Shoutbox

No it's not. Not if you do the calculations and have an open mind. And it's not one sponsor, they have a few dozen of sponsers.
For starters, when signing up you are given the option to sign up for optional sponsers, there are about 20 I would guess. I clicked no for all of them. Then, there are the 7-8 sponsers from which you must choose one.
Every one of the five people you refer must also complete this entire process and successfully register with the sponsors. In general, it's quite hard to get your iPod, because not only you but also your 5 refered people must complete the whole process. Therefore, statistically, it's very advantagous to them. I'm betting they're making millions with this. Especially since it's been in the news and all. Check CNN if you want to know, or the TV show posted by CookieRevised, and the pictures shown by WDZ. They are independant and tried the normal customer way. It worked. Many people have received their iPod, if they hadn't it would be publicly known by now and all over the news & google. Check it if you're sceptical as I was.
Btw, you can be damn sure that this company had a huge discount from Apple, for buying the iPods in such a huge quantity.