The Financial Times says Apple has already won the battle for online music dominance, because so many consumers have made an investment in digital music that only works with iTunes and iPod.

Many analysts and pundits claim that Apple will suffer the same fate with its closed systems as it did in the computer business, when the company allowed Microsoft to gain critical mass. That is the gamble in this high-stakes game of controlling the next generation of music distribution.

But as it stands now, Apple has myself and tens of millions of other iTunes users all but locked in. Even if Microsoft comes up with a better system and Sony some day figures out how to design a decent MP3 Walkman, I will not be switching from Apple. I cannot, because those songs I purchased on iTunes can only be played on my iPod. The switching costs are too high now. It is that way for most iTunes and iPod users.