I had iPod thrust upon me at Christmas. First I found that iTunes only works with XP so I had to upgrade from ME (not a bad thing in itself).

Then I found how brilliant the thing is - I now have all of my CDs loaded on the computer, which means I can access my music all the time, therefore I do. (As with my digital photos - I've now discovered the concept of actually looking at my photos!).

The CD collection has been consigned to the loft so is now out of the way. I'm not sure I have the courage to sell them just yet.

I bought the cassette converter and power unit so I can use (and charge) the iPod in the car, so again don't have CDs cluttering up the car.

Belkin do a battery unit for 4 AAs as a standby, quite cheap - haven't got one yet but probably will.

Bose do a wonderful dock/speaker system which I have had demonstrated and which will replace the hi-fi, so I suppose I'll have to have one.

Yes, the earphones are stupid and can't possibly work on anyone with normal ears, so I see a pair of Bose noise reducing jobbies heading my way.

And I now have the problem that I've run out of hard drive on my 3 year old 20 gig laptop. I have an external hard disk with plenty of capacity but it's not connected all the time as I need the PCI slot for Broadband, so guess what - I need a new computer.

You just have to know that the initial purchase price is only the start.

Incidentally, I also have a Sony minidisc which I hate with a passion. It is fiddly, non-intuitive and lacks volume, so doesn't get used at all. I guess if you used it all the time you would get used to it, but for me life's too short. And one of the great things about iPod/iTunes is the speed with which it all happens.

cheers, Terry