In a stunning about-face, Sony has finally decided to support AAC in the next version of its music management software. This means that certain types of Sony Walkman digital audio players will now be compatible with the default compression format that iTunes uses.

However, since Apple has yet to license its Fairplay DRM, music bought from the iTunes Music Store will not be be supported.

Sony, which had long stubbornly clung to its proprietary ATRAC format, has recently changed its position, embracing more widespread formats such as MP3 and Microsoft's WMA.

Source: Asahi Shimbun