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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.
Hey, it's also the Two-Year Anniversary of when I started paying for my iPod, which continues to this day.
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.
I know everybody is going to come on here and praise the ipod, but if I recall correctly, most slashdotters (even the mac zealots) bashed the ipod when it was launched. Slashdotters not infalliable? That's unpossible! ;-)
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur
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...
I can tell one thing for sure about Apple. They have brilliant marketing - they take simple MP3 player does some magic advertising and tadam! we have the thing that changes culture
Not least because it's adding a huge amount to Apple's bottom line. Its helped apple through a dodgy period whilst they were moving their users to a world class OS and struggling with a slipping processor roadmap. They need a new killer device soon though I predict that this xmas is going to be the peak in iPod sales so I home January's Macworld (or the next year at least) brings something twice as cool. I'm sure Apple won't disappoint. (Well I hope at the very least).
Um. Isn't that why they advertise 20-minute skip protection?
-b
myselfmusic
There certainly is a customer service problem. They should tell their idiot customer service employee(s) that. I know, all the 1337 geeks on /. know how to search for a replacement at DigiKey, but when someone calls the company up and asks about a battery replacement and their customer service department tells them, "the iPod is worthless, it would be $250+ to fix it, throw it out and buy a new one," there is a major problem with that company's customer service.
"No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame." - CmdrTaco
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 $49 replacement batteries.
When iPod harddrive spins up, it's usually in the end of the song. That means that the risk of it spinning up in the middle of a song with you jumping around like crazy is pretty small.
My iPod has fell a couple of times to the floor while playing, and nothing happened. I heard from my cousin that some Apple salesmen even threw an iPod against a wall... or was it floor to demonstrate it. But if you're unlucky with the harddrive spinning at that time, it's propably not going to take that. Anyways, don't try this at home!
I demand the Cone of Silence!
The hard disk only spins briefly so fill the 32MB cache. (Or is it 64? Not sure.) After that, music plays from the cache. Even so, I've dropped my iPod while the HD was spinning, and after a brief heart attack, discovered it was still running fine.
(Phew.)
There is a hefty RAM buffer into which data is loaded, and then the disk spins down. This is how the iPod conserves battery life.
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21 -- Mathematics is the Language of Nature.
Ummm did you click on the link? Have you been brought up to date on this issue? Do you know the whole story?
Doesn't sound like it since if you did then you would know the "message" as you put it was totally ignorant of the TRUTH.
I think you should calm down a bit and read the Neistat Brothers Side of the story
It explains pretty well, that, prior to the video becoming popular, nobody was willing to offer information about the existance of Apple's "99$ Battery replaceent program" , Not even Apple !!
echo '[q]sa[ln0=aln80~Psnlbx]16isb572CCB9AE9DB03273snlbxq' |dc
I think Apple's current roadmap and processor line is pretty impressive, especially now that it's backed by someone who actually can produce: IBM.
I do agree though that it's time for Apple to wow us again. I think it's time for Apple to give us a TIVO iPod with Color LCD. I can't fathom where there's innovation elsewhere that the mass public and not just Apple users want to see...
Yell & scream & rant & rave... it's no use... you need a shaaaave ~ Bugs Bunny
I know that this article was written for people who aren't technical types, maybe folks who first heard of "MP3's" just last year, but the difference between the iPod and the MP3 players that proceeded it are more numerous than suggested.
Here's a story that makes a point...
Some Apple employees loaded Mac OS X Server onto one of the early iPods and connected it to a desktop Mac. Then, they booted to it. It ran.
I hope that all the folks who always seem troll on Apple product, saying that all they do is slap on some pretty exterior, jack up the prices, and market, market, market, will think for a moment and appreciate the depth of this product.
And I don't even own one.
--Richard
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...
Slashdot is not a person. It is however something akin to a rorschach test.
War is necrophilia.
Hey, there's a clever idea: make the removable faceplate of a car's stereo the thing itself: the mobile MP3 player.
Two birds, one stone!
1) The battery. Ignoring the "dirty little secret" brouhaha (what, you thought batteries did *not* have a finite lifespan?), the plain fact is that specialized, proprietary batteries are annoying. Your priorities may be different (hey, them's the breaks, to me and to Apple) but I'd happily settle for a reasonably shorter battery life and even a slightly thicker waist in the iPod if in exchange it would take rechargeable AA or AAA batteries.
:)
;))
Device-specific batteries have advantages sometimes (allow sleeker shapes etc), but AA (and nearly as much, AAA) batteries are available everywhere in alkaline form, and easily gettable (in Western countries) in lithium variety. Better yet, both rechargeable AA/AAAs and the chargers that charge them (can I say 'charge' a few more times?) have gotten considerably better in the last few years. This is one reason I like my Nikon 990 camera over the later ones in the same series. I can carry extra batteries for cheap
2) No ogg vorbis support. This may not apply to you, but 99% the compressed music I have is in the form of oggs, ripped for convenience from my CD collection. If the iPod adds a firmware upgrade which allows ogg decoding (I've heard mixed reports on the feasability of this wrt current iPods, but a chip upgrade in a later series could do it even if the pessimists are right), I'd probably get over my disdain for the battery and shell out for one.
Obviously, this is just a rant, since Apple is unlikely to give the iPod AA/AAA batteries, and makes more money selling ITMS music in AAC than they'd probably make by adding Ogg Vorbus Support as a bullet point on the features list. However, these two factors, singly and apart, do make other players more attractive. (Like the Rio Karma; same battery lameness, but Hey, plays ogg
Now, when will low-end MP3 players at Target add ogg to *their* bullet list of features, though? (Part of) all I want is to listen to some books while driving, without changing CDs (or buying an overkill CD-changing car stereo).
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
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.
Taking the music off it is cake.
Second - it locks itslef ot one instance of itunes. That's because it's behavior is to synchronize with itunes, not just to copy mp3s to it.
Third, it's flat and sleek..which means it fits in my pocket nicely. nothing jutting out.
As for "a discman is better".... if you are happy with your discman, and some cdrs, power to you... it makes sense for the reasons you say.
I travel.. and I don't like to carry a binder full of cds around with me, nor do I like swapping them. All those little things like CD wallets and whatnot add up when you are travelling.
My ipod fits in a shirt pocket, and has far more tunes on it than your discman.
Your discman will be stolen just as easy as an ipod.
That said.. it's a luxury item.. nto a must-have. If you use it the way it's intended, and especially if you already use itunes to sort all your music, it's a pleasant device to use.
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)
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:
I suspect that there is a small group of techies who have bought iPods, and then gone on to buy their first Macs. I bought a Windows iPod and was very impressed by it, and my positive thoughts on it's design helped influence my decision to buy an Apple powerbook 12" a few months later - my first Mac. At least one of my coworkers also bought an iPod and a few months later bought a Mac. So I think the iPod might be introducing Mac design ingenutity to people who otherwise wouldn't have bought Macs.
I have blog like everyone else
I have a 10Gig iPod now for a year and a half and I use it exztensivly during my runs (up to 2 1/2 hours long). No problems, works fine.
Occasionally it locks up but that is only very briefly.
Love it.
M.
If you want to e-mail me, use my PGP Key.
i guess it's a sign of the immense success of a product when you forget that it was only introduced no more than 2 years ago... once a product feels like it's been there forever and it somewhat doesn't easily occur to you that a while ago it didn't even exist and no body heard of it, that is when it become a part of the popular culture.
kudos to apple; and also for the fact that 2 years on no one seems to have been able to bring to market a better product.
The iPod competitors so far have lacked the interface and/or small size to be navigable with one hand. It will be interesting to see what Apple comes up with next. Can drive sizes keep going up and be useful? Do we need a 200 GB iPod?
Can't you see that everyone is buying station wagons?
If you read your own quote you would notice that the parent talked about not evolution or revolution, but innovation.
The whole thing about the iPod isn't that it is a massive leap forward in technology, its that it is so perfectly refined. The design is so pure, they didn't set out to make the most money, or sell the most players, they set out to make the best player. Thats the innovation, making a product as close to perfect for the consumer, not just churning out a mass market money spinner for the company.
well, at least not even significant minority. As far as quality concerned, Vorbis is mediocre to say the least. There was enough tests done in this respect. Check hydrogenaudio.org for more information. It is also not well supported. Remember how slashdotters rejoiced when there was the announcement that BBC has adopted vorbis as its streaming protocol. I don't remember any news on slashdot when BBC dropped it, primarily because of lack of any decent support.
AAC is the state of the art compression technology, and it is *standard* part of MPEG4 protocol suite. it is a natural extension and improvement of MP3. Remember my words: you'll see more and more vendors jumping on AAC bandwagon. Ogg Vorbis? Don't expect a lot. may be a few, like Karma.
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
As for the "cool" of this thing. I'm not about to drop a few C-notes on a singing harddisc when I wouldn't spend $15 on a walkman. But I've got to highlight my favorite part of the article. When the interviewer suggests 3rd parties will make knock-off white earbuds, Jobs responds, "But then you meet the girl, and she says, 'Let me see what's on your iPod.' You pull out a tape player, and she walks away." I'd love to go bar hopping with that guy.
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
Odd...after looking at the site you posted and combing their forums, it appears you are incorrect. Vorbis won most of the listening tests, especially at lower bitrates (which is more common on a portable device).
Also, note that the reason Vorbis came about was that the people who own the patents on mp3 were starting to become real asses and it looked like the future of mp3 encoders and possibly players on linux was in danger. In addition, mp3pro is considered the next generation audio standard (although there are many unnecessary competitors) and even it has been shown to be inferior to Vorbis.
And again, Vorbis is, and always shall be, free.
[RIAA] says its concern is artists. That's true, in just the sense that a cattle rancher is concerned about its cattle.
At the low rates, Vorbis quality is about the same as WMA. By low rates I assume you mean the rates lower than 128Kbps.
Now with devices like iPod, the capacity from 10GB to 40GB, there is no reason *not* to encode at the rates of 160Kbps and higher, and this is where AAC and even MP3 beats Ogg.
This is correct that Vorbis was created primarily for the low rates (as defined above) to compete with WMA and their likes, but once again, with harddrive based devices doing something like LAME with default settings (VBR, 200Kbps on average) or AAC (160Kbps CBR and higher) seems reasonable enough, and this also eliminates the majority of artifacts.
With respect to Vorbis will be free, I frankly get tired of this mantra. Free for whom? For users? How much do you pay for MP3? How much do you pay for AAC? You may say 'hidden license charges'? This is a few bucks per device, which costs $200-300 and higher to begin with, drop in a bucket, don't you agree? For manufacturer? As i've mentioned, in addition to free software you need a good support. Also Ogg Vorbis binary is large, and not easily fit into many of the portables, so the code needs to be optimized, and then of course, the manufacturer has to support this extra work.
So - before you repeat the slashdot favority mantra 'Vorbis is free', think a bit first.
I hate to resort to definitions, but inovation can be defined as follows:
A creation (a new device or process) resulting from study and experimentation
I wasn't referring to the iPod itself being an innovation, but to the unique design mentality applied to it. When designing the iPod it is obvious that Apple looked at existing devices saw the flaws and designed the iPod to not only correct these flaws but also address the essential usability ideals that previous (and most subsequent) players ignored.
They avoided the normal approach of looking at an existing product, seeing how it works then making a clone. Maybe adding a feature here or there in order to differentiate it from the pack, but essentially adding features for the sake of another bullet point in the advert. Not looking to see what consumers actually want from such a device and addressing those areas.
Apple is in fact now falling into this trap, instead of relying on the iPod competing on its own merits they are adding PDA functions piecemeal with updates. Of course this isn't necessarily a bad thing as long as these add-on features continue the ethic of usability.
It took me a little while to realise that this was caused by my wallet banging against the remote control...
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Its "allow 6 to 8 weeks" not "we will NOT give it to you before 6 weeks". They usually ship before that, if they are not too busy or anything. But if they are busy, say, its getting close to xmas and everyone is shipping stuff all over the place, then its gonna take longer. Hence the 6 to 8.
My friend bought DVDs off Amazon once, took 9 weeks to get here. Of course, he had used an "e with acute accent" to correctly name the city, and somewhere in the long chain of transmitting this info the e acute got transformed into seven A, so the thing was shipped to another continent and back (wich is odd, because it clearly stated Canada on the damn thing, I don't really see why they sent it to germany...go figure).
You can't take the sky from me...
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.