Apple iTunes and Windows

I hate Apple. Why can't they make products that work for me instead of making me work for them? Why do I have to switch my wireless carrier to use their phone? Why can't I just use iTunes to give them my money without having to upgrade my OS or use their hardware?

My specific complaint is with iTunes on Windows XP x64, a stable, usable platform that has been stable for years. The only 64 bit Windows OS Apple supports is Vista, which is an unstable mess of a failure. Microsoft has all but disinherited Vista.

Not only that but in order to try to buy a single stupid song I had to uninstall a hacked, but working version of iTunes to try to upgrade, which I did on the incorrect premise that Apple had maybe finally written a 64 bit version of their installer, spend hours trying to rehack the 8.1 iTunes installer before giving up in frustration.

Now I have no iTunes on my machine, Apple didn't get my $1.99 or whatever for the song. Luckily Winamp has written an application which actually works which allows me to manage my iPod without iTunes, as I was never able to get iTunes to recognize my iPod with my hacked installer.