I love these kinds of comments from people who don't even TRY to appear unbiased. They make me laugh.

There is self interest. These people WORK FOR Creative and Dell. They are not impartial journalists. They say what is in the interest of their company, nothing less, nothing more.

Companies don't make these kinds of public comments unless they're worried.

The iPod a fad? Yeah, the Dell guy compares it to the "fad" of the Walkman and states that the Walkman was so popular at one point too but asks where the Walkman is today? The implication is that the Walkman is gone. Hey, moron... it's called an iPod now and Apple assumed that definitely non-fad concept of a portable personal music player from Sony, updated it in ways that nobody else thought possible and is kicking butt. Just because Sony let the brand name of Walkman die doesn't mean the concept behind it is a fad.

BTW, notice that the "fad" iPod has been around longer than most fads at this point and its sales are still increasing at a crazy rate? That's one helluva pet rock Apple's got, huh?

rock and roll is just a fad too

Why I wonder would Dell bother jumping on the digital music bandwagon with their DJs and music store offerings. If their business model is so successful why bother with these fads? Clearly it wouldn't make much difference to their sales in the long run right?

The full linked article is excellent. I agree 100%, especially about the Creative CEO's comments being "foolish." Creative will no doubt be making their own no-screen "cheap" 512MB+ MP3 player in the near future, once they realize just how wrong his comments were...

This is the kind of article that has all of us Mac fans anticipating a fundamental shift in the computing paradigm. We know it really isn't going to happen (the same way Apple isn't going to die), but we really hope it will be true. :)

That said, if Apple could pick up even 1% of marketshare, I'd be happy.

they won't switch to anything else currently on the market.

iPod/iTunes is just a rockin' combo. To think that 4 years ago, nobody was even making an MP3 player for Macs!

considering how dell shrunk their full sized dj, and made a mini-esque dj pocket....

I honestly believe that the popularity of the iPod WILL affect Apple's market share in the long run. I have been in/around college for 8 years, and I have witnessed a DRAMATIC attitude shift towards Apple products over my time here. When I first started, students made mostly statements to the effect "I hate Macs- Macs suck, they are incompatible- How is that company even still around?" to "Macs are awesome- those computers are so powerful- I want to get one eventually- I like to look around at all the other Apple stuff when I go to the Apple store". Maybe its a generational thing, but the youth will always win. And right now, the youth are Apple enthusiasts.