[SamAdams76]

I've had an iPod since early September and I must honestly say that it is life-altering. My massive 1000+ CD collection is now boxed up in the attic, serving as backup only, for the time when I might want to re-rip my collection to a higher bit-rate. From those CDs, I got about 7200 pieces of music to my iPod - eliminating all the "filler tracks" that I used to skip over when I played the CDs manually. I still have about 3000 more songs to add before I reach the capacity of my 40gig device. I'm sure that by the time I get those 3000 songs, there will be 60GB, 80GB or even 100GB+ iPods on the market that I can upgrade to.

Imagine having every piece of music that ever meaned something to you on a device the size of a deck of playing cards! I have about 40 playlists setup already. For example, I can select the "Late 1970s" playlist and hear all the music from my high school days. Or I can play nothing but songs from the year I was married or, as I'm doing right now, I can play nothing but Christmas songs. Not the same old crap that you hear on the radio but MY Christmas songs. All 1300 of them, on shuffle (I'll remove them at the end of the holiday season).

Or I can just hit Shuffle ALL SONGS and hear my 7200 songs all mixed up. It would take me nearly a month playing my iPod 24/7 to hear them all. I could go from The Cars to Weezer and then to something from Johnny Cash and then it will plunge right into a Beethoven symphony. The iPod has a mysterious way of shuffling your songs so that it all makes perfect sense somehow.

And when you are in the mood to just hear a particular album from start to finish, well you can do that as well!

I have an iPod dock that plugs into my home stereo - awesome sound. I also have an FM modulator that plugs into the iPod that allows me to broadcast to any FM radio. I use it in the car or I use it to "take over" somebody's stereo when I don't like what station they are tuned into. I was at a family Christmas Party last week and one of my punk nephews decided to blast some rap music on his boombox. Well I saw what frequency he was tuned to and jammed it with my iPod. Poor kid didn't know what to do when his boombox suddenly started playing a Christmas song by Frank Sinatra!

I've also been buying legit music on iTunes for 99 cents a pop. But they have a long, long way to go. There is still so much music that is still unavailable at iTunes. Like the article states, they need to get to about 20-25 million songs before people start using it as an alternative to buying the CD.

BTW, I downloaded the new U2 album on iTunes and I got a PDF with the cover art and lyrics. Now there is even less reason to buy the CD. I paid $9.99 for the entire album online. Would have costed at least $13.99 at the store.

[.38sw]

I just got a 20g iPod, and haven't loaded a lot on it yet. Just getting started. I bought a small set of speakers to use when I'm doing things where I don't want to use headphones. And I'm not exactly young! I just love new toys.

[John Lenin]

The stores have run out of iPods and I hear they are selling above retail price on Ebay.

[goldstategop]

It works with Windows as well as with Mac. Paypal is even getting in on the craze by offering its members the opportunity to download five free songs if they get an iTunes account with Apple.

[bikepacker67]

I can play nothing but Christmas songs. Not the same old crap that you hear on the radio but MY Christmas songs. All 1300 of them

You have 1300 Christmas songs?!

Don't tell me... you must own that Terry Bradshaw Christmas album

[traumer]

[ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton]

Well SA thanks for the review.

For the life of me until I read your review, I couldn't see what the fuss was about.

My thing is that I don't want to have to wear earplugs all the time, but with this FM transmitter you mention, I could play it from any radio....

You can't look at product reviews and see how this device actually works in real life...

Aren't they still a little pricey and bound to fall to 40% of their current cost in 6 months?

Are all the things you mention (like the FM transmitter) extra?

How do you connect the thing to a CD player to 'rip' a song?

Also what digital music service do you recommend?

Could I get started on my 200 gig desktop and get an iPod this spring at a fraction of their current cost?

How are they on batteries?

[Yossarian]

I was an iPod lover, until my 3rd Gen iPod bit the dust last week. It was only 1.5 years old, and rendered useless, with no repair recourse. I think that's pretty ridiculous for a $500 dollar device!

Still, though, I might replace it with another one...I have too many iTMS songs purchased now to contemplate a WMV player, and more importantly, I have an iPod dock hard wired into my car & car stereo. (It is hidden in what used to be the ashtray...who smokes in their car anymore?)

I certainly will be buying the extended warranty to go with it, that's for sure....

[jalisco555]

Ipods are also great for listening to recorded books. I listen to them when I'm in the car, working out, working in the house, etc. That things going all the time.

[ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton]

BTW, Sam...

Don't you think Handel's Messiah beats the Brady Bunch and the Chipmonk Christmas CD's?

[martin_fierro]

It took 3 networked PCs and several days to rip and backup all my CDs to my new 4G 40 gig iPod.

But it was worth it!

[big'ol_freeper]

Ping

[Cicero]

I confess I haven't tried this yet, but a good alternative is the Dell digital jukebox. I've read that they're better than I-pod, although I can't vouch for that from experience. But I've seen a fair number of students with them.

Here's the Dell web page. Warning: you get to hear music while you look it over. According to the web page, Dell is recommended by Oprah as well as a couple of PC magazines.

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/dj?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

[Richard Kimball]

Horwitz said, "If Apple can attract enough mainstream consumers to the iPod platform - people who aren't familiar with tools for online piracy and prefer not to risk being sued by the RIAA - they can grow the legal market for music even further."

I know how to use peer to peer and I'm not that worried about RIAA. I use iTunes because I don't like stealing.

[.38sw]

I bought one of these to protect my iPod:

iSkin evo2