Is the iPod worth it

Is the iPod worth it?

It's been here for 5 years and we've seen 8 different versions, what do you think will happen in the next 5 years?

Will it be updated? Challenged? Or replaced?

Many things have been updated, like Playstation going to PS2 and PS3

Many things have been challenged, like Nintendo and Sony (nintendo were here first!)

Many things have been replaced, like TV with HDTV

What do you think?

I think it's here to stay, and there always keeping ahead, as with the Macintosh OSX 10.5 System coming soon. See Rumours and Leaks section on this board for some cool news on Apple patenting Multi Touch Technology! This could mean patented Multi-Touch iPods. The ipod Video is just amazing, from a portable movie player, to a 30GB or 60GB Hard Disc... I dont think any brand could ever beat the Applee Style either.

Well, it is here now, but it is most likely that in 5-10 years we will have something better

Like a Multi-Touch 10G iPod with 100TB of memory? or a Microsoft Equivalent

i dont know how long the iPod craze will last - eventually they will encounter heavy competition. i mean, the idea of a hard-drive music player came from Creative, but Apple marketed the iPod more successfully and stole most of the market share.

The fact that they have sold loads of iPods is not because their product is better - it is because people are more aware of the iPod than any other player (and the design is quite stylish). The earlier Creative players were significantly better than the earlier iPods - except they were not as stylish and were not marketed as well. I reckon the reason for having so many versions is because the iPods arent really designed to their full potential - the batteries are prone to failure, and the fact that a hard drive is used (which has moving parts) means that it can be corrupted or bust.

The iPod Nano is an obvious step forwards - it uses solid-state (no moving parts) flash memory to store data. All in all, the technology has still not really been refined to its optimum.

I reckon companies like Sony/Sony Ericsson, Samsung and Nokia will be trying to step up their game - they are already producing phones that can play music, and store data on flash memory (which also takes up less space). Anyway, at the end of the day, popularity will be decided by marketing techniques, not technology.

The iPods style has alot to do with it, and, it has that "apple" feel, it works well, just like the OSX System. Just like OSX and its 2 week learning curve (you'll never want to use Windows again!), have an iPod in your pocked for 2 weeks, and you'll never want to change.

I think the future is solid state or Flash storage; think how much you can store on a tiny SD or CF card, with no moving parts, almost impossible to destroy, resistant to shack and even water, RAID Drives can store GB's of data, and it cant be snapped.

Yes its all marketing and style, anyway, a few MBs or GBs here and there, or one or twho Mhz, really don't matter. You could have the most un-compatable, disfunctional MP3 player that has a 60GB Disc, I wouldn't want it.

Nokia and co will push theit iTunes style phones, although, may I add, iTunes is the best Media player, and I really dont like Windoes Media Player, even the new version 11, hasnt got a good search funcion, and just doesnt feel... err... Mac

There were those screen problems with the Nano, and they get scratched easily; its not the end of the world, but the cases do cost alot, and I saw in an iCreate article, that Brasso came out best to clean your iPod