Re: [NTLK] "iPod"

From: Bill Davis (newton_at_ecity.net)
Date: Wed Oct 24 2001 - 00:45:25 EDT


>
>* Jon Glass <jonglass_at_usa.net> on Tue, 23 Oct 2001
>| The big gripe I've read about every other mp3 jukebox is that it is
>| difficult to impossible to manage the music on these things. In other
>| words, you have no real control over what gets played. If the ipod fixes
>| that problem in spades, then they've got something.
>
>Really? Hmmm... it just took me 20 seconds to find "Rio" on my Jukebox and
>queue it for playing. Doesn't seem like anything is broken to me, so I
>cannot see what could have been "fixed"

TWENTY SECONDS? Jeesh! Sounds VERY broken to me. In iTunes (and it
looks like in the ipod too) it wouldn't take that long. On iTunes, I
just would highlight the appropriate column (title, author, etc) type
"r-i-o" and hit return. I see the iPod has a number of methods of song
look up, including Alphabetical, playlists, etc. Typing's out, of
course...

How did you go about taking that long to find a song? Did you actually
time it? If so, the Rio sounds like a truly awful product.

You can get used to anything, I supposed, and think it's good....

>
>| Add to that the fact that it's a seamless addition to iTunes and my
>| existing Mac,
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^
>Important point. I don't currently own a FireWire Mac. See previous post
>that goes into more detail.

Add a Firewire card. Even for a laptop PCMCIA card, that's under $100.
And at the rate SCSI and serial devices are disappearing, you'll need it
soon regardless. I've found that to be the case already and had a
Firewire PCMCIA card on my "to get" list weeks ago. (I've got a 1998
PowerBook and have added USB and AirPort to it easily, the same way.)

If you DON'T own a Mac, then the iPod was not intended for you. Please
move on....(it also would explain why You Just Don't Get It, but let's
not go there.)

>| and an external hard drive to boot, and you've got me interested.
>
>Enh. For an external disk it is pathetically small for the price by
>today's standards. A 5GB IBM Travelstar disk costs about $110.

And has it got all the extra stuff to make it portable? Nope.

>The 20GB
>IBM Travelstar that I put in my Jukebox cost $250.

Same question. Same answer.

> PC-Card breakout
>enclosures can be had for around $50.

And what if your unit doesn't have PC card slots? And even if it did,
you're still getting into the range of the iPod...FOR JUST A HARD DISK.
But the iPod isn't "just a hard disk".

And the MP3 units that do are slow USB units, not firewire. BIG
difference.

Get it now?

Sounds like a typical PeeCee argument to me..."well, I can piece together
this similar sort of thing for a lot less money". Sure, it looks that
way. Until you step back and look at the big picture. Total Cost Of
Ownership. Usability. And so on.

And what makes you think you can't put a bigger hard disk in the iPod?
I'll bet it's done within a week of the unit's release. If Apple doesn't
do it themselves as an option in the future (as other vendors of such
players have.)

You're missing the big picture. The sum of the parts. The integration.
The small size, the better software, and on and on and on. All the
other units are bigger, heavier, not that much different in price, with
worse software, if any for the Mac.....hell, they don't even LOOK as
nice. Most look ugly, cheap, or both. The iPod is clean, simple, and
usable.

I just don't see how you can come to the conclusion you do unless you're
NOT LOOKING AT THE BIG PICTURE!

>| It's not the obvious things sometimes, but the more subtle, that
>| matter. We get so used to expecting revolutions, that we can't see the
>| more peaceful changes, and some of us are so biased, that we can't even
>| see a good thing when it's sitting in front of our faces.
>
>Oh, I certainly can see a good thing in front of my face. iPod happens to
>be mediocre at best, in my opinion.

And you're wrong. Period.

You just don't get it. Sorry, that's just MY opinion.....backed up by
examining the specs of ALL the units discussed so far, and others. Plus
looking at the big picture, too, something you're failing to do. Heck,
even most of the specs prove you wrong, except for the one unit with the
much bigger hard disk (and larger price take, size, weight, no
integration, etc, etc, etc.)

 - Bill

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