Originally Posted by bluechang:
“As far as I heard, Apple have now made the new Ipods so that they will only work with Itunes, rendering all 3rd party software apps useless (correct me if i'm wrong)
The same goes with 3rd party cradles etc”
No, they changed a file on iTunes to reduce corruption issues that has caused some 3rd party apps to break. All the writers of these apps needs to do is to release an update. Remember, Apple made the change to improve iTunes - it does not need to do anything to make it work with 3rd party apps.
Regarding docks, cables and so on. iPod Touch and iPhone now output component and composite video out signals so thus needed a new cable thus old ones won't work. It was not done to break compatibility, it was an upgrade to provide a better service.
The old cables, docks and so still work with iPod Classics and Nano's and new third party ones will work with the iTouch and iPhone - there is no DRM chip or any other nonsense in the cables.