Thanks for sharing your experience with the X5. I was pretty interested in bying it with all the good reviews I read about the sound quality but after your post I will certainely reconsider this. I like the Ipod, I bought one for my daughter few months ago, but like you I do not like the need to use Itune software. The new Ipod with its color display is really nice and as far as I know the ipod is the only mp3 player which can be totaly integrated with BMW cars (display song title and use of all BMW stereo commands) via the IceLink. This is a big plus in my opinion.