You are wrong. Apple poured millions to advertising yes, as they poured millions to design and programming. I've had an iriver, and it doesnt even compare to the ipod. Tell me, have you ever even owned one? My sisters Creative sucks, the touchpad on those is far too sensitive and the interface is clumsy. And, you can use an ipod without itunes. you personally dont like ipods, fine. but you cant really argue that it's not a top notch mp3player.
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It is definately a top notch mp3 player, but it is doesn't have a huge lead over the competition that it once had.
Can't say that I've ever owned an iPod as they are a touch too expensive for me to justify spending that kind of money on an mp3 player. Did get to spend a week with one a couple months back after a friend accidentally left his at my place before he went on a trip to Turkey. " I like the touch wheel and I think it works really well. It's way up there on the ease of use list. Which iRiver did you own anyway?
Haven't spent much time with the creative. Took a look at them before I made my purchase. Seemed to have pretty darn good sound quality and I agree that the touchpad is a little too sensitive, but not that much and I didn't have any problems with the interface.
I do agree with Kaftan though on the reason why iPods have been so successful. Apple created an image with their product and spent millions to get this image ingrained into the public. In the beginning their success was no doubt due to the design of the iPod itself, but now a lot of it is image.