Attached Link: http://www.apple.com/ipod/

An iPod as a prize is fantastic.

That "weird proprietary Apple format", Apple uses is AAC; AAC is the audio codec for MP4 and is as open as they come, although it is true that the digital rights management Apple is using is not. The recording industry insisted on that. The iPod also supports MP3 and WAV.

Still, it's a little unfair to lambast AAC as closed and proprietary as opposed to MP3, given that none of Apple's competitors sell music in the MP3 format; they all use Microsoft's WMA, which is a closed and proprietary beast.

Just because more players support the WMA format doesn't make it "open,"; it just means that Apple's the only digital music player manufacturer who hasn't had to buckle to Microsoft's monopoly and pay its licensing fees.

Even in its first incarnation, the iPod held music and data, acting as an ultraportable FireWire hard drive, and its hidden Breakout game hinted at its potential to do a lot more than just play Night Ranger's Greatest Hits. Before long, Apple added contacts and calendar functions, an alarm clock, a notes feature, two more games, and the ability (via third-party hardware add-ons) to record voice memos and offload digital photos in the field. Now that shiny white gadget really is a pod, storing all sorts of stuff you throw at it. (With its highly-polished back, it also serves as a handy makeshift mirror-- and, when placed in the toe of a sock, it becomes a surprisingly effective impromptu Whirling Implement of Pummeling.)

In the event you win an iPod and you really don't want it, please let me know. I'll pay postage AND insurance.

 Don't sweat the petty things, and don't pet the sweaty things!  ; )