Well add me to the list. I have an IPod and it's great for adding a soundtrack to the tedium of life - things like ironing, vacuuming, jogging, etc.

But what the hell is "itunes"??? Sounds expensive.

I am perhaps a dweeb - but I buy from iTunes and I copy from CDs that I have bought. If I knew how to rip off music maybe I would but there is a point - I supsect that many have my few skills and we are happy to pay iTunes the modest amounts that they demand

I ripped all of my CDs to mp3 files and put them on my computer (and then, onto my iPod). Of the LPs I've owned, I've searched through sharing sites and downloaded many that I enjoyed. I think this is fair use. I also regularly visit a large number of mp3 blogs and often download some of the songs they offer. Only occasionally do I download complete albums that I have no right to. I don't buy new CDs. If I'm interested in new music that comes out, I'll most likely steal it from a torrent site. I think this is unfair use. But I do it. I've only bought one CD from iTunes - the Spongebob Squarepants movie soundtrack. I don't like buying from iTunes because of the DRM restrictions they put on their music.

I have a Diamond Rio MP3 player. Much cheaper than an iPod and it's not tied to that damned iTunes. I can copy certain songs to it as need or want be and I don't have to syncronize my entire collection with it. Even more importantly, it's compatible with linux.

I finally saw my first Segways last Saturday. On Wolfe Island, of all places. Two guys were zipping down the highway away from Marysville.

My music collection on iTunes and my iPod come from a number of different places. In order of volume:

1) Ripped from my sprawling CD collection
2) Downloaded from P2P (Soulseek, Bittorrent, etc.)
3) Copied from friends' laptops
4) Downloaded from MP3 blogs
5) Downloaded while I was an eMusic subscriber
6) "Purchased" from shady Russian site AllofMP3
4) Purchased legally from Zunior and other indie MP3 retailers
7) Purchased from iTunes and then stripped of DRM

Overall, I spend just as much on music these days (even after adjusting for income!) as I did when I was a pre-Napster music nerd. I feel my karma is kept somewhat in balance as a healthy chunk of my CD collection was bought at shows and fests (ie. where the bands actually benefit from the purchase).

/totally just trying to rationalize

Most of my friends have iPods and I only know of one who uses iTunes but I think that's only because it's easier for her to do it that way. I have a cheapie little mp3 player that I never use and the only mp3s I've ever downloaded (aside from podcasts) were freebies from Salon.com.

I have a 60gig and most of it is my own music. I have also borrowed and closely examined stuff from friends, borrowed and closely examined stuff from the library, but I have also spent a few hundred dollars with iTunes. We actually don't go out with the iPod, it sits on a speakerdock and is basically our home music system (I'm not an audiophile) playing artists, albums, genres or playlists that i've made.

It and family pics etc are all backed up on a 150gig external harddrive. The iPod actually acts as a good backup, as it synchronizes (copies) every pic that is in my My Pictures folder on the laptop.

My oldest has an ipod shuffle yet I own what I have been told only hong kong people own, a Sony MD player. I would rather have an iPod and as soon as I can convince She Who Must Be Obeyed as to the betterment of my tedium is she let me buy one I will.

An MD player is like an iPod except it has removable tiny zip disks that you dump the files onto for re-writing/writing as you see fit. Sound quality is better than an ipod.

I rip my own cds and steal music and audio books off of the internet like a fiend. I use limewire as well as shareaza. I am a pirate, i have no morals or ethics. The man hath been stuck by me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MiniDisc

An MD player is like an iPod except it has removable tiny zip disks that you dump the files onto for re-writing/writing as you see fit

I had one of those back in 1995 or 1994 and used them for recording stuff and guitar stuff (with an external stereophone). They were pretty popular in Europe (as opposed to Philips Digital Tape effort [DCC]): I remember coming into Canada one day in 1999. A customs officer had no idea what it was and was surprised about these 'mini-discs'.

(I used to be an audio-buff, buying the latest and greatest. Nowadays, I don't really care. I don't have a 'Walkman'-like device. I hear that has to do with age. Can somebody confirm this?).

stereophone

Microphone that is.

Wow, alan has only seen one person with an iPod so far?

Getting on the tube (this is London's Underground for you) each morning, at least twenty percent of commuters wear apple-made earphones. Considering the low quality of these, many of the remaining earphones are probably also connected to an iPod... However, my music basically stems from CDs I legally own or from the iTunes store (now 140 songs).

Actually, in the 14 months since this was posted, there has been an increase in public use that I see but only since, say, the summer and no where near the 20% level.

what is the best travel ipod speaker set (size & sound)? thanks