USA Today has an analysis of the supposed iTunes meltdown that was widely reported at the beginning of the month. The author thinks the trouble isn’t with iTunes, it’s with DRM. “Since iPods went on sale people are consistently buying about 20 iTunes per iPod. There’s been a small uptick to 23 lately, but that’s it.”

Some choice quotes:

• … most people, even iPod owners, still get their legal music by and large from CDs, not online.

• People want their music without restrictions, and too many legal downloads, like those from iTunes, come with restrictions.

• Some subscription services will delete the music from your player when you cancel your subscription. You’d almost be better off buying an LP.

• They don’t want to have to match their music store with their music player any more than they want to have to match their brands of gasoline with their brands of car. (Our favorite.)

• What the Recording Industry Association of America lacks in brains it makes up for in stubbornness, and so the most hyped among the legal options either force us to accept unacceptable restrictions, or they force us to buy eight or nine crappy songs to get a couple of good ones.

DRM sucks. Just buy CDs!—MEGHANN MARCO

New report spells trouble for music industry, not Apple [USA Today]