>No, there was a couple of years where they had DRMed music and it was a de facto moat, even if it wasn't a strategic moat.
How was it a moat? First, it only is a moat if people can't move platform. But:
1) iTunes was available for both Mac and Windows. So they could move OS.
2) Few people had any significant iTunes paid-for library, to make it any kind of significant barrier to live the iTunes music ecosystem. The huge majority of the songs on those iPods were ripped and pirated.
3) If anything, people kept coming INTO Macs FROM Windows (to the tune of Mac laptop share going from 2-3% to 10%), the other way around. Why would the existing Mac users even consider jumping ship (even if there was no moat as I say), if the general trend was the opposite?
I don't know why you're particularly invested in denying it. I don't think Apple treated it as a strategic priority, but it was definitely a thing at the time; if you went down the iTunes route, you pretty much had to use an Apple portable media player. The alternative was MP3s and the freedom to choose any player you like, including iPod.
How was it a moat? First, it only is a moat if people can't move platform. But:
1) iTunes was available for both Mac and Windows. So they could move OS.
2) Few people had any significant iTunes paid-for library, to make it any kind of significant barrier to live the iTunes music ecosystem. The huge majority of the songs on those iPods were ripped and pirated.
3) If anything, people kept coming INTO Macs FROM Windows (to the tune of Mac laptop share going from 2-3% to 10%), the other way around. Why would the existing Mac users even consider jumping ship (even if there was no moat as I say), if the general trend was the opposite?