Just to say this. I;d rather buy a good Creative player than go for an I-pod.
Battery life, and not just that, but the fact it is non-removable really bothers me. Yes, some Creative players do too, but I wouldn't go for them.
Sound quality isn't that great on I-Pod and I can definitely tell that since I am great at noticing sound changes, etc.
I have to agree though, it does have some solid features that makes it a good product for some people.
People with I-tunes already, or people with a Mac enviroment will get on better with the player than someone like I would.
Though I have to agree that the I-Tunes software isn't that bad to use, and sometimes use it myself as it came along withj Quicktime which got me using it. Plus, I guess it converting WMA files automatically for you is a plus if this is what you want to play.
Anyway, I still think Creative have better side on this part of the industry, but I am still looking for something differnet both companies cannot fill, yet they seem to be competing.
The Creative Micro (the 20gig version) seems great, but something Creative doesn't seem to do, or Apple is to have a folder structure instead of using the ID3 tags, as some of my MP3's don't work well with that, and I'd rather order the files myself.