Exposing the iRritating side of iPods

iPods are like this winter's North Face jackets, last winter's Uggs and 2002's Timbs. Everyone who is anyone has one.

Since the iPod's debut in 2001, Apple has sold over 10 million of these trendy digital music players, whose glistening 5.6 ounces of hardware can fit in your pocket. iPods easily dominate the portable digital music player industry, controlling 65 percent of the market. But contrary to what its ad campaigns and sales numbers may suggest, iPods are not even the best that the digital music industry has to offer.

But, you say, iPods are the prettiest -- and they come in pink.

Though everyone knows you can't judge a book by its cover, people seem to be making an exception for the iPod. Companies like Dell and Creative are selling iPod equivalents with just as many, if not more, features, and at a significantly cheaper price.

Expect more, pay less

Here's the deal: An iPod is not a good deal. The standard sized 20 GB iPod, which holds about 5,000 songs, is priced at a whopping $299. Sure, this includes a 12-hour battery life, a compact 5.6 ounces of smooth white plastic and a touch-sensitive wheel for operating ease, but so do all the other digital music players. The Dell Digital Jukebox costs $250 with all the same features as the iPod, though it weighs 6.8 ounces. But is the 1.2 ounces less weight of an iPod really worth an extra 50 bucks?

Let's take a look at Creative Technologies' Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra, which comes in at a lame second in sales with 17 percent of the market share. For the exact same price as an iPod, the Zen can store three times as many songs. The Zen shares all the same features as the iPod, and its battery life is two hours longer. Creative also offers the Zen Touch, a 20 GB player, which guarantees a full 24-hour battery life for $249. Same capacity, lower price, longer battery life -- how do you like them, Apple?

Battery life, shmattery life

Aside from "ripping" songs off previously owned CDs, the only other legal way to get songs onto your iPod is to download them off iTunes, Apple's online music store, where you can buy songs for 99 cents a pop. In an effort to further control the portable digital music player market, Apple has also programmed the newer iPods so that music from alternative legal downloading sites is unplayable on the iPod.

On top of this comes another, far more subversive cost. Though iPods are advertised as having a rechargeable battery with a lengthy 12-hour battery life, the fine print will reveal that "rechargeable batteries have a limited number of charge cycles and may eventually need to be replaced."? And where do you buy replacements for said dead battery? Only at your friendly neighborhood Apple store, of course. And for the low price of another $99.

With Apple's latest edition to the family, the iPod Shuffle (the cheapest iPod to hit the market at $99 for only 120 songs' worth of space), it is very likely that many more conformity-driven Pod people will flock to Apple merchandise stores across America. Though it doesn't make much sense to want a music player where you have absolutely no control over what songs you can listen to, iPod Shuffle advertisements seduce consumers with the catchy one-liner, "Life is random."

Instead, iPod's slogan should be, "Life is shallow, and you have to make a good impression on other people by buying this hot product."? The only logical reason for everybody wanting an iPod is that, well, everybody else has an iPod.

The beauty of the iPod

After taking the world by storm four years ago, the iPod has evolved and multiplied, creating a sleek mystique that attracts teens. The iPod mini, a 1,000-song iPod for $199, is now available in four different colors to go "with everything:

Macs, PCs, sequins and tees," its web site boasts; and it's perfect for people who "love The Clash but hate to clash." The mini is fast becoming the newest accessory with accessories of its own -- Gucci sells iPod cases for $195.

Most Blazers who own iPods cite convenience as its main attraction; they say the iPod allows them to store all their music neatly in one place. But when you look past the considerable hype, it becomes obvious that consumers are being blinded by the white light of Apple's blistering ad campaign. "This season's must-have accessory" is in fact an accessory to Apple's crime of conning the public into choosing the iPod over its better and cheaper competitors.