After careful and thorough research, I have determinded that Ipods are very much inferior to the Dell DJ. Sure they have cool commercials and U2 had an endorsement by them, but when it comes down to it....Dell DJ stomps a mudhole in the Ipod.

Reason #1
Dell DJ is cheaper for more storage. The 20 gigger Dell DJ costs $250 and holds 10,000 songs. The Ipod that is similar in price only has 4 gigs.

Reason #2
Any time you rip a cd that is ultimately going to your Ipod...it has to be submitted to iTunes on the internet. With the Dell DJ....you do not have to connect to the internet to rip cds and add to your player

Reason #3
The Dell DJ works easily with mp3 format. iPods are pushing a new format that is not compatible with other mp3 players.

So...once you get past the cool commercials and cool colors and the special edition iPod with all of U2's stuff...iPod is reduced to an overrated inferior machine.

It wont be long until people figure this out and conversations will evolve to be like this: "hey I got an iPod for Christmas" "Oh yeah...what kind did you get?" "I got a Dell DJ". My point is that iPod is destined to become a generic term like cokes and qtips.

There are many ways that I could have approached commenting on this comment Isoetes, but I decided a combative approach was useless.

What we are really dealing with is the epic Steve Jobs / Bill Gates battle. There are Mac (Apple) people and there are PC people. And then there are people like me, who see the merits in both and can live in harmony with both. I have a Mac at home and a PC in the office and now I am the very proud owner of an iPod Shuffle.

I’m a music FREAK, as I’m sure everyone has determined by reading the site. So of course this is a good topic to discuss. Isoetes, you bring some very good points to the table about the size, storage, etc. of the Dell DJ. But I’m not going to rip my entire CD collection to a portable MP3 player – I don’t care if some of them do hold tens of thousands of songs. I don’t have the time, energy or desire to do that. Here’s what me and the Shuffle are all about – taking a walk, cleaning the apartment, sitting in an airport/plane for hours, etc. Point being, you love your DJ and it suits your purposes and I love my Shuffle and it suits my purposes. Can’t we all just get along?

As for the iPod suffering a similar brand identity crisis like Kleenex, Xerox, and others have, yes, it is inevitable. But let me tell you this (as a person with an ad background) I would much rather be the first to burst on the scene and steal the hearts of the true hipsters and be the first to introduce the technology to the public, than to be introducing a “oh crap, we didn’t finish our product before Apple, but let’s wait for their next version and ‘borrow’ some of their technology, then we’ll make it a pretty color and hit the market” second hand idea. And we’re all grown up here, pal, so tell me that you aren’t seriously suggesting that the cool commercials really made me buy the Shuffle over a Creative Zen or Dell DJ?? No sir! Not me! Again, you’re talking to an ad person – I know how this works. Those ads are intended for the impressionable, and I think they are doing a damn fine job. I’m a brand loyalist, and before purchasing I study all my options and needs, and with all else the same, I go with a beloved brand. In this case, I don’t believe there is another 1 gig, size of a stick of gum, hang it around your neck option out there. But just wait! I bet the dudes over at Dell (catch the joke?) are fashioning one as we speak --- long live the digital age!

Hey, the Steve “dude” guy from the Dell commercials just called and said your commission check is in the mail ---

Meanwhile, stay tuned because I didn’t mention the Shuffle to debate digital players, but as a jumping off point for a few more posts that I’ve been meaning to write….