i realize that it is hard to believe that a renaissance man such as i does not know the difference between ipod and mp3 and all the particulars for each.

are they the same? which is better? how do you get muzak?...download off enternet? which site is the best/cheapest? did you really think emmit should have won dwts?

Ummm....an ipod is an MP3 player. Ipod is a brand of media player that was designed by Apple Computer. There are a variety of types but the usage is basically the same. It plugs into your computer and you download tunes from online media stores. A popular one is itunes.com. Songs average around $1.00. You can also download some tv shows and movies. Movies are a new feature, they came out in September of this year, and range from $10 to $15.

The first ipod came out in 2001 and cost around $400. Smaller ones are now available amd range from $250 for an ipod mini with 4 to 6 GB to $80 for an ipod shuffle with 1 GB memory.

And no, I think Mario was by far the better dancer!

A few more things to consider when buying a player:

Do you want it for music, or are you likely to later want audio and video capabilities. The good news is, the dual purpose ones are a bit more expensive, but not double the price.

Will you be taking your music from an online service, or creating your own. If the latter, you may want to consider iAudio (Cowon) - they seem to have the best unit for the various FLAC (lossless) standards. I believe Apple only uses the MP4 codex, while iAudio plays a variety. With FLAC you are recording an exact duplicate of the source and if you intend to use your portable unit with anything other than earbuds or tiny portable speakers, you may notice a difference.
MP3 and other formats that are not FLAC create a best guess recording by removing parts of the music thought to be unnecessary - not too bad for most forms of music, except maybe classical.

Realize that most storage claims are based on 64 bit rate, which would be suitable for audio books or other spoken recordings. For music you will want to record at near CD quality and that will increase your file size, reducing your storage to a third, or even one fourth of the factory claims.

Which means you want to be sure you are buying a unit capable of storing what you intend to record. Value for price increases with storage size, so buying one large storage makes more sense than buying several smaller units.

If you want to add accessories, you probably should buy from Apple. Mine is from Creative Labs, and I believe it is a better unit for the money spent, but my options are limited, although I can change the battery myself (I've heard from Apple owners that they have to send their units in for the change.)

If I were buying today, it would definitely be the iAudio. Great price, and FLAC capable, its only downside is the firm and software - making a playlist is apparently a bit of a problem (it can be done, but without the simplicity of the other brands.)