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You want vintage? I picked up one of these for my daughter: http://www.thisoldtoy.com/new-images/images-ok/900-999/FP995-EB81909379-B.JPG/ Better battery life than my mp3 player and fewer cracks and pops than any vinyl I've ever owned. Definitely more wow and flutter, if that's your thang.

My secretary uses a macintosh. It's pretty neat. Every time she's asks me to fix it I laugh to myself a little. It is a Fischer Price PC.

I call Construx!

I have been looking to buy a music player dealy and after seeing all the fanboys here I thought i'd look into an iPod. perhaps I will buy one in the future..as of right now, all of the players cost more than I am instersted in paying.

Cheaper: Although the iPod is competetive with other similar products, it is by no means cheaper than other items of same or even sometimes more features. Its famed robustness probably edges it out in these markets, but we're seing crackups even in that

Lighter: meh you're probably right, though none of these players seem to be above the weight i'd be willing to carry for portable music

stronger: probably right also

Overhyped: definately.. that's how they maintain their price point. If it wasn't a status symbol, it wouldn't be overhyped, but they also wouldn't be defining the player market right now

Ugly: I have been impressed in general with the designs of apple products, but the design of the iPod is not very inspiring. Its simplicity and general lack of pretension makes it accessable and acceptable, but it reminds me of a subway sign or bus station lettering: Big, simple, obvious symbols so that even people of poor eyesight or who are unable to read can understand the simple message. I don't think this is a bad direction to go in, but its utilitarian look (especially the more recent generations.. the shuttle looks like a construx piece) fails to inspire.

What a great idea! You don't even need electronics. Fisher-Price used to make a wind-up record player where the head contained small metal prongs like a music box and the surface of the record had a little bump for each note. You could do the same with movable pins, or even rolls of punch cards, so kids could compose their own music. If you marked a stave on the punch cards it could be a good way to learn musical notation.

'Windows XP Starter Edition' will be limited to low-res graphics, limited networking, and will be hobbled to prevent more than three applications running concurrently.

That will give new users a taste of how bad XP is, before making the choice between Linux (full res, full net, great multitasking) and XP (low res, limited net, 3 apps).

Yes, but even with full res, full net, great multitasking, will it have XP GUI?

Construx?

construx was the bestest construction toy ever.. Shame that it's not around anymore. It was much better for making anything robotic, though it did lack a computerized control module and the sensors that mindstorms has.

They're still sold on ebay of course.. I don't know why fisher-price dumped the product instead of expanding the range with more robotic-like components.

Visual reference for more amusement.

This is my favorite viewer. thisoldtoy.com