I bought myself a stack of notepads last summer in preparation for school. I found myself not using notebooks to their full potential, and the convenience of having a pad of paper in my pocket was much better than lugging around a 8.5x11 inch wad of paper. It was much easier to record random thoughts as well.
It's just too bad that once I got my iPod, my notepads were rendered useless. Not all is lost however, since notepads are still exceedingly useful tools for actual reporting, but when it comes to recording fleeting thoughts, I'd rather use my iPod instead.
