----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Carpenter" <Stagefright@msn.com.au>
> The thing that really surprises me about these Ipod devices and their
users,
> is why don't people use their ability to play .wav files if  mp3s are
> disliked so much? (personally, mp3s are fine for walkman type situations
> with traffic noise etc in the background). I know Ipods can play .wavs as
> can the Creative Nomads. You can still fit something like 50-75 full
length
> albums on a 20Gig Ipod at full sampling rate.

Really it comes down to a trade-off of quantity versus quality, I guess.
I've got about 3800 songs on my iPod, as 192 kbs mp3s; at 10 songs an album
(maybe a low average, but some of the "songs" are entire albums, or
hour-long live show excerpts) that's close to 400 albums.  And I still have
almost half left (its 40 gigs).  As I said, I believe portability is one of
the best applications of mp3; especially with business travel, and commuting
and such, to have that much music in that tiny a space is really cool.

I upgraded the headphones to a pair of small senheisers, and all in all the
fidelity set-up is acceptable to me for portability.  When I kick back in my
living room in the big chair with the music filling the place, though, I
want CD quality and all the lushness the music has.  For example, I couldn't
see sitting in that chair and listening to the iPod instead of the stereo;
that'd be silly.

My wife got me this gizmo for my birthday that lets you "beam" your iPod to
an FM radio; she says I can use it in the car.  I'm going to give it a try
tomorrow, out of curiosity; usually I like to bring a selection of CDs with
us.