5 Reasons Not to Buy an iPod

Here's my low tech solution. by i_want_you_to_throw_ · 2003-11-07 05:27 · Score: 5, Informative

Rip all my CDs and then burn them back onto CDRs. You can fit like 12 CDs on one CDR in MP3 format. I have a wallet case when I travel and I manage to pack the music of 144 CDs with me that way. Best Buy has portable CD players that they sell for 30.00 that read MP3s and there you go, the cheap solution. When I get my cut of this money that the Nigerians are transferring to me though an iPod is the first thing on my list!

Re:Here's my low tech solution. by akedia · 2003-11-07 05:29 · Score: 4, Funny

And your MP3 player won't skip, either. Because it will be cushioned by about $380 in cash.
Re:Here's my low tech solution. by 2nd+Post! · 2003-11-07 05:42 · Score: 5, Funny

All will be fine until, of course, you find out you really like iTunes.

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GPL Deconstructed
Re:Here's my low tech solution. by zwaffle · 2003-11-07 06:02 · Score: 5, Insightful

I was using the same solution at work (I'm a coder) for almost a year.
Disadvantages: no playlists, so you end up swapping CDRs quite often. It's also a major pain to organize your CDRs: if you've ripped 12 CDs in one CDR it's already hard to list them all on the disk, but if you have to burn hundreds of individual songs (from the ol'napster days) on one CDR, you gotta keep some sort of separate catalog to be able to find what you want to listen.
I eventually got an 40gig IPod and I'm saving at least 30 min a day from not having to manipulate CDRs and I now enjoy my library much more (takes only a few seconds to switch album or playlist and therefore keep me in the zone more easily by selecting the right music to match my mood).

let me spoil the article for you.... by wanderers_id · 2003-11-07 05:29 · Score: 5, Funny

"Don't buy it"

"We love it, but it doesn't blah blah blah blah...."

"But it's still the best"

Thanks for nothing....

Re:let me spoil the article for you.... by dasmegabyte · 2003-11-07 07:06 · Score: 5, Insightful
Yeah. I liked this article...it reminded me of one of those Kung Fu movies, where each of the five members of a gang has a speciality area in which they can beat the protagonist. Maybe one is an axe wielder, one is tough as nails, one is very fast, etc. Each one of them has an area of expertise in which they are the master.

Of course, in those films, all the protagonist has to do is step outside of that area of expertise and he easily kicks their asses. Which I think is exactly what the iPod does overall, kicks ass.
- Yes, it could have more battery life but then it would be larger (like the model they show). Since its small size and weight are what make it perfect for sitting in pockets or running with without getting sore hands, that wouldn't be that useful to me.
- Yes, it could be solid state -- i did have mine skip at the gym yesterday and have decided from now on I shall have to run a mile in under 6:39 and I'll just run along to Metallica's Blackened -- but then it would also have a TINY capacity, the biggest player they listed was 512 meg and there's no way i could deal with that after overflowing 27.4 gig.
- Sure, it could be cheaper...and a total piece of shit like those CDR units they showed (can't run with it, no interface, no battery life, have to carry a supply of discs with you, unwieldy). I traded in a stack of similar devices when I bought my iPod, which was the easiest $538.92 I have ever spent.
- Sure, voice recording would be nice, and it's coming...that was the point of adding the dock connector.
- And as for "choice in music services"...well, I choose iTunes because AAC ounds so damn good and I have both Macs and PCs. WMA is not an option for me, so I don't have a choice.
Aw, brave iPod. How easily you have destroyed the warriors of the C-net. The spirit of the Wu-tang Clan flows within you -- in fact, the complete DISCOGRAPHY of the Wu-tang Clan flows within you.
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Re:let me spoil the article for you.... by zurab · 2003-11-07 08:09 · Score: 4, Informative

Here is a better portable audio player that does the stuff the article talks about (and some more) and has a very reasonable price - Neuros.

- First off, it comes with a small memory card and optional 20GB HD attachment, so you can go light when you are jogging and attach HD for long road trips;

- Speaking of road trips, it has an FM transmitter that lets it play any audio on any FM radio without extra connections;

- It has FM radio, and is able to record directly from FM radio to MP3 format;

- It has a microphone and a voice recorder;

- It has full Linux support;

- It has Vorbis support;

- The whole package - the unit itself, software, USB cable, earphones, 20GB HD attachment, regular charger, car charger = $230.

That would be less than half the price of iPod. I would like to see some reviews of this baby.

They complain it's hard drive based by Anonymous Coward · 2003-11-07 05:29 · Score: 4, Insightful

Yet, that's the only way to get huge capacities at a somewhat affordable price. If they had gigs of flash media, they'd be too expensive for most people. It's a trade-off, not a defect.

Re:They complain it's hard drive based by tgibbs · 2003-11-07 05:56 · Score: 5, Insightful

Yet, that's the only way to get huge capacities at a somewhat affordable price. If they had gigs of flash media, they'd be too expensive for most people. It's a trade-off, not a defect.
Which is essentially what the article says--far from being about iPod "defects," it merely points out there are certain people and uses for which these trade-offs favor another type of player, despite the acknowledged virtues of the iPod.
Re:They complain it's hard drive based by Graff · 2003-11-07 06:09 · Score: 4, Insightful

My favorite thing about the whole article is they give 5 reasons that the iPod isn't the best and then each reason shows different music players that could replace the iPod. Notice however that there is no player that will fill all 5 roles by itself, in order to get all these "features" you would need to buy 5 different players.

The fact is that the iPod does a pretty good job at filling all these roles, but it can be beat by a specialized player in a particular function. If you want an overall good player then the iPod is a great choice.

All of the reasons are pretty flimsy or can be overcome easily, such as the battery life/airplane flight reason. 6 hours is plenty for most flights that people take and if you are going on a longer one then you can get a power adapter that works on planes. As for jogging, the iPod has an extremely long buffer so it has little chance of getting hurt by vibration. Price, yeah it's on the expensive side but you have to pay for quality and solid features.

High-quality digital recordings on a MP3 player? You have to be kidding, you will probably use a feature like that maybe once or twice in your life unless you are a professional and then you will probably have dedicated equipment that is way better than any MP3 player.

Choice in online stores? Well given that the iTunes music store has about the same prices as everyone else, and the choice is similar to everyone else, and that it has had 80% of online sales of music, don't you think that just having the iTunes Music Store is enough? I mean what is the point of being able to purchase the same music for the same price at 4 or 5 different stores? Aren't you only going to purchase from 1 anyways?

I also love how they bracket the entire article with "it's still hands down the best-designed MP3 player in the world." Ok so you think it's the best and yet you decided to write an article about how all these other players are better. Talk about hedging your bets, I'm guessing that they got paid for every mention of a MP3 player or music service in the article. They probably just needed a reason to mention as many as possible in order to make the maximum amount of cash.

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I disagree with the article by squarefish · 2003-11-07 05:30 · Score: 4, Insightful

it seems odd that for each point, they suggest different mp3 players- which all have some of the same faults the ipod was critiziced for previously. I also don't think that the lack of support for windows media files means it won't work at all with other services, I think the services need to give you an oportunity to convert the music to mp3 or some other less controled standard.

the end of the article says it all: Of course, if you don't care about low battery life, aren't fond of jogging, have ample disposable income, don't need to record/encode music portably, and want to purchase music downloads only from the iTunes Music Store, then the iPod is the best the way to go. While not ideal for some niche activities, it's still hands down the best-designed MP3 player in the world.

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Re:I disagree with the article by DrEldarion · 2003-11-07 05:46 · Score: 4, Informative

it seems odd that for each point, they suggest different mp3 players

I don't really find that odd. It's more of a "If you want to go jogging with it, don't get an iPod, get one of these instead." - "If you need over 15 hours of battery life, don't get an iPod, get one of these instead."

They're not claiming that any one thing is better than the iPod, just that some are more suitable for certain niches.

More like 3 Reasons. by El+Neepo · 2003-11-07 05:31 · Score: 5, Interesting

1. 6 hours is not enough battery, ok fine.
2. Jogging with an iPod could be bad, ok fine.
3. iPod is expensive, duh.

4. Voice recording is an add-on. Find a better one.
5. Since when is the online store a part of having a portable mp3 player? Alsoi, "Microsoft's secure WMA files" made me laugh.

All-in-all, seems like weak reasoning. Yes, its expensive, but I think its high quality.

Confused by BWJones · 2003-11-07 05:33 · Score: 4, Insightful

Of course, if you don't care about low battery life, aren't fond of jogging, have ample disposable income, don't need to record/encode music portably, and want to purchase music downloads only from the iTunes Music Store, then the iPod is the best the way to go.

Well, I routinely get 5 to 6 hours on my iPod and that is plenty for me. I have never had to have more battery life even on cross country plane flights or drives. I jog routinely with the iPod and have never had a problem and I tried the other music outlets for downloadable music. The iTMS is simply the best there is so.....What is his point?

And then at the bottom of this rant, the author saysWhile not ideal for some niche activities, it's still hands down the best-designed MP3 player in the world.

What gives? Is this guy totally out to lunch?

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Re:Confused by Chibi · 2003-11-07 05:45 · Score: 4, Insightful

And then at the bottom of this rant, the author saysWhile not ideal for some niche activities, it's still hands down the best-designed MP3 player in the world.

What gives? Is this guy totally out to lunch?

I get the impression it's an article simply meant to point out some of the flaws of a very good product, especially since the iPod and iTunes have been the centers of some major love-fests, especially in the press. I don't think it hurts to acknowledge that a good product may have some negatives. It's something that future versions of the product could try to improve upon.

If something only has positive attributes, then that make my BS detector go off. Once in a while, you'll find that rare gem which really is all positive. But I think being able to consider a product's drawbacks gives a more accurate impression of it, and can in the long run give a better perception of the product.

Anyway, would you rather see another "me too" article about how great iTunes and iPod are, or a slightly different take on all of the buzz around them (although I'm sure C|NET probably has plenty of "me too" articles, as well)?

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If all you have are silver bullets, everything looks like a werewolf.
Re:Confused by tuckerclerico · 2003-11-07 06:05 · Score: 4, Insightful

Some of us travel internationally. My shortest flight in my 150k butt-in-seat miles this year is 11 hours. I guess I'm in the niche.

Then spend a couple bucks and get the damn Belkin battery add-in. You'll get 6 hours plus another 18 hours.

The Belkin add-on is great because (a) it's cheap, (b) it adds *INSANE* amounts of time to the iPod, and (c) is there only when you need it. When you don't want the added weight, you simply unsuck from the back of the iPod and stash it away. Then the iPod is sleek and lovely and thin (because if it wasn't sleek and lovely and thin, these insane "Why I Don't Like the iPod" articles from (airquote) Professional (airquote) reviewers would complain about it being not sleek and not lovely and not thin.

Re:Flamebait? by Carbonite · 2003-11-07 05:34 · Score: 5, Insightful

Did you RTFA? It's stated right at the beginning:

Don't get me wrong; it's still our favorite overall MP3 player. Although everyone can think of reasons why they want an iPod, I've decided to use this column to list a few reasons why not to buy one.

Before you send me rants for putting down the iPod, please read the list, realize that we still love the iPod, and take a deep breath.

If CNET ran an article with the title "5 Reasons Not to Buy a Windows XP PC", would that also be flamebait or would you consider it an alternative view? Follow the advice of the article: take a deep breath.

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ich muß mehr Kuhglocke haben

Re:Most of these objections are invalid by JayPee · 2003-11-07 05:35 · Score: 5, Informative

You can replace them. You don't even have to send them to Apple.

Go here: http://www.ipodbattery.com/

5 reasons to agree with this story... by contrabassoon · 2003-11-07 05:37 · Score: 5, Funny

1 - the things in the list have nothing to do with technological flaws with the unit itself.
2- the author's expectations for battery life versus product size exceed that of most major military technologies.
3- I, like the author, need a bigger paycheck so I don't have to buy cheap, lower quality music devices all the time.
4- Making high quality digital recordings is something I should be able to do from a $500 device that fits in my pocket.
5- The picture of the author inspires me to buy a new pair of headphones.

The iPod Is Not Perfect by Pave+Low · 2003-11-07 05:40 · Score: 5, Insightful

or even close. I bought 15 gig 3rd gen iPod almost on the first day it came out, after hearing all the raves it got before. While I do enjoy it very much, this article does make some good points.

The battery life really is not great, and it continues to suck power even when you don't have it on so you have to recharge the thing constantly. The other issues like weight, and expense are valid too, I also dislike the the touch-sensitive buttons, no manual EQ settings, no line-in.

Apple zealots don't do Apple any favors as they set themselves up so high on the pedestal, that they're bound to get knocked down a peg. The iPod really isn't THAT much better overall nowadays.

Don't get me wrong, I still like the iPod, but it's not so clear-cut nowadays with all the new competitors. Hopefully, Apple will address these issues in the next revision to stay ahead of the pack.

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Jogging by Da+Penguin · 2003-11-07 05:41 · Score: 4, Interesting

Jogging can damage it? Then I should be more careful, as not only do I run with it (though mostly to classes), I regularly play squash or work out while jammin' to "War and Peace" from audible.com. Not to mention the many times I've dropped it (note: get a carrying case!).

It should not be difficult, however, to refute their claim. Considering the accelerations present when jogging with it, compared to the internal velocities of the hard drive, it really seems inconsequential. Though don't take my word for it.

Lack of radio by Midnight+Thunder · 2003-11-07 05:42 · Score: 5, Insightful

Lack of radio is a small but important one for me. Considering that it costs less than 50 cents for an integrated radio chip, and that the iPods UI is ideal for radio tuning, it is certainly something I would like to see. Sometimes I want to hear the news and other live events.

Apple could open up a bit more in terms of media formats, but then again, so could the online stores. AAC is far more open that WMA is at the moment. Heck AAC, is even part of the MPEG4 standard.

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Re:Lack of radio by Phrogz · 2003-11-07 05:53 · Score: 4, Informative

Lack of radio is a small but important one for me.

It isn't an issue for me, and only 1 out of 5 iPod owners I know wanted radio. For that 1 person, it was simple to buy a tiny inline receiver that works with the iPod.

Solution to Battery Life by clarencek · 2003-11-07 05:44 · Score: 4, Informative

I personally get about 8 hours from my iPod. And when I need more juice I use this:

http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process ?Merchant_Id=&Section_Id=201526&pcount=&Product_Id =148969

If you need to listen to music for more than 10 hours having an optional battery pack is a must, and it uses AA's so I just swap those for more power.

I don't see one offered for the Dell or Samsung player.

Re:Ogg Vorbis sucks by Anonymous Coward · 2003-11-07 05:46 · Score: 5, Informative

And your music collection is only ever on your "digital jukebox"? You don't understand bitrate peeling. It lets you encode things at a super high quality to stay on your hard drive (say with 5.1 sound), but then strip it down on the fly as you transfer it to your "digital jukebox" or email it to a friend or stream it on the internet to a lower bitrate and fewer channels. And, not everyone plugs their "digital jukebox" into headphones. You could plug it into a real speaker set, or a sound system.

Re:6. No Ogg Vorbis! by iJed · 2003-11-07 05:48 · Score: 4, Insightful

As much as it pains me to say it I think WMA would be more useful to the masses that Ogg.

What would also be nice is support for some sort of compressed lossless codec rather than using huge AIFF or WAV files.

Re:Flamebait? by jared_hanson · 2003-11-07 05:50 · Score: 5, Insightful

Don't get me wrong; you are still my favorite overall insightful poster. Although everyone can think of reasons why your posts are good, I've decided to use this comment to list a few reasons why they are not.

1. You are an idiot.

Just because I put the disclaimer up, does not mean that this isn't flamebait. Likewise with the CNet article. They are trying to provoke a reaction, and probably a negative one given how popular the iPod is.

It is one thing to post a review of one of the best products and still point out its flaws. It is another to post an article that is structured in an entirely negative way, despite the fact that they admit it is great. This is simply a case of beating up on the popular guy, just to provoke a reaction (and draw hits to their site so they can sell ads).

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-- Fighting mediocrity one bad post at a time.

Looks like they really had to stretch by nocomment · 2003-11-07 05:50 · Score: 5, Informative

It looks like they really had to stretch to find 5 reasons. "choice in music stores", look, it doesn't matter, the fact is that they still cost $.99.

The skipping while playing is pretty iffy, because they are suggesting that the flash buffer is completely empty before the HD spins up to refill it, which is completely untrue. It spins up long before it's empty to fill up the buffer. A lot like the way burning a cd works (only different ;-). Still, it's nice to see someone being objective about it.

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Re:Looks like they really had to stretch by thparker · 2003-11-07 07:54 · Score: 5, Funny

Of course they're stretching. Skipping? Come on, geeks don't jog, silly.

"Experts say...but I'm a frigging moron, so I'm.." by rthille · 2003-11-07 05:54 · Score: 4, Insightful

Some experts say that it's impossible to damage the drive in this way, but I'm not buying that
Yeah, because he knows way more than any expert. He even figured out that you have to wait until the buffer is completely empty before you refill it.
And I'm sure he pored over the specs for the hard drive and saw that the G's he would put on the iPod while jogging would exceed the specs for the drive.
Basically, despite the line at the end calling the iPod the best designed player (added by an editor perhaps?), it's just an anti-iPod rant.

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Boy, Bill's getting desperate by kelzer · 2003-11-07 06:08 · Score: 5, Funny

Pull up the article, and check out the picture of the author, "Eliot Van Buskirk". Yeah, look real close. Look familiar? Tried the old Superman/Clark Kent trick of taking off his glasses. Threw on some headphones just to be extra careful.

Well nice try Bill, but we're on to you. Your FUD isn't going to work this time!

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SERENITY NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sedan vs Truck by QEDog · 2003-11-07 06:14 · Score: 4, Insightful

As you say, they don't tell you an mp3 player better than the iPod overall. An iPod is like an expesinve european sedan, and the reviewer is comparing it to trucks, motorcycles, SUV's and rollerblades and saying how those are better for some things than the sedan. Of course the truck can carry more weight. Of course the SUV is better in rough terrain. Of course the motorcycle is easier to park. Of course the rollerblades are cheaper. So what? It is totally a meaningless comparison.

iPod is a great product. Period. My friend had one, and he just loved it. I couldn't figure out what was about it, and, having my own MP3 plays, I used to think 'it's about the same, i guess'. Then, I borrow my friends iPod for a few hours. I was convinced, sold my mp3 player, and bought an iPod. Then, a second friend saw me with the iPod, and asked me about it. He borrowed it for 3 hours, and that weekend, he was buying one. Have you ever heard of anything like this with any other consumer electronics? It is a quality product, I haven't been so satisfied with a consumer electronic products in a looong time.

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"There is no teacher but the enemy."-Mazer Rackham

I was thinking the opposit, actually... by joggle · 2003-11-07 06:23 · Score: 4, Informative

Out of the possible solutions, he doesn't mention MiniDisc (which uses Sony's proprietary format). It's great for doing portable recordings (so long as you get a model with a mic jack) and has extroardinary battery life, with the extra bonus of only neading 1 cheap AA battery.

Why people buy an iPod by Mr_Silver · 2003-11-07 06:25 · Score: 5, Insightful

Because it looks good. Seriously. Most of the people I know has bought one because it looks good and it feels good. It's got nothing to do with the "Apple" name - at the most they know they make computers, at the least they know they make MP3 players.

The reason other manufacturers of HD based players don't get it is because they think they can compete and win on price and features. Which is true, they can do pretty well - but in their desire to push the price down lower than an iPod they end up using cheaper materials which means that what they end up with:

Looks cheap and nasty
Feels cheap and nasty

When a HD based MP3 player hits the market which looks and feels good (and i'm sorry to say it but this is butt ugly and this looks only marginally better but still feels cheap and nasty) then they'll be onto a winner. Even if it has the same or less features.

For many people, if you're going to pony up several hunded quid for a HD based MP3 player - it better not look like something made by Fischer Price.

However, there is light at the end of the tunnel, Toshiba might come up with the goods (and also Panasonic, but I can't find the product I was thinking of) ...

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Re:The Non-replacable battery is a showstopper by squarefish · 2003-11-07 06:26 · Score: 5, Informative

just look here

actually, I didn't even know about this till I saw it in someone's earlier post in this story.

--
Creationists are a lot like zombies. Slow, but powerful and numerous. And they all want to eat our brains.

Re:Five Rebuttals (You'll hafta RTFA) by tshak · 2003-11-07 06:27 · Score: 4, Insightful

4. What percentage of the owners of portable MP3 players are DJs that want to record their sets? DAT is lossless and is an industry standard, which makes it considerably better for recording your live sets.

You're ignoring his other points. There's probably a large percentage of users who have vinyl and cassets who would want to make backups of their media. Also, as consumer become more empowered with technology, they generally start do do more things with them. Go beyond the average consumer and you have audio engineers, producers, and DJ's as well. There's multiple markets to target with such a feature - why do you think even low end portable cassette players have audio inputs?

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There is no longer anything that can be done with computers that is nontrivial and clearly legal. -- Paul Phillips

Replacement batteries for iPod higher capacity too by gricholson75 · 2003-11-07 06:27 · Score: 5, Informative

Clicky Clicky

I get his intent, but he's stretching a bit by HarveyBirdman · 2003-11-07 06:32 · Score: 4, Insightful

The main problem with the article is that it's the iPod versus the world, and not one particular other device.

Note that each of the 5 has a separate list of alternative players that the iPod beats head to head.

For example, in one point he crows that one alternative has no moving parts and weighs less than the iPod, but in another point, he presents a solution involving an MP3 CD player (moving parts) that is also saddled with a case of CDs (total is far heavier and more unweildy than the iPod).

So it seems if I follow the advice of this article, I need to buy about 3 to 5 different players to beat the functionality of my iPod.

Obligatory car analogy: It's like saying, if you want a sports car, you should not buy Corvette because it's more expensive than a Mustang, might break more easily than a Lexus GS300, hauls less than a Chevy full size pickup, has a smaller fuel tank than a Hummer and is not as "cool" as an Aston Martin.

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--- Ban humanity.

Re:The Non-replacable battery is a showstopper by Golias · 2003-11-07 06:41 · Score: 5, Insightful

As the article points out, these batteries will lose their ability to store a charge in a few years (all rechargable batteries do so), and buying a replacement battery (as one does for one's camcorder or discman every few years) isn't an option.

Instead one has to throw away the ipod and buy a new one...

Holy crap, I thought this was Slashdot! You're afraid that you might someday need to open an old out-of-warranty MP3 player to replace a battery!? What the hell kind of hacker are you, anyway?

Slashdot's stated purpose is "news for nerds." Go read CNN.com or Drudge Report or something if that doesn't apply to you.

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Information wants to be anthropomorphized.

Re:Great troll by pHDNgell · 2003-11-07 06:48 · Score: 4, Insightful

*None* of the MP3 players he's hawking resolves all 5 points

This is what I was looking for someone to point out. After each point, a player was shown that was better at that point. I didn't see two pictures of the same player. Does this suggest that no player is even good at two of them?

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-- The world is watching America, and America is watching TV.

Re:6. No Ogg Vorbis! by pyros · 2003-11-07 07:04 · Score: 4, Informative

I recall one of the biggest holdups to ogg support in portables was in the hardware. I think it was that none of the portables shipped with an FPU, and ogg required one. So perhaps you bought a player before there was technical ability for portables to support ogg. I'm sure someone will post a link or two and take any potential informative mod points i might have received were i more motivated to research futher.

Re:6. No Ogg Vorbis! by Mr.+Sparkleru · 2003-11-07 07:22 · Score: 4, Informative

There is an integer only version of ogg available.

Hope that helps.

iPod "shortcomings"? Demystifying crack smokers by greygent · 2003-11-07 07:28 · Score: 4, Interesting

Major shortcomings??

1. The battery is a major shortcoming? The thing plays for hours and hours. It's not a shortcoming, just because the newly released Dell player does 20 hours.

2. The moving parts (hard drive) are a major shortcoming? I've jogged with my iPod hundreds of times. You set a playlist for the duration of your jog, press play the iPod fills up the memory cache with tunes, you jog. I maybe get one or two skips. Hard drive still not dead in my unit.

Indeed, not only "some experts", but even Apple says jogging with the iPod is okay, according to their official iPod FAQ:

Question 9: Can I use iPod while running, or doing other activities? Will my music skip?
Answer: iPod was designed for people with an active lifestyle. It is compact and lightweight enough to take with you wherever you go. It was designed to fit comfortably in the palm of your hand or to be slipped into a pocket or purse for easy transport. iPod offers up to 20 minutes of skip protection - twice that of other hard drive-based MP3 players on the market - so you can enjoy outdoor athletic activities without missing a beat.

3. The iPod is expensive. It is pretty expensive, but it's also very high quality. I've dropped the thing on hard ground a few times now, and it still works like a champ. It is well-designed, and it integrates with iTunes seamlessly.

The author suggests MP3 CD players as an alternative, but doesn't this violate his point #2? Yes. It does, you think jogging with an iPod is bad, but jogging with a cheaply manufactured MP3 CD player is better? These units probably have some skip protection, and probably almost no shock absorbtion (walking, driving).

4. You want to make high quality recordings. This is true, rumors are Apple is working on this, who knows.

5. You want a choice in online music stores. Well, I do have a choice in online music stores. I download AACs from iTunes Music Store, and I download MP3s from emusic.com and import them into iTunes.

I heard people bitch for years about how horrible and flakey MusicMatch and others were. Why would I want to go use them? iTunes Music Store is superb, and far exceeds the other choices out there.

Sure the iPod doesn't support "secure" (read: DRM-laden) WMA files, but I don't want to buy those, because they strip me of choice. I want unladen MP3s and perhaps minimally-DRM'd AAC files that are flexible, not draconian "secured" WMA files (which I HAVE experienced, thank you).

This article is just full of bullshit, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was shadow authored by John Dvorak or some MS PR drone*, with the stereotypical bone to pick with Apple.

* Note: I am not a Linux zealot.

Zealotry, Ogg, and WMA by Llywelyn · 2003-11-07 07:45 · Score: 5, Insightful

The reason why WMA would be more useful is because more people use WMA.

It doesn't matter if, on some ideological (or even technical) level Ogg is "better" (why do I get the image of that guy from SG1? Kom-chy-a!) most people do not use it. Full stop, end of story.

If I produce a word processor and I had a limited number of file formats I could support it would behoove me to select Word over OpenOffice. Why? Because more people use Word than OpenOffice and if I want to appeal to more people that is the way to go.

There is also the point that no one is selling DRM-wrapped Ogg files (not that this is not possible). They /are/, however, selling DRM-wrapped WMA files. Appealing to more customers again.

>Because ogg is patent and royalty free, there's no reason
>for it not to be adopted by everyone and be everywhere.

There /is/ a reason not to support it on an iPod: they already are paying for support of AAC and MP3s and can only fit a limited number of formats in its memory.

AAC is a given, the Apple Music Store distributes in it and its what's used in mpeg4 files.

MP3 is a given.

AIFF/WAV are givens.

I want to see support for (smaller) lossless formats before I see Ogg support.

For me as an end user, I never (directly) see the license fees paid by Apple for mp3 or AAC support (if they even have to pay the latter). iTunes is distributed to me for free and it does not support ripping to ogg and my iPod won't play ogg, why should I bother with it?

--
Integrate Keynote and LaTeX

-1 wrong. by morgue-ann · 2003-11-07 08:03 · Score: 4, Insightful

emusic.com

If it was buy one song at a time, I might go for it, but I pay enough monthly subscriptions between dish, cell, dsl and netflix.

Their webpage hawks the free trial at you like crazy and hides the real price but it starts at $9.99/month for 40 downloads per month.

I'm trying to be satisfied with stuff I found through Links to Tens of Thousands of Legal Music Downloads and avoid supporting the dinosaurs completely. GarageBand looks promising- I can listen to RealAudio songs & "radio" at work, add the ones I like to my playlist & download 'em to my iPod at home.

Stereophile Review by nuxx · 2003-11-07 08:23 · Score: 4, Informative

I think you might want to take a look at the Stereophile Review of the iPod. If you read the article, what is actually (between the lines) reviewed is the DAC of the iPod, which is incredible. I'll attest to this*. Sure, MP3 generally sounds like ass, as to lower bitrate AAC files, but that's a product of lossy compression, not the player itself. iPods themselves sound absolutely wonderful, especially if you use the line out (often from the dock) into your stereo.

*At home I have my iPod dock in the living room hooked to a mid-range NAD receiver and some Gekko speakers. It just sounds amazing.

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