<p>go with anything by Creative. apple stock is getting abused due to the decline in sales of ipods because people have finally realized that the ipod is garbage compared to anything made by creative.</p>
<p>I personally have the Belkin pink leather flip case for iPod Mini. Apple and Target sell it for around $25, but I found mine for $18 from MacMall. It protects really well, isn't too bulky and best of all, it's cute!</p>
<p>I like the xcessories ( ;) ) by xtreme mac
<a href="http://www.xtrememac.com/%5B/url%5D">http://www.xtrememac.com/</a></p>
<p>Does anyone know if it's possible to store non-music files (like documents or videos) on an iPod or Creative Lab's mp3 player? It would be nice to be able to put it all on one device instead of having an mp3 player plus a portable USB memory card.</p>
<p>I can use my iPod as a storage device. I turned of the auto-sync feature as soon as I started using the iPod but I don't know if that is necessary in order to use it has a regular storage device. However, I'll continue to use my USB flash drives as my primary portable storage devices for school.</p>
<p>I know you can put files on Creative's stuff.</p>
<p>Always turn off auto-sync on an ipod, its just a good idea...</p>
<p>They definately work as a harddrive (they simply show up as one when you plug them in).</p>
<p>Personally I have always disliked the creative players and their crappy internal software and external software. They can make some nice hardware usually but their usability engineers are total idiots. I prefer the new ipods to my creative player any day (just get better than the stock headphones).</p>
<p>As to the music monthly services, why on earth would you want to pay for a collection that you cant even keep if you stop paying. What guarantee do you have that they oneday wont dissapear with the company or become unplayable due to a billing error. If you dont think you will want to listen to the music you are getting NOW in a couple of years, what are you doing listening to it now? Find something better. CD's are great, Itunes is great (and the files are much better than crappy wmas) and p2p still works pretty well.</p>
<p>I prefer the zen touch's interface over the ipods anyday. Improved sound quality and the same space at a lower price made the deal for me. Creative has greatly enhanced its players of old and now are much easier to use. Don't go by the past but by the now.</p>
<p>I don't understand why people have problems with Creative's software. </p>
<p>I bought a Touch and it's extremely easy and straightforward. Maybe if you knew nothing about computers you'd have problems, but just use a bit of common sense here.</p>
<p>I think one issue is that a very large number of people (not everyone) who have iPods simply aren't very computer savvy.</p>
<p><em>Gets ready for 1000 angry iPod users.</em></p>
<p>Creative just cant write software, their music software is usually horribly crippled and their drivers behave like trash. The only reason that the zen's have gotten better interface is because they started copying features and UI design from the ipods but they still cant touch the click-wheel from the mini/4g ipod. It was cool when they tried to be like the "power-user player" but with the touch they have just started trying to be as simple as the ipod but its not as good.</p>
<p>I'd be happy to have a good competitor for the ipod (and multiplatform support is a MUST even though creative doesnt see it that way) but that's not going to happen until creative gets some real UI designers. It may not even need to happen, why does there have to be a good competitor as long as there are some mediocre ones that keep apple trying.</p>
<p>I havent had any problems so far with my new zen touch and the software. A lot of it has been drag and drop, and it loads on. I don't see any of these rather crippling problems you have been speaking about. I personally like the specialized buttons for specific purposes, especially the shuffle and making playlists on the spot. I don't know if the iPod had that feature yet.</p>
<p>Great news: A new 20gb ipod has been released with color.</p>
<p>I usally look products in terms of the fair weather friends approach. Every thing is great when it is working, but what happens if you have a probelm.</p>
<p>In the end I beleive that you get what you pay for. If you have a problem with your Ipod and you are under warranty (it really pays to spend the $59 for the extended warranty)if you have a problem with it you can return it to apply (they send you an overnight repack kit) or go to one of the Genius Bars and have it fixed or replaced with out a lot of hassle. If you make an appoinment on line and go to one of the genius bars they usually fix or replace it on the spot.</p>
<p>I have a zen touch, and I initially had some problems with the software, but it was because I updated the firmware on the player but not the software to transfer the files, so it wouldn't recognize it. It is more of a hassle than the plug-and-play iPod, but I'd still rather have something with a couple of flaws that I can update the firmware on than something that never gets fixed, and the firmware is the annoyance of the zen touch.</p>
<p>I still prefer iTunes for listening to music on my computer, but I have a small enough collection that I rip my music into mp3s with Windows Media Player and it's not much of a pain to use the files for iTunes and Creative's software.</p>
<p>I got the zen touch because I like that I got a gig more space and FM radio for the same price as a 4 gig iPod mini. To me it's worth arguing with the firmware for that. The blue backlight is also really cool. I wish I could have gotten a neeon, though, but they've only been released in Asia.</p>
<p>Anyone think the ipod will experience a price drop soon?</p>
<p>nope. seems like there pretty hot right now.</p>
<p>5th gen ipod will come out eventually and the 4g's will get cheap.</p>
<p>As of today there was a $20-30 price drop on iPods at Fry's. One gig shuffles for $129 and 20 gig iPods for $279. Right now if you buy a over $1000 computer from Apple online, you get a $179 rebate on an iPod other than a shuffle. </p>
<p>Also, Fry's has a rebate for zen micro batteries... free battery if you buy a red, white, or dark blue micro in the next week. On creative's site, if you buy a zen micro in any color but black, you get free noise cancelling headphones, valued at $40.</p>
<p>Hmm...maybe I will buy that new 20 gig Color Ipod</p>
<p>If you download music from Itunes you aren't limited to using an Ipod. Check out <a href="http://www.hymn-project.org%5B/url%5D">www.hymn-project.org</a>. It has a program which converts the files you download from Itunes into ones you can use with any mp3 player. Go for a Creative Zen Micro.</p>