an oxymoron) still have a long way to go if they are to become mainstream appliances.

Clearly, too, iTunes isn't without its faults. I, for one, have had to grapple with many problems importing my music backup archive, and the interface seems buggy and unresponsive (due no doubt, according to Apple beaux, to the fact that it is running on windows). Even so, the Windows rollout has gone amazingly well for an x86 launch, and - to some extent - the problems that have arisen have been blown out of proportion by users who have come to expect nothing less than perfection from a company that spends more R&D dollars on industrial design than substantive technological development.

I would, however, give a word of warning to those who - like myself - have found themselves rather impressed by this nifty new gadgetry and its graceful Atticism. To use iTunes is open oneself to the prospect of stylistic refinement so expensive - so repugnantly unctuous - as to render the prospect of using anything less an affront to the intellect. Alas, I fear myself already enraptured by Apple's seductive candy.