I laugh whenever I see people say that some hardware-based MP3/whatever player is an iPod beater. The trouble is, I don't think they know what an iPod is. There is a reason Apple usually refers to the product as iPod+iTunes. This is SO critical, it's not even funny.
If you miss this key point, you will forever wonder why the iPod is popular and your particular choice of music player isn't. Without iTunes, the iPod is barely half as compelling. Without the iPod... well, fill in the blanks.
Apple will continue to make inroads into the mp3 player department until somebody else works this out. Given that the iPod has been available for over three years now, I'm not going to hold my breath.
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