Who Designed This Crap? The Great Ipod Scam

[ghostface24]

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

OK, pluses...

It plays it's own DRM-encoded Music
It has a scroll wheel
It is small
Plays mp3, aac, aiff, wav

hmmm...is that all, am I missing something

The writer of this article doesn't surround all flaws such as MP3 LAME errors which do occur, it's battery life is low for a flash player, the screen is too small.

I'm not flaming, but there are hardly any positives.

 

[nilepez]

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.

It must have been a special. I looked on Sams website, and they were more than 2x that price and they were not 2500Mah.

Regardless, Sams requires a $40.00 annual fee, so unless you're going to buy a lot of goods at Sams (I never felt I saved enough to warrant the fee) and those goods are cheaper than elsehwhere (I generally found that CDs, DVDs and Software, for example, were more expensive than regular stores, including Walmart!!!).

I'll still stick with my original statement that most people won't save that much using NIMH batteries (where they must have enough to power the iPod/Karma/Zen for roughly 15 hours).

I could be wrong, but considering that a pair of NiMH batteries will only power my portable dat for about 2-3 hours (assumes it was charged just before use), I'd think it'd take at least 3 pairs for a DAP....that's $18.00 (on average) before shipping.

If they go to retail stores, the prices are generally more than $20.00 for 4 batteries and none that I saw were 2500 Mah.

Here's some links for batteries at
Radoshack 2000 mah

Duracell (assumed 2050mah)

Circuit City (2500 Mah)

YMMV, but clearly, prices for NiMH batteries are generally 4-5 bucks in stores and not much less online, unless you buy enough mitigate the high shipping prices.

 

[DarkPheonix]

and oh yeah, fairplay IS fair. I mean, I never have had the inclination to take my songs and copy them over to other players because ive never owned a different player. I have never felt the need to put it on a CD and bring it to someone's house because I can just bring my iPod and a tape adapter or line-out. And if my friend wants the song, he just comes over with HIS iPod (everyone has one), and takes it right off my comp because you can take fairplay songs and put them on unlimited iPods.

There is NO REASON WHATSOEVER not to go Apple. Apple owns y'all beotches.

 

[ghostface24]

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.

It's simple? With Itunes, simplicity is distorted and you end up with crashes instead of results. The limitations are so great that it's hard to ignore. There are so much better alternatives, why not consider them. And you're buying a mac at such a price ratio. Looks to me that somebody is suffering from Reality Distortion Field, correct?

 

[killersnowman]

killersnowman wrote:


and dont get me started on how you cant download quiktime with that damn itunes shit!

fucking apple

??? Shocked

in my rage i forgot to add the all important word of OUT... so let me rephrase:

and dont get me started on how you cant download quicktime with OUT that damn itunes shit!

 

[glasssplinter]

My parents have the membership, I reap the benefits!

It's not so much they would save instantly, but the play times would be extended by hours.

Comparing a NiMh to the iPod battery though is different, the replacements are 1500 mAh while a NiMH AA is 2500. Your dat could use a lot of power or you have low mAh batteries.

Not sure where you get those but even Target is only 10 for 4 AA. The pics are older but here is a good start at Target

 

[mpjesse]

Your article is a literary mess.

 

[enewmen]

All the problems with iPod and !!Digital Rights Management!! don't bother me at all. I just refuse to buy any of it.
If the same thing happens with the HDTV world, I will do the same.
Keeping brain damaging devices from kids is a different issue though.
Can someone bring back live bands?

 

[killersnowman]

Your article is a literary mess.

would you mind expanding on what is so messy. or should we just believe you? cause i found the article to be very well written and the content truthful

 

[SuperFly03]

All the problems with iPod and !!Digital Rights Management!! don't bother me at all. I just refuse to buy any of it.
If the same thing happens with the HDTV world, I will do the same.
Keeping brain damaging devices from kids is a different issue though.
Can someone bring back live bands?

Hmmm live bands.... now there is an excellent idea.

 

[nilepez]

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.

It wasn't even close to the original. I believe that Creative and Rio both were on 2nd gen devices by the time iPods came around.

iPod was the first to mass market the devices. In short, iPod is to the DAP as Windows is to the GUI the based OS. Neither was first, but each is the dominant player.

Whether that will hold for Apple remains to be seen. I think that apple needs to license the software. H/W is a commodity and eventually people are just going to carry a phone that doubles as a mediaplayer and perhaps PDA too.

 

[nilepez]

and oh yeah, fairplay IS fair. I mean, I never have had the inclination to take my songs and copy them over to other players because ive never owned a different player. I have never felt the need to put it on a CD and bring it to someone's house because I can just bring my iPod and a tape adapter or line-out. And if my friend wants the song, he just comes over with HIS iPod (everyone has one), and takes it right off my comp because you can take fairplay songs and put them on unlimited iPods.

There is NO REASON WHATSOEVER not to go Apple. Apple owns y'all beotches.

What happens when Apple isn't the best and you or someone else wants to change players? I'm glad you love your iPod, but they're not going to dominate indefinitely. Or what if there's a better format that comes out?

But it doens't matter much to me. I buy CDs....if I get an ipod, then an iRiver and then a Sony, I can convert my music to those directly from the original source (or a losslessly encoded file that I already ripped) into that format.

Sorry, but buying lossless sound files makes no sense. When some new format comes out, I just reencode to that format and have better lossy files. You OTOH, are stuck with the low quality files you bought online (and I'm not limiting that to stuff bought at iTunes).

 

[Mobius]

Oh, Thank the Sweet Baby Jebus Chribt!!

Hallelujah!

Repeat after me:

iPod - Bad.
DRM - Very Bad.
Who designed this crap?

Music has ALWAYS been free.
Music always actually WANTS to be free.
Music always WILL be free.

So go ahead, liberate some music today!

DEATH TO THE EVIL THAT IS DIGITIAL RESTRICTION MANAGEMENT!

 

[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!

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

I quit 8)

 

[nilepez]

Oh, Thank the Sweet Baby Jebus Chribt!!

Hallelujah!

Repeat after me:

Music has ALWAYS been free.
Music always actually WANTS to be free.
Music always WILL be free.

So go ahead, liberate some music today!

DEATH TO THE EVIL THAT IS DIGITIAL RESTRICTION MANAGEMENT!

Where do you get this crap? Music has rarely been free. Even in the days of Classical music, it was paid for by churches and the wealthy.

Recorded music has NEVER been free. I don't like DRM, but if you steal your music, you're nothing but scum and it is people like YOU that force honest people to suffer with all forms of DRM.

Stealing music is wrong.

 

[dakiwi]

The thing i hate most is why do windoze users have to put up with that piece of crap Itunes program? geez talk about crappy! Hmm i wonder if it is just a way of torturing non-mac users with the worst software available?

I am glad the Anapod Explorer program is available so i could piss off that Itunes from my PC as fast as possible. you can copy move delete and do everything on an Ipod that you can do with Itunes all in a 900kb application... plus when you connect your Ipod to the PC it doesn't try and update your unit and delete the contents! And no i don't have shares in this program

Also typical Apple when it comes to transferring your music to your Ipod... Why on earth change the file names etc?? how stupid is that!!

I shoulda just bought an MP3 player at a cheaper price rather than this over priced piece of Apple shit

 

[Luscious]

I've never been too bothered by the ipod or by people telling me who had one how great it was, or by the fancy advertisements.

My solution??? It starts with the little i as well.

iPAQ

Yep.

When I first saw these ipaqs for sale running windows media player I realised that this would be a great portable music device.

That was AGES before ipods were even around.

Last year I finally made the plunge and got an ipaq.

I loaded my music onto a nice 1GB SD card.

It plays nice. It plays loads of music. And I can use my own headphones.

I don't need any special software for it. I can play any mp3 or wma song I like. There's no DRM to worry about.

But it's what it can do OUTSIDE of playing music that makes my ipaq the coolest.

You see I got the now unavailable H6315 iPAQ.

It works as a PDA, giving me a calendar, address book, and all that other handy stuff.

I can read powerpoint files, read and create word files, excel spreadsheets.

I use it to get my work email without even touching a PC.

I can even IM with all my buddies around the world.

Oh, did I forget that I can also use it as a phone???

Did I forget that I can also play back widescreen video with this device??? I can actually store 4-5 full length movies on a single 1GB stick.

It even lets me play games like scrabble and monopoly if I am really bored...

Or just browse the web.

And it wakes me up every morning, tells me when I need to pay my bills, and keeps all my important info at hand.

Sure, its bigger than the nano, but the battery is replaceable, and my 4200mAh battery gives me all day playback for music and video.

Not to plug HP or anybody else affiliated with this device, but is there really anything out there that can do all of the above while still being a great music (and video) player??? I don't think so.

So, there's my two cents worth as far as ipods are and having a great portable music player.

Any/All Comments Welcome!

 

[franksargent]

:tongue:

Ad hominem attack if there ever was one!

I did a web background check on this clearly envious author. Guess what?

He's AKA the CEO of Creative!

Go figure!

What did I learn by reading this screed?

Nothing, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

DRM?

So what, who cares, big deal! Been there, done that!

21th century industrial design?

Arguably, nothing beats Apple's industrial design, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

Seemless ease of use?

Arguably, nothing beats Apple products ease of use, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

Scratched nano?

Those who live by the bleeding edge, die by the bleeding edge! In case anyone really cares, go to appleinsider and look up my many posts on said subject matter. Bottom line? Sometimes, people can be INCREDIBLY STUPID! Hint, hint!

Who's that person behind the curtain? I guess nobody remembers the Reebok craze? Too young perhaps? Bottom line, 99+ percent of those who own iPods will never read this article, and guess what? They don't give a rat's ass!

So enough of my own screed and ad hominem attack, enough of my rude tude dude. Just call it PAYBACK!

It's NOT about thinking different, it IS about thinking critically!

Later,
Not 1337

:tongue:

 

[glasssplinter]

Yeah, it kinda turned into a battery war, but it was still fun.

 

[franksargent]

The thing i hate most is why do windoze users have to put up with that piece of crap Itunes program? geez talk about crappy! Hmm i wonder if it is just a way of torturing non-mac users with the worst software available?

I am glad the Anapod Explorer program is available so i could piss off that Itunes from my PC as fast as possible. you can copy move delete and do everything on an Ipod that you can do with Itunes all in a 900kb application... plus when you connect your Ipod to the PC it doesn't try and update your unit and delete the contents! And no i don't have shares in this program

Also typical Apple when it comes to transferring your music to your Ipod... Why on earth change the file names etc?? how stupid is that!!

I shoulda just bought an MP3 player at a cheaper price rather than this over priced piece of Apple shit

:tongue:

Wanna sell it? I'll give you 50 cent!

:tongue: