Are you shopping for a new iPod this holiday season? If you are, that's not a huge surprise; it is, after all, one seriously kickin' device, and it's hauled in something like 2.3 rave reviews per minute since its debut a little over a year ago. Nobody who uses one can help but wax poetic about its many merits, and ever since Windows-compatible models arrived earlier this year, even Wintel-centric publications (who previously wouldn't have gone near an Apple-branded product even if it had been licked thoroughly by Bill Gates himself) found themselves tripping all over themselves in the rush to sing the iPod's many praises. So if you are shopping for an iPod, the biggest surprise is that you don't own one already.

No matter; maybe cash has been tight, or maybe you're one of those blessed souls who's actually buying someone else an iPod as a gift. For whatever reason, you're looking for a 'Pod, and given the fact that the economy still resembles something one's chronically ill cat coughs up in the middle of the night, you probably want to find the absolute best deal possible. Let's assume for the moment that you aren't up for scoring a free iPod by getting nominated for an Oscar or buying a motorcycle. So where do you turn to get the lowest price on Apple's toothsome lil' music box? Um, well, according to the MacObserver, you turn to Dell. Irony, thy name is "dude"...

No, really, we're serious; Dell is currently selling 5 GB, 10 GB, and 20 GB iPods for 10% off the list price. That breaks down to prices of $269.10, $359.10, and $449.10 respectively. Compare those prices to the ones you'll find at the Apple Store and you'll notice that Dell is saving you enough cash to pick up a bitchin' Dude CD case, a way stylin' Dude cap, and maybe a Dude t-shirt or three. And did we mention that shipping is free?

There are a couple of catches that come along with this deal. The first is that, surprisingly enough, Dell only sells iPods for Windows. We know, we know-- you could have knocked us over with a feather when we heard. But here's the thing: out of the box, a Windows iPod won't work with a Mac, but Apple's own iPod FAQ notes that "if you purchased an iPod for Windows, you can easily reformat it to work on your Mac"; apparently the procedure is as simple as plugging it into a Mac's FireWire port and running the iPod Software Updater. When you're done, the Windows iPod's hard disk will have been reformatted as a good ol' HFS+ volume, and you're all set.

The other catch with buying your iPod from Dell, of course, is that you'll be, um, well, buying your iPod from Dell. But trust us-- a little irony never hurt anyone. Much, anyway.