[Aron @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

Something no one has mentioned is The Aireo. It is a a 1.5GB 802.11b (wifi, airport) portable MP3 player. This thing has the functionality of an ipod shuffle, airport express, and it comes with a screen, 500MB extra space over the 1GB model and sells on ebay for right around the $100 mark.
I have nothing against the limitations of the shuffle, and to me they arn't very big issues at all with such a low pricemark, but the extra features of the aireo make it a steal in my mind. If Apple makes a 2nd generation I hope they see fit to put in some sort of removeable media, be it Smart Media, XD, SD, or whatever. If I could upgrade it I would jump on the offer, but that isn't apple's way, since they will undoubtedly release another gen with higher space and they want you to buy a new product.

That goes back to the whole recycling issue, and is the reason why I run PC's. If I could upgrade the CPU and MOBO in say a G4 without any hassle I would be much more eager to buy one, but on my limited students budget I can't afford to go out and buy a whole new computer every 3 years. Instead I upgrade. I hope that the negative press around apple and recycling will encourage them to consider upgradability in the future, but major upgrades reduce the chance of the current user buying a whole new product which eats up apple's profits. I don't know if anyone feels the same way about apple and upgrades as I do, but once they jump on the bandwagon and I am out of uni I will be one of th first purchasers.

I am happy to see how well apple has been doing in the last few years and I hope that they continue to steal wintel market, but consider customer needs and the environment!