I actually agree with the writer's assertions about the IPOD. I do not own one, and I never will. My trusty Sony non skip, optical digital out, 20bit DAC portable CD player works just fine when I run, walk, and sounds great even when hooked into my reference system. I am very audibly aware of the impact of lossy encoding on PCM bitstreams as aggressive as used on both MP3 and the IPOD. Don't like the sound even if it is portable and easy to use.