The problem with the propreitary software is that in the future you may upgrade your computer to a newer version of Windows (or whatever) only to discover your Emplode (or whatever) doesn't work any longer. You then turn to the company that made the software only to discover "we don't support that old stuff any longer".

The iPod is just slightly harder to talk to then a normal firewire hard drive. Aparently it just hides the music away in a hidden folder, while the rest of the drive is seen as normal. The challenge has been the HFS+ format they use to be Mac friendly, but a little bit more work by the linux community should result in a way to just mount the ipod, and copy music and data over. Can't get much more open then that.

While an iPod won't be the only reason someone might buy a Mac, it's definitly a checkmark towards it. I now own a cheap iMac with firewire for a few reasons. I wanted to see OS X even more (after the few hours I played with it at a store, including confirming "rm -rf /" works ), to use it as a development station to get my programming skills up a notch, and now the possibility of working with the iPod. I am definitly planning on grabbing a Powerbook to replace my current Compaq laptop next year, since I have been able to find replacement for everything on the OS X side.

To show everyone one of my reasons for liking the iPod, I'll include this picture:

The size! That device behind it is the Neo Jukebox, a device a bit smaller then the Creative Nomad player. 5 gigs, that size, and speed? No contest. While most here use the empeg to hold their entire collection, some sync just a subset of their collection. I would be doing that with any device below 20 gigs, so the firewire is definitly appreciated.