>On 11/24/01 @ 1:32 AM, rkadowns_at_mac.com wrote:
>
>I've finally seen one in person and while I think it
>is great and very useful not to mention entertaining,
>the screen is a bit small for my tastes.
>
>Apparently tablet PC's are gaining in popularly again.
>At least that is what Microsoft wants us to think. I
>think Apple can trump MS with a revised rendition of
>the Newton with syncing software for both desktop
>platforms.
Today, I saw an iPod up close and personal and played with it for quite a
while.
Observations:
- Easy to use interface
- Good display
- Great sound
- Couldn't get it to skip
- Nice looks / sturdy
- Bittons had a nice feel
Now comes the interesting question. Would I want my PDA and MP3 all in
one device?
I think that depends on how you plan to use the device.
If I am riding a train, plane, car, or for around the office, etc., it
sounds very tempting and useful.
However, I can't imagine using my PDA to play MP3's when doing sports or
other physical related activities.
So that brings me to the next question. Which of the following options
is better?
a. Get an iPod and use it for all occasions where I want to listen to
music. And of course continue to use the Newt as my PDA.
b. Use the Newt to play MP3's (stored via Paul's ATA driver) and buy a
small MP3 player for when I am doing sports or other physical related
activities.
The iPod costs much less than a small MP3 player that uses CF, SM, MS or
MMC memory because memory prices are so expensive. That is unless you
want to hear the same music over and over again, or use very low quality
MP3 encoding.
For Mac users, the iPod advantage is that the iPod can hold a lot of
music, is easy to use and synchronize with your Mac.
On the other hand, the screen on the iPod is way too small for a PDA.
Also, the interface while good for a MP3 player, would be terrible to
work around for a PDA. The interface also takes up way too much space
for a PDA. Yet as a MP3 player, the interface is good.
Somewhere there would be a balance. Although I am not sure what that
would be. I supposed if you could have a screen the size of the iPod,
then have the MP3 controls show on the screen. Not sure how good that
would work in actual use.
Would I want the Newt to play MP3's? Well I did until I saw the iPod.
Now it is hard to imagine why I would use my Newt to play MP3's. I
suppose when the ATA driver is completed, and I can use a Toshiba 5GB HD,
and get quality stereo sound out of the Newt, I might consider it.
But for right now, using the iPod seems simpler for playing MP3's and the
Newton for my PDA. And I can use the iPod in all aspects of my live
activities to play MP3's, where I would be limited with the Newt.
...still somehow, I still think that it would be nice if the Newt could
play MP3's stored on the 5GB Toshiba HD.
Sushi
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : Sat Dec 01 2001 - 20:03:48 EST