"Existing MP3 players offered a pretty rough user experience; the iPod was a pleasure to use in comparison." You clearly didn't own one of the first gen of iPo

"Existing MP3 players offered a pretty rough user experience; the iPod was a pleasure to use in comparison." You clearly didn't own one of the first gen of iPod. Amazing as it was, crashes, reformatting and general bugginess were daily occurrences. What the iPod brought to the table was a (buggy) new interface and click wheel which allowed you to browse your massive collection of pirated MP3's and ripped CD's much easier than other methods. Also form factor/hardware design was more pleasing to the eye to many.