Im considering saving up 300 bucks for an IPOD ill probably go with 5GB b/c I dont need 4 thousand songs on there just a few hundred. But the price tag for this thing is insane and i dont have a firewire either! i wish it could use the USB instead so i wouldnt have to buy a firewire port but it looks like id have to. is there any other products that does the same thing as an IPOD but costs less and uses USB?

Apple = real good, solid but WAAAAAAY overpriced. Just get a Rio (by SonicBlue) CD-mp3 player like I did, it kicks aßß (never skips, 2 AA's last forever and you can fit about 200 songs in each disc) and is was on sale about $55 USD. I got the blue V-90 but there is a new one (its black) with more features out for about $65-99, don't know. (it plays mp3, .wav and windows WMA also, but be sure to mark the .wma file as unprotected before burning it or it wont play) Later

Apple is NOT overpriced. Look at their new cluster nodes and try to find a comparable system anywhere for the same price. A fairly comparable system costs well over $4000 and Apple is selling theirs for $2800. The iPod is worth the price. They are amazing. However, you might want to wait. Apple has been buying parts for new iPods and it looks like they are going to release them soon. Toshiba is still selling them the 5GB drives and Apple might make a $200 version of the 5 if we are lucky. As for FireWire, it is much faster than any USB interface. USB 2 has a higher max throughput, but it NEVER gets that high. FireWire, on the other hand, almost always hits 400 Mbps. Or, at least, mine does.

No. I don't think Macintosh is cheap.