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Sounds hard to believe, did you throw it around or something? I've never had an issue with mine and it sounds hard to believe that people do have issues with them unless it's due to lack of care.
I too have been screwed around with apple (ipods breaking and refusal of warranty honouring), so i tried sony. Not as easy to navigate - like everyone else has mentioned - but the sound quality is pretty damn good. I refuse to give my money to those bastards again.
Has anyone mentioned the Zune yet. If you have Windows and you're not using the Zune... you're missing out.
...Personally i'd stick to the iPod though.
so explain how the audio from the ipod dock connector is better quality than the 3.5mm.
The dock connector is low level audio straight from the DAC. The 3.5mm plug has been amplified with a tiny poor quality amplifier compared to an external amplifier.
Yes, and that is the reason i would put an Ipod in front of any other form of MP3 player, if i "had" to choose from either one. In response to Stealthy's comment, his reasons were based purely on the skeptical build quality of one brand VS another. What's to say that had his previous players, been from other manafactuers, that wouldn't have been subjected to the same problems?