Thought I better post a better story as my previous post was moved from another thread, and it's not really a switcher story.
I won't mention the plethora of differing Cassette, CD and MD (mostly Sony to be honest) players I've gone through, suffice to say they have been many but have all lacked something and never lasted long.
My first real foray into the world of compressed music (barring MD) was about 4 years ago with an iRiver 256mb flash player (iFP190t), great little player and very sturdy. I remember the day it slipped from my hand and went clattering and sliding across my wooden floor, not a mark or defect resulted though.
I soon found this wasn't enough storage so I thought I would buy an iRiver iMP 400 "Slim X" which played MP3 CD's as well as "real" CD's, my thinking being that a cd wallet with CD's full of MP3's was still better than a wallet with only 12 audio CD's. Lovely design for a portable CD player very sleek. I kept both of these for a while as a compliment to each other.
Then iRiver released the iHP 100, a 10gb hard drive player so I thought why not ?? sold the 190 and the 400 on ebay and bought one. Expensive at the time, 350 quid, if I remember correctly but another great machine which I really liked (yes, I was an iRiver freak !! which kind of disproves the myth, bandied by some iRiver fans, that most iPod owners are shallow fashionistas who don't research their DAP buying choices. I was even one of the original members of the MisticRiver forum when it started up although I've not been there for a long time now).
I did really like this player (I won't say a bad word about it) but by this time my MP3 collection was hitting the 15gb mark so I thought okay I'll just wait until iRiver release a 20gb version, which they did eventually.
So, there I am sitting at my PC (having sold the iHP100) just about to buy the new 20gb from my usual online retailer when I suddenly think "what about an iPod ?". I thought about it for a few days and ended up think "why not ?" if I don't like it I'll just sell it on ebay and get the iHP120 instead.
So I bought a 3G 20gb iPod (from a high street retailer this time), couldn't wait to get it home. I was impressed with the black, classy looking box but that was just the start. When I slid the inner box from it's outer sleeve and opened it's booklike sides I was blown away, I couldn't believe a company would go to this trouble to package an item (my iHP had come in one of those plastic bubble packages).
I was afraid to disturb the little white iPod because it all just looked so classy. All the items packed into their own little places and just looking fantastic (I'm glad that Apple seem to be returning to this classy look, albiet with smaller boxes, after the gaudy 4G boxes). Maybe this first experience was a contributing factor to why I keep buying iPod's, who knows ?.
Anyway, suffice to say I did eventually take it all out of the packaging and loved it. My concern at not buying the iHP vanished.
The integration with iTunes was superb and the iPod itself just looked and sounded great and I preferred it's flatter sound over the iHP's.
When the 4G's came out I thought "that's for me", better battery life and an upgrade to a 40gb hard drive. So onto ebay went the 3G (sometimes I'm still disappointed I sold it) and I bought my 4G.
My Shuffle was an impulse buy, I thought that will do as a combined flashdrive/ music player but I like it for it's quirkyness.
I ordered a 5G the day they were available from the UK Apple store, again I love it, but I'm not selling the 4G this time. Decided to keep it and store my Apple Lossless on it.
That's my story, it's maybe a story of increasing addiction. Who knows ?? but I'll say one thing my previous music players never lasted long either through not being good enough or because something else came along that tempted me.
None of my iPod's has ever let me down nor had any problems, the build quality is excellent, they are easy to use and do what they are built to do well. What more could you want ?.
It's maybe cost me a small fortune on iPod's, the odd accessory (a battery pack for the 3G, an Altec Lansing speaker here or an FM transmitter there and a pile of cases) but who cares, I'm 39, work hard and can afford it.
Now the only thing that tempts me is when a new iPod appears.