Apple has been granted a patent for its iTunes interface, marking the latest milestone in a path of preposterous interface patents that started with Amazon's 1-click e-commerce feature. What is Apple protecting? Does the company have serious software rivals in the Mac universe? Is there a developer in the Windows universe that doesn't consider iTunes to be an undeveloped weakling among desktop media players? Compared to iRiver's Media Jukebox, MusicMatch, and even the wretched RealPlayer (which is not represented by any interface patents, despite being ten years old), iTunes is an inconsequential plaything.
But only one competitor matters, and this patent is no doubt shielding iTunes from the thieving designs of Microsoft, which, as every Neptunian knows, attained world domination the last time it raided Apple's interface.
