Marketing as "high quality" audio device
I absolutely love my 30 GB iPod. It has changed the way I listen to my music. But even so, there is still room for improvement. The biggest area, in my opinion, is in providing a "seamless" listening experience. Basically this means eliminating all gaps that plague the iPod and its playback of compressed audio files. This is especially critical with live albums, mix albums (where one song runs seamlessly into the next), and classical recordings where several movements of the same piece may be split into multiple tracks. CD players from 20 years ago have no problem playing this stuff seamlessly, why can't a $300-500 piece of modern technology satisfy this simple requirement?
Now, I'm not trying to gripe about the iPod. I love it, absolutely. This is simply the one and only area where I really think it still needs improvement. Apple prides itself on providing the best products and the best user experience. Yet this particular part of the experience remains a letdown to serious music listeners. I don't think they can honestly claim to provide the best possible listening experience until this is rectified.
Why am I posting this here? Because while Bose may be considered to be overpriced and overhyped by audiophiles, most consumers think it is really super high end stuff. It only makes sense that if you're buying an iPod to go with your expensive Bose system, it should provide a "perfect" listening experience. That 0.2-second gap between seamless tracks doesn't cut it. It can be a bit jarring when you've really lost yourself in the music.
I understand that this isn't noticeable with most albums or playlists where tracks don't run into one another, and probably most listeners in most listening environments don't really notice or care even when it does happen. But some of us do, and we'd love for Apple to address the issue. How cool would it be if they could say they have the first/only MP3/AAC player that provides true gapless playback?
I think it shouldn't be that hard, even.
This page talks about a "cue sheet" scheme where an entire album could be encoded as one file (just like you'd get using iTunes' Join Tracks feature when importing) and has a cue sheet that tells the positions in the file where various tracks start. Then you have no gaps but you can still skip around from track to track. Surely that wouldn't be hard to add to the existing Join Tracks in iTunes, and support it with the iPod.
What do ya'll think? Am I being too nitpicky, or is this a good idea? I think it would be great, since Apple would have even more reasons to show that the iPod is the best. If you agree, please take a moment and
send feedback so they know more people than just me want it.
