Bottom line, Ipod= Well marketed, and user friendly. The "grandmas" out number the amount of technically savvy consumers....IMO.

Windows users are the very definition of sheep. "Ease of use" is the whole point. How do you not get that?!

As marketing it will work. Sure, as soon as something is as pervasive as iPods currently are, there is some marketing hay to be made by saying - our product is not that. The inescapable irony is a marketing campaign - any marketing campaign that invokes individuality - there's something very hegelian about that. In any case it will succeed in carving out the market segment of self identified non-conformists. I do think that an mp3 player with voice recording has some legs, even if the marketing is lame.

Value.Value.Value..Not all music downloaders have wads of cash! Extras!! We like Them! It`s about time we got Something for our Hard earned money!! Way to go Sandisk...Were not all Apple puppets!

Sorry don't think so. Made the mistake of purchasing "Another" Brand of MP3 Player and guess what? After the 3rd one needed repair in a matter of a couple of months, Did what I should have done in the first place and purchaed an IPOD. What a difference in ease of use, Sound, and just simplistic use. IPOD killer, have heard that one before, and again, guess what? It is still the top player on the market. I will believe it when I see it, and in the meantime, suggest you purchase an IPOD and don't make the same mistake I did. I do not regret it ever since "Making The Switch".

My son bought my an iPOD for my 65 birthday. Great gift I thought since I had been shopping some time for one. Couldn't wait to get home and put some music on it. The first thing I saw was "don't disconnect the iPOD". What's this? I tried to copy some music onto the iPOD but found that only through iTunes could someone install music. Then I tried to place mp3 files I had stored on DVDs and couldn't do that either. The files must be resident on your computer harddrive. How handy is that? Since the iPOD is advertised as a storage medium for digital pictures while on the road I wanted to delete some of the music to make room. Sorry you need your computer again. Another handy feature, eh? Well now I needed to know how to change the batteries when flying those long trips. Oops sorry can't do that either. Apple must have hired Rob Reiner as the project engineer for the iPOD. My grandson has an MP3 player that he can change the battery in a minute and just drags his music onto the player as he would a thumbdrive, plus it has an FM player. What was the name of that player? My iPOD has about 20 minutes of use and probably won't get much more until some third party software is developed to make it useable.

I have never heard of anything that does not have its own quirks. Yes, a computer and iTunes is needed for the iPod. That's what gives it it's individuality. After that, all is as smooth as a coaster ride. You just begin to enjoy it all.

Why is it that when something is so popular and is in huge demand, the competition invariably refers to the throng buying the product as sheep? Perhaps, as in the case of the iPod, it's a fantastic product. The fact that there are dozens of optional components to further customize it for each users need and individuality is a plus. I don't want an FM tuner, so why should I pay for an MP3 player that has one built in? Problems because a computer is needed to add music or edit files? How were you planning to load it anyway? Music has to be resident on your computer to sync? Perhaps the people at Apple are trying to ensure people don't steal from the artists by using someone elses CD to load their player. White earbuds forever!

Yes, as long as you install Apple's proprietary software you can load your iPod easily... that is, if it still works. I've had two Shuffles, the simplest, and in theory, most robust, of the iPod models. Guess what, they both flash error messages on their LED's after 6 months. Go to the iPod support site and look at all the folks with similar issues. My other MP3 player lets me use whatever music management software I want, Musicmatch, WMP, winRAR, etc (yes, they are all Windows apps... easy is nice but I'd rather have software). You'd think that Apple would have figured out this proprietary thing by now, even non-techies like to have a choice! Baaahhhh!

You have to hand it to Apple...they have earned their spot in the MP3 market. I work in sales and I have been very impressed with how they approached this product. I have 2 iPods now and they are the simplest, best performing MP3 players I have ever used. They have created software that is fun, easy to use and you can buy their music for a flat price...no games. I especially like that Steve Jobs had the jewels to stand up to the recording industry to keep prices at .99. Sheep? I don't think so...consumers know a good thing when they see it.

You have to hand it to Apple...they have earned their spot in the MP3 market. I work in sales and I have been very impressed with how they approached this product. I have 2 iPods now and they are the simplest, best performing MP3 players I have ever used. They have created software that is fun, easy to use and you can buy their music for a flat price...no games. I especially like that Steve Jobs had the jewels to stand up to the recording industry to keep prices at .99. Sheep? I don't think so...consumers know a good thing when they see it.