Apple iPod Essentials   Tracking the Pulse of iPod

About 80 percent of Microsoft employees who have a portable music player have an iPod," said one source, a high-level manager who asked to remain anonymous. "It's pretty staggering.

According to this Wired News article, company executives are even sending out memos frowning on its use and employees are hiding their
iPods by swapping the telltale white headphones for a less conspicuous pair.

Chris A., an employee of Microsoft, noted in his blog yesterday that after configuring his wife's iPod, he went back to the store and bought himself a 40GB pod. With comments like this, I'd say he's a true believer:

The industrial design on the iPod is absolutely amazing. The usability of the device is light years beyond anything else I've seen. The accessories are fabulous (RF broadcast, car adapters, docking stations with speakers, etc.). iTunes is a great music player, the "browse" feature is very slick and easy to use.

After buying wife Megan's pod, he describes converting all his music from the proprietary Windows Media format:

I picked it up two days ago, and since have been in process of converting our 3000+ songs from WMA to MP3. I decided that I wasn't going to ever again rip to a proprietary format. I want my music where I want it, not where Microsoft or Apple dictates. I want to share my music between my iPod and my Zen. I own every album I have ripped. They are sitting in a really big pile behind me right now.