Apple's iPod tops PC Magazine survey

Apple's iPod scored first overall, first among MP3 players in the first year of ownership, first among flash players, first among mini hard-drive players, and first among big hard-drive players in a recent survey of MP3 players conducted by PC Magazine. The iPod received scores among the highest in any category in the survey, and Apple earned slightly better sound quality scores for its hard drive models than for its iPod shuffle; despite the fact that testing found better sound quality with the shuffle. The survey states that readers may be responding to the shuffle's lack of equalizer features. Only Apple and iRiver scored better than average among flash players, and only Apple scored better than average overall on mini hard drive and hard drive players, according to the survey. Also noted is the iPod's unusually high repair rate, with nine percent of iPod users reporting that their units needed repair in the past 12 months.

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