that everything with a docking station is proprietary

[Arcade Man D]

I can use my WMP and not subject all of my music to Apple's DRM.

Except iTunes doesn't add DRM to any music you play/import in it, and the iTunes store has been DRM free for about a year now. *boggles*

[BlaqueKatt]

I've never seen another brand name which has so much continuity through their product line.

all creative products use mini usb, and don't limit what software/file type used-heck they support FLAC-only mp3 player that does...

[AdminAssistant]

and at $100 more for an ipod with less features.....um no thank you.

Exactly.

My Sanza was a Christmas present, and it cost around $150. Has 8G of memory and can do video, pictures, etc. I only use it for music, though. Oh, and, I don't have to use ITunes. I can use my WMP and not subject all of my music to Apple's DRM.

I have thought about getting a docking station, but it's such a big pain in the ass to find something that would be compatible. I think Sanza actually makes their own, but I'd have to look into it.

[BlaqueKatt]

I don't understand this. Why would a company not take advantage of the huge popularity of Apple products and manufacture companion products? I don't understand how this is illogical.

ipods are I believe 70% of the portable mp3 player market-so there's 30% of the mp3 players out there that are not ipods and won't work-so those of us that don't have ipods are either forced to buy one or can't connect it.

There are zero options other than ipod docking-80% of computers are non mac-yet third party companies make software and accessories for mac computers-but no third party accessories for non apple mp3 players-that's what's not logical.

Creative which is the number 2 mp3 player uses mini usb-which is non proprietary(heck I use the same data cable for my creative, my digital camera, and my cell phone)

and at $100 more for an ipod with less features.....um no thank you.

[the_std]

I work in an electronics store, and I can tell you that I sell ten iPods to one any-other-brand mp3 player. Plus all iPods (except the Shuffle) have the same docking connector in it, in roughly the same location on the unit, which makes it easy to produce docks that are compatible to all iPods. I've never seen another brand name which has so much continuity through their product line. Plus, with most docks, you can still use off-brand mp3 players. All you need is an auxiliary cable.

[Boozy]

And I really don't want to hear the "well they have a large market share"-if that logically made any kind of sense there would be no third party effort to make anything for Macs.

I don't understand this. Why would a company not take advantage of the huge popularity of Apple products and manufacture companion products? I don't understand how this is illogical.

[AdminAssistant]

I have a Sanza and know exactly what you're talking about. Actually, the primary reason I refuse to buy any Mac product is the attitude of Mac users. *sheesh*

[BlaqueKatt]

I do not own an ipod, neither does my husband-we don't like them or their software(sorry forcing me to have both QT and itunes for either one to work-um no)-we are not the only ones I'm sure(no one I know has an ipod either).

So why is it every damn stereo system, HD radio receiver(with itunes tagging built in yay...), alarm clock, etc only has an ipod dock-why are they not giving a consumer any kind of choice? Isn't that what a "free market" is supposed to do? Not force you to buy one company's overpriced product in order to have compatibility?

And I really don't want to hear the "well they have a large market share"-if that logically made any kind of sense there would be no third party effort to make anything for Macs.

Can't get an adapter because the dock is also proprietary, so basically if you want to be able to have a dockable mp3 player apple is forcing you to buy their product....wait don't they accuse other companies of doing the same thing....


for the record I have a creative mp3 player-the first company(june 1999) to come out with portable mp3 players, the company apple stole the "incredible user interface" from

At least creative doesn't limit their users on storage space, and never have, all their mp3 players including the "cheap" ones have exandable memory, and all of them have had the software on board to protect your hearing...you know the stuff apple made a huge deal about adding....