I’ve finally taken the MP340 out of the box and it’s sitting on my desk charging. I’m going to leave it there this week-end and explore it more on Monday before the kids clap their eyes on it.

One of the things I did though was connect it to my PC and launch iTunes. Surprise surprise, it didn’t see it. I guess this has been written before but I think it’s a pretty sneaky move to proprietizing music playback. It’s like selling a CD and then only being able to play it back on a player from a single manufacturer. Don’t know what’s on the accompanying disk but maybe I’ll re-install Music Match or Real Player – that should smooth things out.

I suddenly have an issue with Apple’s system of patenting everything. Their products are undeniably slick, I’m not so sure I can say the same thing about their business practices.

But I digress. The MP340 is a cute little thing. I’ll post about the performance when I’ve had a chance to play with it a little.

What I like about it so far is what it stands for. Suddenly, Acer is right smack in the middle of mainstream consumer products and convergency as a result is a little bit closer to becoming a reality.

As a concept, convergency is definitely something I’m in to. Bringing the best of both worlds (IT and consumer electronics) together is a killer idea, and I really like that Acer is making the first moves. I mean, there aren’t too many Pioneer PCs knocking about are there?