I just wanted to take this opportunity to point and laugh at Apple over its latest troubles.

As if all of Apple's previous problems weren't enough.... here they go again.... puttin' a happy smile on my skinny little face.

Apparently, someone has filed suit against Apple claiming that they're.... wait for it....

*snicker*

.....a monopoly!!!!

AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

So I guess that cornering a whopping 3% of the global computing market has put them in dangerous territory with the DOJ.

OK... so this latest issue isn't about their pathetic little slice of the computing pie... it's about how they've basically taken over the digital music "revolution"... you know the one... where slacker punks in baggy jeans that they spent too much (of their parents' money) on walk around with their stupid little white ear-buds stuck in their empty heads as they listen to their corporately funded Top 40 hits on the MP3 player that they (gladly) paid way too much (again... of their parents' money) for while they slowly ruin their hearing.... you know.... that one.

Anywhoo... it looks like all the pathetic companies who don't have the brains enough to put out a good competitor to the over-priced iPod decided that instead of coming up with a better product, they would just sue Apple, claiming they have a monopoly on the market.

Alright, alright... so it's not Apple's competitors that sued them... (although, I'm sure they wouldn't mind doing so, considering how badly they're getting spanked in the digital music market ) It was actually just an unhappy iPod user that filed the suit... The case has been given the "go ahead", even though most analysts aren't giving it a snowball's chance in hell.

But I still blame Apple's competitors...  I had the gross misfortune of having to buy an MP3 player for my wife this past Christmas. Fortunately, she didn't need anything elaborate (like 50,000GBs to store every song ever written on), so I was (eventually) able to find a simple, small player that had the features she needed.... but I realized, while wading through all the second-rate MP3 players out there that there's a reason why iPods rule the market... because everything else sucks. Why else would someone be willing to take out a second mortgage on their home just to be able to afford some silly, little techie gadget?

Now,.. going in to the whole ordeal, I knew that I would rather chew off my left leg than buy an iPod, so I immediately went into looking for a comparable alternative... only to find that there isn't one.  They're all butt-ugly and bulky and corny looking and what not. And some of them even have the same (or worse) restrictions than the iPod has. It's a freaking shame.

What they need to make is a good looking, compact, easy to use music player that will play anything (any MP3's, any WAV, any whatever). I don't want to be locked in to your stupid online music store... I want to get my music however I want, from wherever I want... and I want to be able to dump it on my MP3 player using whatever software I want.

The problem is, in the current market we basically have a huge gap that no one is filling. Look at it this way... if the digital music market was the automobile market, all you'd have to choose from is a Mercedes Benz (the iPod) and a few GM models, like a Pontiac and a Chevy (every other MP3 player). So you can either pay out the nose for something that's over-rated, or you can get something that's cheap and looks like crap. (P.S. For those of you who actually like the way GM cars look... I offer my condolences.) What we need is a "Honda" or a "Toyota" to come in and offer a nice looking model that performs great.

And that's where I come in... being the nice guy that I am, I have decided to offer my superior graphical design talents up as a free service to every company who needs to good competitor to the iPod. So without further ado... I give you... the next MP3 player... thing... that's gonna... you know... make people buy it... instead of the iPod.

I know.. I know... it's freaking amazing. And all you punks who think it looks like a rip-off of the iPod can just step off.... you're just jealous of my mad skillz.

WATYF