Yep, this is sad, depressing news. As a lover, owner & user of Apple products since the time I first acquired a computer (I am cross-platform, but have *never* owned a PC, and, frankly, can't stand them), it is indeed a blow to the ingenuity of the race now that a true trailblazer is gone. I still have my issues with MP3s & iPods, but I'm a deep lover of my precious iPhone (it's my chief music-making tool), and, someday, an iPad shall be mine as well, after I upgrade my 'top, that is.
This has been a tough year of human losses, on many different levels & scales. Damn...