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iPod 10 Things Your iPod Won't Tell You
- Thread starter Blue Velvet
- Start date
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Seems like a lot of hype on top of a set of facts that could apply to almost any portable music player, pair of sneakers, or cell phone. Yeah, Apple's proprietary DRM and paranoia sucks, but hey, that's why FairPlay and JHymn exist. For that matter, any version of iTunes will play AAC on either a PC or Mac, and you can down-convert non-protected AAC to MP3.
As for the rest:
* Customer service is a priviledge, not a right. Well, they're closer to right than wrong on this one, though if the rate at which new iPods were being re-issued the last time I was at a "Genius Bar" is any indication, all I really need to do to get my iPod replaced is demonstrate general incompetence in its operation.
* If you drop me, I'm toast. Anyone here ever dropped their Walkman or portable CD player? Last time I did this with one of these two items, they shattered into pieces. I also managed to drop and break a demo Creative Zen player at Best Buy. Electronics, if dropped, will break.
* My battery life is pathetic. Yeah, and rechargable batteries across the board suffer from this.
* I'm destroying your hearing. What? I didn't catch that? Can you say it again? Please, what a bunch of nonsense - this is true for all portable music players. I'm personally still waiting for that class action suit against Sony for destroying my hearing with a Walkman back in the 1980s.
* I'm out of date before I'm out of the box. As are all consumer electronics.
* I've sparked a crime wave. Please - the same could be said about Nike, Addidas, and half a dozen other clothing and electronics manufacturers. People want other people's stuff, and sometimes they'll mug you for it. What's the news here?
* We'll nickel and dime you any chance we get. So does Verizon. So does AT&T. So does Dell. So does Sony. So does Enron. So does ExxonMobil. It's called capitalism.
I'm sorry, journalistic stupidity for the sake of posting content just pisses me off.
As for the rest:
* Customer service is a priviledge, not a right. Well, they're closer to right than wrong on this one, though if the rate at which new iPods were being re-issued the last time I was at a "Genius Bar" is any indication, all I really need to do to get my iPod replaced is demonstrate general incompetence in its operation.
* If you drop me, I'm toast. Anyone here ever dropped their Walkman or portable CD player? Last time I did this with one of these two items, they shattered into pieces. I also managed to drop and break a demo Creative Zen player at Best Buy. Electronics, if dropped, will break.
* My battery life is pathetic. Yeah, and rechargable batteries across the board suffer from this.
* I'm destroying your hearing. What? I didn't catch that? Can you say it again? Please, what a bunch of nonsense - this is true for all portable music players. I'm personally still waiting for that class action suit against Sony for destroying my hearing with a Walkman back in the 1980s.
* I'm out of date before I'm out of the box. As are all consumer electronics.
* I've sparked a crime wave. Please - the same could be said about Nike, Addidas, and half a dozen other clothing and electronics manufacturers. People want other people's stuff, and sometimes they'll mug you for it. What's the news here?
* We'll nickel and dime you any chance we get. So does Verizon. So does AT&T. So does Dell. So does Sony. So does Enron. So does ExxonMobil. It's called capitalism.
I'm sorry, journalistic stupidity for the sake of posting content just pisses me off.
I love how the article blames things like DRMs, HDD fragility, and hearing loss entirely on Apple and the Ipod...
11. Ipod May Become Target of Undue Criticism...
11. Ipod May Become Target of Undue Criticism...
Here was my response to the article I sent them...
--------------------
Of each of the 10 points, every one of them, is either misrepresented, or is true for all MP3 Players/Electronic Devices.
10) Protected AAC is sold by Apple. Protected WMA is sold by other companies. AAC is playable on Macs and PCs, WMA is playable only on PCs.
9) The reason for removing the extra accessories that used to be included were the extra costs of the new iPods. By removing the extra accessories, they could continue to charge the same amount. Also, very few people used the included accessories, so people complained about having to pay for something they didn't use.
8) The crime wave is a stupid argument. This is true for Nike, Adidas, Sony, and Puma. Someone wants something, they are doing something to try to get it.
7) Nearly all electronics are obsolete before you open them. This however is not true for the iPod. They have a 6-12 month product cycle, as do all Apple products.
6) The Walkman is the original source of people loosing their hearing. As is Boom-boxes, car stereos, high bass, and parties. iPod is not alone in the blame.
5) Battery life. Again, true of everything that runs on batteries. Even the iPods battery is replaceable, or you can trade your iPod in for one with a fresh battery for $60 at any Apple Store.
4) Although it is not obvious, it is very easy to copy the music from the iPod back to the computer. It is stored in nothing more complicated than a hidden folder. You can change a simple setting in Windows to view it, or you can download a free utility to view the folder. Also there are many freeware and shareware apps online that will download the music with no hassle.
3) The full size iPods are quite resilient when it comes to accidental dropping. The nano and shuffle use flash memory and therefore don't have the problem of hard drive damage. Also, other electronics when dropped will shatter into thousands of pieces, the iPod stays in one piece.
2) The 90-day phone support is only used by people who have done something they shouldn't have done to their iPod. If after 90 days you have a hardware problem, and they need to repair or replace the iPod the phone call will be free. Plus the $59 for the extended warranty is a bargain compared to other MP3 players.
1) While the point is somewhat valid, no other Music Store makes money, and the iPod price ranges from $60 to $400. It works on nearly every system, something that is not true for any other store. Apple IS the open standard, plus AAC is an industry standard, WMA is a proprietary format that Microsoft charges huge royalties for people to use, and be able to play.
I truly hope that in the future, you and your writers actually do some reasearch before publishing such lies in an article.
Cheers,
Thomas Gill
Editor in Chief
"The Technician" - Kettering University
----------------
TEG
--------------------
Of each of the 10 points, every one of them, is either misrepresented, or is true for all MP3 Players/Electronic Devices.
10) Protected AAC is sold by Apple. Protected WMA is sold by other companies. AAC is playable on Macs and PCs, WMA is playable only on PCs.
9) The reason for removing the extra accessories that used to be included were the extra costs of the new iPods. By removing the extra accessories, they could continue to charge the same amount. Also, very few people used the included accessories, so people complained about having to pay for something they didn't use.
8) The crime wave is a stupid argument. This is true for Nike, Adidas, Sony, and Puma. Someone wants something, they are doing something to try to get it.
7) Nearly all electronics are obsolete before you open them. This however is not true for the iPod. They have a 6-12 month product cycle, as do all Apple products.
6) The Walkman is the original source of people loosing their hearing. As is Boom-boxes, car stereos, high bass, and parties. iPod is not alone in the blame.
5) Battery life. Again, true of everything that runs on batteries. Even the iPods battery is replaceable, or you can trade your iPod in for one with a fresh battery for $60 at any Apple Store.
4) Although it is not obvious, it is very easy to copy the music from the iPod back to the computer. It is stored in nothing more complicated than a hidden folder. You can change a simple setting in Windows to view it, or you can download a free utility to view the folder. Also there are many freeware and shareware apps online that will download the music with no hassle.
3) The full size iPods are quite resilient when it comes to accidental dropping. The nano and shuffle use flash memory and therefore don't have the problem of hard drive damage. Also, other electronics when dropped will shatter into thousands of pieces, the iPod stays in one piece.
2) The 90-day phone support is only used by people who have done something they shouldn't have done to their iPod. If after 90 days you have a hardware problem, and they need to repair or replace the iPod the phone call will be free. Plus the $59 for the extended warranty is a bargain compared to other MP3 players.
1) While the point is somewhat valid, no other Music Store makes money, and the iPod price ranges from $60 to $400. It works on nearly every system, something that is not true for any other store. Apple IS the open standard, plus AAC is an industry standard, WMA is a proprietary format that Microsoft charges huge royalties for people to use, and be able to play.
I truly hope that in the future, you and your writers actually do some reasearch before publishing such lies in an article.
Cheers,
Thomas Gill
Editor in Chief
"The Technician" - Kettering University
----------------
TEG
Blue Velvet said:
Yes, a lot of it is true, but not only for ipods. This is more of a list of MP3 player problems in general, and I think that it is unfairly targeting ipods.
I just read that again and I realized that I was arguing for the rights of a consumer electronic. Maybe I should get more sleep.
OK, yes it may be "true," but like Felldownthewell said, it's not true that these are problems that are unique to iPods. Plus, the article is extremely biased (and like any biased article, it cannot be trusted).Blue Velvet said:
TEG please post the reply you get if you get one about your email you sent to the author of this article.
I'm curious to see what he says.
I'm curious to see what he says.
Meh. I've seen dozens of articles like this. It just seems that people can't stand Apple's unprecedented success in the music department, so they'll try and tear them down whenever they can.
