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| Why buy an iPod? entry by Avatar-X 1/12/2005 5:32 AM
| I've become increasingly irritated with people's continued support of Apple's iPod. To that end, I've decided to create this document, examining the pros and cons of Apple's iPod. Let's start with the Pros. The only really big thing that the iPod has going for it, the only real reason to choose it over any other player, is the scroll wheel. No other player has a feature that makes it as easy to quickly scroll through songs. I freely admit that. Most other players require you to hold a button down. However, this advantage is relative -- how often do you find yourself needing to jump hundreds of tracks ahead in your playlist? So it's really a personal preference -- whether or not the scroll wheel is a major deciding factor for you. Moving right along to the Cons. Proprietary firmware. The iPod runs Apple's firmware and nothing else. This means you are at the mercy of Apple when it comes to deciding what your iPod can do. For example, at this time, the iPod can play MP3 files and Apple's AAC format. No WMA, no OGG Vorbis, nothing else. Most other MP3 players at least make an effort of allowing other formats. Music Store Exclusivity If you're the type who likes to buy music from online stores, you'll be shackling yourself to Apple with the iPod. The iPod plays DRM (Digital Rights Management) songs from the iTunes store only. It won't play files purchased from Walmart, or Real, or hundreds of other stores. The iTunes music store isn't even available in Canada yet, so if you're Canadian, you're screwed. All other DRM-Capable MP3 players will play songs purchased from any store. Battery Life The iPod has a non-removable, non-user-serviceable (without voiding warranty) battery. There have been many reports about this battery lasting only a year before totally not holding a charge anymore. It's also got a less-than-standard runtime: about 6-8 hours. Most other HD MP3 players boast more than 12 hours. I have heard that Apple has fixed this battery problem, but we shall see. No Easy Drag-And-Drop of Music Files If you plug your iPod into your PC or Mac, you can drag-and-drop documents and other files onto your iPod, as if it was a removable hard drive. However, if you drag-and-drop MP3 files, they will reside on the "data" part of the iPod and will not be accessible to the "music playing" part of the iPod. This means that if you want to add more music to your iPod, you *MUST* use the iTunes software to do it. If you're on a PC that doesn't have iTunes installed, tough luck -- install it or bust. Also, once the music has been placed onto the iPod, you can't copy it off again.. you can only delete it (sure there are hacks to get around this but it should let you do what you want with your files). Most other HD MP3 players allow you to simply drag the files onto the volume -- no drivers or special software required. You can keep them organized how YOU like, and then later drag them off again. Price Few people are rich. The price should be a major factor in deciding which MP3 player to buy. Apple's iPod is one of the most expensive, if not the most expensive player you can buy. Lack of Features Compared to similar players, the iPod does not come with a lot of onboard features. It has no MP3 encoder or "record" functionality, it does not have a built-in FM radio, it does not have a built-in FM transmitter, nor does it have any kind of built-in voice memo functionality. Sure, not all other players have these features, but you'd expect something that's priced higher to have more features. (yes I realize many of these can be achieved with an external add-on, but that defeats the purpose)
So, why do people buy iPods? One possible reason is the style -- some people might think the bevelled white rectangle is stylish. I personally think it's hideous, but that's my opinion. However, I don't think that how a device that will spend 99% of it's life in your pocket looks should be the most important factor in deciding whether or not to buy it. Now, you say: Alright, Av, you've proved that the iPod is overpriced, underfeatured, and generally a bad choice. But where SHOULD I put my money? There are many options, but here's a good start: The Neuros Digital Audio Computer has the following advantages over the iPod: It's cheaper It's available in higher capacities The firmware is open source, which means 3rd party developers can create new features and additions without Neuros needing to approve them Included FM Tuner Can record directly into MP3 from internal microphone, FM Radio, and line input 10 hours battery life Comes with car adapter for power Plays OGG, WMA, and WAV (plus more in the future) Can broadcast the music over the FM band, for playing in your car stereo with no wires As you can see, the Neuros is a better buy in every single way. And that's just one of the many options. I hope this article has been informative for you. Make your decision wisely, and not based on trends!
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Comments: (use Reply to add a comment) Macsbug Noble Donor
Location: St. Paul, MN Gender: Male Total Likes: 1 like
Safety First!
| | | | Re: Why buy an iPod? < Reply # 4 on 1/15/2005 6:35 PM > | Reply with Quote
| | | I have to agree with you somewhat here Av. I am a Mac guy, and I do think that the iPod is a nice mp3 player. That being said, I bought a 6 GB Creative Nomad Jukebox about 5ish years ago, for something under 300 dollars. It can function as a storage device, and hold music, it has a headphone out as well as two speaker outputs, which appearently can be both used to produce a (fake) 4.0 surround setup. It has some EAX spatialization shit that I never use (concert hall, club, etc..) and headphone settings (wide, full ear, earbud, etc...) as well as audio input, which can record at DAT quality I believe. Does not run the longest, and is the size of a cd player, but I can throw in a bigger laptop drive if I want, and it works as well as a discman, except skipless and with many special features. Not as powerful as an iPod, but many years (7-8?) old design, and still working fine. Also as a rant, my friend with too much money just bought a $1000 Apple LCD display, where I was advising him to buy a Dell 2005FPW for $600 which is basically the same screen, but with a bunch of really cool features thrown in (swival for portrait mode, dvi and vga in, PIP, PBP, composite in, s-video in, one button switching of inputs...). His only defense was that the Apple was one was much higher quality (I do believe it is slightly better quality, but also he isn't a graphics professional, so I think the difference is negligable) and that it looks nicer. So basically he's buying the Apple monitor with less features for $400 more. Hmmpf.
| "Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it." |
| Professor Chaos Noble Donor
Location: Halifax, NS Gender: Male Total Likes: 8 likes
| | | | Re: Why buy an iPod? < Reply # 10 on 2/10/2005 11:42 PM > | Reply with Quote
| | | I didn’t know there was such a thread on here… Anyways, this is what I think. Proprietary firmware First off, AV, you’re the first one to complain about this. Apple put out updates when needed. Many many people don’t give a damn about this. It’s maybe a good thing too because many inexperienced people would just fuck things up. I find the WMA sucks too. Never had much experience with OGG but it’s not a very popular format anyways. However ACC sounds pretty good and doesn’t use a lot of space. Only geeks would truely complain about this (although no offence made to anyone, this is just my opinion). Music Store Exclusivity ITunes is available in Canada. No problem. http://www.apple.com/ca/itunes/ Battery Life Apple has fixed this problem. The newer 4th generation iPods have 12 hour batteries. Now honestly, I never ran out of battery power and I use my iPod daily. Why? Because I never listen to more than 12 hours straight of music without being next to an outlet. They also have battery backs available. Also, the iPod uses a real hard drive, which sucks up on power. This is not a flash based mp3 player. No Easy Drag-And-Drop of Music Files Boo-hoo. How many computers does one person own? The principal is to have all your music in one box. I personally don’t find this to be an issue. I load all my songs on MY computer. Not on my friends. ITunes is also very easy to use compared to Musicmatch which comes with a lot of mp3 players (and I find musicmatch horrible crappy). Price Yeah it’s expensive. All Apple products are expensive. Agreed. Lack of Features Again, lack of recorder is no biggie. The iPod is a music PLAYER. The only possible use to record music is for djs to record their sets. I can’t find any other use to record from a line source ‘on the go’. No built in FM tuner is again not a problem for most. People want to listen to THEIR music, that’s why they buy mp3 players in the first place. Want the radio, go buy one of them small 1.29$ pocket radio tuners. Althugh I agree about the radio transmitter, you can buy the iTrip for like 49$ which works quite well. Sounds good in my VW Golf. One thing you did not talk about here is the sound quality. Yes, the iBuds suck but many audiophiles use ipods with AKG, Shure, Grado or other audiophile headphoes. Why? Because the ipod is very musical. It sounds very good, something that many mp3 players don’t have. I’m ready to compare and test the sound on the ipod with a Rio or the one you suggested. The iPod also has a longer battery life (2 hours more) than the Neuros. And the fact that it’s available in bigger sources is useless. Who the hell needs 80 gigs of music in their pockets? I have a 40gig iPod and i don’t use anywhere near 40 gigs. Anyways that’s what i think...
| "Toyota vehicles are marketed to people who would be more excited about getting a new fridge than a new car I think." -Bandi |
| Avatar-X Alpha Husky
Location: West Coast Gender: Male Total Likes: 765 likes
yay!
| | | | Re: Why buy an iPod? < Reply # 11 on 2/11/2005 3:26 AM > | Reply with Quote
| | | Allow me to respond to your points. WMA offers higher quality sound at a smaller filesize than MP3. It's a good format. The fact that you "find" it "sucks" doesn't change this. OGG is an open-source codec, unlike MP3 and AAC, which means nobody has to pay licensing fees to be able to write software that supports OGG. Very few MP3 players have open firmware, but those that do are just going to be better in every way. So what if iTunes is available in Canada now? You're still forced to use the iTunes music store. You can't buy music anywhere else. I realize that the iPod has a hard drive -- I was comparing hard drive player features, as stated in my article. 12 hours of battery life is acceptable, but it's surprising that it took them 4 generations to get that right. No Easy Drag-And-Drop of Music Files | It's not a matter of how many computers one owns. I'll give you a real example. I'm over at my friends place, and he's got an awesome mp3 that I just love. With most other mp3 players, you just plug it in and drag the file onto the drive. Takes 20 seconds. After that, you can play it immediatly. But with the iPod, you first have to install iTunes. Also, you can transfer some of your MP3's to your friend from your other MP3 player. Can't do that from an iPod. The fact that iTunes is easy to use is not important -- the point is that you are forced to use it. Yes, it's expensive. But it doesn't do anything special or extra for that price. Would you buy a Honda Civic for $60,000 when you can get a BMW for $45,000? Maybe you don't need a recorder, but I would find one very useful. I'd use it at friends rock shows, or for voice memos, or whatever. My article wasn't comparing what YOU would do with an iPod, it was simply comparing missing features. Saying that "most people won't use it" does not excuse the fact that it is not even an option. The iTrip has a range of about 2 feet, which means that in larger cities with many FM channels, it won't be able to overpower the local stations (even if you use an empty frequency) and won't work. I didn't talk about sound quality because I don't have any technical data about the comparative sound qualities. Apparently you, also with no data, have no problems making conclusions on this point. As for the size issue, once again I point out that this article was not about you. Just because YOU don't use all 40gb on your iPod doesn't mean nobody else will. If i had an 80gb mp3 player such as the Neuros, I'd probably keep 20gb of mp3s on it and fill the remaining 60gb with videos and games and stuff, so I can watch them on a friend's computer.
| huskies - such fluff. |
| Malabaristo
Location: Eau Claire Wisconsin Gender: Male Total Likes: 0 likes
| | | | | Re: Why buy an iPod? < Reply # 18 on 11/22/2005 8:37 PM > | Reply with Quote
| | | posted by Sinister crayon: Wrong again, and who would buy music when you can get it for free of the internet... | In the interest of not making it look like Av's the only one who thinks the way he does: If you want to buy music then you have to do so from the itunes music store. There are still some people that believe in supporting musicians by purchasing music. The ipod is an example of consumerism at its best: Is it the best product? No. Is it the cheapest? No. Is there any valid cost vs. value comparison that makes it a better choice? Not really. It's an image.
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