Who Designed This Crap? The Great Ipod Scam

[runswindows95]

I bought a Sandisk e140 1GB for $80 and it beats my budddies Ipod Nano for five main reasons:

1) No software required. All I have to do is drag and drop my songs through Explorer
2) Built-in FM Radio
3) SD Slot for expandability
4) Replaceable battery
5) Doubles as a thumbdrive in a bind

The purpose of the article is the same thing I've been telling people: Don't buy an Ipod because it's cool. Do some research and see what's out there. If you do buy an Ipod, don't gripe to me because your music is locked up in Itunes while my music (all ripped from original cd's) isn't locked into one program. Plus, for the money, there are better mp3 players out there.

 

[TechnologyCoordinator]

I bought a Creative MP3 player and "lease" my music from Yahoo for 5 bucks a month. Yes, when I cancel my subscription the music won't work, but right now I have 800 songs on my mp3 player and it's only $5 a month ($792 if I had an iPod) .

If you buy more than 5 songs a month on iTunes you are wasting your money, in my most humble opinion.

 

[Tattysnuc]

At the risk of starting a conversation that sounds like something that you hear in the communal showers at school (or was that just me? ) about size, but I honestly think that Apple have a useless OS.

It's just aimed at making the ipod accesible to non pc users, ie those people who know how to type in word, powerpoint, but cannot fathom filing and directory structures out.

You know the sort.

Those that buy Apple Macs because they genuinely believe they are better. Why? Because the TV told them so!

The best OS that I've seen is on the Creative Labs Muvo. You just copy files to / from it using windows! That's it! I guess you can do the same in OS X(?)

You can even use it as a memory stick to move files around with you. Who'd have thought it eh?


Now. Apple. Say you have a copy of the files on your laptop at work and want to get them home because, say, you've just been made redundant. How does iTunes allow for this eventuality? It doesn't that I know of!

Rant over. I hate those things. With a passion!

 

[FITCamaro]

I listen to the radio....

 

[luvmich]

Steve J. Idesigned this Icrap.

Proud owner of a 2002 Archos 20GB recorder. Use it in the gym every day and the batteries last 12 hours. (4xAA 2500mha) The batteries that came with it (4xAA 1500mha) only lasted 6 hours, but upgrading was a breeze. Also been using "Rockbox" firmware the whole time.

Wife uses Creative Muvo FM 512MB. She loves it!

No "DRM" on either of them and both can be used as an external hard drive.

 

[Windaria]

The iPod is such an insane ripoff that I have been laughing at iPod owners for ages now. I mean seriously...

But first... AbelIAN. What happens when you have to format, or fdisk, as seems to be relatively frequently required when running an M$ OS? 5 computers may not be enough. And then to say "if you own more than 5 then you must be rich enough". Excuse the he!! out of me? Who made you the person to be so snobbish as to say "Oh, well you can afford to pay more, so SCREW YOU." It always drives me nuts when people take that attitude because 1) they are often wrong (I own about 7 right now and I most assuredly do not, I just fix old ones and find workable uses for them), and 2) who are you to tell someone "you can pay more FOR THE SAME SERVICE I GET since you make more"? Talk about wealth distribution...

Now, as for the cost... I'm sorry, but $0.99 is an abjact ripoff. Figure 15 songs average on a CD, or even 12, you can buy most new CDs for less than that, especially if you shop at Walmart. But, setting that aside... what about used CD stores? You can go in there and get most CDs for under $6 each, quite often. Then you can take that CD home, rip it, and have the whole thing for the equivalent of less than $0.50 per song, and NO DRM!

And they wonder why online music purchases aren't catching on like the RIAA hopes... I mean if nothing else I could see charging that INSANE premium of $0.99 per song for the first what, 6 months, after a song is released, but after that you'd BETTER find a way to compete against $0.50.

And then you look at the insane costs of the iPods... like the 60 GB video that someone mentioned. Holy crap, you can get such an awesome Archos for that. Or, if you are already pre-disposed to spending so much for a player, just $100 more can get you a portable DVR.

I mean, when you compare the players that are out there to the iPod, the iPod just seems like an overpriced brick. You just have to be willing to look outside of the spoonfed world of Apple and brand recognition. That is really all that Apple has going for it. People just see all the advertising, go to the store, and think "hey, I know what that is".

As for Apple's business model, their business model has always been PR and cash at the expense of the customer. With iPod it is insane restrictions and overpriced hardware/songs. Just like with their computers, it was inferior parts for too much $$$. Actually, that was the funniest thing about their transition to Intel chips. For years they had been saying PPC is better and Intel is slow, then they start saying that they are switching to Intel as they are better, while at the same time still having all the stuff on their website pointing out how PPC was faster and better. It was hilarious, because either they were telling the truth on their website or in their new press releases. Which was it? Oh, but not just any Intel, no... we're going to make them lock the hardware and FORCE you to buy it through us.

And the Apple fanboys put up with that. But yes, as Asphix20 said, isn't that the same garbate that everyone is angry with M$ for forcing on us?

 

[Exterous]

As someone who is forced to sell these damn things to whiny teens whose parents have more money than sense I have long been on the anti-Ipod bandwagon. Yes it does matter that cases don't come out at the same time as the Ipod because I get people who are addicted to Ipod comming in every day asking "Are the cases here yet? What about now? NOW?!" and "Why the H doesn't CC carry cases for these things yet?" and then look at me accusingly.
Also, I hate being forced to use something - like Itunes. I like to pick what I like and I don't like being told how many computers or cds I can store my information on. What if my car gets broken into and all my cds stolen (has happened before)? or I, God forbid, scratch one (I know none of you have ever done that)? Plus, their accessories cost more. You want a case for your Ipod? Its $34.99. Virtually the same case made by the same company for the Creative or Iriver? $24.99. Why more? You bought a name pal. Now go back and join the rest of the herd of cattle.
Oh, and for a new battery - its $65.95 to ship it to Apple and have a new one installed. I know some of us out there can replace it ourselves, but the vast majority of Ipod owners can't. And its the same scratched battered Nano you sent in, just with a new battery
*climbs off soapbox*

 

[theDudeAbides]

Why do people buy an ipod when are no-brand MP3 player works?

Why do people by Nike trainers when you can run as fast in any other brand?

Why do people spend $200 on a pair of jeans that look barely different from a $30 pair?

Because someone has told them they will look successful, even if they are not.

Because they sincerely believe that form is more important than function

Because the product has created a want that they would not have had otherwise.

If you don't like these products then you don't have to buy them, but expecting the manufacturers to stop making money from gullible f***wits is sheer lunacy. There is money to be made and like any big company the cash cow will be milked until the milk goes sour (e.g. McDonalds) or the milk stops (e.g. enron).

These are extreme examples but if you don't like iPod then don't buy it. If you don't like DRM then crack it, post the code and make it a laughing stock. Better still, find your local 2nd hand record shop and meet some dudes who actually care about the music they sell.

 

[ExaByte]

Recognized the scam the moment it (I-tunes) was launched and never bothered to buy anything from Apple concerning music. Never will too.
DRM and anythings that takes away my freedom sucks.

 

[halprin]

First: You had scratches on your second day? Man, you should keep care of your iPod more than what you are doing. I have no scratches on my 5G iPod and I have had it long after 2 days. You are right, that isn't an iPod nano but you know what? It doesn't matter as it is the same material.

Second: Yes, it would hurt if they released the size specs of the nano before hand. As that would mean that they would of practically announced it before it was available. It is always better to announce a new product that is "shipping today". Makes the company look good.

Third: You have 5 computers to play your music on? Dang nice! You are so rich, you had your secretary write the article.

Fourth: I burned a CD of purchased music from the iTMS and then reimported it right on the spot and all it asked me if I wanted to replace my other songs as I already have them in my iTunes library. I chose for it not to replace them. iTunes then happily ripped the CD. Also, how can another CD ripping software not read an iTunes created CD? There is a standard that Apple can't violate by somehow adding in DRM to CDs. So your claim is out right wrong.

Fifth: I burned another CD of the same playlist used above with iTunes. So now I have 2 copies of the same CD. Last time I checked, 2 is greater than 1 copy unless you live in the 1984 world possibly.

Sixth: No copies? Then iTunes wouldn't really be a Music managing software would it if it couldn't burn a CD. Why in the world would they do that? No reason. Thank you, come again.

Seventh: Your reason to use the term "IPod" is because of cats? Lets be realistic, you are saying that to piss of the zealots.

Eighth: Of course Apple wants to make as much money as possible. They are a corporation in capitalist America. Their job is to make money. If you don't like it, you can go to where ever communism still exists in the world.

Ninth: There is a radio for the iPod too. Do more research please.

Tenth: The iPod has a rechargeable batteries so you don't need to replace them. But if you are talking about the battery eventually loosing it's recharge cycles, then (1) All rechargeable batteries are like that including your cell phone and other rechargeable mp3 players. (2) When your battery can't hold a charge anymore, you can easily send your iPod in to get it replaced from Apple using Apple's easy to use support website.

Eleventh: The music died April 4, 2006 when you made this article.

 

[keen5336]

:lol: I love my iPod... I've moded it with Rockbox and use winamp (winamp now supports iPod natively finally!) but meh... I couldn't help myself, I personaly like the player... I know the article complained that this extra work doesn't count, but I got an iPod knowing what I was gonna do with it

 

[epp_b]

Finally, someone else who knows that Ipod is nothing but a pair of monopolistic, market lock-in, anti-competitive, overpriced handcuffs.

Excellent article. You forgot one of the most important restrictions about the Icrap, however: Music purchased from the Icrap music store can only be played on devices that Apple says you're allowed to. In other words, you can only play your music on the Ipod.

So, if your Ipod breaks or otherwise becomes unusable (most likely from user frustration and ultimately high-velocity airborne collision against a hard surface) and you want to get a new portable audio player, you have no choice but to spend an obscene amount of money on another overpriced Ipod or spend an obscene amount of time recording hundreds of dollars worth of music to an audio editor and loosing quality due to transcoding.

I'm one of the lucky ones who discovered Apple's Icrap scam before wasting time and money on a pair of handcuffs.

 

[theDudeAbides]

Fifth: I burned another CD of the same playlist used above with iTunes. So now I have 2 copies of the same CD. Last time I checked, 2 is greater than 1 copy unless you live in the 1984 world possibly.

Sixth: No copies? Then iTunes wouldn't really be a Music managing software would it if it couldn't burn a CD. Why in the world would they do that? No reason. Thank you, come again.

Seventh: Your reason to use the term "IPod" is because of cats? Lets be realistic, you are saying that to piss of the zealots.

Eighth: Of course Apple wants to make as much money as possible. They are a corporation in capitalist America. Their job is to make money. If you don't like it, you can go to where ever communism still exists in the world.

Ninth: There is a radio for the iPod too. Do more research please.

Tenth: The iPod has a rechargeable batteries so you don't need to replace them. But if you are talking about the battery eventually loosing it's recharge cycles, then (1) All rechargeable batteries are like that including your cell phone and other rechargeable mp3 players. (2) When your battery can't hold a charge anymore, you can easily send your iPod in to get it replaced from Apple using Apple's easy to use support website.

Eleventh: The music died April 4, 2006 when you made this article.

Fifth: Not on recent versions of iTunes dude, it don't do that.

Sixth: You what? This has nothing to do with it being a "music managing software" and everything to do with being forced to buy into a DRM technology that you would never ever ever have chosen were it not for the fact that your beloved iPod must use iTunes and iTunes makes it easiest for you to buy the music with DRM. I guess if they had a button saying "mail me this CD album on an urgent 2 hour courier and instruct my servant to rip it for me" then this wouldn't exist but they told us that to get that tune now we have to sacrific our freedoms.

Seventh: the name iPod is cutesy and more than a little bit camp. Deal with it.

Eighth: Or buy a product from a company that sells on features rather than "lifestyle choice" and image.

Ninth: No it doesn't. You can get a piss-poor headphone attachment that does radio but that's it. You could get one those without using an iPod.

Ten: Battery. Remove. Without specialist tools or some combination of hair-dryer and pallet knife. Did you send your walkman off to Sony when you needed to change the battery?

Elenth: Please, enough trolling. That was a fair article in the face of bulldozer advertising campaigns by Apple and people like you who sound suspiciously like you're paid up Apple marketing executives doing overtime.

Ay ay ay. If only someone could create a proper alternative to this. An MP3 player with an irreducibly simple interface that is tiny and looks cool. Wait a minute.... Mobiblu DAH-1500 anyone?? ;-)

laters dudes

theDudeAbides

 

[epp_b]

When your battery can't hold a charge anymore, you can easily send your iPod in to get it replaced from Apple using Apple's easy to use support website.

That is the most hysterical thing I've ever heard! :lol: You must do PR for Apple.

Honestly, do have any idea how ridiculous that sounds? To be forced to have someone else replace a freaking battery?! This is a two-second job that you should be able to do yourself.

 

[Exterous]

First: You had scratches on your second day? Man, you should keep care of your iPod more than what you are doing. I have no scratches on my 5G iPod and I have had it long after 2 days. You are right, that isn't an iPod nano but you know what? It doesn't matter as it is the same material.

Hate to burst your bubble, but they are not made the same as your older 5GB Ipod. Both the Nano and new Video Ipods have a different case material design. If you'll notice these complaints did not show up en mass until the introduction of the Nano

 

[enewmen]

Hi Guys.

This reminds me.
Does ANYONE know of a good site that allows legal and ethical way to download REAL MP3s? Something with quality control so I get the song that matches the title/artist?
My good MP3 player can not play AAC.
etc etc etc.
It also needs to be cheap, less than $1 per song. Anything more and I buy the CD and rip myself.
Please do NOT suggest I burn the AAC files to CD, then rip again.
I think this is an old topic, but any advice is welcome.
thanks !!

 

[nilepez]

And another thing - you're acting like apple is keeping all of the money from online music sales. Why do you mention only the sales number, and not all the overhead and the actual profit that apple makes? This is one more reason why I get the feeling that you're not expressing honest criticism, but rather smear campaign propaganda.

That'd be very hard to do, since Apple does not release that information. What we do know is that apple keeps roughly 50 cents for every song sold in the U.S.

What I don't get is how is the Muvo better? Don't WMA files with DRM have any restrictions? If he's talking about using MP3s, I assume that ipods play MP3 files.

Frankly, I don't understand why anyone would buy digital files. They're lossy files that have inferior sound to CD Audio. I'll buy the CD and encode it myself, have a back up and the ability to change formats if the favored flavor changes.

 

[mpasternak]

ext is right about the case material. I had a 3rd Gen IPOD and now a 5th Gen IPOD

the case on the 5th is much softer plastic and scratches have become apparent.

HOWEVER.. it is NOWHERE near as bad as this article has stated. and they did not appear on mass after only a few days. they happend from throwing it in my pocket with my keys, or pens and me going "FUCK FUCK FCUK" when i remembered my ipod was in there. ( still do it every morning )

however. this article is a load of shit and completely biased. it almost stands as an add for the Creative muvo. the article does nothing but slam ipod and then goes "but BUY THIS INSTEAD!!!"

now.. correct me if i'm wrong.. but 4gb, or even 20, or 60gb is a FUCKLOADS lot more music than 512mb. I have a 60gb and it's filled to the brim with music. how can i do that with the creative muvo? the two products aren't even comparable and aren't even in the same class of product.

This is BAD reporting at it's best. THG needs to fire this writer purely for the sense that he has taken liberties to change conventions of the english language. you can NOT just randomly decide "oh, their name is too cutsey... so i'm changing it".

as for DRM. you think iTunes is bad? get with the program. every digital distributor of Music and Movies is moving towards some form of DRM. apple isn't the first or the worst. what are you going to do with your fancy 5 computers when NONE of them can play any HD-DVD or Blu-Ray Discs? none of them are "DRM" complient. iTunes DRM is nothing new and it's nothing really crippling. Hell, why not just go buy Sony music then and have it install viruses in your computer. now THATS bad DRM.

as for the battery. You CAN replace it yourself. Ive done it on my 3rd Gen and i've opened up my 5th Gen and it's possible to do.

I love my iPod and i'll admit i'm a bit of a fanboy. it does everything i've asked it to do and more. as a standard hi end MP3 player it is near flawless.

I admit i'm not subject to the DRM issues. all my music I've purchased on CD and copied it to my iPOD in pure MP3 format.

again as I said. my 60gb ipod takes all my music with me to work. i can listen for hours on one charge. I"ve never ran out of batteries during a 10 hour workday with it playing the entire time. can the Muvo do that? how about any other flash based little mp3 players that this writer seems to preffer?

I can either bring 30 muvo's. 220+ CD's ... or 1 ipod to work for my music... guess what i choose

 

[nilepez]

I think it was more along the lines of the number of burns. My step daughter and my sister both have iPods. If they use iTunes, they (apparently) can't burn a mix for themselves, a different mix for a friend, and an MP3 CD for their MP3-friendly car stereo? How is that acceptable? What happens if they burn a CD, and the burn fails, or if the CD gets scratched later?

This is only partially true. You can only burn it to a CD once with itunes, but there's nothing preventing you from using some other software (CDex and EAC are both very good and free....cdex is easier to use, IMO) to rip the song. She is then free to make an infinite variety of mix cd's for her friends. She can also encode it to anything she wants. But if she's transcoding to MP3, the sound becomes worse than the original AAC file, which is already worse than the song sounds on any CD you can buy.

Transcoding between lossy formats is bad.

Call me old fashioned, but I buy CD's from artists that I like, and I rip the CD's to by HDD

I'm sorry, but there's no place for logic in this debate

I ripped all of my CD's to my HD and stored them on DVDs as flac files. For now I keep all my songs in ogg vorbis format, but if, God forbid, my Rio Karma ever dies, I'll encode to whatever format the next player has.

Personally, I think the best reason to avoid the iPod and most other players out there is the inability to play back albums without inserting pops or gaps between songs. Whether it's a live album, Pink Floyd or POE, if a song segues to the next song on the album, I expect my DAP to do the same.

So far, very few do that, though I think some rockbox firmwares implement that feature.

 

[epp_b]

This reminds me.
Does ANYONE know of a good site that allows legal and ethical way to download REAL MP3s? Something with quality control so I get the song that matches the title/artist?

Yup! Check out emusic.com. Over a million tracks and every one of them in completely tether-free MP3 format. You can browse the selection before you sign up.