News iPod license to print money

i think the remote bit is what i like best about the M3

i played with a mate's ipod a fair bit before buying my zen, i decided that there was no way in hell it was worth the extra £150 over a zen

 

Sad truth is that we on these forums are not representative of society as a whole - we are clued-up technophiles (well, most of us!) and we recognise that the iPod isn't the only thing out there. If you said "HDD based portable jukebox MP3 player" to most people, they wouldn't have a clue, and if you described what it was they would say "oh, you mean an iPod?"

And as for the other niceties we can discuss on bit-tech, like OGG files, FLAC, our distaste for mandatory proprietary interfaces, basically a lot of the things that can be considered advantages of competitors over the iPod, Joe Public hasn't got a clue.

Thanks to some clever marketing, a very handsome design and the ignorance of the public at large, Apple has effectively cornered the market.

 

Again ignoring the fact that Apple has effectively developed the superior product for at least some uses.

Give credit where credit is due. You don't like fanboys, mclean007, so don't just be an anti-apple fanboy.

 

I don't know if they have a superior product? Superior marketing for sure, and a ton of followers that buy them up because everyone else has one. I was one of them, I quickly sold mine. I fell victim to the barrage of people telling me how great it was and how I had to have one.
I'm not anti-apple, I think they have one of the best design teams in the business. I think the IPOD has gone the way of the TIVO. When you say DVR/PVR people assume you're using a TIVO - me personally I prefer a ReplayTV unit and more recently my HTPC with two analog and one HD tuner. Anyway the IPOD is a good product, is it the best or are others just as good in different ways that's to be debated.

 

Not quite an iPod, but... Xact Rego - MP3 player & recorder in a Sirius radio

... and I agree with you on the Tivo vs. RelayTV argument

 

im so weak, just ordered an iAudio M3 'brown' £200

 

I'm hardly an anti-apple fanboy - I really admire their products, including their desktop and laptop PC ranges and the iPod. I think they are fantastically well designed ergonomic masterpieces, and they sure as hell know their market.

The iPod does exactly what it needs to, and it does it fairly well. Additionally, I honestly cannot think of a single player that offers a more intuitive user experience, and the end-to-end solution provided by the iTunes music store and software makes it a very technophobe-friendly piece of kit.

I just think it is sad that 90+% of people would be totally unaware of any of its competitors, and therefore might end up buying an iPod because its a recognised brand rather than because it is necessarily the best product for their needs.

I've recognised a number of points where the iPod excels - as a matter of interest what did you mean by "at least some uses"?