Consumer Reports has released the results of a July survey it conducted on MP3 players, which the magazine combined with feedback from its own testing and reporting, concluding that despite the iPod's dominance, it "has its flaws." Of course, the magazine acknowledged that its survey didn't include comments on the new iPods Apple introduced last month.

Starting with ease-of-use, Consumer Reports found that over 50% of iPod owners deemed their device's controls and music management system excellent. Because other brands have such small shares of the overall market, the magazine combined them into one category, which amounted to 35% judging their MP3 players' controls and music management as excellent too. Sixty-five percent of iPod owners also rated their display as excellent, which was almost twice the percentage of those who have competing players.

Battery life, however, was a weak spot, with 20% of iPod owners rating their battery life as excellent, compared to 30% for other brands. Among owners of full-size, hard drive-based iPods at least a year old, 29% said their battery life is shorter than it was originally, with 15% of the competition saying that. In addition, 14% of iPod owners didn't like having to charge their devices via a computer, twice the rate of complaints for other MP3 players.

Consumer Reports said: "Though our data can't predict performance for current iPods, our findings raise continuing questions about how long iPod batteries might last compared with those of other brands. And iPods are at best undistinguished in tech support and features," noting that Apple's iPod tech support scored the same as competing companies, and iPod owners "were half as likely as owners of all other brands to describe their player's array of features as excellent." The lack of an integrated FM tuner and voice recorder was cited as a minus for the iPod.

The magazine concluded by saying: "As with almost all other gear, service plans are a poor investment. For example, the Apple Care Protection Plan for iPods costs US$59 for two years. But for respondents without a plan, the median cost of repairs, support, and battery replacement for a two- to three-year-old iPod was $65, and only 9 percent of players ever required any of these services."

Consumer Reports spoke with 3,000 of its subscribers about MP3 players and conducted its own testing. Last month, it said of the new iPods: "We can't yet vouch for the performance of the new iPods but, if they're like their predecessors, they should be fine, well-designed players. With their lower prices, higher capacities, and smaller size, there's less reason to consider players from other brands." However, the magazine did cite drawbacks, including a smaller screen on the full-size iPod compared to other devices, battery life, fewer features, and incompatibility with movie and music download services other than iTunes.