Look at the ipod, gawp at the price

Slashdot discussion on the reasons behind the iPod being SO expensive - namely the level of control that Apple manage to maintain over those resellers that are allowed to stock it. I suppose this isn't thought of as artificially inflating the market because they are only one company and so can charge what they want, but it seems pretty sneeky. 'If you want to sell it you've got to charge more that 300 bucks' - kind of thing.
"Hoping to cash in on a holiday season bargain, I've been keeping my eye on the sales circulars that come in the newspaper. I've seen plenty of discounts for MP3 players of all kinds (Rio's, Dell's new HD-based player, etc), and the iPod has also shown up. Christmas does not yet seem very merry to me. They're always at the regular $299/399/499 price, never at a discount of any sort. You read that right, it's 'for sale' at the *regular* price. "
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