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born again ipodders
Digi-GuyUK
17-09-2006
Are there people here who previously had an iPod, then switched to another made (Creative,Samsung,Sandisk etc...) then came back to iPod when a new model came out.

I may become a born again ipodder in xmas, when I buy the 2nd gen 4GB iPod Nano Blue.
H4X0R
17-09-2006
well i fist had creative zen sleek, i went to bluewater when the ipod nano 1gen came out. Not intendeing to buy the 2gb black nano and i did. I was not expecting this and u know why i brought ut because it looked good after 6 months i sold it went to creative again with the sleek which i have now. Now i like the new nano i am tryin to resist from buying it just want the zune come out so i can buy that beofe i walk into apple store
H4X0R
19-09-2006
well i walked in to apple store and i loved it so i brought the iPod Flea
moox
19-09-2006
You make it sound as if the ipod is ultra special and by buying one you are entering into a lifestyle change.

IT ISN'T.
Daveoc64
19-09-2006
Originally Posted by moox:
“You make it sound as if the ipod is ultra special and by buying one you are entering into a lifestyle change.

IT ISN'T.”

For some people it IS a lifestyle change.
H4X0R
19-09-2006
i was joking i hate ipods accept the flea
Havelock Vetinari
19-09-2006
Originally Posted by Daveoc64:
“For some people it IS a lifestyle change.”

Yes for muppets. They totally believe iPods are the best MP3 players fullstop. The fact that other companies offer cheaper players for the same amount of space as an iPod means nothing to them. They have to follow fashion and have the white headphones, or be like their chav mates and all listen to the same music. Or they all must have the latest iPod despite the fact they probably have 3 bigger versions.
Daveoc64
19-09-2006
Originally Posted by soupdragon65:
“Yes for muppets. They totally believe iPods are the best MP3 players fullstop. The fact that other companies offer cheaper players for the same amount of space as an iPod means nothing to them. They have to follow fashion and have the white headphones, or be like their chav mates and all listen to the same music. Or they all must have the latest iPod despite the fact they probably have 3 bigger versions.”

I would personally say it's the best player.

I cannot find a player with an interface, controls, software features and the physical size to match the iPod.

I don't see why I'd want to pay less for something that's twice as big. I'd rather pay a decent amount to get a product that I can trust. You can buy a really cheap generic player that does the same job, sometimes it's better to spend a little more and get a product you choose to want.

Some people may follow fashion, but that's their decision. Why can't a music device be used as a fashion accessory?

By a lifestyle change, people upgrading to an iPod from a CD player would have the experience of being able to listen to any of their music or a watch a video in a device that's smaller than their CD player was.

That's got to change your day to day life in some way.
H4X0R
20-09-2006
have u looked @ the Creative Zen V?
sancheeez
20-09-2006
Originally Posted by Daveoc64:
“I cannot find a player with an interface, controls, software features and the physical size to match the iPod.”

You've obviously not looked very hard then .....

For me, the iPod has three features that make it a top seller:

1. Their marketing campaign .... which in turn has given them their current market presence.
2. The click-wheel and navigation system ..... it is a nice interface, I can't deny that.
3. iTunes ..... although for me, the reliance on iTunes has exactly the opposite effect and puts me off! I can see how it might appeal to less tech-savvy people though.

On practically any other feature, I can think of numerous superior players. Decent players that is (Cowon, Archos, Creative, Toshiba etc etc) not cheapo £15 Chinese memory sticks being sold as MP3 players on Ebay .....

Which is why I don't have an iPod. The click-wheel and control interface alone isn't nearly enough to sell me a player! Marketing is by the by to me and I don't like the iTunes interface and lack of flexibility.

My wife however, is not a geek.

She has an iPod mini and now wants one of the new 8gb blue Nano's .... so it matches her handbag.

Lol!

Horses for courses ....
dslrocks
20-09-2006
You forgot #4.

4. The use of a proprietary format on the store to lock the user into the iPod and iTunes system.

Move to another platform/player and all your tunes that you've spent your hard earnt cash on won't play (before anyone says burn to CD and rip to MP3; two things, the audio quality is driven down even further with the transcoding and it's a waste of time if you've a few hundred songs - not mention, you lose the tags and have to enter the information by hand).

Yes, there are ways to remove the DRM from the files so that they will play on other gear without trascoding and driving the audio quality down more, but some of the prequisites are fairly technical.
moisie
20-09-2006
Originally Posted by dslrocks:
“You forgot #4.

4. The use of a proprietary format on the store to lock the user into the iPod and iTunes system.

Move to another platform/player and all your tunes that you've spent your hard earnt cash on won't play (before anyone says burn to CD and rip to MP3; two things, the audio quality is driven down even further with the transcoding and it's a waste of time if you've a few hundred songs - not mention, you lose the tags and have to enter the information by hand).

Yes, there are ways to remove the DRM from the files so that they will play on other gear without trascoding and driving the audio quality down more, but some of the prequisites are fairly technical.”

Alternatively you can be stuck with Mircosoft's DRM and use it on some arguably as good (as iPod) players and a load of shitty ones. Or you could avoid DRM entirely and buy CD's. Then you won't have any problems at all.
removed
20-09-2006
Originally Posted by Daveoc64:
“I cannot find a player with an interface, controls, software features and the physical size to match the iPod.”

Erm you do know why Apple gave Creative $100Million and access to all Apple ipod and similar technology don't you?

Oh wait that’s right, it's because Apple stole the technology from Creative, were about to be forced to withdraw the products from shelves across the US (and other countries when legal action got to that point in other countries) and possibly forced to hand over profits to Creative.

I got rid of my iPod, I found it to very restrictive although it had excellent build quality. The most annoying feature was the requirement to use iTunes to put music on to the player, whilst I dug through some of the processes and tried to decompile as much as possible of the code I was astounded at what they had programmed, they are pretty much watching everything you do media wise on your PC from what music you listen to, what CD/DVD's you put in your computer to what video filenames you watch and what codecs they are in. They had processes hidden left right and center. I certainly shall never be installing iTunes on a computer again, I value my privacy to much.
Chrismcfall
20-09-2006
The only reason i got my ipod, was because my phillips was just terrible, im glad i got mine.
Havelock Vetinari
20-09-2006
Originally Posted by Daveoc64:
“I would personally say it's the best player.

I cannot find a player with an interface, controls, software features and the physical size to match the iPod.

I don't see why I'd want to pay less for something that's twice as big. I'd rather pay a decent amount to get a product that I can trust. You can buy a really cheap generic player that does the same job, sometimes it's better to spend a little more and get a product you choose to want.

Some people may follow fashion, but that's their decision. Why can't a music device be used as a fashion accessory?

By a lifestyle change, people upgrading to an iPod from a CD player would have the experience of being able to listen to any of their music or a watch a video in a device that's smaller than their CD player was.

That's got to change your day to day life in some way.”

yeah but who wants to watch a video on a screen so small it's hardly worth the effort?
I have my Creative Zen 20gb and it is perfect for what i want. And I didn't say less for twice as much size. I said you can pay like £180 for a iPod and pay about £30 or more less for the same size fom like Creative or iRiver. Plus these companies didn't steal the technology for the MP3 players unlike Apple did. If I had been CEO of Creative I'd had my dad in court and seen every iPod removed from the planet, now that would have been funny.
Daveoc64
20-09-2006
Creative "stole" several features Apple had patented which is what caused them to settle out of court. I personally think that US Patents are outdated, that's another story though.

I'm quite happy to watch video on a 2.5" screen. I'd watch a movie or two, but I wouldn't get rid of the TV just yet.

I will admit some players have better features or offer a good price point, but I find that the iPod has the best compromise on price, features and interface.

I wouldn't typically go for a simpler product, considering myself to be technically minded. But on this one Apple has got a loyal customer.
Last edited by Daveoc64 : 20-09-2006 at 20:45
high_on_candy
20-09-2006
I do admit that the ipods UI is easy and after getting a microphoto I have found it hard to use a bit. But the zunes UI looks brill, so I am buying that and sitting well back from ipod.
moisie
21-09-2006
Originally Posted by removed:
“Erm you do know why Apple gave Creative $100Million and access to all Apple ipod and similar technology don't you?

Oh wait that’s right, it's because Apple stole the technology from Creative, were about to be forced to withdraw the products from shelves across the US (and other countries when legal action got to that point in other countries) and possibly forced to hand over profits to Creative.

I got rid of my iPod, I found it to very restrictive although it had excellent build quality. The most annoying feature was the requirement to use iTunes to put music on to the player, whilst I dug through some of the processes and tried to decompile as much as possible of the code I was astounded at what they had programmed, they are pretty much watching everything you do media wise on your PC from what music you listen to, what CD/DVD's you put in your computer to what video filenames you watch and what codecs they are in. They had processes hidden left right and center. I certainly shall never be installing iTunes on a computer again, I value my privacy to much.”

Just because they settled doesn't mean they're admitting they stole it. If you look at, forgetting the actual physical input mechanism, the way stuff is controlled on portable players is in fact very similar across the board and arguably the natural logical way of organising that kind of information - hence why so many players do it.

There has never been any proof that apple looked at a Creative player and decided to copy that method. It could be argued that the patent involved shouldn't have been awarded since it was such a natural, logical concept. Of course the whole issue of what can and can't be patented is a totally different argument - I think that parts of our dna have been patented or copywritten!

You could argue that Apple have been very clever for settling for what they did. $100 million is actually not a huge amount in the global stream of money they have and continue to generate from the iPod. Because of the settlement they've made, they've saved themselves god knows how much in legal costs, plus have also managed to get a clause built in which refunds some of that money if Creative manage to settle or win a similar case against any other manufacturer. On that note, if Creative go against another company and fail, I would have thought Apple could appeal(?).
moisie
21-09-2006
Originally Posted by high_on_candy:
“I do admit that the ipods UI is easy and after getting a microphoto I have found it hard to use a bit. But the zunes UI looks brill, so I am buying that and sitting well back from ipod.”

I don't see how the Zune's interface looks any better than any other player, apple or otherwise. From the videos it looks cumberson and any time an action involving more than a few steps is performed the camera cuts away from the persons hand. If you want to go down say 3 options on a list you have to press the button 3 times as opposed to just scrolling the wheel once. Admittedly for scrolling down long lists you are likely to be able to press and hold the button but that won't work for a smaller number of steps.

-----

I also want to see Creative go after Microsoft and other manufacturers in regards to the "stolen" interface, an interface that is very similar to how parts of the finder work on OS X. Of course they didn't go after apple because they're the only target that could give them a payout or any publicity, no siree.
Foghornleghorn
21-09-2006
Musically I-River s**t all over Ipod...and before you ask yes i had a Nanopoop. The Ipoop is all style but no substance.
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