Apple Ipod

It is not mandatory that you load the ipod with MP3's. The 40 gig ipod will
hold about 100 CD's, UNCOMPRESSED. It will hold about 400 CD's using AAC at 320 kbps, which is pretty good sound for casual listening. I circulate music through my ipod UNCOMPRESSED using AIFF and it sounds really good.
I also have my car system set up so I can connect my ipod to a jack using the
Headphone OUT and play it directly through my car stereo -- and it sounds really good. 100 CD's, UNCOMPRESSED, is way more than any CD changer you will find. I keep my entire 1000+ CD collection on a hard drive and rotate them through my ipod as the mood strikes. I don't need the entire collection on the ipod at all times. 100 uncompressed CD's in the palm of my hand or in my car stereo is really handy. But, if you don't mind slight compression and you feel the need to have more music on your ipod, you can use AAC at 320 kbps and fit 4 times as much music. Further, I connected my ipod to my home system using the headphone out with an interconnect that splits into L & R and it produced better sound than the same CD through my Denon DVD1200 CD/DVD player. Finally, in other news, Alpine is coming out with with car stereos that will connect directly to your ipod, take over it's functions, and keep it charged. Do I recommend the ipod? Hell yes! I am not an Apple Dealer -- just a music lover who has been looking for a solution like this for years.

I recently bought a pair of Sennheiser HD 280 Pro's to wear during airplane travel. They work great. They block out the airplane noise and sound pretty
darn good. You can get them for $80 - $100. I was hesitant about earplugs.
I have a pair of Sennheiser HD 580's for home use, but they let in too much
noise and were no good for air travel. I didn't want to break the bank on a pair of earphones or headphones just for air travel. I recommend the HD 280 Pro's for air travel. They are a great bang for the buck. I recently sat next to a guy who had a set of those $300 Bose "noise cancelling" headphones. We
switched headphones back and forth. My Sennheisers blocked out just as much noise as his "noise cancelling" Bose and sounded a lot better. He looked a little green when he heard mine -- and when I told him how much I paid for mine, he looked absolutely sick. Not to gloat, just to let you know how well the Sennheiser's block out noise and what a great value. Okay, maybe I am gloating over the Bose guy a little, but that's not the point.