The amount of disinformation and misinformation in this thread is incredible:
1) With the iPod you are not "locked in" except if you are dumb enough to by DRMed music. Can you rip a CD to MP3 or AAC and load it on your iPod? Check. Download mp3s off of usenet and load them on your iPod? Check. Load your friends' non-DRM tracks on your iPod? Check. Load all of the non-DRM music from your iPod to your friends' computers? With any number of free utilites, again check. Download a gigabyte of MP3 torrents and stick a few gigs at a time on your iPod or iPhone? Check.
2) eMusic does not sell DRMed files over the web--they sell completely unprotected MP3 files that work with every player, including iTunes, iPod and iPhone. I've been subscribed to eMusic for a couple of years and the only time I'll actually buy a track is through eMusic. Just download the files, drag them into iTunes, and done. Since they are completely uprotected you can also burn backups to CD or DVD, toss the disc in a drawer, and reload or transfer the files if need be. Another nice thing about eMusic is your account history keeps track of the files you've downloaded so if you ever find yourself losing mp3s you haven't backed up you can just go redownload the files.
3) Although eMusic works on a subscription basis it is not a "terminate your account and you lose your music" type subscription. The subscription is for a minimum number of mp3 downloads per month--use them or lose them. If you use them the files are yours to keep, unprotected, for however long you want and without any requirement that you stay subscribed.
4) Relating to the whole mp3 lock-in thing, Apple has never done anything to interfere with or complicate use of eMusic and there probably wouldn't have been an iTunes music store if the major lables had made their music available on the terms offered by eMusic.
5) With AT&T eMusic is offering a special, much more expensive account which sells music tracks playable just on your compatible AT&T phone. With the purchase you can also download mp3 versions of the music you've bought. Since the iPhone syncs with iTunes and has no problem loading gigabytes of the normal mp3 files eMusic sells from its site under its normal subscription terms there is not reason for anyone with an iPhone to pay extra for the rigamarole of receiving files for the phone and separate mp3s for the computer. With the iPhone you just get the mp3s and transfer them to the iPhone. So not offering the service for iPhone makes sense since nobody with an iPhone needs it or would want it.
6) Notice that that whining about iPod lock-in comes mostly from the major music labels that could solve any lock-in problem by offering their music DRM-free, as EMI is doing? Think the labels are concerned about the consumer? If so you have brain damage. What pisses the labels off is that they are stuck selling hit singles for a low price, when they would love to, for example, sign an exclusive deal with bestbuy.com where you could could only download the new Beyonce or whatever single from bestbuy.com at $5.99 for a single track instead of the iTunes 99 cents. If this wasn't the case then the labels could have solved any question of being tyed in with the iPod by offering their tracks through eMusic.
I bought a 30GB iPod on the rollout date at the local Apple Store. Some of the first things I put on the iPod was a Mahler symphony and a Beethoven string quartet. I didn't have one of the earlier generation iPods, so I loaded a variety of music on--rock, punk, classical, jazz, an opera--to see what worked best with the machine. I have a stupidly large CD collection, and even at 30GB I couldn't fit all of my CD's on the iPod, so I wanted to see first if any genre would be unsuitable to the pod.
I started noticing the pops between tracks right away. Also, the fact that the pod puts pauses between tracks makes it very inconvenience for classical music--on one the classical lists I'm on I mentioned this and others who had iPods agreed it is almost useless for classical. The reason is that many classical CDs have large movements broken up with track points. On the iPod all of these track points of course result in breaks in the music where no breaks were intended. There's no particular reason why the iPod should do this--certainly the machine has the capability to read ahead to the beginning of the next track and go seamlessly from one to the other. This also makes the iPod extremely annoying when listen to some jazz CDs--for example, Miles Ahead, a Miles Davis CD arranged by Gil Evans with transitional music that shifts the recording seemlessly from track to track. Of course, on the iPod there is not such thing--every track ends with POP-pause.
The POP-pause is particularly annoying with chamber music--since the dynamics are lower. At least between rock tracks I can get used to the pop, but it is loud enough that between tracks of a string quartet I've flinched from it.
However, the biggest problem I have had is that I have now gone through two dead on arrival or close to arrival units.
The first iPod worked for three days, and then would no longer mount to the desktop, would not sync, and would freezed up the iPod installer software when I attempted to do a restore. I took it back to the Apple Store, they did the same tests I did (for any of you WELL YEAH, YOU WERE TRYING TO GET TO WORK THE WRONG WAY dipshits) and very nicely and efficiently replaced the unit.
I was a very happy, satisfied customer when I got home last night with my new, replacement unit. I reinstalled my tracks, let the iPod charge overnight, and this morning tried to use it for the first time. Dead on arrival. It works fine when hooked up to my iBook or its power adapter, but will not play tracks when it is running off its own battery. Instead, you can go through the menu to the track you want played, hit play or select, and the iPod then tries to play the track. However, instead of playing the track the hard drive clicks a little and the iPod promptly reboots. Tried this on a dozen tracks, same result for all of them. Plug the iPod into the adapter and everything works fine. Plug it into my iBook, works fine. On its own, dead--reboots every time I try to play a track.
Back out to the Apple Store.
At this point I am quite discouraged about the iPod--one dead on arrival and one dead in three days. I am now wondering whether to bring the unit back for another replacement, or to say the hell with it and get a refund.
The iPod is adorable, and it looks and size is so obviously above competing units that they can't really be described as competing. At the same time, I'm looking at two thirds of CD collection (classical and opera) and realizing that even I have a functioning unit I am going to be limited in which CDs I transfer to the iPod. And the quality control issues now really concern me--I can handle one defective unit, but two DOA's in a row is not at all what you expect from $500 machines.
Now for the Slashdot faction that will no doubt answer that I am doing something wrong, that I'm making up the problem, that they don't have the problem, etc., all I can say is that I took back the first unit to Apple, they did all the same tests I did (and told me they were doing the same tests I did) and replaced the unit, so obviously I have some idea what I am doing.
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The amount of disinformation and misinformation in this thread is incredible: 1) With the iPod you are not "locked in" except if you are dumb enough to by DRMed music. Can you rip a CD to MP3 or AAC and load it on your iPod? Check. Download mp3s off of usenet and load them on your iPod? Check. Load your friends' non-DRM tracks on your iPod? Check. Load all of the non-DRM music from your iPod to your friends' computers? With any number of free utilites, again check. Download a gigabyte of MP3 torrents and stick a few gigs at a time on your iPod or iPhone? Check. 2) eMusic does not sell DRMed files over the web--they sell completely unprotected MP3 files that work with every player, including iTunes, iPod and iPhone. I've been subscribed to eMusic for a couple of years and the only time I'll actually buy a track is through eMusic. Just download the files, drag them into iTunes, and done. Since they are completely uprotected you can also burn backups to CD or DVD, toss the disc in a drawer, and reload or transfer the files if need be. Another nice thing about eMusic is your account history keeps track of the files you've downloaded so if you ever find yourself losing mp3s you haven't backed up you can just go redownload the files. 3) Although eMusic works on a subscription basis it is not a "terminate your account and you lose your music" type subscription. The subscription is for a minimum number of mp3 downloads per month--use them or lose them. If you use them the files are yours to keep, unprotected, for however long you want and without any requirement that you stay subscribed. 4) Relating to the whole mp3 lock-in thing, Apple has never done anything to interfere with or complicate use of eMusic and there probably wouldn't have been an iTunes music store if the major lables had made their music available on the terms offered by eMusic. 5) With AT&T eMusic is offering a special, much more expensive account which sells music tracks playable just on your compatible AT&T phone. With the purchase you can also download mp3 versions of the music you've bought. Since the iPhone syncs with iTunes and has no problem loading gigabytes of the normal mp3 files eMusic sells from its site under its normal subscription terms there is not reason for anyone with an iPhone to pay extra for the rigamarole of receiving files for the phone and separate mp3s for the computer. With the iPhone you just get the mp3s and transfer them to the iPhone. So not offering the service for iPhone makes sense since nobody with an iPhone needs it or would want it. 6) Notice that that whining about iPod lock-in comes mostly from the major music labels that could solve any lock-in problem by offering their music DRM-free, as EMI is doing? Think the labels are concerned about the consumer? If so you have brain damage. What pisses the labels off is that they are stuck selling hit singles for a low price, when they would love to, for example, sign an exclusive deal with bestbuy.com where you could could only download the new Beyonce or whatever single from bestbuy.com at $5.99 for a single track instead of the iTunes 99 cents. If this wasn't the case then the labels could have solved any question of being tyed in with the iPod by offering their tracks through eMusic.
I bought a 30GB iPod on the rollout date at the local Apple Store. Some of the first things I put on the iPod was a Mahler symphony and a Beethoven string quartet. I didn't have one of the earlier generation iPods, so I loaded a variety of music on--rock, punk, classical, jazz, an opera--to see what worked best with the machine. I have a stupidly large CD collection, and even at 30GB I couldn't fit all of my CD's on the iPod, so I wanted to see first if any genre would be unsuitable to the pod.
I started noticing the pops between tracks right away. Also, the fact that the pod puts pauses between tracks makes it very inconvenience for classical music--on one the classical lists I'm on I mentioned this and others who had iPods agreed it is almost useless for classical. The reason is that many classical CDs have large movements broken up with track points. On the iPod all of these track points of course result in breaks in the music where no breaks were intended. There's no particular reason why the iPod should do this--certainly the machine has the capability to read ahead to the beginning of the next track and go seamlessly from one to the other. This also makes the iPod extremely annoying when listen to some jazz CDs--for example, Miles Ahead, a Miles Davis CD arranged by Gil Evans with transitional music that shifts the recording seemlessly from track to track. Of course, on the iPod there is not such thing--every track ends with POP-pause.
The POP-pause is particularly annoying with chamber music--since the dynamics are lower. At least between rock tracks I can get used to the pop, but it is loud enough that between tracks of a string quartet I've flinched from it.
However, the biggest problem I have had is that I have now gone through two dead on arrival or close to arrival units.
The first iPod worked for three days, and then would no longer mount to the desktop, would not sync, and would freezed up the iPod installer software when I attempted to do a restore. I took it back to the Apple Store, they did the same tests I did (for any of you WELL YEAH, YOU WERE TRYING TO GET TO WORK THE WRONG WAY dipshits) and very nicely and efficiently replaced the unit.
I was a very happy, satisfied customer when I got home last night with my new, replacement unit. I reinstalled my tracks, let the iPod charge overnight, and this morning tried to use it for the first time. Dead on arrival. It works fine when hooked up to my iBook or its power adapter, but will not play tracks when it is running off its own battery. Instead, you can go through the menu to the track you want played, hit play or select, and the iPod then tries to play the track. However, instead of playing the track the hard drive clicks a little and the iPod promptly reboots. Tried this on a dozen tracks, same result for all of them. Plug the iPod into the adapter and everything works fine. Plug it into my iBook, works fine. On its own, dead--reboots every time I try to play a track.
Back out to the Apple Store.
At this point I am quite discouraged about the iPod--one dead on arrival and one dead in three days. I am now wondering whether to bring the unit back for another replacement, or to say the hell with it and get a refund.
The iPod is adorable, and it looks and size is so obviously above competing units that they can't really be described as competing. At the same time, I'm looking at two thirds of CD collection (classical and opera) and realizing that even I have a functioning unit I am going to be limited in which CDs I transfer to the iPod. And the quality control issues now really concern me--I can handle one defective unit, but two DOA's in a row is not at all what you expect from $500 machines.
Now for the Slashdot faction that will no doubt answer that I am doing something wrong, that I'm making up the problem, that they don't have the problem, etc., all I can say is that I took back the first unit to Apple, they did all the same tests I did (and told me they were doing the same tests I did) and replaced the unit, so obviously I have some idea what I am doing.