Apple Killed the iPod Mini

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by Greg Needel

i still don;t understand what all the fuss is about with the ipod. i personally think archos has always made better products that have more features for the same cost.

for example i would much rather have a gmini 402 then a nano
http://www.archos.com/products/gmini...by43423b2jskc2

I think it's a few things.

1) iPods tend to look good. Mine's been scratched from here to Tuesday through its travels, and it still looks sexy.
2) iTunes. Nobody else has reached the simplicity of the arrangement (99 cents a song, $10ish for an album, share across a few computers, burn within reason).
3) Sheer simplicity. If I buy an album off iTunes the night before, I can wake up in the morning, connect my iPod up, disconnect, and go. No fiddling or messing around. (And it's easy to control when mildly distracted--volume is controlled by a ginormous wheel, and I can pause and move around songs by using buttons that are pretty large for the size of the device.)
4) It only has what people want. They want music, arranged in some easy fashion. Some throw in photos for fun, but so far not as many people want to see videos on a 2.2" screen. (Heck, I'm not fond of looking at them on a 12" screen, hence I got the 14" iBook.)

That's my view. Your battery life may vary.