Big Kitty In Stores Soon

Continue? You haven't done any smashing yet...

Not at all. Apple's aesthetic superiority is clear, it's true. But that superiority isn't at all the same as saying they rely on it. Their products are excellent even when you look past the looks.

And as we know, it's not as if aesthetics don't deserve consideration when you compare products. Otherwise all products would look alike...

There are good products that are cheaper. The quality gap has certainly closed. But that's not to say that the iPod isn't worth the extra money for what it offers that you don't get elsewhere. And since so many people had iPods before, people get a lot of extra convenience by sticking with another iPod rather than switching to a new brand.

The Apple fanboys are a very small minority of the market. That doesn't even come close to explaining their dominant market share.

I'm not 100% sure I know how you've got this set up, but you can store your music on your computer and share it even if you use iTunes. The music is organized inside of the iTunes software itself, but it is stored in normal windows directories. You could share your music folder over a normal windows network even if you are using iTunes.

Not sure if that helps...

Except for an iPod, right?

Yes, except for an iPod. Or a zune. Or any other player that requires specific sync software.

Got it. I see that you have to reg hack the Zune to make it work in Windows Explorer. That's pretty poor.