Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

More iPod Killers Introduced for the Holiday

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the stuff-to-lust-after dept.

An anonymous reader writes "MP3newswire.net has just released part III and part IV of their iPod Killers for Xmas list. Standouts are a $1200 24K gold-plated player from Jens of Sweeden, a 137 Gig unit called the Xclef, Sony's first true MP3 player, and iRiver's MPEG-4 video jukebox. If you missed them, here are parts I and II."

2 of 264 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Kill the killer by GFLPraxis · · Score: 5, Informative

    What bugged me most about the iPod is the not inconsiderable additional outlay I would have to make on cables, adaptors, etc.

    What the heck are you talking about? The iPod comes with the firewire cable, USB 2.0 cable, AC adpter, and headphones. You keep the headphones on your ears, and use either firewire or USB for connecting to the computer. That's IT. What not inconsiderable outlay on cables and adapters are you talking about? Methinks you know very little about iPods.

    In my mind at least, the iPOd was dead.

    See above. There is nothing wrong with the iPod. You walk over to the computer and plug in the firewire cable.

    Over the last two months, I have picked up two Creative Nomad Muvo TX FM players - they are only 256 MB each - I actually like that because it gives me a constant chance to decide my daily playlist on my computer

    You can decide your playlist on the iPod as well, except you wouldn't have to re-upload every day ;)

    Furthermore, The player itself converts effortlessly into a USB drive for those urgent file copy needs. Also, it plays FM, looks slick, has a single-button interface and the wife loves it - two players for $160 total.

    Single button interface? See click wheel.

    Finally, WMP 10 killed my constant usage of iTunes as well mainly because of the Sync List feature.

    Windows Media Player 10. Over iTunes. *snicker*

    The news that Apple is willing to turn off features in its iTunes, a la 4.7, is not surprising

    What are you talking about? iTunes 4.7 adds Photo orginization for the iPod Photo.

    and I, for one, am glad I do not have an iPod.

    So am I. You obviously don't know enough about iPods to use one, no matter how simple the interface. Sorry for being a bit rude, but this post was so know-it-all and anti-iPod that I got annoyed.

  2. Re:iPod already killed for me by jacobdp · · Score: 5, Informative
    Another was free use of my own files. The iPod, according to the Apple Store, had two modes, which I (not they) call the Free Mode and the Big Brother Mode. The Free Mode, they proudly proclaim, lets you use it as a portable USB drive, plugging in to any computer and doing anything you like with any of your files. Anything, that is, except actually PLAY THEM. That's disabled in Free Mode. This media player won't play any media if you loaded it in Free Mode.

    If you actually want to use the media files you load, you have to use Big Brother Mode, using a special loader app that doubles as a storefront for exactly one store: Apple's own. Your device has to be registered with this app and there are all sorts of arcane rules about how many units of this can be registered with that on which computer and how to properly disable one before you can move to another, etc. Bah!

    Bullshit. You connect your iPod to the computer and it appears as a standard USB (or Firewire) hard drive, working seamlessly under any OS. Your music is stored in a hidden directory (standard Fat32 "hidden" directory, nothing weird there; it's named "iPod_Control"). File formats natively supported include standard MP3, standard AAC (MP4), AIFF, and WAV. The iPod also knows how to go around Apple's copy protection code, but said copy protection is NOT REQUIRED.

    There's a binary database that the metadata is stored in. Apple's iTunes knows how to access this DB, as do several other programs like ephPod, GNUpod (which I personally have used without any problems whatsoever), etc.

    The arcane restrictions and "registration" of which you speak apply ONLY to Apple's "iTunes Music Store", an integrated but OPTIONAL part of the iTunes program (which you don't even have to use). They have nothing to do with music that you obtained elsewhere, i.e. from CD or an MP3 that you already have on your computer. Even if you do buy music from Apple, the restrictions on how many computers you can transfer the music to do NOT apply to the iPod.

    Standard USB or 1394 interface. Standard filesystem. Standard audio codecs. Widely-supported metadata handling (GNUpod, for example, is in Debian.) If you're gonna bash the iPod, at least get your facts right.