What is the difference between an IPod and another MP3/MP4 player?
Cost and Flexibility. An Apple IPod tries to force you into buying music from ITunes and to be legal in every respect. You have to convert all your media to Apples versions of internationally recognised standards. All other media players known to man allow you to play MP3 music from anywhere, legal, file-shared or otherwise. MP4 players differ in their exact implementation and like IPods, require a converter to take full size video and display it on their tiny screens.