Consumers Have Choices Other Than Apple's iPod

From Eric Benderoff, Chicago Tribune:

This might be hard for some people to fathom, but there are digital music players made by other companies besides Apple.

But before you think I'm about to write some type of heresy — iPod is not the best? — here's the point: The iPod has keen competition, if you look.

There can be good reasons for not picking an iPod.

One, other players often include an FM radio; iPods do not.

Two, the following devices worked easily on Microsoft Windows, as does the iPod, and each found and organized the music files I have scattered about the Hewlett-Packard laptop I used for this review.

Three, price considerations: Some offer exceptional value.

Nonetheless, when it comes to digital music players, how things stack up against the iPod is a fair test because Apple made it so easy to use and consistently innovates with new features such as touch-screen controls.

So here's what I kept in mind as I examined these players: How easy is it to use out of the box? Is the software that manages the music cumbersome or intuitive? What features stand out? How simple is navigation.

Link