iPod Killers

Sure, there's plenty of great players out there; I have the iAudio M3, but the average user isn't going to do the research to find out about these other players. It's like the “I thought IE was the internet thing”. People will think iPod is the mp3 player, and frankly, for these users not looking for OGG support, line in and out and internal mic, a stylish, easy to use iPod is probably the best thing out there for them.
There is no such thing as an iPod killer because other DAP makers just don't get that to be popular, you've got to do what Apple do.

Yet another “iPod killer” that will never be heard of & never go anywhere.
Chris is a Fucking idiot. Too cheap to buy the real deal so he makes himself feel better by making up crap.
He must be up in Redmond getting his head filled with bullshit.

Not sure about why all the hate, but I've never felt like I'm locked into “apple”. I got my free Itunes songs from the promo soda promo, but most of my tunes have been thru Allofmp3. That's if I want MP4, otherwise itunes will convert those “other” formats.
Ogg heads and WMA fans may parise those formats, but looking for those propriety files is hard enough, but even when you find them all you get is converted MP3 files.
Then there's the elegance of the Ipod, ease of use for those non tech heads who can't program a VCR, but can download tunes to their Ipods with no problem.
PS. for us gear heads why buy a flash player, or a hard drive player with less than 4 gigs, when you can buy 1 gig memory sticks for less than 30 bucs. A nice PocketPC or Palm can play all those ugly formats and more. As a matter of fact I dont need a protable media player, my Mpeg to pocket converter just finished formating Elf so that I can see the masterpiece film in my little Toshiba pocketpc.

The Apple iPod has been “in trouble” for — what? — four years now? And it commands 90%+ of the market? And how many iPod + iTunes users are dissatisfied with their choice? Do these other devices integrate into our lives as seemlessly as iPod + iTunes?
I thought Chris was above the “Apple's stuff is all proprietary and that makes it suck” crowd.
Choice and affordability ain't all they're cracked up to be if your affordable choices are crap. Remember: “good enough” is rarely ever good enough. “Better” rarely ever equals affordability and feature-rich.

The IRiver makes some very good devices,but this is nothing new. The iPod crowd has been comparing the two for the last 2 years. As for the Samsung piece of crap, I can't believe you even mention it in the same sentence as an iPod or iRIver.
It's Chris's opinion of course but to be honest I don't think it is a very well though out one.

Damn. I never knew I was locked into one service, player?
I guess I must be some idiot here with two iPods and 9,000 songs.
Thanks for showing me what a fool I've been.

you guys are all idiots truth is the more research you do the more youll see that the ipod is not the best choice out there….it cant even play a cd gaplessly….and the best thing you can come up with is that…it “integrates into our life seamlessly”…what player doesn't do that if you use it on a daily basis….i mean come on….you actually think that ipod is the best choice out there for the price…you can get so much more on out DAPs…such as line in recording,fm,ogg support, etc at the same or cheaper prices…personally the samsung player is a much better choice than the mini….apple makes some of the most overpriced products out there….basically the ipod is a fashion statement… there is no way you can weigh all the options carefully and telll me that ipod comes out the winner value wise…..
from a former IpodMini, and 3rd gen ipod owner..