So, you start up your browser, and QuickTime says it has a crucial upgrade. It tells you that QuickTime 7.1 contains a new H.264 codec (there's the carrot) and an important security fix (there's the stick).
"But wait," you think. "QuickTime and iTunes are bundled together now. I can't upgrade QuickTime without being forced to install iTunes, and I don't *&$*#^#$# WANT to install *$#%% iTunes."
Well, hey, guess what! Steve Jobs listened! Now you can get a standalone QuickTime installer again that doesn't bundle iTunes. It's theoretically existed before, but you couldn't get to it because of link loops on the site, and then in 7.0 it apparently went away altogether. In 7.1, it's back, and accessible.
Find it here, for either Mac OSX 10.3.9 or later, or Windows 2000/XP.