Mr. Milunovich could simply sum everything up in one statement: "Despite any perceived strength of competitors to the iPod in the US and abroad, Apple has succeeded in turning the iPod into the de facto portable music player." The explicit and implicit marketing of the device is strong enough that anyone getting a non-iPod this Christmas will be disappointed. I agree that flash-based players will add more breadth to Apple's dominance in the market and in the hearts and minds of consumers.

I don't understand how competitors think that adding an FM antenna is a great feature. What listen radio I listen to is rarely ever in the FM spectrum. If you need to listen for traffic updates, just wait until you're in the car. The whole point of a music player that stores thousands of songs is to bypass the vast wasteland of music radio.

Well they gotta offer something different. So, FM tuner is one of them.

The thing I most love about my iPod is that it has freed me from FM radio. That to me is the point of being able to take your own music along-- it replaces radio.

I'm sure there's plenty of people out there that would see an FM tuner as a plus, but at what cost? WMA? Bad styling? Crappy interface? Any other player is definitely seen as a trade-off in these areas next to an iPod.

So what should they offer then? Mini missiles?

They already have something VERY distinc from the iPod (some of them). They can play videos. FM tuner is just another 'extra feature' so people would be impressed with many 'features' they offer. They know that not a lot of them will use the FM, but they want to have it there to testify that it has more features then the iPod.

Now, if those features are good or necessary is a choice individuals will have to make. But not all of them can have the same design as Apple and same name, formats, et al. So they give something else to the consumer.

The argument for an FM tuner:

1. I take my iPod to the gym.
2. My gym has several television sets showing TV shows, news, and sports.
3. You can only listen to these TV shows by tuning into certain FM stations on your dial... each television requires you to turn into a different FM radio station (usually low numbers on the dial, like 88.1, 88.3, etc.)

In fact, this is fairly common at most gyms. Every gym I've seen has this.

Apple: bring FM Tuning to the iPod, please!!!

Well in the UK we do actually have some quality radio stations that aren't plastered with adverts i.e. the BBC. This is why I would like to see an FM radio in the iPod.

It's a shame that Griffin never released the iFm as this would have suited me perfectly (as long as they made a minified version).

I purchased my first mp3 player because it had a FM tuner. I go to UT football games and like to catch the play by play on the radio. However, I like to listen to my tunes during timeouts, halftime, on the way back to the car, etc. I would love a built in tuner in my ipod.

I ended up just buying the ipod because 128 meg sucks!! Plus, I was getting to not like my Sony player.

Eric

Interesting fact but the Sony Store near me is actually selling and advertising iPods.