Apple iPod vs. the World: Which MP3 Player Is Best?

Reader Franco writes: This is an iPod vs. "the other ones" question. I'm not really clear about the advantages of one over the other. Please clarify the pros and cons. I'm ready to play.

Good question!

Let's look at the iPod first: It's the market leader, and it gets all the attention, but why? While a lot of it comes down to savvy marketing and a rabid set of fans, the iPod is indeed a great MP3 player. For starters, the interface is great and has only improved over time. Using an iPod requires no reading of any manuals, and even technophobes often have no problem picking it up and immediately playing tunes. It's brain-dead simple, which has long been Apple's marching orders. The iPod also just looks cool, and GB for GB, they are typically the smallest and lightest players available.

The same praise goes for the iTunes software, which I think is even better than the iPod. From ripping CDs to picking playlists to sharing music with other computers in your office or home, using iTunes to manage your songs is far easier than any other music manager I've ever tried.

Now here's the big problem with all that: You can't use iTunes with any other portable player except the iPod. And you can't download music from the iTunes Music Store and play it using anything except an iPod or iTunes. Apple even pushes its own audio format, AAC, which is not widely supported by non-Apple devices (even non-DRM-protected music), though iTunes does support MP3 and other formats, too. In other words, if you jump into Apple's version of the world of music, you might quickly get stuck there with no easy way out.

So what about the rest of the market? A quick search turns up nearly 500 players on the market, and that's probably not all of them. So why would you want to pick one instead of an iPod? Mainly it comes down to price and capacity. As widely noted, you can often get a competing product with the same capacity for less than you'd pay for an iPod. Often much less: The SanDisk Sansa m240 ($60) is about half the price of an iPod Nano ($120), both with 1GB of storage, and the Sansa also has an FM radio and an SD card slot which the iPod does not. The Creative Zen MicroPhoto offers 8GB of storage for $170. The highest-end Nano offers 4GB for $230 (though price cuts are undoubtedly imminent). Prices are closer on the standard iPod (with hard drive), but you'll still pay a bit of a premium for the Apple.

Even if you're not cheap, you still might want an alternative. As noted, you can't get an FM radio or voice recorder on an iPod, and some users really like these features.

Ultimately it's up to you: Even though they're more expensive and have fewer features, some people still prefer the iPod for its lightness and ease of use. Ultimately the decision is up to you.

Personally, I'm a fan of the SanDisk Sansa line, the Creative Zens, and the MobiBLU players . The MobiBLUs are actually the smallest in the world along with the new Apple iPod Shuffle, but the MobiBLU actually has a display; that's one pictured above. But day to day I use a good-old iPod.

I'm sure there are many vocal fans of iPods and competing devices out there. Let's hear your picks for what's best!