[Jotun]

Everyone always argues over the battery.

1. iPod- 12 hours
iRiver- 16 hours

whoever is going to listen to 12 hours of music in the first place is ridiculous. 16 hours is pure insanity. Im not even up for 12 hours, so how could i listen to 12 hours of music straight?

2. Charge time. the iPod takes about an hour to fully charge from 1/2-3/4 battery life. Before you hit the sack, just plug it in or put it on the dock, easy as that. When you wake up it will be ready for at least 3 days of casual listening.

3. iPod's control is amazing, i LOVE the new scroll wheel, and its very easy to use. im sure the iRiver is easy to use, but i dont want to use a bulky joystick to control it.

4. iRiver has a controller, who the hell needs a controller? my friend says he uses it all the time, but its not needed. the cable is long as hell, he had to put a rubber band to wrap up part of the cable, and put it in his backpack.

5. iTunes is a GREAT program, whether people want to agree or not. it updates the iPod reallllly fast, and it plays music just as good as winamp or any other audio player. the ONLY downside is it converts songs like mine (incredibly long Dream Theater songs and other prog rock) somewhat slow. maybe 10 minutes to a cd, at the most. you would probably complain, but im sure you have something else reallllly important to do with your precious 10 minutes. i got a gift certificate for iTunes store, and i found stuff i could NEVER EVER find on any p2p program. i downloaded a whole Joe Satriani cd in about 1-2 minutes. all the song went right into my library and then put it on my iPod. So simple. I wouldnt want to pay for some music, but if its hard to find like Marc Johnson, then its well worth it.

My point: Stop trying to be the overwhelming underdog, the iRiver is no where near superior to Apple's iPod. I would trust Apple over iRiver America.