View this article at: http://dev.macnn.com/articles/05/08/19/mossberg.picks.itunes Friday, Aug 19, 2005 2:25pm Mossberg picks iTunes over ... Companies as formidable as Microsoft, Sony and Wal-Mart have been unable to gain any traction in the music download market, despite closely imitating iTunes, explains Walter Mossberg in his latest column. Mossberg cites three key reasons why iTunes has seen so much success, while others have not: tight integration with the iPod, ease of use on both PC and Mac, and "comparatively liberal" restrictions on downloaded files. Unable to find success with the 99-cents-per-song model pioneered by iTunes, competitors have turned to subscription-based programs. The problem, Mossberg says, is the rental model is "far more complicated and restrictive than iTunes, and has several big downsides." These downsides include a loss of music files the user stops paying his or her subscription. [See all the latest iPod-related news on iPodNN.]