As a owner of a SACD (Sony 999ES), a 40 Gig Ipod, and a Roku photo bridge w/ digital output to my Outlaw 990, I can say that each have their purpose.

The Ipod (or MP3 device) is a tremendous development! It does not control where there you burn at 56K or 320K. That is your choice, but results in a huge audible difference. It simply plays back “the music” the way you choose to listen. Overtime, capacities will increase, compression will reduce, and quality will improve. Today . . . Great for portability, to hook to car system, and bedroom use.

The Roku, feed by a network attached storage device (in my basement), allows me to stream 320K MP3 to be digitally decoded by the 990. It is really hard tell the difference from the original CD. Very convenient to browse/access. Perfect for everyday listening when you do not commit the brain power to detect the differences. Eventually hard drives will increase in capacity and I will be able to simply copy my entire CD collection uncompressed to the HD. In the meantime my 160 GB hard drive will cover me for a long while (5 or so years).

The SACD is the best quality! However, few have systems that can resolve the details to appreciate the improvements. Consequently this format is nothing more than a niche market to the fanatics like us. I do have an excellent system, but only when my kids are a sleep (10PM) is the background noise and distractions low enough to enjoy the improvements. In addition, the format adds a large sacrifice in flexibility. I can only use on my home system SACD. Compressing requires making an analog copy to transfer. Ultimately this "wonderful" technology has already failed due to the restrictions imposed at a marginal improvement in quality to well decoded CD.

The point is music is for enjoyment. To many people 56K compressed MP3 is as good as it gets. For most 120K to 192K MP3 sounds identical to CD. To some SACD is not good enough. The human mind is more that capable to fill in the gaps if you do not look for them!

Bottom line is that the Ipod serves the needs of the vast majority of the masses and is a reflection of the masses tastes and listening preferences! I suspect that those who own an Ipod only enjoy "the music" much much more than those of us who "critically" listen!!!