San Diego-based MusicMatch Inc. has greeted the arrival of iTunes for Windows with a stark warning to users: delete Apple's software.

MusicMatch's popular Jukebox software is bundled with Apple's iPod MP3 player, but it's doubtful for how much longer. In September MusicMatch launched its own online MP3 download service as a rival to Apple's iTunes Music Store. And last month Apple launched iTunes for Windows with a glitzy launch at which Bono - perhaps already thinking of a curl of white smoke rising above the Vatican spelling the words "Yes, you with the Raybans" , only in Latin - compared Steve Jobs to the Dalai Lama.

MusicMatch suggestions for peaceful coexistence include the following advice:

• Disconnect the iPod from your computer if it is still connected
  
• Double click on 'My Computer'
  
• Double click on 'Control Panel'
  
• Open 'Add or Remove Programs'
  
• Select and uninstall 'iTunes'

And so it goes. MusicMatch asks iPod owners on Windows to then delete MusicMatch before reinstalling it from the CD or from http://www.musicmatch.com/download/free/?OS=pc&OEM=APPLE" target="_blank">here.

"If you install iTunes, you will not be given a choice between Musicmatch Jukebox and iTunes - Apple makes this choice for you," adds the note, picking up on the 'choice' theme we've heard from Microsoft and Dell. Apple and MusicMatch are locked in a battle to see who can infect as many personal computers with DRM as quickly as possible. Clearly, this town is only big enough for one MP3 player-stroke-online MP3 download service. ®

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