As soon as an iPod or iPhone is plugged into the PC, Windows Vista crashes and shows the “blue screen of death” (BSOD), the critical error screen on a blue background that requires a reboot to recover, users said. The errors began showing up immediately after customers updated iTunes to Version 8.0, which Apple released Tuesday as part of its iPod refresh.

Apple has lured NBC Universal back into the iTunes fold after a yearlong pricing dispute that flared last summer, when Apple declined to sell new ‘Peacock’ episodes because its deal with NBC was set to expire in a few months.

The perils of music riddled with Digital Rights Management (DRM) software that we’ve been buying for years are now starting to come to light. With vinyl or CD you knew where you stood: you bought the music and, accidents aside, it would still play in ten years’ time. In the digital download age, however, that can’t be taken for granted.

While download sites like Apple’s iTunes offer recent releases and scads of library titles, there’s a void when it comes to some of Hollywood’s greatest — “The Wizard of Oz” and “Schindler’s List” among them — and some of its top-earners. Disappointed fans can either buy the DVD or troll underground peer-to-peer networks.