Co-worker and I had an argument about iPod vs iRiver on our work messageboard

[MUCKYFINGERS]

Co-worker:
uh guys news flash, IRIVER H320 have been playing videos for the longest time. Maybe I havent shown you my h320, i have a whole bunch of southpark seasons and some movies on there, it can play just about any file too, from ogg to avi to rm to whatever. Yea apple lost this battle months ago, iriver has a big color screen as well

im sorry but the ipod is the biggest ripoff out there. theres are beter choices out there ;-)

Myself:
the iPod is the most popular for a reason ... i've dropped mine about 10 times on hard, concrete floor and it still works fine. and the scroll for looking through music and stuff is WAY more comfortable to use than the up and down arrow on the zen and other players alike (my sister regrets getting a zen because the touch pad and arrows are so uncomfortable).

and i think every music player strives to be an ipod. heck, the iriver has an "i" in front if it like "iPod..." why would they want to copy the name?

Co-worker:
i use a program called iriverter which converts and shrinks ANY video file which you can transfer to the iriver. A southpark episode is about 200 megs, the program shrinks it to about 40 megs. A ful lenght movie which in avi ~700 megs I guess I shouldnt have ragged on the Ipod so much considering how many fans it has amongst [name of workplace]. I just wanted to point out that whatever "new and cool" feature the apple implements on the ipod, it has existed on the iriver for months. I was storing and viewing a bunch of my photos back when apple first released the ipods with photo storage and everyone was like WOW, that is so innovative. Uhu, sure it is. Same thing with the video playback. OOOH apple does it again. Yea right. Let me guess, in the next couple of months they will release another version that has an integrated voice recorder and everyone will jump out of their shoes.

I love it when i ride the bus to school and I catch people with Ipods staring at my player, hehehehe


Myself:
If everyone wants to go out and buy an iPod, that is their choice and their money.

I think the proof that the iPod has gotten so incredibly popular is reflected in all the heat that it takes from consumers of other mp3 players. It almost sounds like jealousy at times. I don't get why if the iRiver supposodely beats the snot out of the iPod, that everyone doesn't run out and sell their iPods for iRivers. I guess there are other things that matter to consumers besides strictly features/functionality. The main thing people buy iPods for is playing music. I'm sure many [co-workers] were aware that there were portable players that supported playing video, voice recording, etc, but they went ahead and got an iPod anyway because in addition to its main function (playing music), its design are very sleek and aesthetically it is widely perceived as the best looking/feeling mp3 player in the market. To me and many other people, the overall design and sleekness is an important factor in buying (in addition to being able to do its main function, play music).

The reason there is so much excitement over the video iPods is because iPods are very popular and having video on the most popular and widely used mp3 player will cause excitement.
+++

Comments? I think I smoked him pretty good.

 

[dubbz]

and i think every music player strives to be an ipod. heck, the iriver has an "i" in front if it like "iPod..." why would they want to copy the name?

iriver founded in 1999
iPod released in 2001

 

[VanMac]

Dont waste your time. Enjoy your iPod. If he/she likes iRiver, then good for them.

 

[edesignuk]

Dont waste your time. Enjoy your iPod. If he/she likes iRiver, then good for them.

Exactly, these types of arguments are fruitless for all involved.

 

[MacAficionado]

So what the iRiver plays videos. My daughter's Gameboy Advance plays video too. That does not mean they are quality looking videos.

People don't get it. Probably most of the people that own iPods do not know how to encode videos to be played on their mobile devices. And some that know how to do it like me, don't want to bother encoding just so I can take it with me.

It looks like the quality of these videos they are selling is awesome, that is what matters. Quality people.

 

[Sdashiki]

Exactly. iPods users are 90% iSheep. NOt the same peeple who go home to encode MPEG2 for their upcoming DV shoot and DVD authoring the next day. Or publish a magazine etc etc...on their mac.

how the hell will these people, consumers, understand video encoding when every friggen time i go into an apple store (whether on the east OR west coast) some mother of a goth child is asking "Whats an MP3? I want a friggen ipod mini because my sister, her sister, my cousin, their aunts and brothers all have one and I need to be chic too"

Some people who purport to know alot about computers and their ipods and their bit torrents and their files, still dont get how you can take a video from point A on a hard drive and place it onto a device of point B and keep the same quality. Encoding, eludes them.

m2c

 

[neut]

my Powerbook does all this AND more!

go back to school kids ...


peace | neut

 

[shadowmoses]

I wouldnt even bother giving him the satisfaction of arguing, its quite clear the ipod is superior to the iRiver,

Shadow

 

[tzhuge]

I have a 3rd Gen iPod and an iRiver H120 at home. The iRiver player has more features, better audio quality, more capacity and cost less. That said... I do prefer the iPod. There's a lot of good things about the iPod which aren't apparent on paper. The build quality is second to none, and w/ iTunes is extremely user friendly.

I think it's ridiculous to claim one is superior to the other. It's a matter of what suits you. I know a lot of tech savy people prefer iRiver players.

Let's just say iPod is the product with more mass market appeal and leave it at that. We should all hope that iRiver players do well so that Apple has to keep improving the iPod.

 

[cr2sh]

I'd take a crap on his desk. Tell him to go to hell.

Take that crap riverpod or whatever it was called with him.

Change his name plate to "Stupidhead."

 

[MUCKYFINGERS]

I just read the iRiver plays videos at 10 fps!!! lol!!! the video ipod plays videos at 30 fps...