>
>huh?!? I don't get it...I don't see the big deal.
Based on your past comments, you never do seem to 'get it' with Apple
products, Ed. 'Cept with Newton, of course. ;-) Then again, look
what happened to that product.
Just kidding....sorta. I doubt you and I will ever see eye to eye about
Apple, Ed. (And remember, I make my living programming Windows PC's and
Alpha/OpenVMS minicomputers, so I'm not exactly blind to the
technological capabilities of the various platforms. I've programmed
everything from micros to mainframes over the last 20+ years.)
Seriously, It's not the hardware specs....it's the BIG PICTURE. The
elegant integration of hardware and software. Step back from the spec
sheet and look at the forest instead of the trees. (Does the iPod menu
system remind anyone else of OS X's/NextSTEP's browser view?)
This was true of Newton (well, mostly - they missed on NCU....) and it's
true of most of Apple's other products too.
They're even going to manage to make UNIX usable by mere humans! UNIX!
THAT is a major reason Apple is still here, making bucks even in a bad
year, despite everyone trying to rip off it's ideas (badly) and then bad
mouth them for the last 20+ years. They have misteps and mistakes and
bad decisions just like everyone else, sure. (Newton, Cube, etc.) but I
have never regretted spending money on an Apple product. Even spending
(ahem) "extra".
Price isn't everything, dang it. And yet when all is said and done,
Apple products turn out cheaper and better and more reliable and easier
to use. As has been shown in independent study and real life time after
time after time after time. That iTunes integration is worth the extra
$50! You truly get what you pay for (what a phrase to use in relation to
an MP3 player, eh?.....)
>First, it's only 5gb of storage. (it's a gig smaller
>than the smallest competitor)
Sure, there are some MP3 players with larger hard disks out there (and
even those aren't big enough for MY music collection, so I don't give a
fig about this issue! I have far more music that most folks do, anyway.
5GB should be than plenty big enough for 99% of the folks out there.
Maybe even me if I take the time to edit out the songs I don't actually
like.) Do the competitors match the OTHER features of the unit, and as
well? And do they work with MACS as well as PCs? I don't think so.
I've never seen one.
But perhaps I've missed one; there are quite a range of MP3 players out
there. I'm willing to be proven wrong, believe me! So far I haven't
seen ONE that I would pay money for. And I've been looking. Hard. But I
think the iPod is gonna be the one. We'll see.
One point of Apple branded products like this as part of the digital hub
concept (which I see others are already stealing) is to make BETTER
products than you can get elsewhere that work Mac-only -- that can also
help nudge people towards Macs if they don't have 'em. "Want an iPod?
Got a Mac? No? Too bad. It's Mac only." Yet still have the Mac work
with similar third party products too. Have your cake and eat it too.
> And I doubt that you can
>use the "firewire hard drive" to transfer mp3s, most
>do not...
Not sure what you are talking about, here, Ed? Do you mean that you
can't mount the disk as firewire and transfer MP3s to it. I doubt
seriously that Apple would partition the drive into part for MP3 and part
for fireware hard disk. I'd bet it's just a normal (Mac hard disk with
an "itunes" folder. It can probably mount it up the same way I mount
the CF card in my HandEra PalmOS clone on my Mac or PC - I pop it into a
PCMCIA card adapter, pop it in my PCMCIA slot and it mounts as a disk, I
copy Palm program and data files over, I pop the card out and use the
programs and files from my HandEra.
But perhaps you can't; it might defeat the integration between iTunes and
iPod. I think "wait and see" rather than make such as remark before you
have any facts is the proper road to take here.....and we want to take
the high road, don't we?
I'll bet you can't mount it on PC's though. Unless the PC's have the
MacDrive software or something like it installed. That might be a bad
thing....but then again, I'd be somewhat happy if iPod was a hot item and
you COULDN'T mount it on PC's. It happens often enough to us in the
other direction. Bwa ha ha ha ha!!!!
>Personally, if it doesn't come in on a price point
>below $350, then it's not worth it...
Can you say "SUGGESTED retail price $399"? I'm sure you'll be able to
get it for $350 if you look.
- Bill
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