Who Designed This Crap? The Great Ipod Scam

[stevejobs]

Which had quantitatively better sound? Karma
Which could play back a classical piece without gaps between tracks? Karma
Which allowed you to add songs to a playlist on the fly? Karma
Which had the best EQ? Karma...it has a parametric eq.

To be honest I'm not sure about the gapless playback but let's be real here for the masses that isa non issue.

Never heard the karma so i can't speak on sound but i doubt it, might have something to do with the headphones you were trying.

You can make a playlist on the fly!

Not sure bout the EQ, the Ipod works well for me.

1. Now let's think the ipod is the on of the few that works on both a Mac or a PC

2. Set up and ease of use is a no brainer

3. Great battery life ( talk all u want people, I geat great times)

4. Best interface

5. Accessories, need I say more.

Your Steveness.

 

[glasssplinter]

Actually they are pretty cheap. 16 dollars (US) for 8 Energizer NiMH at Sam's Club. I consider that to be well worth it. For size and weight of the Li-Ion, yes it is worth it, but the NiMh is still a cheaper option, considering that most wouldn't replace the battery themselves and have to pay 65.95.

"What is the iPod Battery Replacement Program?
If your iPod requires service only because the battery’s ability to hold an electrical charge has diminished, Apple will replace your iPod for a service fee of $59, plus $6.95 shipping. Be sure to follow all of the battery troubleshooting steps before submitting your iPod for battery replacement. "

http/www.apple.com/support/ipod/service/battery/

Look at the mAh ratings though for replacements, well below that of 2500 mAh.

http/www.batteriesamerica.com/ipod_batteries.htm

Oh well, to each his own.

 

[Draax]

Well after reading this article I got to thinking ....

What use is a highly mobile storage medium that has the added benefit of an extremely user friendly interface, which plays digital music.

I am not concerned at all with the fact that I can transfer this mobile storage medium between my house, car, office, and be able to listen to whatever music I want, when I want, in any of these three locations.

Heck I don't even need to use batteries, I just plug it into a USB port, which is rare these days, as computers have not yet become fully integrated into, just about, every aspect of our lives.

The fact that I can store/transfer any file I wish, on a form of storage which has a higher capacity then other forms of mobile storage such as CDs and DvDs, is of no added benefit.

/sarcasm

I would not go so far as to suggest that I need a new iPOD which each successive generation, as is par with graphics card, CPUs, etc, but I do believe the iPOD is a very useful product.

I do believe that the author is purposely being ignorant to the multitude of uses, and ease of use, which is a key part of the iPOD. Suggesting that everyone who owns such a device, has been brainwashed, is a tad presumptuous don't you think.

Oh well, whatever gets attention I guess. A lyric from a song came to mind, after reading this article, which I find faulty in many ways ..... "fight the power". Hey at the very least you get your message out, although this article may be aiming high, in trying to accomplish that goal, as it seemed more like a rant.

 

[SuperFly03]

I really hate the new Video Ipod, thats right I said it. What I don't like about it is:

1) The ease with which its scratched (ok any player will scratch but some take longer )

2) The size. The damn video ipod feels so thin it will slip out of my hands, and the nano is just as bad.

3) No FM built in.

4) Itunes can kiss my ass, I hate it. I personly use WMP and love it. OH NO not microsoft, but WMP works damn well. I can't play an individual genre w/o making a play list in Itunes (as far as I know). That's how I listen to my music, just pick a genre and hit play.

5) The nano is so small I wouldn't be surprised if it snapped in 1/2 with little effort.

The player I do like is a Creative Zen MicroPhoto, and its a beauty. I don't think the author's intent was to say hey go buy a creative player, but instead to bring attention to the fact there are other players that can do everything an Ipod can, or in some cases more.

The Zen MicroPhoto is bigger than the Nano but smaller than the Mini and feel just play rock solid. You hold it and you know it will not break. It has a user replaceable battery by just removing the cover on the back, just like a normal cell phone. Its interface is intruitive, like all creative products. It does integrate seemlessly with WMP, and I mean seemlessly. I plugged it in w/o installing any software hit the sync button in my library and bam it was off to the races. It also doubles as a huge ass memory stick so you don't have to carry two devices (not saying with the Ipod you do). The ONE fault I have found, and this holds true with the Nano too, is that the USB port is the only way to charge it. This excludes car attachments and the like.

Whats bullshit now is that to get quicktime I have to download Itunes just because Jobs added video capability to the Ipod? Screw that. Prove me wrong and I'll be happy to recant on what I said, but I tried to find just a standalone quicktime to play the few internet movies that I come across in that format, but to no avail.

Is the Ipod a solid device? Yes, no real arguement there. I just think there are better products from other companies that, because they don't have the marketing department Apple does, can't reach Apple's sales. Like I said in my first post I've owned 5-7 Mp3 players, here are the ones I can remember:

Creative Zen Jukebox 6GB (that old POS that was the size of a portable CD player)

Ipod 3G

Ipod 4G

Ipod Shuffle

Ipod Nano

Creative Zen Tx

Creative Zen MicroPhoto

Iriver H20

Damn thats alot.... LOL.

 

[glasssplinter]

Oh, I see. You don't pay for a battery....What do u do when your cellphone battery goes out? Put 2xAA in it with a hammer? And call Nokia to pay for the 2AA?

How did that show that I don't pay for a battery? Most AA NiMh would outlast your cellphone battery anyway. Plus I don't have or want a cellphone.

1)Most phones though would not require a hammer to insert that size of a battery, a simple 3 pack of AA batteries would do the trick.

2)The hammer would also not allow for the proper contact to be made between the batteries and the contacts.

3) 2 would not provide sufficient voltage to power your device, though it could depending on the model and operating voltage tolerances.

4)Rechargeables have a nominal voltage of 1.2V DC as oppose to the 1.5V DC of a standard alkaline. They do overcharge and cap at 1.4V DC, so you may be able to operate it for a while but this overcharge disappears quickly.

5) I don't expect the manufacturers to pay for a battery that is out of warranty, but cheaper options should be available to the average consumer through the manufacturers.

 

[nilepez]

To be honest I'm not sure about the gapless playback but let's be real here for the masses that isa non issue.

Never heard the karma so i can't speak on sound but i doubt it, might have something to do with the headphones you were trying.

independent sites ran tests to measure dynamic range, s/n ratio and so on. It had nothing to do with Headphones, though apparently the Karma's Sennheiser headphones are better. I can't say, because I didn't use them.

As for gapless, whether or not it's something the masses care about is irrelevant. Nobody would claim a CD player that inserted a pause between every track was the best CD player out there. iPods (as well as most other DAPs out there) do just that.

Not sure bout the EQ, the Ipod works well for me.

I can determine what frequencies I want to boost. Unless something's changed, you have a tone control. Again, that may be adequate for you and most, but it's not the best. It's merely the most popular.

1. Now let's think the ipod is the on of the few that works on both a Mac or a PC

Karma supports PC, Mac, Linux and virtually every other OS. That said, if gapless isn't important, Mac support certainly isn't. We're talking about a marketshare of 2 or 3%.

2. Set up and ease of use is a no brainer

what's setup? I installed the music manager, and xfered the songs to the karma. No I didn't use it to encode my music (though i could have), but i wouldn't use iTunes either. I use the best tool for the job, and neither RMM nor iTunes is the best encoder.

3. Great battery life ( talk all u want people, I geat great times)

Well if i was using mp3s, I'd get around 15-18 hours off one charge, which dwarfs iPods, especially the ones that came out at the time the karma was released in the fall of 2003.

4. Best interface

Every review I've read says that Karmas is the same, slightly better or slightly worse. In short, they're both great interfaces.

5. Accessories, need I say more.

And what accessories do I need, aside from the case that I have? Speakers? Well i can buy those if I want to, but let's face it, the Karma comes with a dock that has line level out via RCA jacks to connect to a stereo and if I'm certainly not going to haul speakers (not even small ones) with me on a trip.

I know some will say FM radio, but I quit doing radio when Clear Channel bought everything in Dallas 6 or 7 years ago (I didn't realize that's what happened till a few years ago....but they all went to crap around that time), so I'm sure not going to buy an accessory for that...besides tiny cheap portable fm radios don't require a DAP.

 

[SuperFly03]

I know some will say FM radio, but I quit doing radio when Clear Channel bought everything in Dallas 6 or 7 years ago (I didn't realize that's what happened till a few years ago....but they all went to crap around that time), so I'm sure not going to buy an accessory for that...besides tiny cheap portable fm radios don't require a DAP.

Accessories are a joke, what a way to waste more money. I agree with you about them and the FM radio. Clear Channel bought out Houston too, but I got away from FM before that. XM is the clear winner here. I can go anywhere in the world and get XM, via the internet of course. I can go anywhere in the US and still listen to the same station I listen to at home. Thats what I love about XM, ok that really has nothing to do with the Ipod rant other than the FM accessory lol.

 

[nilepez]

Actually they are pretty cheap. 16 dollars (US) for 8 Energizer NiMH at Sam's Club. I consider that to be well worth it. For size and weight of the Li-Ion, yes it is worth it, but the NiMh is still a cheaper option, considering that most wouldn't replace the battery themselves and have to pay 65.95.

Not sure where you get that price...it's definitley not on their website, where 4 2300 mah batteries are 9 bucks, plus tax/shipping.

Batteries America is even more expensive at $3.00 each plus almost $8.00 shipping.

I agree that the price of Lion (if you can install it yourself) is worth whatever premium there is, but 2500 MaH cells are more than $2.00 each before shipping and generally much more after shipping (assuming you're not buying in bulk and most of us do not).

 

[mpasternak]

i think the problem is the article itself.

there's no doubt between all of us that the iPod has it's drawbacks and it's bonuses. the same goes for every DAP that exists. everyone has it's plusses and minuses and it's up to us to pick the ones that we prefer best.

choosing any of these hard drive based machines will give you a device that will meet most of our expectations and more. whether we choose iPod, iRiver or whatever machine is out.

it's this aprticular article that really takes the cake. this writer blindly ignores the plusses and blasts the iPod's faults. (YES. EVERY DEVICE HAS IT"S FAULTS) and than proceeds to recommend a player that isn't even in the same category of player.

this is sloppy writing. shows bias and a real lack of research. it's more of a "letter to the editor" type article than an editors or writters report.

this type of article should never make a news site and should be left where it belongs, somewhere on some forum

 

[glasssplinter]

Actually they are pretty cheap. 16 dollars (US) for 8 Energizer NiMH at Sam's Club. I consider that to be well worth it. For size and weight of the Li-Ion, yes it is worth it, but the NiMh is still a cheaper option, considering that most wouldn't replace the battery themselves and have to pay 65.95.

Not sure where you get that price...it's definitley not on their website, where 4 2300 mah batteries are 9 bucks, plus tax/shipping.

Batteries America is even more expensive at $3.00 each plus almost $8.00 shipping.

I agree that the price of Lion (if you can install it yourself) is worth whatever premium there is, but 2500 MaH cells are more than $2.00 each before shipping and generally much more after shipping (assuming you're not buying in bulk and most of us do not).


These are not in bulk, just a good deal. They are something like 15.84 for 8 AA and 19.84 with a charger. They now also have an 8 AA with 4 AAA for 19 something. Sam's Club is a great place. It's not listed on the website though, only shows a picture. The Li-Ions are great but just really expensive. I don't mind paying for a battery, but to show to the average consumer that they need to be returned to be replaced...I found the Zen to be better with the user replaceable battery.

 

[sosaid1]

..check out bruce sterling..spime time

 

[Exterous]

never make the argument that replacable disposable batteries such as AA's or AAA's are more cost effective than rechargable built in ones. it's dumb

how many batteries do you go through with your thing?

at the average price of 8 - 10 bucks for a 4 pack of Triple A's of a decent brand.

1 AAA will give you 20ish hours of playback... sooo you'll be buying a new pack every other week?

I replaced my Third Gen ipod battery for 30 bucks after 2 years

cost effectiveness isnt there. plus Hard Drive based MP3 players require a LOT more juice than your standard battery puts out

But the rechargeable AAs or AAAs are. Now, going off some assumptions here (that you are using 1xAAA battery approx 600mAh for a 'decent' battery at a time and considering 40hrs per week of playback[4x20hours = 2 weeks worth of playback]) You can get a set of 4x1800mAh AAAs for $29.99 with charger that will last ~2.5x as long (technically its supposed to be even longer, but I generally get 2.5x and so do my customers). That gives you 50hrs of life per battery. Now, these same AAAs can be charged (according to MonsterBatteries) up to 2400 times. Now, since to the best of my knowledge that hasn't been tested to 2400 I cut that number by 77% to 800 times. Now, 50(hrs) x 4(batteries) x 800 (charges) = 16000 hours of playback / 40(hours per week of playback) = 400 weeks of playback/ 52 weeks in a year = 7.69 years. Now, both batteries will break down based on usage and ammount of current constantly flowing through them. IMO the disparity of years will more than make up for any difference in break down times
Plus you can use these batteries in other devices or, if you forget to charge them, use regular AAAs in a pinch.

 

[ghostface24]

This is a nice truthful article conveying the many pains of the Ipod. It's not the best player, who ever thinks that is ignorant to the facts, is suffering from Reality Distortion Field, and/or is a macboy. Many alternatives out there are completely better, for example: where there is an Apple Ipod Nano, There is the Iriver U10. The 5g ipods are very flat and fat. But hey, I don't really care about appeal or form, as long as it functions. Without mentioning Rockbox (which is not logical to the argument as this is a discussion about stock, not the mods after), Ipod has nothing for it. Itunes is just a program that abuses many people who buy products from the Itunes store. DRM is the worst form of service. Another issue with DRM is that CDs might take that route which sucks with and without it. CC-CDs are out among many, they just make the quality worst which isn't necessary as the dynamics are already crappy on CDs these days. WMA, imo, is the worst format, I can take AAC as long as it's not DRM'ed. The fact that the Ipod can't play Vorbis is very idiotic when it's certainly possible. And before anyone attempts a claim that AAC is better than Vorbis is very wrong indeed. Itunes is just a crippled program, it crashes much more than windows 98. If the device isn't UMS compliant, what is the use of it being portable. On another note, batteries on the Ipod are low rated, they are like built to die, it is quite suprising that my H320 runs on a 1300 mah battery and the Ipod runs on a 450 mah battery or even lower in fact. That itself shows that Ipods are cheaply made. If I were to choose a replacement, it would be the Iaudio X5, it plays FLAC! What other player natively plays FLAC, only the great ones imo.

*ghostface24 looks at the Rio Karma

Now, on native terms, Ipod isn't gapless. That's a big fault for me as I listen to a lot of progressive rock, gaps aren't immient. Playing classics like Pink Floyd's The Wall & Animals is such a delight, having gapless is such a necessity.

As I mentioned earlier, the dynamics of CDs are smooshed, they aren't existent and it sounds crappier. Itunes doesn't help this, DRM just makes it more painful.

 

[pmr]

Oh, I see. You don't pay for a battery....What do u do when your cellphone battery goes out? Put 2xAA in it with a hammer? And call Nokia to pay for the 2AA?

How did that show that I don't pay for a battery? Most AA NiMh would outlast your cellphone battery anyway. Plus I don't have or want a cellphone.

1)Most phones though would not require a hammer to insert that size of a battery, a simple 3 pack of AA batteries would do the trick.

2)The hammer would also not allow for the proper contact to be made between the batteries and the contacts.

3) 2 would not provide sufficient voltage to power your device, though it could depending on the model and operating voltage tolerances.

4)Rechargeables have a nominal voltage of 1.2V DC as oppose to the 1.5V DC of a standard alkaline. They do overcharge and cap at 1.4V DC, so you may be able to operate it for a while but this overcharge disappears quickly.

5) I don't expect the manufacturers to pay for a battery that is out of warranty, but cheaper options should be available to the average consumer through the manufacturers.

1 - 3AA? Sorry, I forgot you americans use brick sized cellphones.

2 - Sorry, I forgot again u use "thor" size hammer. In that case you're right.

3 - you said " Most AA NiMh would outlast your cellphone battery anyway" and than you say "2 would not provide sufficient voltage to power your device". Something's wrong here. Or I just don´t understand english or you scrambled your words

4- I don´t have a clue. Maybe you're right.

5- And why don´t manufacturers make those kinds of batteries? They should make "unbranded" bats. like they do to other electronic products.

Now it's your turn to bring me dow!

 

[nilepez]

i think the problem is the article itself.

this writer blindly ignores the plusses and blasts the iPod's faults. (YES. EVERY DEVICE HAS IT"S FAULTS) and than proceeds to recommend a player that isn't even in the same category of player.

this is sloppy writing. shows bias and a real lack of research. it's more of a "letter to the editor" type article than an editors or writters report.

this type of article should never make a news site and should be left where it belongs, somewhere on some forum

On this I completely agree. What's more, I think many of the faults he pointed out aren't exclusive to the iPod.

 

[pmr]

One more thing about this THG poster, and correct me if I'm wrong.
I never saw an article bashing an FX-60 or a PEE, neither the terribly high priced gfx cards, focusing all their faults.
This guy is biased big time. Plus, he looks like frankenstein.

 

[nightalon]

I doubt anyone will get so far in this forum so as to read this post, but here is my brief history of my experience with digital music.

I started out with a Rio 600 for $160. Piece of junk and a rip-off. To hell with the restrictions of specific transfer software.

I soon found $100 first-gen MP3-CD player to be the solution to all my problems, still in the days of Napster. I still have this unit.

A 10 GB fat and inefficient D-Link HD-based player was next for $210. It's battery contacts broke repeatedly so I got a new enclosure and turned it into an external HD.

Then came the iRiver iHP-120 for $350. Sleek, long battery life, nice remote and better than the iPods of its day save ease of use.

Finally in 2006 I have broken down and purchased the $400 iPod Video and here is why: I am technically astute enough to be able to remove DRM from my iTunes Music Store Music. The tagging is impeccable and I love the sound quality of AAC. Also the vast selection of music is great. I don't enjoy the lack of hardware and software flexibility inherent in all Apple products. However, over the past years and throughout my history with digital music I have become quite hardware savvy. I wouldn't mind carefully opening my iPod to replace a battery. I can even watch movies on airplanes or in other cramped situations quite easily on my iPod.

Expensive iPods and overly intrusive DRM will be a thing of the past in the next decade. Already France has passed legislation to remove the restrictions of DRM. The record industry is swiftly losing money, but there will always be music. Thus the RIAA will not remain a powerful lobby group in the US. Hardware will cheapen to the point of insanity; I cannot imagine paying more than $40 for a flash based 64 MB MP3 player like my Rio of yesteryear.

In conclusion, above all I am simply ashamed I have already spent so much on hardware just to play music!

 

[SuperFly03]

In conclusion, above all I am simply ashamed I have already spent so much on hardware just to play music!

AMEN!!!!

 

[DarkPheonix]

OMG ALL OF YE ARE..... are..... well, iPod rocks. Its nice and simple, got a ton of 3rd party accessories, is plain sexy, and was the original (or enough of it at least). I got an iPod 4th gen and I dont regret it. I'm getting the next iPod video to come out, and I will SCRATCH IT ALL UP TO HELL because I like it better that way. It looks nicer, and then I dont have to worry about scratching it up. Hell, I think that my scratched up 4th gen looks great. I'm buying a Mac as soon as I get enough money.

 

[glasssplinter]

Oh, I see. You don't pay for a battery....What do u do when your cellphone battery goes out? Put 2xAA in it with a hammer? And call Nokia to pay for the 2AA?

How did that show that I don't pay for a battery? Most AA NiMh would outlast your cellphone battery anyway. Plus I don't have or want a cellphone.

1)Most phones though would not require a hammer to insert that size of a battery, a simple 3 pack of AA batteries would do the trick.

2)The hammer would also not allow for the proper contact to be made between the batteries and the contacts.

3) 2 would not provide sufficient voltage to power your device, though it could depending on the model and operating voltage tolerances.

4)Rechargeables have a nominal voltage of 1.2V DC as oppose to the 1.5V DC of a standard alkaline. They do overcharge and cap at 1.4V DC, so you may be able to operate it for a while but this overcharge disappears quickly.

5) I don't expect the manufacturers to pay for a battery that is out of warranty, but cheaper options should be available to the average consumer through the manufacturers.

1 - 3AA? Sorry, I forgot you americans use brick sized cellphones.

2 - Sorry, I forgot again u use "thor" size hammer. In that case you're right.

3 - you said " Most AA NiMh would outlast your cellphone battery anyway" and than you say "2 would not provide sufficient voltage to power your device". Something's wrong here. Or I just don´t understand english or you scrambled your words

4- I don´t have a clue. Maybe you're right.

5- And why don´t manufacturers make those kinds of batteries? They should make "unbranded" bats. like they do to other electronic products.

Now it's your turn to bring me dow!

Bringing down the hammer! :lol:

1) It's not the size of the phone, rather the voltage needed to obtain the 3.7V or 6V used in most cellphones.

2) To be able to use three batteries to obtain the 3.7 volts, they must be made into a series circuit ((-+-+-+)=3.6V) and then solder to the contact pins. Thor's hammer could maybe solder it too, but might fry the rest of it.

3) There is a difference between the voltage and amp rating. The voltage is the 3.7V. This is how much it needs to operate. The amp rating determines how long it will last. 1500mAh will not last as long as say 2500mAh, same voltage, just different amp ratings, this is what you get when a battery is longer lasting.

4) Point

5) They can make more money.

Check