>>>I feel like an army of one here ;-)
>>>
>>>Since I started this thread, I will say I do not like proprietary software (including Windows). I do like Apple hardware and I especially like the new models of the iMac and iPod. As soon as I can get an order in for a red iPod Nano it will be on its way. Sexy, sexy, sexy. That's the bottom line right there. You can find cheaper imitators but there is only one iPod, and now it's better and cheaper than ever. There is a reason it has 80+% market share in a field with many players. Even the after-market is thriving. The other day I was in Target and found half an aisle of devices that hold iPods and play them through speakers. (The coolest one I have seen is sold at Brookstone, something called a BoomBucket).
>>>
>>>The other part of today's announcement was that the price of iPhones will drop from $599 to $399. Apple has sold close to a million of them already but analysts say they have picked the low hanging fruit -- what an apt metaphor, for once -- and are running into the cutthroat realities of the cell phone business. Apple stock dropped about 5% following the announcements. Personally that doesn't concern me given that it's up 70% for the year.
>>>
>>>I love Apple and Apple products. So shoot me ;-) They just Do Things Right. Their products will be taught in college design classes if they aren't already.
>>
>>The thing is that I like to be able to simply copy mp3s to the device and listen. None of this being forced to mess with iTunes and all. I especially like the idea of devices that take sd or xd cards so you can expand the memory to whatever you might need.
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>>Since it spends most of its life hidden in my shirt pocket or a backpack, the colour and other costly pizazz designs really don't interest me.
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>>I'm looking for a good portable device that plays ogg files. I know they're out there, but I haven't spotted a good one yet.
>>
>
>You do need to load MP3 files to the iPod via the iTunes library. That's probably to steer you toward buying songs from iTunes as well, which you don't have to do. I don't find it much of a burden to copy songs that way rather than straight from Windows Explorer et al.
>
>I ordered an iPod this morning. I wound up going with the Classic -- which is not available in red, alas -- because it has 10 times the capacity for only $50 more. The plan is to start loading some podcasts and listen to them on the train, in addition to dumping loads of my CDs onto it.
>
>I'm still excited. You doubting Thomases can't deter me ;-) (And don't even get me started about the new iMac, which I intend to make my full time home computer).

iTunes is pretty good software, but I don't want to be forced to use it. I am a WinAmp guy myself.