Mine was held (in more ways than one) in the bathroom.

Here's why I bought an iPod:

- Because it integrates seamlessly in my setup. I have a $3,200 PowerBook, a $4,000 Power Mac, a $1,700 iMac and a $1,500 iBook. What's another $500 when I can plug it in and it does its thing automagically?

- Because iPod was fast before the others were. When I bought my first iPod in January 2002, there was nothing else comparable. I could grab 1,000 songs, drag them to my iPod, hop in the shower and <b>it was done by the time I had my hair washed</b>. Now that I have a 30 gig, it takes considerably more time - but since it holds my entire music collection (about 25GB), I only had to do it once - and even then, it was only like an hour.

- Because iPod is light and small. The "sleeker" design isn't just for looks. I can put an iPod in my pocket and barely realize it's there. This is good for a guy that has a cell phone, an iPaq 5455, a Clié NR70, keys and a big damn wallet (as well as the iPod). I don't need <b>another</b> heavy/large object in my pockets. The new iPod is <b>just over half an inch thick</b> and tips the scales at under six ounces.

- Because I know Apple will be around to support it. Who knows how long Archos will be around? Everyone thought Sonicblue was the next big thing, but... uh....

- Because Apple did pretty much everything right. The interface is fast and intuitive, everything just works, even the packaging is elegant and, yes, when you look at it, you can tell that someone cared about making this product the best.

People don't mind paying that price; the iPod is <b>the most popular portable MP3 player</b> - and for good reason.

As I said in the other thread where jaguar got uppity about his iPod, <b>if the Archos works for you, cool</b>. And as I said earlier in this thread, diff'rent strokes for different folks. I see the value in the iPod (I own three of them), and I'm not alone.

iPod rocks
 

It's just an awesome device.

I have a 10GB iPod. It is fast, interfaces with my PC just fine, and it just works.

I don't have to worry about size or durability. Considering my jacket pockets have my Panasonic Duramax, Samsung i300 Palm Pilot Phone, 10GB iPod, and occasionally my Diamond Mako PDA, this is welcome! Any other mp3 player would not fit in my jacket.

It's also put up with a lot of damage I can inflict. Considering I've gone through several notebooks, the fact that the iPod is still here is a good thing.

That, and it's got the standard Apple User Interface. I have been holding off on a Mac because of the obvious price/performance issue, but that should be solved with the 970. However, don't discount Apple. The UI makes it worth it.

I like small electronics that are unobtrusive. This is one of them.

Otherwise, it'll be joined by a PowerMac 970 soon, hopefully running Oracle 64-bit :).

M

Archos and everybody else uses a 2.5 inch notebook drive. iPod uses a 1.6 inch drive, the same size as the old PCMCIA hard drives. It's not just sleek, it's small.

The convenience of the iTunes Music Store kills me.

So I'm sitting here thinking "You know, I really want to hear 'There Goes The Neighborhood'", which is a relatively obscure track by Ice T's rock band Body Count from back in the early 90's. I do a search and, sure enough, they have the entire album. Two clicks (I have that 1-click shit turned off, just in case I have an accident) and ten seconds later, I have a digital copy of the six minute song on my PowerBook hard drive. Less than a second after that, it's done copying to my iPod. Now I've got it whenever I want to listen to it.

And such has been the case with 41 other tracks now (though 26 of them were bought as an album). I love it. I want a song, I search, I click, and it's mine. No hassle whatsoever, and it costs me a buck a song. One less bottle of Diet Pepsi.

I've also found some rather interesting stuff I've never heard of before. I did a search for "Just What I Needed" by the Cars, which, unfortunately, they didn't have yet. But I saw a cover of it by a band called Ghoti Hook. The album is a cover album titled "Songs We Didn't Write". I bought the song, along with their covers of "Earth Angel" and "Where Is My Mind". They're kinda punky and I definitely think they did a good job on 'em.

Apple is adding music as fast as they can rip it, verify it and add the album art. Every day, something new pops up - including exclusives from some rather big-name artists. They added some 4,300 songs on Tuesday, including a pretty big section of the Doors.

Jenni is looking for some Fleetwood Mac, and since their CDs are always in the $15 range (around here, anyway - $13.49 at Amazon) and don't always have songs on 'em that she likes, I'll probably let her pick-and-choose 15 or so tracks to buy and then burn on a CD. Is $1/track worth it for a mix CD of your favorite tracks when you didn't have to buy the original CDs? For me, I think it probably is.

The more I use it, the more I like it. It's got me excited in music again. There are a number of artists where I'll always buy the physical CDs and rip (Tool, Nine Inch Nails), but for stuff like Body Count, this is perfect.

The ads must go.

Here's why: the people are supposed to be singing along to their iPods, but they aren't. In the Eminem one, the kid speeds through the song as if the Pod went at 1.5x speed. In another one, the singer drops a beat between verses. That's something you do if you're singing a song alone; if you do that with the song, you're off the beat.

Dave will be featured in the next commercial, singing the previously-mentioned Body Count song:

"Don't they know rock's just for whites?
Don't they know the rules?
Those niggers are too hard core.
This shit ain't cool."

That, or he'll sing Eminem's "Lose Yourself"...he does a really good job on that.

Ha! The funny thing was at the time, I had only heard the song once, but the chorus got stuck in my head.

(For those not in the know, when T-$ and Rho were down around Christmas, I rapped the chorus to Lose Yourself over and over and over in their rental car while Rho laughed her ass off and T-$ about had an aneurysm. Jenni also found it quite humorous.)

THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD! (dun dun dun dun dunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn) THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!

And yes, that fuckin' 12 year old Eminem wannabe annoys the shit out of me. Good lord.

Believe it or not, they actually *are* listening to the songs (from what I've read), so...

The ads may annoy you, but Apple's PR team has spent a lot of money (and has a lot of experience) making people want their stuff. At the very least, they'll get people thinking about the iPod, and that's a big first step.