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iPod's Two-Year Anniversary
the terminal of Geoff Goodfellow writes "Two years ago this month, Apple Computer released a small, sleek-looking device it called the iPod. This Sunday's New York Times Magazine has a long article on it: The Guts of a New Machine."
Google it.
I want the fire back.
Thanks to google, we can read this article without registering: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/30/magazine/30IPOD. html?ex=1070773200&en=6cc3b984324f9225&ei=5062&par tner=GOOGLE
I made a PHP/MySQL library that prevents SQL injection & makes coding easier!
There was no battery problem. A battery dying in 18 months was an extremely rare exception, and Apple charges $100 for a new battery, not $250, and you can get a 3rd party replacement for $50.
apple recently dropped the price to 100$ for battery replacement. there are 3rd party replacments that are as cheap as 50$ also.
Too bad that my 10GB(2nd gen ie dockable) iPod doesn't seem to like to fully charge its battery. It takes at least two tries to get it to charge fully, and yes- I've done the soft reset more than once. It's supposed to charge to 75% within a short period of time, and then trickle the rest- but it never seems to get "the rest" part done, even if left overnight on the charger. Or plugged into the powerbook.
Oh, and I'm -still- waiting for my iTrip FM adapter to ship...I ordered it almost exactly 4 weeks ago, still no sign.
Please help metamoderate.
Which i am sure you have been heard by now, is filled with bull...
Seems like the makers of this "film" have some secrets of their own:
Dumb kids.
Young, stupid and camera owning...a dangerous combination...
Um. Isn't that why they advertise 20-minute skip protection?
-b
myselfmusic
Here's a website with a nice counter to the dirty little secret. Not only has his ipod (and mine) lasted longer, but he has links to Apple's $99 replacement and 3rd party $49 replacement batteries.
There is a hefty RAM buffer into which data is loaded, and then the disk spins down. This is how the iPod conserves battery life.
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21 -- Mathematics is the Language of Nature.
Ummm did you click on the link? Have you been brought up to date on this issue? Do you know the whole story?
Doesn't sound like it since if you did then you would know the "message" as you put it was totally ignorant of the TRUTH.
I think you should calm down a bit and read the Neistat Brothers Side of the story
It explains pretty well, that, prior to the video becoming popular, nobody was willing to offer information about the existance of Apple's "99$ Battery replaceent program" , Not even Apple !!
echo '[q]sa[ln0=aln80~Psnlbx]16isb572CCB9AE9DB03273snlbxq' |dc
I see what you are saying. But my point was a step removed from that: the skip protection must obviously take into account measures for guarding against head crashes. Otherwise, there would be no skip protection. Therefore, it is likely not an issue.
Besides, people talk about snowboarding with these things, dropping them on the floor, etc. all the time.
(I don't own an iPod... yet. I am itchy, though.)
-b
myselfmusic
This is a secret? Pretty much anyone who did their homework going in knew that before buying. Those that didn't surely found out in time to take advantage of Apple's very liberal replacement policy.
Anyway, the third-gen iPods have a different battery (the lithium-polymer technology in the original one apparently was not ready for prime time) so the 1.5 year limit thing no longer applies. And they've got a battery replacement service now also.
A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
you can't use an Apple with the windows version and vice versa
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm fairly certain this is no longer true. You can't use the same iPod on both computers at once (You may even be able to do so, if it's FAT32, but I don't know), but the same iPod will work on either machine, requiring only a reformat to change
A Minesweeper clone that doesn't suck
Here's Slashdot's original announcement, if anyone's interested.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
When all freedom is outlawed only the outlaws have freedom
Apple wasn't the first to make hard drive MP3 players. The first one I recall seeing on the market was the Creative Lab's Nomad Jukebox (haven't got an exact date on the very first one), in 2000. It had to be out at least a year before iPod. Apple and everyone else pretty much took that idea and ran with it. iPod is a good device especially when paired with iTunes but, it's not without its limitations, as pointed out in this CNet article , five reasons not to buy an iPod , already posted on /.
Me, I've got a Rio Nitrus, which uses the Cornice Storage Element and it's a nice fit between the bulkier hard drive players (like the iPod) and the solid state players that have less storage. If Apple really wants to take the lead they should help Cornice to up their drive capacity (like to 20 Gb) and sell it in a smaller iPod that has a replaceable battery.
I think I think, therefore I think I am.
It's clear plastic with a white undercoat, like the previous iBooks.
And it's smooth, you can just wipe it off.
In short, it doesn't seem to get dirty or grubby.. not like you would think.
For that matter, neither does my iBook.
Turns out these guys are not even remotely interested in solving the problem. They're in it for the publicity.
The inciminating email exchanges that prove it.
Also...
http://depot.info.apple.com/ipod/
(Official Apple iPod battery replacement for $99)
http://www.ipodbattery.com/ ($49)
http://pdasmart.com/ipodpartscenter.htm ($69)
expectations were high for an Apple PDA which would compete with the Palm and PocketPC. Instead, Apple gave us the iPod, which CmdrTaco called a "lame mp3 player". Is it lame? maybe, but it's been quite successful.
I think you should read about what young and dumb kids sometimes SAY and what the DO...
t
http://das.doit.wisc.edu/neistatsdirtysecret.tx
Then tell me they did not produced a one sided piece of biased fluff that they purposely have not corrected.
from the link:
I offered to mirror the Neistat brothers' iPod video after their original webhost apparently pulled out, with one condition: that they link to, or otherwise inform users about, Apple's official $99 iPod battery replacement, since the video, as it stands, is incorrect: the iPod's battery is replaceable, and, on top of it, there's an official Apple program for $99.
They agreed to provide this information, and said they had no problem telling users how to solve the problem. I, in turn, provided webspace and bandwidth for them. The bottom line: after two days of lies and false starts, and milking my institution's generosity by providing almost 100,000 downloads and 0.7 terabytes of data transfer, they NEVER posted any information about how to solve the problem that they promised to post. Their agenda seems clear, and that's sensationalism, melodrama, and attention. The full email exchange is here:
if you just have to use AA batteries, then might as well get one of these for the ipod. it makes it a little bulkier, but it works.
also, there's a plug-in for itunes that allows it to play ogg files. I know ogg is free and has great quality, but it's not like i pay for AAC licensing. in the consumers' eyes, AAC is also free, and it's arguably as good as or even better than ogg.
Nomad Zen 30GB: $279
Apple iPOD 10GB: $299
Paying $20 more for less functionality, and 1/3 of the space = lame. And the Zen even looks nicer.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
You are all very misinformed: As long as you don't set the iPod to "automatically update playlists" (just manually manage songs), you can use it with as many computers as you like. I have plugged my 2nd generation 20GB iPod into at least 25 different Macs and dumped music onto it.
The story about the "disabled ipod" was a FIRST GENERATION iPod never meant to connect to a Windows machine. Read the story.
There are many ways to get the music back off the iPod - search versiontracker.com for "PodWorks" for example.
As far as it being fragile - I chuck mine into backpacks and luggage and not really worry about it. I bought a TAP from CompUSA: $60 full replacement warranty for 2 years... almost time to 'break' my iPod and get a new one for SIXTY bucks.
Volkswagen and Smart (DaimlerChrysler's microcar - not on sale in the US) are both offering ipod options already
A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
I would agree. My iPod was my first purchase of an Apple product(3 weeks ago). From the moment I opened the box, it was different than any other tech purchase I have made (even the packaging is beautiful!). It really is a pleasure to use. next time I need a new desktop or notebook, I will definitely look at Apple too.
Frank
apple is like disney, they go after anyone that looks like they are makeing a similar product.
Not everyone, just the people who blatantly rip off Apple designs in an attempt to fool consumers. The concept is called "trade dress."
Trade dress is why Apple sued eMachines and Future Power over their eOne and ePower iMac knockoffs. Check Google Images for "emachines eone" and "future power epower," and see how similar they are to the original iMac.
Now look at Samsung's iPod knockoff. Trade dress is also applicable here. It's pretty obvious to me that Samsung started with the iPod design and made what they believed to be enough changes to avoid legal action. You can bet that they would have made it white, if they thought they could get away with it.
~Philly
I too can back this up.. I have my Windows formatted 3G 20GB iPod configured so that it doesn't sync playlists every time its connected.
I can take it to my home machine (Windows XP x86) and use copy music to it / organise my lists, and then take it to work and plug it into my Powermac G4 and do the same stuff - both using iTunes, and both work in exactly the same way. It is totally painless. Though I could do with a spare connector cable as I have to carry that around with me to.
"Hey! Unless this is a nude love-in, get the hell off my property!!"
It blows my mind that an article could make it into the NY Times Magazine with no independent research behind it. Tony and his story isn't exactly a secret -- he shows up at Campus Recruiting events to tell it!
Actually, the guys who made the Quicktime video hardly seem interested in the truth of it all. This article links to an interesting experience someone had with them. They don't seem to care about the truth of the issue, to the point that they are spreading disinformation and know it.
Boom Shanka
Which is another way of saying AAC is better than OGG at high bitrates. And it's the high bitrates that are more important to audiophiles, and owners of HD Jukeboxes (as opposed to solid state ones).
Here's the 128kbps result, and AAC comes out ahead:http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?showtopic=1 1936&
I'll stick with a player that has replaceable batteries
If you look at past ipod articles on slashdot, or just search google/froogle, not only will you find replacement batteries for the ipod, but also detailed instructions on how to open the ipod and fit a new battery in. There'll be ignoramuses who'll tell you that once the battery is gone, you have to dump the ipod, or send it to apple to get the battery replaced, but a little research on the Internet will tell you otherwise. Let that not be a deciding factor for you.
"When the only tool you own is a hammer, every problem begins to resemble a nail." - Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)
To use my Mac version 20GB iPod on my WinXP Sony VAIO laptop, all I had to do was plug in the iPod, say "yes" to reformat the disk, then sync with iTunes (which I downloaded from Apple). It was very easy (contrary to what I had heard, and didn't require any third party software which I had also heard that I would need).
I'm waiting for my new 20GB to look the same.
mbbac
Griffin makes an "iTrip" that lets you choose from many more spots on the dial, and that seemed promising but I didn't want to blow another forty bucks. Easier just to wire it into the stereo using AV jacks or whatever, or get a tape adapter if you've still got a cassette deck. Just feels passe, though.
(You'd think stereo manufacturers would be all over this, but for some reason they're way behind the curve. The parent post's question is so obvious...)
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
This this iPod/iTunes timeline and is pretty interesting.