Apparently this is a rumor that was believed to have started by some anti-microsoft, Mac-fanatic and the Wall Street Journal printed it. However; Microsoft's Media Manager went on TV and said that Microsoft in no way wants to prohibit the use of MP3 Technology. XP is supposed to be optimized for media and it would be "stupid" to not have MP3's supported. XP's beta version is buggy in media playing which fueled the rumor.
The Truth...XP will have limited ripping abilities; however, 3rd party software can get around it easily. XP also seems to favor the .WAV and .WMA formats. But WILL play .MP3's, it will just not be optimized for it.
XP will have an anti-piracy code built in that would require you to call Microsoft on every re-install and after changing your hardware configuration 10 times. XP will also NOT support USB 2.0. You can thank Mr. Gates for this stuff since this is his idea.
From the current reviews and opinions I have heard...People who use Windows 2000; did not like XP so far. But it is still in Beta so we should at least wait till the final version is shipped before we pass judgement.
Linux anyone?