The OFFICIAL Unofficial Achewood Message Board
Trivial Pursuits => Science & Nature => Topic started by: AugustWest on April 02, 2008, 03:55:48 am
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Based on my experience, everything positive anyone says about Apple products (OK, iPods at least) is based upon marketing hype. A triumph of form over substance. Sure, they look pretty -- but the motherfuckers do not work, and when they do they require you to use only their kludgy-assed, inconvenient, must be updated every-other week software. Oh yes, and I can only synch it on one user account on one computer.
I am sick sick sick of it.
Here's my story. Bought daughter a reconditioned 30gig iPod for Christmas 2006. By August 2006, after returning said device for repairs three times, I gave up. On each occasion it worked for a few weeks (WEEKS!) then plotzed out (the same way each time). I'll hand it the Apple Service department -- they're friendly and efficient. They handled each service request efficiently so that each time her iPod was replaced with a different one within about 10 days. But they outlasted me. By the time the fourth device blinked a cute, well-designed little frowning iPod icon on it's oh so chic screen I was thoroughly disgusted and wrote the loss up to experience. Maybe it was because it was reconditioned?
Jump ahead a few months to daughter's latest birthday last week. She wants a Shuffle or something comparable (but she really wants a Shuffle.) Despite my serious reservations I took a deep breath and bought her a 1gig Shuffle (rather than a 2gig player I could have gotten for about the same $$$). But it was cute. And purple. And she'd like it.
And here we fuck*ng are again.
After downloading updates to the iPod software, to iTunes and to the iCemaker on my freezer the SOB (pardon iSOB) still will not recognize the songs I've synched to it. I've finally convinced it to hold a charge -- it would be nice if the little purple turd would play the songs that iTunes says it has put on there. But no. The Shuffle flashes it cute little well-designed LEDs at me in a cute little well-designed pattern that the cute little well-designed reference card says means "No music on unit".
Fuck you Jobs. You can cram it with walnuts.
I'm sorry, but I can't help but think that all you Apple apologists are simply delusional. I'm ready for something ugly that actually works.
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I'm with you on this one, A&W.
I would also add that Mac stuff is so user-friendly that you cannot... actually... DO much of anything.
There is user-friendly and there is just fuckin' dumbed down.
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My dad did not have any kind of problem with his Apple until last week. He called, they told him what was going wrong, he fixed it by uninstalling an update which caused some kind of error.
At this point, almost every single thing I have tried to do with my Dell has failed. Sound card failed and hard drive failed (luckily my dad had a connection and got me a replacement). Wireless rarely works. Plug-in internet randomly fails sometimes if the computer is having a bad day. screen randomly turns off. battery lasts 45 minutes tops. Hard drive came split into multiple partitions for no good reason. Customer service never helped me until my dad called the guy he knew and got me through the bullshit. They kept telling me to re-install windows, even though I explained that I KNEW it was a hardware problem.
I don't really see how Apple's products are in any way dumbed-down. They are incredibly well-designed and functional. What exactly can you not do with a mac?
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I dont know whats going on with you, AW. The fact that various units of the same product have failed under your operation may point to user fault. The odds that there are that many faulty ipods and that you happen to get so many of them that times in a row is literally unbelievable. My girlfriend, roommate, and I all have shuffles and theyve worked perfectly.
You complain about "updates every other week", yet every time I start up windows, that stupid bubble is there telling me i have to update something. Its really great when Im giving a powerpoint presentation and the audience is informed that I havent updated windows media player.
As for user-friendly vs. functionality - People who actually know how to customize an operation without fuck*ng a device up know how to find the ways to customize it. Ive never run into a problem with functionality on my mac. If youre talking about the shuffle, the lack of functionality is upfront - its a cheap, stylish, mp3 player that will play random mp3s continuously. If you want more function, that means a more complicated device and you can buy a different ipod.
My Macbook Pro has never crashed, never gotten a virus, never stalled out, and runs windows vista and Mac 10.5 SIMULTANEOUSLY. The fact that it is not ugly is a side factor. The stability and functionality are key selling points.
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See. Delusional.
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There are ugly things that work. Plenty of them. Apple didnt make the only mp3 player, just the best one. You can find plenty of non-apple mp3 players, but they all suck.
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I dont know whats going on with you, AW. The fact that various units of the same product have failed under your operation may point to user fault.
For a variety of reasons, I don't think that's the case. I've somehow managed to install and operate various PC peripherals since the late 70's. There are 3 other mp3 players in the house which I have been able to load, operate and maintain with great ease. None of these iPods were dropped or otherwise physically abused. If they're so fragile they can't bear being carried around or riding in a vehicle, well...
But let's assume that it was some sort of user fault. What the hell kind of "great design" requires a return to the manufacturer after an user error. Reboot, reinstall, good to go. Not with the iPod!
BAH.
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There are ugly things that work. Plenty of them. Apple didnt make the only mp3 player, just the best one. You can find plenty of non-apple mp3 players, but they all suck.
Just exactly how much Apple stock do you own?
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Mac didn't make the best mp3 player... like... at all.
They had the bread and "cred" to market really really well an mp3 player with a control switch that is completely intuitive to a five-year-old but... fuck it... I want something other than drop-down menus. Let me like... get to my fuck*ng songs, goddamn it.
They tried their damnedest to weld the battery in there so you'd have to replace the whole damn thing if the battery went... and all sorts of other terrible things that weren't "the best mp3 player" at all.
They had the resources to say "okay, we are going to take this one niche by storm and work from there come hell or fuck*ng high water" and a whole lot of hipster douchebags making their ads.
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I haven't had any issues with my iPod since I bought the newest one. My old one that I got years ago pooped out after 2 years or so, but my current one has been great all along.
All of the non-iPod mp3 players I've seen have been clunky and awkward to use, also.
LFM, why do you hate everything that is good. To listen to your songs you click on Music, and then Songs.
and, I mean, if it isn't the best MP3 player, what is the best mp3 player? the thing is a well-made object.
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LFM, you are evidently in the totally small minority, Because the great and vast majority has voted with their dollars that the ipod is the best mp3 player. If it sucked, people wouldnt continue to buy them year after year. Instead, the evidence show that people love their ipods. It isnt just hipster douch bags who buy ipods... if that was their niche their stock price wouldnt be where it is. You need to realize that just because your preferences dont match with the majority of the population, doesnt mean that they are wrong or being exploited.
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My experiences with both dell and other mp3 players match inevs. I got an iPod, then my computer crapped out and I bought a mac. I had like 4 or 5 mp3 players before, but they all broke and were huge for the gb you got. My nano is holding up real well and I will probably get a shuffle soon. I love the mac, what exactly are you people doing on computers? Also, the younger people don't have problems, just saying.
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There are ugly things that work. Plenty of them. Apple didnt make the only mp3 player, just the best one. You can find plenty of non-apple mp3 players, but they all suck.
A-Cap, I am quiet when you have your economic rants but on this point you are simply wrong. I-pods do not: Support many formats, particularly (and inexplicably) open source high fidelity formats like Ogg Vorbis which many audiophiles love, in fact they will force conversion of certain formats to their own proprietary format. They forbid a user from simply copying their own music on and off their music player, a feature found in any thumb-drive. They have had a history of battery faults and other issues. The batteries and similar I can forgive as technical issues that are still being worked through but the constraint on format and bizzare file system point to a willful decision to actually remove functionality in order to further their ultimate purpose (selling more music over their own music service). While the ipod may certainly be the most popular player around there are plenty of others that do these things that apple can't or won't do so saying the ipod is the best and everything else sucks is just stupid.
What apple has done that outclasses all other players is creating a very accessible user interface and a highly recognised brand. While both these things are important they small parts of what makes up an entire product.
Seriously, I am hanging out for the iPhone to be relased down here so I can get my simple hand held wireless internet on but just deciding what the market likes is the best and everything else sucks is just willful ignorance, there's no need to take other people's word on everything what suits the majority of people may not be what suits you.
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Ok, but by that reasoning, ipods sales would be in the toilet and someone would make a media player to make your plans. Fortunately, we live in a reality where the best products sell. There simply isnt a demand for the stuff you talk about - meanwhile people spend millions on ipods. People buy what they want. Just because they arent buying what you want, doesnt mean they are wrong.
For LFM and others who claim its all a marketing scam because apple has "so much money" - Microsoft has exponentially more money than apple and their Zune is a total piece of shit and the sales reflect it.
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I've heard complaints about the iPod but really no more or less than about any other mp3 player. They all have problems, it's just that the iPod is so hyped that when it has problems they stick out more. Hell, people expect Microsoft products to ship with a dozen problems now. They'd be gobstopped if one didn't.
Anyhow, that said I don't claim that my Mac is superior in any concrete way. What I will say is that while I am functionally proficient in the use of Windows, I have never found it to be a comfortable experience. If I'm sitting in my room, unwinding from a shower, and not wearing any #####, I would rather be leaned back and letting my chilis hang out in front of a Mac than a PC because it is a more comfortable and relaxing experience for me.
That said, there isn't a hell of a lot I actually need to do with my home computer: I use the Web, I legally acquire comics, TV shows, and music to read, watch, and listen to respectively, I chat on IRC, I write papers, I play open-source Roguelikes and legally acquired antique video game ROMs. Occasionally I chat with people on Skype. If I were a hardcore computer gamer, programmer, or other Person With Need For Superior Computronics there might be a problem, but since I'm not I'd rather have my computer be something I'm comfortable using.
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Ok, but by that reasoning, ipods sales would be in the toilet and someone would make a media player to make your plans. Fortunately, we live in a reality where the best products sell. There simply isnt a demand for the stuff you talk about - meanwhile people spend millions on ipods. People buy what they want. Just because they arent buying what you want, doesnt mean they are wrong.
I agree with the last statement there, I just think you're incorrect to define something as being the best because of demand. You're defining it as the best because it appeals to the widest audience whereas other people may define 'best' in terms of functionality or other specific needs. Value is a highly subjective thing is what I'm getting at. I might agree with you that apple has made the best product in the mp3 player space from the point of view of an IP a company would want to own but there's a distinction between that and making the best mp3 player, at least for me.
As for Mac computers I use them at work and they are fine and in many ways superior to PCs but at home I like to be able to tinker and I like to play games that aren't world of warcraft. That's just how I roll.
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I know that iTunes checks for software updates weekly but they don't really happen that often. Hell, my iPod has been on 2.3 for like 2 years.
If you mean iTunes itself then that could be causing problems. It's a Known Issue that using the "Apple Software Updater" program creates incomplete installs. Always update iTunes by going to apple.com and downloading the latest installer from there. Most users will never experience an issue with the Updater, but if you use any kind of plug-in (last.fm, FoxyTunes, &c) then you're just asking for an "iTunes is not properly installed" error message.
I've actually heard nothing but good things about the Zune. There were a few issues at first but they all seem to have been addressed by the Zune 2 and software update for the Zune 1. If nothing else their scrolling system is worlds better than the iPod's.
I originally went with iPod because at the time it was the only player available in larger capacities. When I got my 37.3GB iPod the next closest player was something like 2GB. And having my entire collection with me was my make-or-break feature. So I choose to give up Ogg support, a battery that lasts more than 4 hours, and such for that one feature.
Well now I can get an 80GB Zune but I stupidly locked myself into iPod. I have an iPod dock-connector in my car so I can work the player from my stereo and charge the shitty battery. And I replaced the 20' cable connecting my computer to my stereo with an AirPort Express. At least I didn't buy an songs from iTunes.
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I've owned a PowerBook G4 for going on three years now, and literally the only problem I've had with it is that the speakers no longer work consistently. That's it. The thing still runs like the day I bought it.
Now, my second generation iPod managed to die after about 2 years of constant use. So I'm inclined to believe those might not be as reliable. But my iPod classic that I've been using every day for 6 months still works perfectly.
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I heartily disagree with the notion that the player that sells the best is the best player. The NFL team that has sold the most merchandise all-time is the Oakland Raiders. That doesn't mean they're any good; it means they've been marketed well.
I would like an MP3 player; when the time comes, I probably won't get an iPod. I'm not sure why. I just don't think I like the way they look. I have concerns about all of the reports of reliability issues. Maybe they're just too hip (http://touamb.com/index.php/topic,4322.msg115814.html#msg115814).
But Apple has done a good job of one thing. I don't think I want an iPod, but damned if I can think of any other mp3 players out there.
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My thing is...
the ipod was, at one point, the kind of cool that is commodified and blah blah blah, useless consumerism, etc.
but it is also cool in the way I think Cognitive Psychology is cool, jazz is cool (although it as once cool in the other way, too), Jackson Pollock is cool, flickr is cool, and the St Louis Art Museum is cool.
The kind where, you see how the iPod interface works, and you say "cool!" The way I said when I was 10 and basically thought that "cool" meant "awesome!"
At this point, I do not really think the iPod is that hip. It's more like... I don't even know what the word is.
When my iPod was broken for a long time, and I used a walkman, people thought it was some kind of weird statement, or else that I was somehow massively economically disadvantaged and as a result did not have an iPod.
You can say whatever you want about how ridiculous that is, but that is not the response you get for not having something "hip." It was a smaller version of how we reacted to my friend who doesn't have a cell phone.
In addition... OK, the Oakland Raiders sell the most merchandise. And you say they are not the best team. "What is the best team, then?" I ask.
"Oh, well, the team that wins the Superbowl, or, my local team, or, the team that is best in yards rushed or completed passes,"
If you kept saying "the Oakland Raiders aren't the best football team, look at how many completed passes they had this season," I would start wondering who this other team was who had the most completed passes.
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The Raiders? Really?
I would have guessed Dallas.
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The Raiders? Really?
I would have guessed Dallas.
My guesses initially were Pittsburgh (ptoo) and Dallas (barf), but when you think about it, a big black coat with a big silver Raiders logo and a brand new Raiders hat has been a staple of the average rap star's wardrobe, probably since just after The Sugarhill Gang said "up jumps the boogy to the rhythm of the boogity beat."
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In addition... OK, the Oakland Raiders sell the most merchandise. And you say they are not the best team. "What is the best team, then?" I ask.
"Oh, well, the team that wins the Superbowl, or, my local team, or, the team that is best in yards rushed or completed passes,"
If you kept saying "the Oakland Raiders aren't the best football team, look at how many completed passes they had this season," I would start wondering who this other team was who had the most completed passes.
My position is that from a technical standpoint the ipod, like many other mp3 players, has it's share of flaws and perks. These are sufficient that I don't think any mp3 player can just be declared 'the best' on the basis of functionality (which is how I'd judge it... again 'best' is so incredibly subjective).
It is interesting how quickly the ipod has become, not exactly a commodity item but something fairly similar, like how in the early 90s all game systems were nintendos and all compact off-road cars are jeeps.
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I will say:
If you wanna do heavy graphics stuff or video editing, Mac IS the way to go.
For anything else, though, I prefer to be able to noodle around and figure out what I like and how I like to accomplish those things... especially since the bulk of what I do is use the internet and word process and... do not have to do a whole lot of graphical or video-editing type things.
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I heartily disagree with the notion that the player that sells the best is the best player.
What? How can you say that? Next you'll be telling me that Celine Dion and Britney Spears aren't the worlds' greatest musicians!
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AW gets a can because he summed up one sentence what I've been trying to say for three posts. You fancy-town lawyers and your way with words.
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I mean, obviously there is a point to be made there. But you can also argue that music is Art, or at least it can be, and an iPod is a device for playing music. It is a well-made thing which functions well, and its success is, to some degree, due to the fact that it is very functional.
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an iPod is a device for playing music. It is a well-made thing which functions well, and its success is, to some degree, due to the fact that it is very functional.
One can say the same about Celine Dion.
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I mean, obviously there is a point to be made there. But you can also argue that music is Art, or at least it can be, and an iPod is a device for playing music. It is a well-made thing which functions well, and its success is, to some degree, due to the fact that it is very functional.
I still say it comes back to what you define as functional. You can't play Ogg files on iPods, you can't copy your music off your ipod onto your computer, you can do both these things with (for example) an iRiver which was created as a complete iPod rip off. The user interface on the iPod is great though so in that way it has some of the best functionality.
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Too bad the newton failed.
I've been considering an ipod touch. I basically need a portable computer for internet access and at 400 bucks the size can't be beat. Plus, I already have a phone with AT&T and I don't want something else to put in my ##### pocket, certainly nothing the size of an iphone.
My gently-used 3rd gen ipod still holds a charge and plays files without issue. It's kind of a road trip accessory.
I switched to the macbook pro a year ago and while I love it, it's frustrating at times - but you know what? so is windows, and so are unix and linux and basically what I'm saying is there is no perfect machine. I can't develop that hard-core on this box, but that's okay. My favorite IDEs are windows-only, and I hardly work at home anymore, and besides I've got a VPN connection and RDC client straight to my work desktop. It's real easy to use though, especially for web, email, irc, spreadsheets, music, movies, and simple coding. Plus, it syncs with my ipod and phone and i didn't have too much trouble setting up wifi.
As far as the free market theory is concerned, McDonald's doesn't make the world's greatest hamburger. The ipod is good, but so are others. The great mp3 player depends on your own needs and desires and what you can deign to compromise on. The ipod sells on image, and the iriver etc sell on functionality and openness. More people consider image over opensource, so the ipod won out.
If you use ogg, don't get an ipod. If you want to be stylish, get an ipod and a thumb drive to do what the ipod won't. Or reprogram your ipod, there's hacks out there for it, if you demand both.
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Let me know how the touch goes for you if you get one Choop. I was hanging out for the iphone but I just got a (relatively cheap) new phone anyway so I'm wondering if it might be worth settling since I was mainly interested in it for the tiny computer features rather than the phone features.
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My sister-in-law got an iTouch for Christmas and she loves it. It's easy enough that my five year old niece can surf the web and play games on it.
I have an ipod because Pedro loves his. I use mine occasionally -- I used it a lot when I first got it because I had an hour-long (each way) commute once a week. I mostly listen to audiobooks. But I've had it for over a year and I don't really know how to work it. I just never sat down and played with it. I only recently figured out how to actually put music on it. Usually I just make Pedro do it. This is exacerbated by the fact that all my music got off-loaded onto an external hard drive, so now my iTunes has all these songs but none of them actually work.
I was going to say a bunch of stuff about functionality and market forces and niche markets and how most people don't use half the features that they paid extra for on technology gadgets...but you guys have pretty much covered that already, so: ditto everyone.
Also, my mom calls everything by Apple "that iThing" and refers to digital music players as "mp thingies."
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On more sober reflection I find I must amend my rant. Having never used or owned a Mac or any other Apple product other than the various iPodia above-described, in all fairness I must limit my venom to the aforesaid diminutive media players.
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Would this be a bad time to mention I just bought a new iMac to replace my aging (but still functional!) PowerBook? I decided to go the desktop route since I never really take this notebook anywhere and looking down at the screen is beginning to destroy my neck. Yes, I know they sell stands for that but still.
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What? How can you say that? Next you'll be telling me that Celine Dion and Britney Spears aren't the worlds' greatest musicians!
I have an otherwise-intelligent friend who says more or less this exact thing. "If it wasn't great music, it wouldn't be in the Top 40."
God, it's frustrating. I gave up talking about music with him years ago.
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My ladyfriend is tech savvy. Just as much as I am.
In fact, she got hired for the job that I left just recently.
I have no problems with my ipod, her's frustrates her to death. This spans several iPods. I think there's something about the workflow that messes with people.
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Man, I really need to learn computer stuff. I really really want to take a programming class here, because I loved it and was good at it when I took classes in high school, but apparently the computer science classes here (or at least the early ones) are all horrible.
Next semester there's a Computational Linguistics class where the professor is going to teach some programming language (I think he likes Perl?) and then teach how to use it to analyze language. Which is cool, but... boring sounding? I feel like the only person in it will be my friend Karl.
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The odds that there are that many faulty ipods and that you happen to get so many of them that times in a row is literally unbelievable.
Well, I call bullshit on that. I received an 80GB iPod for my birthday last year, and in short order it developed the clicking sound that comes with the imminent failure of the internal hard drive.
So I brought it back. They gave me a new one. Clicking sound.
I brought that one back...to a different Apple Store. They took a new iPod right out of the box and gave it to me.
Clicking sound.
This happened TWO MORE TIMES.
It took me five months to get a usable iPod.
iPods are poorly constructed toys. Unfortunately, everyone else's toys are worse.
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I mean, also relevant is the fact that an 80 gig harddrive smaller than a billfold is INSANE. That is the bleeding fuck*ng edge.
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Welcome to North Carolina, where the men carry billfolds and the women carry pocketbooks.
It was weird for me, too.
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the reason I said billfold is that... for some reason at first I wanted to say "a folded 1 dollar bill," and then I realized that that is not at all the size it is.
I normally say wallet, don't think I am crazy.
Also, JL, people in NC say Pocketbook? I always associated that with my dad's crazy bostonian relatives.
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is there a place where people dont say pocketbook? Ive always said pocketbook... i guess the alternative is purse? handbag? Billfold however... is a word that crazy people use. Crazy people like the Virginia state trooper who told me to get out my Billfold. "My what?" "Your billfold! Get out your billfold!" "What the... Whats a..." "BILLFOLD! BILLFOLD! DONT TELL ME YOU DONT KNOW WHAT A GOD DAMN BILLFOLD IS!" " Oh... you mean a wallet? Ive got a wallet. I have a wallet here."
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Apparently back in the day a wallet didn't fold over and looked sort of like a checkbook? As for purse vs. pocketbook vs. handbag I have no ideas.
Clutches are fuck*ng ridiculous, though.
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Clutches are fuck*ng ridiculous, though.
Prone to being dropped, one would think.
Also: armpit piranhas
(http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0604/feature7/images/gallery.7.3.jpg)
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Next semester there's a Computational Linguistics class where the professor is going to teach some programming language (I think he likes Perl?) and then teach how to use it to analyze language. Which is cool, but... boring sounding? I feel like the only person in it will be my friend Karl.
I'm like two pages too late on this but... FUCK computational linquistics (http://www.xkcd.com/114/).
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the reason I said billfold is that... for some reason at first I wanted to say "a folded 1 dollar bill," and then I realized that that is not at all the size it is.
I normally say wallet, don't think I am crazy.
Also, JL, people in NC say Pocketbook? I always associated that with my dad's crazy bostonian relatives.
See, in Ohio, there were wallets and purses. Then I moved south, and heard a mixture of these familiar terms with pocketbook and billfold.
Although I do think there's a difference between a wallet and a billfold. Based on my careful observation (I have purchase Pedro's last half-dozen money-carrying devices over the years), I think a wallet is intended to carry large numbers of (credit, library, misc.) cards and such, while billfolds are designed to cash, a driver's license, and maybe another card or two if you get a fancy one.
I'll be damned if I can figure out the difference between a purse and a pocketbook and a handbag, but a clutch is something else entirely. Purses have long straps to put over your shoulder. A clutch has very short handles, so you have to "clutch" it in your hand. Not very practical, if you ask me.
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My Dad says "billfold". He also says "picture show."
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i havent read this entire thread but heres my history with apple products
i had a powerbook for 3 years. during this time: the hard drive failed twice, the hinge that holds the monitor screen up got busted, and the video card fan stopped working. this last thing lead to plastic framing melting all over the video card processing unit, killing my video card. i used this computer for the internet, and to listen to music and watch movies i had. i couldnt use resource-heavy software because it would get so dang hot i was afraid it would over heat
i had an ipod photo for a year and a half. i hardly used it- about once a week to go jogging with. i didnt even charge it more than once a week. it failed. basically one day it refused to start up, even if reset.
my friend had an ipod mini he bought 2 years ago. he had to fix it 3 times so far.
my mom has had an ibook for 2 years and so far its working ok
yep, i have a pretty negative overall opinion of apple's products
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This is apropos of nothing, but I'm sure I really like your username. I've been proven in the past to enjoy the creation of words that rhyme with birkenstock (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=birkenrock).
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I have a Creative Nomad IIc MP3 player that I got in 2002, and it's worked perfectly ever since.
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I had an ipod 80gig. It had a problem that I'll have to go along with A-cap, was user error. I lost it.
But up until that time It gave me 18 months of flawless service and I used it heavily.
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The best thing Apple ever did for the world was give it the chassis for the MacQuarium (http://www.applefritter.com/images/notarnicola-3773_640x480.jpg)
I loved that screensaver...
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I have an mp3 player that is not an iPod. I didn't get an iPod because I listen to the radio a lot, and apparently Apple can't figure out how to incorporate a radio into an iPod, and other companies can. At least this was true when I got the thing a year or two ago. It didn't make sense to me to have to carry both an iPod and a pocket radio, nor to have to always decide before I left the house whether I wanted to listen to music or All Things Considered.
I wondered if I was missing something. But nothing has ever happened with mine that could incite three or four pages of messageboard ranting. I guess I did the right thing.
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I have an mp3 player that is not an iPod. I didn't get an iPod because I listen to the radio a lot, and apparently Apple can't figure out how to incorporate a radio into an iPod, and other companies can. At least this was true when I got the thing a year or two ago. It didn't make sense to me to have to carry both an iPod and a pocket radio, nor to have to always decide before I left the house whether I wanted to listen to music or All Things Considered.
I wondered if I was missing something. But nothing has ever happened with mine that could incite three or four pages of messageboard ranting. I guess I did the right thing.
Apple thinks that if you want to listen to All Things Considered then you'd just download the podcast of it and put it on your iPod. I mean, why listen to live radio when you can listen to another version of it that's posted for your downloading convenience anywhere from minutes to days after the actual broadcast? I mean it's not like things such as traffic, weather, or breaking news exist.
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and apparently Apple can't figure out how to incorporate a radio into an iPod,
No, Apple can't figure out how to create their own proprietary system of frequency modulated radio transmissions.
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Apple thinks that if you want to listen to All Things Considered then you'd just download the podcast of it and put it on your iPod. I mean, why listen to live radio when you can listen to another version of it that's posted for your downloading convenience anywhere from minutes to days after the actual broadcast? I mean it's not like things such as traffic, weather, or breaking news exist.
No, Apple can't figure out how to create their own proprietary system of frequency modulated radio transmissions.
Ah, now it makes sense.
Thanks, Apple, but I'll pass on the Kool-Aid for now.
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Apple thinks that if you want to listen to All Things Considered then you'd just download the podcast of it and put it on your iPod. I mean, why listen to live radio when you can listen to another version of it that's posted for your downloading convenience anywhere from minutes to days after the actual broadcast? I mean it's not like things such as traffic, weather, or breaking news exist.
No, Apple can't figure out how to create their own proprietary system of frequency modulated radio transmissions.
Ah, now it makes sense.
Thanks, Apple, but I'll pass on the Kool-Aid for now.
Long story short: you can add FM capability to your ipod with the iFM from Griffin Technology (http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/ifm) for $20.
Apple doesn't like radio because it's a messy, static-y, 19th century relic whose heyday was in the 1950s, whose downfall through disco and shock-jockery has been long and painful and whose main proponents are hobbyists. I'm sure some people inside Apple do listen to the radio, but as a company they don't want to enter a market where the leader is a "Shack".
Me. I love NPR. Love it TO DEATH. I'd like a music player with an FM tuner, but that's totally not Apple's bag, and there's a good reason for it.
Apple isn't in the business of selling technology. Apple is in the business of selling little pieces of the future. They try to get things as clean and simple and beautiful as possible. Then they say "we have clean, beautiful, exciting, quality products," and they're right. Then they say "our products are the fastest on the market and do well in price comparisons" and they're lying, but I'll forgive them. I like the iPods and OS X because they are beyond "easy to use". They are FUN to use. Just interacting with an iPod is fun.
When I introduced the relatively simple Sansa player to my computer-using father and brother, I had to type two pages of instructions. I'm sure my father has 'lost' his Sansa after staying up one hour trying to figure it out. When we gave the much more full featured iPod touch to my non-computer-using sister-in-law, she needed no instructions at all. I don't even know that there were instructions in the box. She spent the first two nights staying up late PLAYING WITH IT. That's wonderful. I don't care if you have to pay Apple $50 in two years to replace the battery, that's two years of enjoying your life a little bit more.
BACK TO RADIO. All these feelings of coolness and fun come at a cost. You have to deal with Steve Jobs' little prejudices. Mainly he despises messy things. He hates all buttons, physical media, non-controlled hardware, and things that aren't input or output devices. (He also doesn't mind if products get dangerously hot as long as they are very small and assumes you've got disposable income and want to keep buying new stuff every few years.) Radio is a very messy thing. The stations are strange fractions that aren't listed in a central place. It's location-based, so if you drive to a new town, you have to figure out a new set of fractions. You can't escape its static forever, and the static is sometimes better based on WHERE you HOLD your radio. Also the content is mostly dreck. Most of the podcast content is dreck too, but you can filter through that BEFORE you start listening. Basically it came down to:
"Mr. Jobs, if we added FM radio to the iPod, people could listen to the radio."
"That's nice. But?"
"But people would have to deal with radio."
"Hmm.. that sucks. Leave it out. Most people already have radios where they'd want to listen to them. If they absolutely need to listen to their radios through headphones, I'm sure Belkin or Griffin will hook them up."
"Yes sir. And might I say, sir. That's a nice custom turtleneck you've been wearing for the last couple of decades."
"What this old thing? Why thank you."
My iPod is five years old. The coolness has worn off, and I had to replace the battery by cracking it open with a screwdriver, but it's by no means disposable. I don't own an Apple computer, but I borrowed a PowerBook from my company for three years. I don't like pretension, needless expense, or sticking to goofy wrong turns (like a one-button penis). I adore Apple products, and continue to recommend them to most of the people who ask me.
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Yup. I don't want a piece of the future, I want today's All Things Considered. Even with static, you know?
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Yup. I don't want a piece of the future, I want today's All Things Considered. Even with static, you know?
Well. Umm. Yes. Right. Obviously. You're totally right, wombat.
But if other... umm folks. Go in for that sort of thing. Exactly the sort you were all making fun of. If that's the sort of thing that you want. Then, umm. Then you should buy it from Apple. Because they're good at... that stuff that's not what you wanted. Right then.
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I don't like pretension, needless expense, or sticking to goofy wrong turns (like a one-button penis).
This is basically the crux of my argument against Apple computers. I love the right click and scroll wheel.
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This is basically the crux of my argument against Apple computers. I love the right click and scroll wheel.
Then use another penis, paul. Also, my apple trackpad allows me to click, scroll updown sideways, zoom inout, rightclick, and doubleclick, without even touching the one button.
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yeah, they sell 2-button mices for macs now.
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Actually, I guess I should revise that. I wouldn't mind a piece of the future, even a piece of the future with pretension included, if it could just come with today's All Things Considered as well. Is that too much to ask of the future?
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I love Maddox's take (http://maddox.xmission.com/c.cgi?u=macs_cant) on the Apple.
Oh, and one time I got an ipod, and it didn't work. But they replaced it, and that one worked until I put it in the wash machine. They even replaced that one, and I use it all the time.
Dude, trackpad, not innovative.
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I love Maddox's take (http://maddox.xmission.com/c.cgi?u=macs_cant) on the Apple.
Huh. Maddox is still alive. Who'd a thot?
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The mighty penis, which comes with all their desktops, has right click and a scroll wheel (actually a ball that moves 360 degrees). I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Mac guy, but even I'll admit I'm not a huge fan. It's not very ergonomic and the tiny scroll ball kinda feels like really bad nipple-related foreplay.
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The mighty penis, which comes with all their desktops, has right click and a scroll wheel (actually a ball that moves 360 degrees). I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Mac guy, but even I'll admit I'm not a huge fan. It's not very ergonomic and the tiny scroll ball kinda feels like really bad nipple-related foreplay.
Anything is better than the round one-button puck mice.
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(http://cache.gizmodo.com/gadgets/images/iProduct.gif) (http://cache.gizmodo.com/gadgets/images/iProduct.gif)
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I'm not aiming this at you AW (or anyone who has had a genuine problems with their iPlods etc.) as I can understand your anger, or anyone on this thread really as this is an extreme example, but the bitterness of some people towards Apple borders on the ridiculous.
It's the same as the people who hate the Beatles with a passion. The similarities are there. Both probably the most popular of their type in the world; both got lots of fair criticisms levelled against them. The one similarity I'm referring to here is the fact that millions of 'undesirable' people (old people, young people, cool people, uncool people, depends who you are) like them a lot, and loads of 'different' people feel the need to act like everyone who does like said band or product is a fuck*ng moron.
"You're an idiot for liking the Beatles, they're shit, you only like them 'cause they're popular. People who know anything about music know Radiohead/The Cure/The Dave Clark Five shit all over them, you're just a sheep who probably likes Britney Spears."
"You're an idiot for liking iPods, they're shit, you only like them 'cause they're popular. People who know anything about music players know Zunes/Walkmans/Boomboxes shit all over them, you're just a sheep who probably likes used-to-be-hip-but-now-popular-shitty-indie-band-of-the-month."
NO.
I like the Beatles (but don't love them) because some of their songs inspire the right kind of emotions music should, but recognise their faults (which is altogether another thread). I like my iPod (but don't love it) because for four years it's provided me an easy way of portable music with nary a concern.
As you can tell, people telling me I'm a moron or unable to form my own opinions because I like these two things, just because other people like them, really climbs my prick.
And I'm sorry this crappy post but I spent ages on it before I realised it was bad and don't want to feel like I wasted 5 minutes. hours
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you're a moron for thinking the Beatles have flaws. FOOL. Get out of my message board.
My favorite is this kid I know who only likes Early Beatles. He is majorly into old country music and rockabilly and stuff, though, so I guess he gets away with it.
He likes old country music, surf rock, and then... way out-there experimental shit. Living with him next year should be interesting.
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..snipped snark...
New avatars for Turboninja!
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Having just purchased my second Mac in 13 months (a MacBook Pro, upgrading from a white MacBook) I guess I'm part of the problem.
I got my first iPod a few years ago and really liked it. I got the first nano when it came out because I wanted something smaller and lighter. I got the 2nd gen nano when it came out because I wanted something tougher and with a little more capacity. Last summer I won an iPhone (although I was ready to buy one) and it's my favourite technology device ever, even though it's not perfect. I got a 160gb Classic in the fall to replace the nano - the iPhone actually replaced the nano. They just finally put out an iPod that would carry every song I like on it. Every one. And even a lot of other stuff. I tend to use it when I know I'll want to listen to music - working out, if I want to unwind before going to sleep, etc.
I originally got the MacBook because I figured I'd be able to dual boot Windows XP and dabble with Mac stuff a little. There was definitely a learning curve, and the Mac is anything but intuitive for Windows power users, but Mac OS X became my OS of choice after about a month of playing with it. Now I'm all Mac, and getting a lot more done than I did before with Windows.
I love that it's pure Unix underneath the glossy front-end. For people who like to dig under the hood, it's way easier to tinker with than Windows. All of the system APIs are easily exposed and ready for your use. System-wide services and automator scripts take away the drudgery of little annoyances that I used to have to do manually. For instance, if I want to watch a TV show, I just fire up the Xbox and play something from my Mac on my television, since I have automated the recording/downloading, re-encoding if necessary, and moving of content. Sure, it wasn't that big of a deal to do all of that manually, but I figure the Mac saves me maybe 5-10 minutes a day just unzipping, re-encoding, and manipulating media files.
Here's a more practical example - I've been using Coda (http://panic.com/coda/) for web development. With the web apps that I work on it's not uncommon to edit a half a dozen files to add one feature - and then test, then edit a few of them again, repeat as needed. With my Windows workflow I'd have a browser, ftp client, text editor, and terminal window, open all at once, and I'd have to upload a file to one directory, change the path in two places (locally and remotely), upload another, change two paths, upload another, etc. That gets old really, really fast.
In Coda I have one window open, which I can split between whatever tasks I'm working on at the time, and when I make changes and need to upload I push one button and press F5 to refresh the browser pane. I figure Coda saves me an HOUR or TWO a day in maintenance.
Are there Windows programs that can do this? Not really, but let me say that there *could* be. It's not necessarily the technical features of the OS that makes Windows suck. I mean, there are technical suckaries about Windows, don't get me wrong, but it's just a different way of thinking about the problem.
Windows devs seem to think "How many features can I cram into this program? Oh look, there's a 12x12 pixel spot of screen real estate - let's throw another button there!" whereas Mac devs seem to think "How many features can we remove to get out of the users' way and help them solve their problems or get their work done?"
The "just works" ethos is pretty powerful. If you really need to do something complicated, you can (although maybe not with the consumer-level app, but that's true on Windows too), and because Apple values good design the 3rd party Mac developers that get attention tend to focus on good design and usability too.
The iPod is probably the least-featured media player out there right now. Even cheapie throw-aways have *more* features. But how well are those features implemented?
I've owned a few other mp3 players, and before I bought my last iPod I looked around to see what else was out there. The Zune was actually a close contender, but it wouldn't work with my Mac and a lot of its features are crippled, like sharing songs (3 plays or 3 days? Fuck you 3 times!) or watching video (although I think it now plays AVC/h.264 files, which are pretty ubiquitous now - h.264 is the mp3 of video).
Anyway, Mac isn't for everybody, but I think people are surprised by how powerful it is. At geek conferences I tend to see a ratio of about 3:2 Macs to PCs, and a lot of those PC users are running Ubuntu or some other flavour of free software.
Someone described the Mac as a computer for people who love computers. That sounds about right, although I've known people who have hated their computers before getting a Mac.
Oh, also, my iPod did not work anywhere near as well with my Windows machine as it has with my Macs. It's clearly designed to work with a Mac and they kinda sorta support Windows.
Having said that, Safari for Windows is the best Windows browser you can get now. It's really fast and good with memory (much, much better than Firefox, which I should say is the browser I'm using now to type this) so it even runs well on really old computers.
Full disclosure: I own an insignificant amount of Apple stock, which I purchased months after owning my first Mac.
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Windows devs seem to think "How many features can I cram into this program? Oh look, there's a 12x12 pixel spot of screen real estate - let's throw another button there!" whereas Mac devs seem to think "How many features can we remove to get out of the users' way and help them solve their problems or get their work done?"
OK, that's the first thing anyone's ever said that has made me seriously wish I had a Mac.
But, my household is probably too deeply into the Evil Empire's computers for this to ever happen.
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AD, I am really sorry to hear about your huge-ass hassle. That is teh suck. I have no idea what went wrong. I must say that my very first computer ever was a Macintosh computer, circa 1985. The Beige Toaster. I have always been biased towards Mac, except when I have had to use AutoCAD, because that software only runs on Windows.
My first non-school experience with Apple products began when I got a brand-new 10gb iPod (2nd generation...shoulda waited longer) when I was in grad school. It was the biggest fuck*ng hassle in the world, no joke. I had to install a FireWire card in my Dell PC, and had a HELL of a time getting shit on the iPod, and it froze up all the damn time. Finally, once I had my entire music library on there, I just stopped connecting it to my computer. It was too much of a nightmare. I just plugged it into the wall charger when it needed juice.
My ex-boyfriend Adam (*sniffle*) bought me a really awesome iPod Nano (2nd generation, pink aluminum case) while we were dating in Alaska. He knew how much I wanted a Ducati motorcycle, so he bought a racing magazine and used Ducati pictures to wrap the box instead of tacky-ass wrapping paper. I LOVED IT. It was so easy to load music on it, even with my behemoth ancient PC. I rocked with that thing until I bought my third iPod here in Colorado, an 80gb iPod Classic. The pink Nano went to Kellichou. I love my new iPod even more, since it carries my entire music library, plus even more crap like videos and television shows. Amazing. Now, if only my car had a plugin spot for my damn iPod!
My next purchase will be an iPod touch, because of the WiFi capability. I totally want to be able to check my damn email at work and while on the road, and I don't want to drop $500 on an iPhone and then $95-120/month for a phone/data plan from my wireless carrier.
If I weren't broke, I would buy an Apple laptop. They are so shiny and pretty, and yet the insides are badass and eminently well-designed. Apple FTW.
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I recently started a new job and when they asked me what kind of workstation I wanted, I requested a Mac. One month in I'm pretty happy with it, and my next machine at home is definitely going to be a Mac (money permitting).
The one drawback to getting the Mac at work is that I started day one not being sufficiently hardcore. Apparently I'm the first developer at the company not to run Linux on their workstation.
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I'm late to the thread but my interest is genuine (as is my desire for free advice).
Over the weekend I unearthed an old PowerBook G3 Lombard that my mom gave me four or five years ago. It is running OS 8.6 and it has a CD for OS 9.something but I can't get the upgrade to take because the "Installation Tome" cannot be read or some such (I forget the exact wording). Any idea what I can do to solve this problem?
Or would it be more worth my while to find a copy of OS X 10.3 (the most advanced system a Lombard will support, according to the Internet) on eBay along with more RAM or a wireless card and skip over the 9.x step? The only program I'll really need on this machine is a web browser - I won't be storing MP3s or word documents or anything on it, so phooey on Leopard if it's going to be a resource hog.
I know next to nothing about Macs, which is probably why this thing got abandoned in my basement in the first place, so please don't hesitate to explain this to me like I'm a retarded otter.
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So this is kind of a fun alternative to a Nano:
Refurbished Sansa e280 $50 +$7 S&H:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=3481118&sku=S153-7022&srkey=e280
Install Rockbox (free and you can still boot the original firmware)
8 gb micro SD card $19:
http://www.meritline.com/kingston-8gb-microsdhc-card-with-adapter-class4.html
Micro SD card reader $5:
http://www.meritline.com/mini-micro-sd-card-reader-yellow.html
16gb smallish MP3 player for $81 (as opposed to $200 for the 16 GB Nano).
You do lose some functionality/usability as, so far as I know, you can only add files to the micro SD card part by using the reader (you can add/synch files to the player itself using Windows Media Player). Also, the video player is more or less useless, but who is all that excited about watching videos on a little screen anyway?
You can also buy an extended warranty if you're worried about that, but flash memory is pretty reliable and it's got a sturdy, metal back. Also: user-replaceable battery.
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My old portable CD player? Still works after almost 10 years. My old Walkman? Still works after 15 years. My old iPod? Died after two years of use. I treat my things very gently. I took good care of my iPod, and yet it totally died. I am not cool with that.
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Which model is it? If it's not a Nano or Touch, then it uses a regular ol' hard drive--which is much more complicated and delicate than anything on a Walkman or CD player.
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also, those hard drives are HELL of cutting edge. If they want to keep getting smaller with every generation, they have to go for the smallest hard drives possible, which means maybe more fragile.
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And yet my iRiver, which I bought about 5 years ago for $100 less than a comparable iPod 1G, is still working great, even though I actually use it as an external hard drive and stream my music from it.
It doesn't have games or a section of accessories at Best Buy (which all cost $29.99), but it's never hard-locked and deleted its data, its battery can be replaced whenever (even though I haven't needed to), if I'm playing it on random and click 'back' it will actually go back to the last song it played, and it doesn't need me to install iTunes just to put music on it. I just plug in the standard USB cable and copy the files, regardless of the host computer's OS.
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But do magpies try to steal it?
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And yet my iRiver, which I bought about 5 years ago for $100 less than a comparable iPod 1G, is still working great, even though I actually use it as an external hard drive and stream my music from it.
It doesn't have games or a section of accessories at Best Buy (which all cost $29.99), but it's never hard-locked and deleted its data, its battery can be replaced whenever (even though I haven't needed to), if I'm playing it on random and click 'back' it will actually go back to the last song it played, and it doesn't need me to install iTunes just to put music on it. I just plug in the standard USB cable and copy the files, regardless of the host computer's OS.
Man I can say this same thing about an ipod and a creative (well, the first part. And not five years, like 4 and 3 probably.) so...
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also, those hard drives are HELL of cutting edge. If they want to keep getting smaller with every generation, they have to go for the smallest hard drives possible, which means maybe more fragile.
Dude, cutting edge don't mean shit without longevity. This is me being 30. I would have never said that at 20. For me, cutting edge is directly related to functionality. Make an iPod with a battery that's easily replaceable by the user, that is minimal in that it isn't disposable, and I will pay out the ass for that shit.
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Any ipod with a flash drive is pretty much indestructible, though you can't change the battery.
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Dude, cutting edge don't mean shit without longevity. This is me being 30. I would have never said that at 20. For me, cutting edge is directly related to functionality. Make an iPod with a battery that's easily replaceable by the user, that is minimal in that it isn't disposable, and I will pay out the ass for that shit.
What I am saying is, when they made the first iPod, it was the first hard-drive that small that had ever existed. They made the first iPod because of this hard drive coming out. They had wanted to make something like this, and when a small enough hard drive came out, they were like "finally."
That is what I mean by cutting edge.
At that point, the only way they could have made it more sturdy was... making it a lot bigger.
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They (meaning most mp3 player makers) have made them more durable by using flash memory instead of spinning platters. No moving parts, y'see.The anectdotal evidence suggests to me that Apple may expect ipod users to buy a a new player every other generation or so and thus not to care so much about durability (but again, that shouldn't be as much of an issue for the Touch or Nano). The drive on my Zen Micro that I bought used 3 years ago is still going strong, although one of the channels doesn't work on the headphone jack. I'm guessing that could be fixed with some soldering.
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They (meaning most mp3 player makers) have made them more durable by using flash memory instead of spinning platters. No moving parts, y'see.The anectdotal evidence suggests to me that Apple may expect ipod users to buy a a new player every other generation or so and thus not to care so much about durability (but again, that shouldn't be as much of an issue for the Touch or Nano). The drive on my Zen Micro that I bought used 3 years ago is still going strong, although one of the channels doesn't work on the headphone jack. I'm guessing that could be fixed with some soldering.
Apple is also putting solid state drives in the macbook air, but they had the most awkward selling pitch for it at the conference. They really gave you the impression that they were offering it, but only if you really really wanted that novelty.
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It is, as of yet, more of a novelty for personal computers. I think.
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It is, as of yet, more of a novelty for personal computers. I think.
It seems like the next logical progression. I mean a disc can only spin so fast. I have mentioned here before that I know a guy who is working on the next generation of drive tech, though, holographic disc technology (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holographic_Versatile_Disc) will offer terabytes of storage like it ain't a thing.
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A disc can only spin so fast but flash memory has a pretty hard limit on how many write/rewrites it has in it's lifetime.
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Yeeeeeah, you guys have definitely lapped me in this thread, in terms of technical knowledge.
I can turn the thing on and find the place where you type in a concept and then it gives you pornography about that concept and... that's as far as I go, generally.
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Pornography about flash memory?
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Pornography about remembering a flasher!
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A disc can only spin so fast but flash memory has a pretty hard limit on how many write/rewrites it has in it's lifetime.
say waat? This is new information to me
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say waat? This is new information to me
Yeah, each block of memory on a flash drive can only be rewritten so many times. A quick bit of gooling suggests I'm wrong about this being as much of a problem anymore though, it seems modern drives are good for a couple of million rewrites, compared to say 100k a few years ago when I first picked up this bit of information.
This (http://www.storagesearch.com/ssdmyths-endurance.html) was the first thing I found about it on google. I'm not sure if that site is in the business of selling the things and I don't know enough to know if it's on the level or not but the broad explanation syncs up with what I've heard before.
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Yeah, each block of memory on a flash drive can only be rewritten so many times. A quick bit of gooling suggests I'm wrong about this being as much of a problem anymore though, it seems modern drives are good for a couple of million rewrites, compared to say 100k a few years ago when I first picked up this bit of information.
This (http://www.storagesearch.com/ssdmyths-endurance.html) was the first thing I found about it on google. I'm not sure if that site is in the business of selling the things and I don't know enough to know if it's on the level or not but the broad explanation syncs up with what I've heard before.
OK, so forgive my ignorance, but why can't SSD use the same technology as RAM?
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No idea. At a guess I'd say it's a cost limitation. Compare the price of a gig of ram and a 100 gig hdd.
There are RAM SSDs, I just don't know why they aren't more wide spread.
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OK, so forgive my ignorance, but why can't SSD use the same technology as RAM?
Because RAM needs electricity to "remember" anything. Hence when you lose your Word document when the power goes out. Flash memory is non-volatile, so your thumb drive doesn't need a battery pack.
The trade-off is "memory wear." When you're talking about thumb drives or cards in cameras most people will either lose or upgrade long before they start to suffer wear-related data loss. But when you start having flash HDs or mp3 players it starts to become an issue. Especially when you have more songs than your flash iPod will hold at once. You're then a lot more likely to make large-scale data updates every time you sync as you pick and choose which playlists you want on there at that moment.
Combine this with the fact that rechargeable batteries have a similar "charge wear" issue and you have a device that screams "planned obsolescence." But as Doc said, newer flash tech is a lot better about memory wear, both in expected write-erase cycles and because of memory spreading techniques that help keep your computer from trying to change bit 0 every single time while leaving bit 999,...,999 totally unused.
HDs don't have the memory wear issue but whenever that disk is spinning there's a chance for mechanical failure. Not to mention wear over time on the moving parts. It's also very delicate while it's moving. IPods try to fight this by spinning up the HD as little as possible and relying on RAM, but if you drop your player while its in the middle of accessing the disk you can cause serious problems.
So in general a flash iPod has a much greater MTBF than a hard drive iPod with similar specs. About the only way an HD unit would last longer was if you never moved them, and completely erased and restored them both every hour for like 2 years. Hell, even then I might put my money on flash.
But of course flash costs a lot more per gigabyte, comes in smaller capacities, and has slower read/write times. Which is why a 120GB Classic costs less than double a 16GB Nano instead of 7.5 times more.
MTBF = Mean Time Between Failures. Higher is better.
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My cell phone recently broke (it was at least five years old), and when I went to the store I got something much nicer than I am used to. The cheap, cheap phone was nearly the exact one I got a few years before, and it broke within a few weeks (the reason I was using such an old phone). Anyways, it is the Samsung a767 Propel, which is basically a fake blackberry probably with way less functions. It was the second cheapest, which is why I bought it. Basically ever since the iphone, I have been waiting for an iphone nano of sorts, which would be an ipod+phone+text messaging only. It seems I have lucked in to this device. I returned my recently purchased 16gb nano and bought an 8gb micro sd card for like 20 bucks.
My question: It says that it will support 8gbs of memory in the manual and such, which is totally cool, but, they have 16gb cards out and I read about people whose phones say they only support 8 but the 16 works. There is absolutely no info about this to my phone specifically on the internet, so I was wondering if any of you have tried something similar and had it succeed? Why would it not be able to read the 16gb card?, etc.
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Yeah, mine takes 8gb max and even then some people say it doesn't work (you need the right firmware/software combo). I would not believe that it would take more than the stated maximum, and as much as I thought I'd want the 16gb, and ended up getting two 8gb cards, I find that I have never needed more than 8gb of stuff on my phone at any given time.
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Every time I see this thread title, this song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBh5ZtATqOY) gets stuck in my head. "I hate music, it's got too many notes"... what a great line.
which is better than the other song which pops into my head recently, despite not having heard it since it came out... "Amber" by 311. that BASSLINE, man!
The main technology I hate right now is my laptop. At some point recently the battery completely died, and now I can only use it if it is plugged in. I pull the plug and it dies instantly.
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Yeah, mine takes 8gb max and even then some people say it doesn't work (you need the right firmware/software combo). I would not believe that it would take more than the stated maximum, and as much as I thought I'd want the 16gb, and ended up getting two 8gb cards, I find that I have never needed more than 8gb of stuff on my phone at any given time.
See, I have a shit load of music and bought the previously mentioned ipod because it was 16 gb, but yeah, I have had an 8gb player for years and it is definitely doable.
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weird question:
when listening to music from your phone, does it just have a headphone jack, or do you need a special adapter-thing?
That is how my phone is, and that just seems so silly to me.
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Yeah, I have to have the adapter. Basically, I have always wanted this and am trying it out. The adapter is a lot smaller than a separate thing you know? Also, I was able to return the ipod, which saved me money, and I have a 2nd gen 8 gig, so, I am not out of portable music if it sucks. Also, the new nano? To complicated while losing things that actually effect music listening, prefer the old one if it had 16 gigs.
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Yeah, I didn't mean to say it is silly to buy it-- more that it seems silly for them to design phones in that way. It seems that it would inconvenience people and keep them from using their phones as an mp3 player how God intended.
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Oh yeah, I was so mad the first hour or so that I bought this that it had this awesome feature that they purposely crippled. But yeah, its okay. Also, I am pretty sure they did this to save money on construction rather than make you buy a ten dollar cord that is also annoying. The second option is a lot worse so I am more okay with it I guess, even though the route cause and effect of this are the same. Seriously, put the 1/8th input on there and charge an extra ten up front, you know?
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bought me a really awesome iPod Nano (2nd generation, pink aluminum case) while we were dating in Alaska. He knew how much I wanted a Ducati motorcycle, so he bought a racing magazine and used Ducati pictures to wrap the box instead of tacky-ass wrapping paper. I LOVED IT. It was so easy to load music on it, even with my behemoth ancient PC. I rocked with that thing until I bought my third iPod here in Colorado, an 80gb iPod Classic. The pink Nano went to Kellichou.
Awww! And I love that pink iPod! Thanks, Linnea!
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um, I got an iPhone for christmas. I am in love with it to a degree that bothers me.
Also, it kind of embarasses me every time I use it in public.
But it is so damn cool.
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I got myself a Zune for Christmas. It isn't here yet, though. For some reason it had to go from China to Alaska to Memphis before it can come to me. I'll let you all know what I think when it finally gets here.
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Good one, porkin'. Like anyone would buy a Zune. High-larry-us.
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Some people have more trouble carrying a Zune than others.
Er, otherz.
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I wanted more storage space and didn't feel like dealing with Apple's shenanigans anymore. *shrugs*
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Yeah, I didnt know people actually bought those. Everything ive ever seen about it is about how big a mistake it was. But i guess you know something i dont.
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If you don't buy Apple, you have cooties.
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wait, wasn't there recently some big announcement about like... zunes will not work after a certain date?
Am I thinking of something else?
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Almost every Zune broke on New Years Eve, from what I understand. I think they are fixed now, some type of thing similar to the 2000 debacle (not being able to switch to 2009).
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ah.
i heard something about "sorry if you had a zune!"
and I connected it to something I had heard... maybe that some major mp3-selling website is going down, and all of their licensed mp3s are going down with them?
I want to say walmart, maybe.
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some programmer left an ifLeapYear loop in the programming that locked the thing up until the next day.
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As far as I understand, it was the 30gb 2006 models that went down due to the leap-year issue.
As far as my Zune goes, I did do a lot of research first. A lot of people's complaints don't appear to be anything you wouldn't see with Apple. You know, like usually people are the cause of 99% of their own problems. But, it's not here yet. I'll let you know what a big mistake I made once it gets here.
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I'll let you know what a big mistake I made once it gets here.
That's the spirit.
I'm very much turned off by apple fanaticism, but I did love my ipod. I sure do miss it.
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Yep, I've been buying Apple shit for the past 14 years solely because of the superior marketing. Also, I am a huge fag.
You sure got me pegged.
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I knew it!
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I am no match for the Internets.