I think the interface is a strong part of the appeal - for me and for many others. It's not a trivial point. It wouldn't be the same if the player had 20 buttons for 30 functions clustered all over it (exaggerating of course). It isn't because I'm not technically adept - quite the contrary. I just appreciate good, practical, efficient design.
My point in bringing up its popularity certainly doesn't
prove that it's the best, but the figures are significant enough (IMO) to suggest that it's not
all about advertising alone. I wouldn't say that the 80% of Microsoft employees (who own iPods) are simply reacting blindly to an Apple advertising campaign. If that were true then 80% of Microsoft employees would have Mac G5s at home as well. The point is that it's not all just
hype - that's all.
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Everything you mentioned is a feature of *every* HDD DAP out there worth its salt.
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I confess haven't been keeping up with other players but I wasn't aware of another 40gig, firewire, "self labelling" (multilingual) MP3 player. If that's the case then I'm still paying for the interface - which is worth the difference - but this would be a matter of personal opinion.
Good point about the "gap," though - which does bother me.