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Originally Posted by jspchief
Ipod probably really is the best. It's the benchmark for features you'll search for in other MP3 players. It also has the widest variety of aftermarket accessories, by far.
The only downside of the Ipod is the price. Some people don't like Itunes, but I don't mind it.
Having bought both an Ipod, and a similar player by another manufacturer, I would get another Apple if I had to get another.
Others will be along shortly to tell you it's a product of it's marketing, but I challenge anyone to find a better player.
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I basically agree with this, but I will add one other drawback to the iPod. While you can definitely load all your .mp3's onto your iPod whether you've paid for them or not, you are limited to associating your iPod with one computer (unless you use 3rd party software). That means that you can't visit a friend's house and load music from his computer to your iPod without wiping out what you already have on it. Other .mp3 players allow you to do this, but Apple tries to prevent it in the name of making it harder to share/pirate music.
Having said that, my wife, our kids, and I each have our own iPods (4GB mini, 1GB nano, 2 GB nano, and 30GB video) and we all like them. We've also had a few of the flash-type mp3 players and some are far better than others. The display and navigation capabilities are key, IMO. My daughter had an iRock that she liked a lot. She lost it and bought a Memorex that sucked because of the poor navigation scheme. iPods have a very effective display/navigation scheme.
One other thing. The ability to create/manage playlists on-the-fly on an iPod leaves room for improvement. There's plenty of functionality for this within iTunes on your computer, but only rudimentary capabilities on the iPod itself. I don't know if any of the other branded players are better at this or not, but it could be a differentiator.