Originally Posted by theDreamer

Actually, yes/no.
The iPod has taken over the market but not because of it being good or "better" than others. It is because of iTunes and the ease of use for the average consumers. The iPod was very close to dieing just like a few previous MP3 players before it, but it brought iTunes and the music industry to the table and everything changed. They were the earliest to centralize the control of buying/syncing music, and controlled it so well that people thought it was perfect.

Yet now people can buy music from many online retailers, just drag and drop music onto an MP3 player with no thought of format. The idea of iTunes will continue because of the iPhone & the applications, but when I am only able to sync my music with one computer I will pass. I can take my Archos to any computer, drag the music on or off and add anything else I want very quickly, and all without having to install any extra software to do so.

Edit:
On the comment about spending 10k on a BOSE system years ago, that would have been money well spent then. They sold out in the past few years and have gone down hill, quickly. Now I am not saying they are horrible, but for the price per dollar you can purchase much better sound systems. Bose quality has fallen over the past years while the industry has moved forward to better technology and higher standards. Bose took a new turn with size, and found that people like small out of the way sound systems, but can lack the ear for quality.