EXACTLY! I used to work for an electronics liquidation place. We LOVED it when Apple people would call. They paid so much stupid money for stupid products. How about that Apple iSight for instance. $150 for a shitty web cam!? Or the $199.99 AirPort access point comparable to the Linksys, Belkin, Motorola, etc. units that run about $130 or less? I just don't get it.

Heh. I think my little player is cool. I can load it up for stuff I like and play it on the way to work. I've been temtped to look hard at the Apple stuff but it seems to be mainly hype.

I know the BMW unit will let you use your stereo controls for skip/scan/shuffle and the like.

Believe me, it really is. When I worked at that liquidation place we got about 1000 iPods on one of our bids. Those damn things sold SO FAST. We had paid $25.00/each for them and sold them all day long for $249.99.

We had the other brand units too and the only difference was the look..and the price. We sold the otheres for about $179.99 and couldn't hardly get rid of em. They all worked exactly the same!

America has a funny economy.

Most car adapters you get for any MP3 player will allow for the same. May not be as "clean" of an install as the factory BMW ones, but nothing really ugly and works just the same.

Because your daughter's high school friends or the hens at your wife's gym will look at the other player and be like "oh, that's not an iPod". :harumph:

I looked at a car that was "iPod ready" on the premium sound level, and basically there was just a plug where you could insert whatever cable from the iPod into the head unit and it would play the songs on the iPod.

Maybe it doesn't look "clean", but neither does having your iPod and a cable dangling out of your dash.

Apple has always been expensive. If you talk to an Apple kool aid drinker, it's analagous to BMW versus Mazda/Ford.... you get what you pay for.

I've worked with both systems and found both annoying in one respect or another. IMHO Apple has been stupid to lock their OS to hardware. Everyone knows the money is made in licensing, not in hardware. Everyone but Apple, I suppose. Perhaps that's why they have such a miniscule market share? :hmmm:

I like my iPod Shuffle. I could not find a smaller MP3 player... that thing is tiny! Its no larger than a pack of chewing gum, and it holds 300+ songs. Of course, I listen to punk, so the songs I like are all < 2min, but still it holds a butt load of music! :)

Only complaint I have had is/was w/ iTunes. The interface/GUI is nice, but it is a flaky POS! It intermitently fails to recognize my iPod, then it geeks the firmware. Once I switched to WinAmp + the iPod plugin, I had no problems.

I think you are missing the point.

Look at boom boxes for example. Bose, Altec Lansing, Klipsh, etc., all have boom boxes for the iPod. Options at any price point. How many companies have boom boxes for the Creative players? It's nice to be able to choose from a wide variety of products. Do you not agree?

Everyone and their brother is building products for the iPod. Why? Because it has become the standard. The iPod is about the complete experience. You may discount that, but millions of people agree. Why has the iPod become a HUGE business? Not because us Apple loving zealots :rolleyes: all went out and bought one. Apple sold almost 6.5 million iPods the last QUARTER. They are obviously doing something right.

Yeah, I think it's very cool... however the other MP3 player manufacturers are doing the same thing - only cheaper.

Apple needs to pay close attention to the market, or they'll get trounced (again).

My "ipod" comes with a phone, camcorder, multimedia player, keyboard, and operating system.


http://www.bisonium.com/blog/images/...2ru05yiq-1.jpg

I think you have to with what works for you and pay for what you want. $50 did me up fine.

examples?

I completely agree. Some aren't too picky ;)

Holy crap, what did that mofo cost?! I hope you use it for business too ! :)

I work with a guy from Japan... he has the coolest *$&%ing gizmos EVER! His freaking wrist-watch also acts as a remote control. It's hilarious - we'll go to lunch and he'll start changing the channels on the televisions at the restaurant... confuses the hell out of peeps :D