[yardie]

The iPod wasn't that type of device. It was an addition to iTunes. It did have a folder structure but the music files were 4 letter codes. As soon as iTunes associated a new iPod it wiped the hard drive and loaded it's own configurations and files.

iTunes on the otherhand, early on, did come with a small music selection. This would be OS9 era bands and musicians who were just famous enough to be featured but not famous enough to cost a fortune in licensing music. Also you could sign up for a monthly newsletter where Apple sent you a code to download featured artists.

Also, after years of service I cracked open my 2nd gen iPod. It was dense, there was not a spot available to add another headphone jack. Every cubic mm was occupied with battery, HD, control board, and display.

[bluedino]

And when Apple started automatically adding U2 to everyone's library, it wasn't wanted.

[yardie]

Yeah, I think Steve was a little bit too enthusiastic about U2. He liked it, he figured everyone else would like it too.

[cardiffspaceman]

I clicked on whatever affordance I had to click that allowed that album to be installed, and I enjoyed the music. I felt like a weirdo for not being annoyed and wondered what I had randomly configured that made the album's presence optional for me.

It seems like everyone else's experience was that the album took up precious space and was not removable.