Is there any serious rival to the iPod touch?

[NickNick]

I think I badly want an iPod touch too but can't bear to part with the money to Apple...... so gonna ask for it for my birthday!

Then I wonder how long I'll stand off installing iTunes and all the other tulip they make you install on my lovely clean Windows OS

I've said it before but Use Double Twist instead.

[NickFitz]

I can't do it. I've tried to give Apple money, but at the last minute I feel sick at the thought of those smug twats with Macs and IPods.

I'll wait 20 years for MS to catch up.

I've resisted weighing in on this thread - but really, that comment is so pathetic that I must say something

It's well known that I use Macs. The reason I use them is that they provide the highest-quality solution within a given price range for my own technical requirements. Yes, they look nice and all that; but frankly, the only person ever to have commented to me on the appearance of my MacBook was the lady who came along the first class carriage collecting the empty teacups as we were pulling into London the other year; and I don't usually make technology decisions on the basis of what a person who works on a train might think of me.

If you think the iPod Touch is the appropriate technology for your requirements then buy the damn thing. You're a technologist; you must know that fitness for purpose overrides all other requirements. As you asked the question in the first place, you must think that it is fit for purpose.

If you reject what you honestly believe to be the best technology for your requirements because of what you think of some (small number of) other people who buy the same brand of goods, you really are cutting off your nose to spite your face. If you're worried that others will think that you belong to that (small number of) people who buy the same brand of goods because they are beholden to brand image rather than technological quality, then you are betraying a lack of confidence in yourself that ill behoves you.

I've never given a tulip about anybody claiming that I use a Mac because I'm some kind of Apple fanboi or fashion victim. I bought it because it was the best technology for my requirements. If my requirements (obviously in a different context) were such that MS SQL Server was the best fit, I would buy that.

If the iPod Touch is the piece of kit that meets your needs, just buy it! Do you really give that much of a fsck what other people think of you? It's an iPod for fsck's sake, it's not like you're having "I ♥ Jobs" tattooed on your forehead

[OrangeHopper]

Don't you just love the way these new Macs start. You sit in front of one, there is a quick flash of directed red light that pans across your forehead and next thing you get some welcoming "I ♥ Jobs" music as your Mac comes to life.

[DimPrawn]

I ♥ Ms