iPod or not?

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Stargate199 · #1 Post by **Stargate199** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 9:05 pm

With the Holidays on our doorstep, the shopping frenzy is on. The iPod will be one of the hot items, so here is the question, are you pro-iPod or anti-iPod. I personally have a second generation iPod Nano 4GB in blue. If you hate the iPod, tell why and your favorite brand of MP3 player.

#2 Post by **tomh009** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 9:17 pm

HP de100c is where MP3 players are at.

OK, so maybe it's not the latest, but still very, very good, especially now that I upgraded mine to 100 GB ...

pianowizard · #3 Post by **pianowizard** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 9:54 pm

There is no way anyone on this forum doesn't know what an iPod is, and it bothers me that someone checked the "What's an iPod" option, which shows that some people think these polls are just for fun and don't answer them honestly. That totally ruins an otherwise informative poll.

Anyway, my vote was for "Don't care".

#4 Post by **tomh009** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 10:22 pm

I think generally our poll sample sizes are small enough to not really be "informative". "Interesting", yes, I'll grant you that ...

#5 Post by **AlphaKilo470** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 10:58 pm

Well, I'm most certainly not an "iPod Hater" per say because I actually like the current iPods and think that Apple made a great move by reducing prices and bringing back the iPod Mini form factor for the 3nd generation Nanos. However, with offerings from Creative and Sandisk being cheaper and similarly equipped, the iPod doesn't have as much ground as it once had and the reason for going with the iPod over other brands is shrinking. In my general opinion, anyone who is thinking about getting an iPod needs to try out a Creative player first.

I currently own a Creative Zen V and with it's lightweight case, impressive bass, customizable EQ, MTP compatibility and OLED display, the player certainly puts up strict competition against the iPod Nano.

Manarius · #6 Post by **Manarius** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 11:33 pm

iPod hater. They're not a deal and their format for music is not compatible with any other player.

christopher_wolf · #7 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 11:34 pm

I am of much the same mind as Alex; I don't hate them and, of all of them, the iPod Mini's form factor and design was perhaps the best and that is why Apple has decided to go with it for the most part. I actually have an iPod mini 4GB and it is a pretty good MP3 player. Although now there are some pretty impressive offerings from companies like Creative, SanDisk, Samsung, and others that give the iPod not only serious competition...but also add more features that it doesn't look like the iPod will have in the near future.

Turbo Audi · #8 Post by **Turbo Audi** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 12:21 am

Rubbish. I have had 3 break on me, bad hard drives. My friend s family got 3 for xmas last year and 2 of them were inoperable out of the box. Rubbish.

#9 Post by **gator** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 1:00 am

My feelings are mixed.

I got a 4GB nano (which I like) from my prof for a research paper we worked on together, and while I appreciate the fact that I don't have to sit in front of a computer to listen to music anymore, I do think its overpriced. The click-wheel was fun to use the first few times around, but I'd prefer normal play/stop/pause buttons and arrows to scroll. If there is one thing I hate about it, it'd be those darn white earbugs (spelling intentional). Many people feel that it is hip and cool to have those earbugs come into their ears (some behave as if those things come out of their ears). While it is a good piece of hardware in a good form factor, the thing that apple fanboys seem to miss is that it is music that is supposed to come first, not the iPod.

I seriously don't get the wow factor that is associated with the iPod. Seriously, the sony walkman was cooler.

Sorry for the rant, had to get it off. Now for some daydreaming ....

I see the day in the future when IBM will make one, the Thinkpiano, to match our thinkpads; the story would be completely different - imagine a device with the black matte finish, the sharp-edged, rectangular, thinkpad-like, slim functional design (with a flexview screen ) and a red trackpoint to scroll and click.Now that, I'd totally dig.

and so I shall dream ...

#10 Post by **rkawakami** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 1:15 am

gator wrote:<snip>... imagine a device with the black matte finish, the square thinkpad like slim, functional design and a red trackpoint to scroll and click. Now that, I'd totally dig.

Well, I have something that does have a red "trackpoint-type" stick... it's a Rio Cali. Offered in an ugly camo-green case, with a swatch of black, the red five-way stick controls play, stop, forward, back and select (push in). Here's a page from my site:

http://www.rkawakami.net/rio/cali/

It's a fairly decent MP3 player with a built-in FM radio (something my freebie iPod doesn't have

). I've got a couple of them with 1GB SD flash cards in them which is enough for me to listen to while skiing or at the office. If and when I get around to buying a 4GB SD card, I'll stick it in the Rio and see if it can be used like some people have said it can.

#11 Post by **gator** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 1:40 am

It is waaaay off my dreams

. I want something looking like the thinkplus USB portable drive:

URL=http://img285.imageshack.us/my.php?imag ... 805sn8.jpg]img]http://img285.imageshack.us/img285/1794 ... sn8.th.jpg[/img][/URL]
URL=http://img246.imageshack.us/my.php?imag ... 808mi6.jpg]img]http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/8898 ... mi6.th.jpg[/img][/URL]

I have a feeling it'll have a great following

ps: Ray, that snow cabin looked amazing ... sorry if I had prowled a bit on your webspace.

dsigma6 · #12 Post by **dsigma6** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 8:13 am

It took an exorbitant amount of advertising dollars and media hype before they took off. For years, there were MP3 players on the market, and no one but technophiles were using them.

As I don't have a point in the day where listening to headphones is practical, and if I wanted to, I think we've all got a laptop that can do it.

I might have thought they were cool if I was a bike messenger or middle schooler.

Verdict- Sucks!

ronbo613 · #13 Post by **ronbo613** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 10:53 am

I've been looking at MP3 players, but haven't whipped out the plastic for one yet. I have lot's of MP3s, but don't buy music online and I don't really go for the proprietary iPod fomats, so if I did get an MP3 player, it would most likely be a brand other than Apple.
The Jet Audio players that use standard AA and AAA batteries seem pretty good, SanDisk has some good looking players as well.
I do listen to a lot of music, mostly in my shop. Sometimes I use full padded headphones while I work with power tools because they are so loud, I wonder if a little bitty MP3 player will have enough volume for me to hear above the noise. I'd also look to put the player in a waterproof housing of some kind so I could use it on my kayak, so I pay more attention to the way the controls operate than an average person might. I'd also want it to work with the stereo in my truck.

#14 Post by **GomJabbar** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 11:06 am

ronbo613 wrote:I've been looking at MP3 players, but haven't whipped out the plastic for one yet. I have lot's of MP3s, but don't buy music online and I don't really go for the proprietary iPod fomats, so if I did get an MP3 player, it would most likely be a brand other than Apple.

The ipod does support MP3's. My wife and daughter both have 20GB ipods with a trove of MP3's on them. My wife even has a complete copy of the Bible on MP3's in her ipod. I had to manually set up the menu structure, but it worked fine when I got it set up.

Myself, I would rather listen to the radio. I get bored of the same music all the time. Mostly I listen to internet radio on my ThinkPad or desktop PC from Live365.com.

JHEM · #15 Post by **JHEM** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 12:06 pm

dsigma6 wrote:It took an exorbitant amount of advertising dollars and media hype before they took off. For years, there were MP3 players on the market, and no one but technophiles were using them.

Note that the iPod craze in particular, and MP3 players in general, was NOT driven by Audiophiles.

I've yet to see the MP3 player that can match the output of an original CD in one of my Nakamichi decks.

But, perhaps I'm simply ignorant of the latest and greatest ripping and format methods.

James

#16 Post by **underclocker** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 12:18 pm

6GB iPod Mini for Audible books
512MB iPod Shuffle for gym

Neither love nor hate, they just work. In particular, I like the controls on the Mini. I keep it in my shirt pocket, controls facing out, and I don't have to look at the device to adjust the volume or pause a book. The control wheel works great with my finger on top of the shirt pocket. This is very convenient for my Metro commute as the noise level goes up and down a lot between stations.

My first 4GB Mini died in 9 months, replacement still works fine for my wife.

FM would be nice on iPods.

iTunes is one of the biggest pig programs I've used. What crap. So slow I could cry.

ronbo613 · #17 Post by **ronbo613** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 12:26 pm

GomJabbar wrote:Myself, I would rather listen to the radio. I get bored of the same music all the time.

Same here, although it seems most the stations around here have playlists that go round and round. Some of those Jet Audio and SanDisk MP3 players have FM radios, how good the reception would be, I guess would depend on where you're at.
Don't get me wrong, if I got a 60G iPod from Santa Claus, I could work around any negative thoughts I might have about it.

#18 Post by **rkawakami** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 2:31 pm

gator wrote:ps: Ray, that snow cabin looked amazing ... sorry if I had prowled a bit on your webspace.

No problem... I'm surprised you are the first to say so.. I just assume that people are curious and know how to get back to my home page without having a direct link on each of my pages.

dsigma6 · #19 Post by **dsigma6** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 4:05 pm

rkawakami wrote:No problem... I'm surprised you are the first to say so.. I just assume that people are curious and know how to get back to my home page without having a direct link on each of my pages.

You know I've been snooping. I think you just put it there to make us all hate our luck (lack thereof).

trent9008 · #20 Post by **trent9008** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 9:29 am

I wouldn't say "no" to an iPod if I got it for Christmas or something, but I would consider buying one to be a huge waste of money. A friend of mine has a different-brand mp3 player he bought. It cost something like half the price of a smaller-capacity iPod.

ronbo613 · #21 Post by **ronbo613** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 7:22 pm

I think you should get your money's worth, no matter what you buy. Sometimes, going with something other than a big brand name product is tough, but with all the information available these days, you should be able to make a good decision if you've got some common sense.

Website · #22 Post by **tfflivemb2** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 9:32 pm

At this point in time, I have no need for an iPod, as much as I listen to music. My Dell Axim X51V can hold up to 1GB of music at a time with all of the 1Gb cards that I bought at Wal-Mart for $13.88. I bought 4 of them. Eventually, I will get a 4gb card so that I can watch movies on it.

agarza · #23 Post by **agarza** » Fri Dec 22, 2006 10:05 am

I've used Sony Walkmans first with the included tape deck to play your cassetes (I owned a Psyc) player.

Later this year I bought on a mexican site a Network Walkman (Circ) which died after 3 months of intensive use, I dropped it more than 3 times, I even resisted water when I was biking and suddenly it started raining pretty hard, the player did get wet but later, about 2 years it died and had no option to ditch it because the [censored] seller didn't gave me any documentation or invoice as a proof of purchase.

I went to Laredo TX last Wed and bought for 130USD the new NW-S203F with water-proof alluminum casing, just the thing I need when I go joogling, cycling or walking! (Won't opening it until Xmas)!
img]http://www.sonystyle.com.mx/images/aux/ ... egro_2.jpg[/img]

Nigellus · #24 Post by **Nigellus** » Fri Dec 22, 2006 12:09 pm

The only mp3 player I have is a program on my computer, but a friend that I trust claims that the iPod is a ripoff and that the Zen is much better. I forget the exact reasons were, but I think it had to do with storage capacity. (note, this is an actual friend of mine... not my friend's brother's roommate's cousin

)

I still use my RCA walkman if I need a portable music player. Yes, the kind that plays cassettes. Yes, cassettes still exist.

skitty4gzus · #25 Post by **skitty4gzus** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 9:43 pm

I have a 60 gig photo and i like it for the most part. Supports many different audio formats and does an alright job of audio output. Im actually getting somewhat disgusted at the lack of audio quality. I havent ruled out what exactly is the issue yet though because some songs sound great while some do not. I have shure e3c headphones and they are great. Im not sure yet if it is mp3 quality that is the problem or if it is the poor quality of audio output on the ipod and my thinkpad. If anybody has hid a similar issue please let me know. Im a lil hesitant about getting rid of the ipod for something else if the something else is going to have the same type of output.

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