Am I The Only Person Who Doesn't Like The iPod?

[Savage Henry]

I often regret buying my 3G iPod. Why? Size, weight and most of all, battery life. I am another md'er that came over when the collection just became ummanagable. THe best feature of the iPod is iTunes integration even then I have a lot of things on my wishlist for iTunes.

Going from 30 hours and 55g (with battery) to the bulk and irritation of the iPod was very hard. I guess I am used to it but I am just praying for a minimum of 16 hours battery on the 4g iPod. Praying I tell you!

I feel like I am tied down with the iPod. I go out for days at a time and while I do have access to electricity the idea of carrying that bulky charger is not pleasant.

I could not honestly recommend it to anyone who I know. and i think that's kind of sad...

I know what you are saying, but considering the brouhaha over the batteries, if I were Apple I would not even consider a 4gen model without addressing that issue as the no.1 priority....Shiny new casings or not.

I'm sure that you will be back to you recommending days not before long ....

 

[hulugu]

Ogg Vorbis, who names these things?

FLAC and OGG beat the pants off of "Apple Lossless" and AAC respectively.
OGG is better than AAC, it's smaller, and it's l33t3r.

And what do you mean "you people"? .. you getting geekist on a computer board? So you can be geeky enough to know Macs are cool but the moment you point out FLAC is the shizzel it somehow crosses the line?

heh I made that 'geekist' word up. No seriously I'd think OGG and FLAC were silly if they were only a *tiny* bit better, but they seriously just blow AAC and AL away...I guess it's .wav then (because quicktime doesn't support OGG so you can't use AIFF or AL).

Ogg Vorbis, I swear this is a character from Star Wars.

I was kidding really about the whole comment, but everytime there's a conversation on a board about sound quality someone pipes up with Ogg, it's quite funny actually. Then someone mentions Ogg Vorbis, and how one is a container—I can never remember which is which—or FLAC is better. But, mention this to anyone else and you'll get what the hell is an ogg?
It's just so geeky and consistant, like arguing about who was a better captain Kirk or Picard, that at some point I just have to roll my eyes or I'll get involved.
It would be great if Apple would just support Ogg Vorbis and FLAC and let people choose Apple Lossless if they want. The only problem I've ever heard about this is the amount of power FLAC songs take because of their size, but I have also noticed that AAC does very well in different sound tests; and I haven't noticed anything about AL though.
Personally, I haven't heard the difference, but I'll take your word for it.
Geekist, it's really not a word, but it just rolls off the tongue: damn geekist!
I love that.

 

[tech4all]

I never even heard of FLAC and OGG. Now for the people that say those formats are better than AAC, are you guys in the music profession or something? Becuase I hear AAC and it sounds great. But perhaps for a person in the music industry, they know some stuff about AAC compression that I dont know of that make it not as good. I guess I could compare that to TIFF images Vs. JPGs, to a non-graphic designer the JPG will look just as good as the TIFF. But as a designer would know, TIFF is not compressed while JPG is, thus JPG would "suck" compared to TIFF in some circumstances.

 

[melchior]

Well, it just depends how much credit you give the greater majority of your target market. I would be willing to bet that people who care about image format quality (not just because they are a professional, I am not a professional anything and i care, as i think a lot of people do, otherwise Digital SLR's wouldn't be selling the way they do) those same people care about audio quality.

then again, i thought of something that just blows my argument. i think i might be the only iPod user i have ever seen that uses non-apple ear phones.

apple is definetely playing to the lowest common denominator, at 128kbs AAC's and 8 hour battery life they sell because they're shiny and designed by jonathon ive, let's face it. the question is, does apple have any reason to support the minority that care about more than the shiny factor?

I never even heard of FLAC and OGG. Now for the people that say those formats are better than AAC, are you guys in the music profession or something? Becuase I hear AAC and it sounds great. But perhaps for a person in the music industry, they know some stuff about AAC compression that I dont know of that make it not as good. I guess I could compare that to TIFF images Vs. JPGs, to a non-graphic designer the JPG will look just as good as the TIFF. But as a designer would know, TIFF is not compressed while JPG is, thus JPG would "suck" compared to TIFF in some circumstances.

 

[Maxx Power]

18 months; it happens but it's not like there's a viral bomb that goes off right then. I use the hell out of mine and it's been 20 months and I still get above 8 hours; it helps to read the instructions about charging from Apple.
Second, get a case! As I previously stated there's a zillion of them, water-tight ones, metal ones, arm-bands, fanny-packs, small ones, large ones that can hold earphones and the chargers, etc.
I would suggest Marware's. My iPod is 20 months old, has gone to San Francisco, Big Sur, Sedona and then all through Italy, Switzerland, and Paris.

I have no idea how you managed that. Maybe if you set the volume to really low and never skip tracks or use backlight or use the remote. Mine is 13 months old, and the battery is only lasting 5 hours now. This pod hasn't even seen the typical use of any music player, you got lucky i guess.
I am fully aware of the options that holds your pod close to your body, but I find it quite annoying to workout with such a large portable player (compared to flash based, 24gram units) and having to constantly worry about not hitting it or dinging it on something and lose my hard drive over it.

 

[pepita]

All in all I think the iPod is rather good, but it's no doubt been overhyped (and overpriced), but then that's Apple, what do you expect

I got mine as a present a couple of months ago and though I am pleased with it, I too have been disappointed with the battery life. I mostly use it in the city, on trains etc. and when I go cycling, not for longer than two or three hours it's ok, but it really lasts a lot less than advertised.

That said, the other features make up for that. I never tried any other player so I can't compare. But I appreciate the audio quality, the playlists, the whole way it works.

There's one other thing that I was very disappointed with, though it's a minor thing cos it's about "accessories" - it's the lack of a belt clip, yeah yeah I know there's lots of cases and clips on sale out there thank you very much but if I'm buying (or, someone else is buying for me) something that costs so much I'd expect to find that kind of thing included, not have to shell out another $20-50 to get it extra. They did it for the mini iPods, that plastic clip or whatdoyoucallit, the one that slides in the back, I can't understand why they couldn't add something similar in the regular iPod box. It is an accessory but an essential one. It was cheap of Apple not to include one.

Come to think of it, they should have thrown in an album or two of my choice for that price. Tsk.

Anyway. there's no mandatory worship of the iPod as far as I know, so you're more than entitled to think it's no good and doesn't match your own preferences, and I can't for the life of me understand why saying so gets so many people irritated to the point they have to come up "oh you must be on crack". Geez, people, until Apple registers as a Church, in fact, even if Apple registered as a Church, it's not like everyone has to be a follower.

 

[hulugu]

And you thought the Illuminati were scary

Anyway. there's no mandatory worship of the iPod as far as I know, so you're more than entitled to think it's no good and doesn't match your own preferences, and I can't for the life of me understand why saying so gets so many people irritated to the point they have to come up "oh you must be on crack". Geez, people, until Apple registers as a Church, in fact, even if Apple registered as a Church, it's not like everyone has to be a follower.

Infidels are not supposed to talk about the Church of the Sacred Apple, nor speak the name of Jobs nor his lambs the iPod and the iPod Mini. You dare to speak ill of our lords and saviors!
May Jobs himself smote you!
Covert infidel or face the consequences.
There is no Church of the Sacred Apple. Forget everything I just said.
Infidel.

Actually, I just happen to disagree with you. However, for battery life I would suggest checking out the Apple site and iPodLounge on how to extend battery life. As for the belt clip, I guess, but I think you're getting to the point where you're asking for the world and everything.
The iPod isn't the best HD-player in every single regime, but it does many things very well.
But, then I get easily distracted by shiny things....ooooo pretty.

 

[Maxx Power]

I'm just jumping into the thread here, but here is my opinion:

I think that everyone should buy an iPod! Go on! They are easy to use, the battery life is good enough for most people, and you get plenty of storage space.

So go on, get an iPod! Because I'm not!

And I'll tell you why...

Until the iPod has the following, I'm not buying one:

Better audio quality (I heard the iPod's sucks, and only someone with good ears will notice, like me)
Longer battery life (Creative has claimed thier Nomad Zen Touch will have 24 hours batter life. Creative normally dosen't lie about thier product's battery life. Thier claims are spot on, and are not based on weird options, like 20% audio volume, etc...)
Line in/Line out -Optical and Analouge for both (the iRivers have this, and can even record MP3s on the spot! Up to 320kbs, the highest MP3 quality)
An internal mic (The iRiver's mics record at full quality MP3 - up to 320kbs, not 16kbs or whatever the iPod does)
Driverless operation (iTunes counts as driver-required operation - In other words, you can't just drag your music on, using Explorer/Finder)
A good remote (Other brands have LCD screens, the ability to change playlists, etc... from the remote)
Vorbis support

Right, so thats why I'm not getting an iPod.

But that dosen't mean that everyone else shouldn't get one, because:

Intergration with iTunes (I use iTunes all the time, it's a great piece of software, and it helps by putting all my music in one folder, so I can just drag that one folder over to my Drag-and-Drop compatible MP3 player)
The ability to play iTMS songs (This is important (not to me, because I'm here in iTMS deprived Australia) - because you don't want to have to resort to PlayFair and other crap like that to play your music)
Games (I don't need this)
Intergrated Calender (I don't need this either)
The ability to download pictures off of your camera's card, for storage (I honestly don't need this)

So, everyone. Get an iPod!
I don't need one...

I totally agree with you. And i have something to add - the ipod's sound quality has Decreased in the latest generation because of their use of the wolfson Low power DAC WM9371L i believe is the correct model number. This chip has much lower average and minimal signal to noise ratio when compared to the previous wolfson dac which wasn't low-power (previous i believe was 94 avg, current is 90 or lower in low power mode). Also, in designing the smaller current generation ipods, they eliminated the secondary headphone amplification circuitry so now the maximum output is decreased from 60mW to 9mW per specification. Also if you noticed, the new generation uses very cheap LEDs to provide white backlight, which has a hint of blue in it, indicating it is of a inferior white LED which is cheaper. As well the new generation of iPods have some severe problems with sound quality compared to current good sounding portable players such as the creative Zen (signal to noise ratio of 96 dB). For some information reguarding some basic standardized testing of the iPod, refer to: http://members.brabant.chello.nl/~m.heijligers/ipod/measurements.html
and for information on the Dac's of ipods', refer to:
http://www.ipoding.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1141&mode=thread&order=0

 

[Maxx Power]

I think this is more dependent on earphones and speakers, the Nomad Zen Touch sounded tiny when I listed to my friend's, but I'll concede that its the earphones.

These things need to be judged on experience and not lab tests, Apple is more honest and wattage for their laptops than other companies, and I think it depends on the user. But, Apple does need to improve this as much as possible without adding weight or size. 24 versus 10 (max for iPod I heard) is really not competitive.

I think you can mount the iPod as a Firewire device, but iTunes is really very useful to name songs and make playlists, with 10Gb of music I'd like being able to play all my favorite Hendrix songs for example without paging through each song. But, I'd agree on these ideas, they're interesting, I'd like the remote to show information like the minimized version of iTunes.

What is with you people? Ogg! No FLAC! No wait...I need something more obscure.



Although the iPod is not the ultimate warrior of Mp3 players able to defeat all takers like Bruce Lee, it has some superior advantages.

This is my third post in a row, so I'm going to shut up now.

If you had golden ears like some of us do, particularly audiophiles, or if you listen to anything BUT what's on the radio and in some people's passing SUV's or what everyone considers "rock" or "alternative" these days, you'd know that a better DAC in your ipod means better sound, and quite frankly, if you refer to my other post i made prior to this one, you'll see that the DAC used in ipod is inferior to that of the Creative Zen by quite a bit.

 

[Jalexster]

I would just like mention that everyone should buy an iPod, because it helps Apple, and they are good enough for most people (not me of course).

 

[floatingspirit]

Yes.

Thank you

 

[floatingspirit]

(besides the silly scroll thing which I refuse to use 1 handed out of fear of dropping the $500 bastard).

Prudent, though crudely put. New Apple slogan: Get your new 60gig Bastard; so loaded with memory it'll crack the floor if dropped!

Sorry, I'm tired too and it just sounded so funny/absurd to call an iPod a "@##$@#$"

 

[Abstract]

Even totally non-techies I know speak to me (unbeknowngst of my affiliations with Apple) about the iPod , and how much they want it.

Strangely enough not many of those same people speak to me of the Creative Labs Jukebox Zen Xtra 30GB.

Funny that.

So to answer the main question, I'd say at the very least yes, you are certainly in a minority.

People who want it and don't even know why..... hehe, exactly.

The iRiver products are probably technically superior but are a little cluttered for my tastes. Also, with no integrated software, media management on Windows is still a kludge, with the exception of iTunes+iPod. When MS opens a music store, who knows. But if WMP 10 is any indication, it will be a while before Apple has anything to worry about. Thanks to Sony's determination to try and force ATRAC. Sony doesn't understand Apple hasn't forced AAC. Most users are Apple people anyway, those of us who are not dedicated to Apple, well 95% of my music is in MP3 format.

I've looked at the iRiver, and I've read some great reviews, and I can't see how the iPod can be THAT much better than the iRiver. Its not as cool, but that's about it.

And I'm glad there are over half a dozen people who agree with me, and another bunch who admit that it's not SO great that it's completely dominant over every other player. I didn't even think I'd get that much agreement. Some of the reasons for getting an iPod --- size, holds all my mp3's, good enough battery life for me, I only use mp3's anyway, sometimes AAC--- are matched or surpassed by other players out there (except AAC support).

And the iPod's menu layout is just a very basic menu layout that was used well before the iPod was introduced, so I don't get why people keep complaining about other makers "copying the menu layout". Ever use a mobile phone from 5+ years ago?

The aesthetic design of the iPod is good, though.

 

[Maxx Power]

I would just like mention that everyone should buy an iPod, because it helps Apple, and they are good enough for most people (not me of course).

You would like to help corporations ? Are you nuts ? When was the last time they cared for your well being, your environment, your loved ones, and your opinions ? Corporations have too much power and influence in our society as it is, supporting them blindly is a terrible blindfolded act. Would you trust your kids or loved ones with a stranger for a period of time ? Why would you trust a corporation knowing they are externalizing machines created to generate wealth to the already wealthy who don't have to, and disregards all other people's well being, especially people in other countries ?

 

[Jalexster]

We should support the iPod because the iPod is the only thing keeping Apple alive.

And Apple can't die, if they did, we would have to use x86 computers...

And I like Apple, they support people. Are you saying we should support... Micro$oft?

 

[Maxx Power]

We should support the iPod because the iPod is the only thing keeping Apple alive.

And Apple can't die, if they did, we would have to use x86 computers...

And I like Apple, they support people. Are you saying we should support... Micro$oft?

I said specifically, SUPPORT NO CORPORATIONS, regardless of which one it is.