Just as with the Democratic National Convention last month, Apple is offering free downloads of speeches from the Republican National Convention (RNC) through the iTunes Music Store. For its part, the RNCis Web site is promoting not only the iTunes Music Store, but iPods for people who might be interested in listening to speeches from the Republican convention.

On the RNCis schedule Web page, youill find the following:

Next to the iTunes window is the logo for Windows Media Player, which is more or less getting equal time with iTunes, though the latter is in front.

On the home page for the iTunes Music Store (iTMS), Apple has placed an ad linking to featured RNCis speeches.

Apple did the same thing for the Democratic National Convention in July, which prompted some Observers to ask if the company was playing political favorites. These questions were prompted in part because former Democratic Vice President Al Gore serves on Appleis board of directors. At the time, TMO confirmed with Apple that the company would be offering speeches from the Republicans, which has been born out by the presence of the RNC speeches on the iTMS.

The speeches are free to download from the iTMS.

Thanks to Observer Robert Lloyd for the heads up on the RNCis promo.