I love Apple :o) I don't buy any of their products, but I do buy their competitor's products :o) Apple does a better job at innovation and spurring competition than any other. That's an interesting point. I've owned different versions of the Creative Zen MP3 player for almost 10 years, and have always found their sound quality to be much better than the iPod. There were certainly good MP3 players before the iPod came around, but one could argue that Apple's entrance into that area inspired other vendors.