obviously not. I'd have to be insane to argue that the best selling device in a given catagory was priced out of it's market.;-)
One also should remember the last similiar product, the Sony walkman. In 80's dollars these were not cheap machines.
Oddly enough, my first Sony walkman was purchased for $250 in 1981 (or so), about the same price that an iPod Mini goes for these days. weird, huh?
My opinion on the ipod though is that it is overpriced compared to technically superior competition, but has been marketed far, far more effectively. Hell, name one other MP3 player you've seen a TV commercial for.
The iPod has many drawbacks: the previously mentioned battery problem, poor ergonomics on the interface (come on, we can admit the click wheel is cool without having to believe it's a very good controller), requires proprietary software (that sucks) to load music onto, can't pull music back off of it (without unsupported apps), more expensive than any other player, it's a theft magnet, etc...
The primary thing it has going for it is it's so damn close to 100% market share that there's an assload of aftermarket accessories.
Personally, I got my iPod mini for free, so it was worth the money, but if I'd been paying for it iPod wouldn't even have made it to the top 10 choices.
Quit your bitching. You can get an ipod replacement battery WITH tools to open the ipod for like $40. Google it once.
Yes, pitch that as a consumer solution. Wonder why I haven't seen it in those iPod TV commercials.
obviously the readership of this forum wouldn't have the same reservations about cracking open an otherwise unusable device to replace a battery, but your average iPod owner is just going to toss it in the trash and probably buy a Creative Labs next time.
I believe the inherent flaw is the rechargeability itself. There are any number of mp players that run on alkalines. That saves a lot of time and hassle on trips, especially if you do a lot of foreign travel.
I agree completely. In fact the previous two digital cameras I owned I refused to buy one that didn't use standard AA batteries for just that reason. If the batteries run down, I don't want to be stuck waiting 6 hours to recharge, I want to be able to stop in 7-11 and buy new ones.
unfortunately, the last camera I bought that seemes to no longer be an option.
There's no need to carry around a laptop drive anymore, except to impress others as cool.
You say that as if looking cool has no value. You sir are not a geek. get out.
" Lawyers are the only ones who make out in suits like this." Really? What would have the vast majority of those affected have recieved if this lawsuit had not been filed? $25 cash or $50 credit? More like, the right to bitch about it.
Personally, knowing that some company screwed me over, and because of that I got $25 and a lawyer got $10 million kind of rubs me the wrong way. Maybe you don't agree.
that's the dirty little secret that the battery industry doesn't want you to know.
Alkaline batteries can be recharged many times before they wear out, but you need a charger specially made for them. Put them in a charger intended for NiMh and they'll leak goo everywhere.
I recharge alkalines for things like remote controls that batteries last a long time in. I'm not comfortable usign them in an expensive MP3 player though. just makes me nervous, cuz if they leak...you're screwed.
The problem here that nobody seems to be discussing is that Apple got their ass in a wringer ONLY because they overstated the battery life. If they had just stated it accurately, or said nothing, nobody could complain about anything.
The non-replaceable battery is an INHERENT FLAW in the iPod design. rechargeable batteries will stop working after a period of time, guaranteed absolutely positively, it's the nature of the beast.
So knowing that, why the hell on earth would someone buy an iPod, knowing that it's going to stop working sometime between 1 year and who knows when? that's fine for a disposable device, but for a $400 iPod that's total BS.
face it, Apple sells the device that way because they want you buying a new one every couple of years, they don't want you to buy a new battery and use it for a decade.
and yes, I do own an Ipod, although I got it for free and wouldn't have paid money for it.
Now that is battery life - and just using AA batteries.
nothing remarkable there. Alkaline batteries will hold a charge for many years with very little loss of charge, that's why you can buy them pre-charged off the shelf.
rechargeable batteries lose their charge just sitting still doing nothing. Or in the case of this lawsuit, lose their charge at 2-3x the claimed rate.
Between this and the "$50 credit," does this seem like it's not really that great a deal for the people that were impacted by these defective batteries? I mean, aren't they still losing money because of a defective product?
Lawyers are the only ones who make out in suits like this.
I recently recieved a settlement in a class action lawsuit against Pioneer because of the patently false claims they made about their extremely expensive Tivo DVD recorder units.
My settlement was a coupon for $150 off on my next Pioneer purchase.
Lawyers get PAID $$$$ in these things, consumers get coupons to buy more crap from the company that screwed them in the first place.
yah facinating for his time (1960, 70's?).. Nowandays almost every single slot machine produced will not accept metal money. Dollar bills only, or a casino credit card is the only way you get credits on machines now.
You've never actually been to a casino, have you?
The only slot machines I've ever seen that didn't accept coins were ones at indian reservations that were trying to skirt specific laws.
Trust me as someone who gambles a LOT, slot machines do accept coins, and will continue to do so for a very, very long time.
The only one who made an ass of himself is you. How the fuck is anyone supposed to know WHAT YOU THOUGHT. The only thing anyone has to go by is WHAT YOU WROTE.
Well, I'm comfortable with whatever impression people might take away from this exchange about me. You're the one calling names and making up fake statistics, I'm just the guy laughing at you.
No moron, its the word for glacier in another langauge.
hey, way to miss both the sarcasm AND the accusation of making shit up. But don't let me stop you from making an ass of yourself...please keep talking.
I've seen a lot more companies dump Sun and Oracle over blackmail licensing schemes than I have Microsoft. As far as licensing enterprise software goes, MS pretty much stands alone in their methodology and pricing (there's a hint buried in here Ellison).
Say what you will about MS software, but I don't know too many companies saying "know what, SQL server is too cheap, let's move to Oracle".
Because they invent it and you are full of crap on other players having a clickwheel? Merely having your controls laid out in a circular [geartest.com] fashion does not a clickwheel make.
you managed to miss the point of the article, my post, and contradict yourself as well. well done.
Nobody but you said anything about a clickwheel.
This patent has nothing to do with the clickwheel. but please, don't let that impact your obvious enjoyment of it. click away.
Some guy and Apple both independently created this "interface." They both did the R&D, they both would have done so regardless of whether patent laws existed, but one, at the end of this, is going to get a monopoly on producing stuff with this technology
funny that they both did the R&D and came up with a menu interface that has already existed for 20+ years.
VCR's and video editing equipment have used the "jog and shuttle" wheel to control things for decades. I have a Mitsubishi vcr at home that shockingly uses the shuttle wheel to (gasp) traverse the setup menus.
The only thing new here is the application on a portable MP3 player. If that qualifies for a patent, then great. take any two existing things and put them together, you got yourself more patents than you can shake a stick at.
It's hard to imagine anyone keeping a straight face while applying for a patent on something as trivial/universal/obvious/pre-existing as as a method of traversing a linear menu. Every MP3 player I've owned, going back to the RIO 300 used a variation of a thumbwheel and click menu.
How did Apple decide they "invented" this?
When the guy who wrote the article title realizes that there's other things making noise inside the case than fans.
I'm not saying that a fanless case doesn't have interest, I spent a lot of time tuning a HTPC to function quietly without overheating, so I get the point. This case isn't a solution in my opinion because it's far too large to be useful anywhere other than under a desk, where you most likely wouldn't care so much about noise.
So I got a keyboard attachment, since I can touch-type at something like 50WPM or something. (I haven't bothered measuring, it's a wild guess.) This helped with the text parts of notes, but it utterly failed for every class except history. The only reason it worked for my history class was because history involved taking down a LOT of text notes. (And the only diagrams in that class were timelines, which you can "fake" by just writing "Year: Event" on each line.)
The laptop was useful on campus - but not in class. In class, it was only a distraction. It was insanely useful between classes where you might get an hour off and sit down somewhere and do some homework without wandering back to the dorm.
So your opinion is that laptops are NOT useful in class, except when they're useful in class. But they're "insanely" useful between classes, which means you need to take one to class.
So it sounds like you've found the most obfuscated way possible to say "yes, you should have a laptop in school".
No that's not possible. everyone knows that Apple invented every innovation in the computing industry, and then had their work copied. Suggesting that Apple copied someone elses idea is just not going to fly.:-P
Where do these people come from?? It would take 10 seconds to look this up, but nope.
If there's anyone who was doing CAD work back in the 80's they probably could describe a "mouse" that had about 30 buttons on it. CAD pucks were essentially a mouse but also had a huge number of buttons for CAD functions.
Slashdot Mirror
My opinion on the ipod though is that it is overpriced compared to technically superior competition, but has been marketed far, far more effectively. Hell, name one other MP3 player you've seen a TV commercial for.
The iPod has many drawbacks: the previously mentioned battery problem, poor ergonomics on the interface (come on, we can admit the click wheel is cool without having to believe it's a very good controller), requires proprietary software (that sucks) to load music onto, can't pull music back off of it (without unsupported apps), more expensive than any other player, it's a theft magnet, etc...
The primary thing it has going for it is it's so damn close to 100% market share that there's an assload of aftermarket accessories.
Personally, I got my iPod mini for free, so it was worth the money, but if I'd been paying for it iPod wouldn't even have made it to the top 10 choices.
obviously the readership of this forum wouldn't have the same reservations about cracking open an otherwise unusable device to replace a battery, but your average iPod owner is just going to toss it in the trash and probably buy a Creative Labs next time.
unfortunately, the last camera I bought that seemes to no longer be an option.
You say that as if looking cool has no value. You sir are not a geek. get out.In fact, I'd just about consider that disposable. Hell, that's probably next. C cell batteries that have a built in MP3 player as a value add!
The non-replaceable battery is an INHERENT FLAW in the iPod design. rechargeable batteries will stop working after a period of time, guaranteed absolutely positively, it's the nature of the beast.
So knowing that, why the hell on earth would someone buy an iPod, knowing that it's going to stop working sometime between 1 year and who knows when? that's fine for a disposable device, but for a $400 iPod that's total BS.
face it, Apple sells the device that way because they want you buying a new one every couple of years, they don't want you to buy a new battery and use it for a decade.
and yes, I do own an Ipod, although I got it for free and wouldn't have paid money for it.
rechargeable batteries lose their charge just sitting still doing nothing. Or in the case of this lawsuit, lose their charge at 2-3x the claimed rate.
I recently recieved a settlement in a class action lawsuit against Pioneer because of the patently false claims they made about their extremely expensive Tivo DVD recorder units.
My settlement was a coupon for $150 off on my next Pioneer purchase.
Lawyers get PAID $$$$ in these things, consumers get coupons to buy more crap from the company that screwed them in the first place.
The only slot machines I've ever seen that didn't accept coins were ones at indian reservations that were trying to skirt specific laws.
Trust me as someone who gambles a LOT, slot machines do accept coins, and will continue to do so for a very, very long time.
I'm not suggesting you're "lying" about that, but I do think you should provide a source for a claim that utterly ridiculous.
Do you sign off all your posts with a personal insult? that's a curious habit.Please don't stop, I'm bored at work today.
"Gletcher" refers to any statistical evidence that is fabricated on the spot to bolster a point of view.
Say what you will about MS software, but I don't know too many companies saying "know what, SQL server is too cheap, let's move to Oracle".
Nobody but you said anything about a clickwheel.
This patent has nothing to do with the clickwheel. but please, don't let that impact your obvious enjoyment of it. click away.
VCR's and video editing equipment have used the "jog and shuttle" wheel to control things for decades. I have a Mitsubishi vcr at home that shockingly uses the shuttle wheel to (gasp) traverse the setup menus.
The only thing new here is the application on a portable MP3 player. If that qualifies for a patent, then great. take any two existing things and put them together, you got yourself more patents than you can shake a stick at.
It's hard to imagine anyone keeping a straight face while applying for a patent on something as trivial/universal/obvious/pre-existing as as a method of traversing a linear menu. Every MP3 player I've owned, going back to the RIO 300 used a variation of a thumbwheel and click menu. How did Apple decide they "invented" this?
When the guy who wrote the article title realizes that there's other things making noise inside the case than fans.
I'm not saying that a fanless case doesn't have interest, I spent a lot of time tuning a HTPC to function quietly without overheating, so I get the point. This case isn't a solution in my opinion because it's far too large to be useful anywhere other than under a desk, where you most likely wouldn't care so much about noise.
So it sounds like you've found the most obfuscated way possible to say "yes, you should have a laptop in school".
Where do these people come from?? It would take 10 seconds to look this up, but nope.
If there's anyone who was doing CAD work back in the 80's they probably could describe a "mouse" that had about 30 buttons on it. CAD pucks were essentially a mouse but also had a huge number of buttons for CAD functions.