I have quite a few friends with mp3 players. Some have Creative, some iPods, some others. The ones that have iPods bought them mostly after trying mine. Mine is an old one (Gen 2 i think) that was the first to have the touch wheel. I personally like this more than Gen 3 as the touch buttons don’t give as much feedback as my normal ones. I wouldn’t mind a click-wheel though.
I occasionally have a friend that asks me why I bought the iPod when it costs more and doesn’t have as many features as some of the others. This was before it was a fad as well. I can’t say it much better than it’s covered here:
http://daringfireball.net/2005/06/shuffling
I tried many mp3 players before I bought the iPod and every single one left me wanting. The Creative interface sucks. You have to work to listen to music and there’s some many options that it really is more time consuming then it’s worth. The iPod has such a simple interface that I almost never have to look at the interface it self. The only time I look at it these days is to see what song is playing or if I can’t remember what playlists are on it. I usually just use shuffle mode now.
I would love to have features, such as Ogg support, but when I try out the players that support them I just want to throw them away. I encouraged anyone in the market for a new player to try out the various players. I think you’ll agree that the iPod’s interface is worth the extra money and the less features. I just tried some of the new ones and if I get a new mp3 player I think it will be an iPod again.
The iPod is also the reason I have the iBook I’m on right now. (I still use Linux on some other machines though I may switch if money ever allows.)