++ [ originally posted by BigIzz ] ++
I'm going to have to disagree with you a bit here. I like the iPod because it is simple to use. I don't think it means you are lazy because you aren't willing to use a more inefficent operating system, which every other player pretty unanimously has.
I've used the iPod. I've used iRiver and Rio. To be honest, they're all pretty darn simple. It's a toss-up. I mean, we're talking a simple consumer electronics product here where all it really has to do is seek, play, and move around MP3s. We're not exactly talking about some computer OS that has to support a million possible configurations of peripherals and device drivers. The OS on a player here is pure commodity... noise level, really.
I think it's "lazy" for the same reason that buying a Honda Accord in the U.S. 10 years ago was a lazy answer (and similarly, why dealers then charged a $1500 premium just based on demand/waiting lists alone). Or why buying Sony stereo equipment is a lazy answer. It's about going with the flow for what's popular. Popular isn't a bad thing. Things are popular for a number of reasons, but its not necessarily because it's the best value out there.
Don't get me wrong -- the iPod is a very good product. But as with many things in higher demand, you pay a bit more for what you can get from competitors, feature for feature. (Basic marketing principles allow Apple to charge a premium over their competitors for that reason.) And the most popular products are not always the best products on the market either.
First, the iPod is unquestionably the market leader and has tremendous support and third party developers.
No argument there...
The iPod will be around in 5 years but will the other players?
Ironically, if you look back, the iPod hasn't been around for that long. Meanwhile Rio, for example, has been around making MP3 players for at least 6 years.
If you are going to spend $150-200 on one, why not just spend $200-300 for the best one?
Because pound-for-pound, feature-for-feature, you could get the same level of quality in a player (as rated by some semi-trustworthy third party comparison review) with the same disk space for about $100 less if you don't get an iPod. Plays all the same stuff with all the same basic features. Maybe even has better compatibility for people with desktop PCs instead of Macs for that matter too.
To change the subject a bit, you work for CNet? That must be a lot of fun. Ive used their website for years, I even remember watching their TV show back in the day. What do you do for them?
I've been there for over 8 years now... and they used to film some of their TV shows right outside my office. But then the public finally got around to realizing that all this Internet stuff over a TV is boring once the novelty wore off -- you can only take so many hand-on-mouse shots interspersed with computer screens.
I manage a team of software engineers who develop a few of our sites and run their back-end publishing and commerce systems.