There are better portable MP3 players than the iPod out there, such as the one's made by Creative Labs and the Dell player, which is a re-badge Creative Labs player.
Better pricing as well.
The iPod is marketing genius, but again, there are better MP3 players out there for less money.
Listened to them all and the Ipod won hands down. I really, really wanted to like the Creative player better too. My previous MP3 was a Creative Nomad, which I genuinely liked.
Do you have the competition's most recent market share vs. Apple iPODS? I'll bet they are miniscule. Apple has a winner, at last! (although their computers are awesome too).