Sony Walkman - Music to whose ears?

There has been a lot of talk recently about the I-Pod and how fast it is growing and how ubiquitous it is. I am in Pittsburgh and while I see an occasional I-Pod I don’t see any large phenomenon occurring.

After reading so much about them I thought how cool it would be to have one but it is really hard to justify spending $300 for something that would have such a limited use. Limited in the fact that I would almost have to go out of my way to listen to it, really when would I listen to it? At home I listen to radio or CDs on the stereo and when I am traveling I am in my car and listen to radio or CDs. It occurred to me that the phenomenon is really limited to three occasions: 1. when traveling on public transportation, 2. when walking or jogging, and 3. when used by an anti-social person (a kid) to listen to music instead of talking to those around them. Only the first two of these apply to people over 16 and in America they only really apply, in large numbers at least, in big cities with good public transportation areas like New York where you travel by bus or train for a distance till you reach your stop and then you have to walk for a bit. The rest of us in America drive everywhere. The media is so New York centric that they believe that what happens there is happening everywhere. For the rest of us there may be some use for the I-Pod yet if home and car stereos are created to use the I-Pod.