In many ways.
1) iPods are notorious for producing some of the poorest quality sound of any mp3 player on the market. There have been numerous blind as well as extensive tests that have shown Sony and Cowon to be at the very top in terms of sound quality.
2) Not only does it lack in audio quality, iPods are also missing any kind of equalizer (and no, presets don't count). Cowon and Sony have been offering multi-band EQs for a long time, and I can count back to the 90s with Sonys Minidisc for EQ support which was later implemented to their MP3 players.
3) Format support is limited on iPod (no FLAC, OGG, WMA, etc).
4) Being forced to use iTunes isn't a plus. A choice to use it, would be a plus. The fact that I can take back my music from any computer on any platform without 3rd party hacks makes it far more attractive. Open standards is superior to a closed system like iTunes.
5) a) Apple's got a disgusting history with battery life. I should know, I've had a terrible first hand experience. Their 2nd gen iPod was vaguely described as 'over 8 hours of battery life' which could mean anything from 9 hours to 900 hours or more. The battery ended up lasting me no more than 25 minutes per charge in less than a year. Their current crop of MP3 players have improved, but still fall short of what the competition offers.
b) Top add insult to injury, theres never been a removable battery on any iPod.
c) I've yet to see any iPod achieve 64 hours of playback like the Cowon J3 can do. 64 hours is basically DOUBLE of what the iPod gets and pretty much double what iPod has EVER been able to get. While the iPods 160gb storage is nice, its not a deal breaker, most people don't fill 160gb of space with music. I would be surprised if the majority filled more than 16gb on a portable device.
6) Video format compatibility is by far one of the poorest in the iOS world. Divx? Xvid? MKV? WMV? Don't bother unless you like waiting and converting files.
7) External memory storage. Another huge selling point. I can take a 32gb MicroSD and slap it inside the J3 or any other card and fill them with whatever I like essentially doubling the maximum internal capacity.
8) Extra features like recording sound, themes, UI customization, Line-In, etc make the iPod obsolete.
I could go on, but I think I've made my point.
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