GeekNJ
Premium
join:2000-09-23
Waldwick, NJ
| reply to dumwaldo
Re: Am I the only one not thrilled with my iPod?
said by dumwaldo  :interestingly enough you had no problem with it when justin said it so apparently you have no problem with the POPULAR OPINION in this thread. you just seem to have a problem with trolling me specifically. No, you didn't say what he said. You said:
said by dumwaldo :its designed to be used by the most computer illiterate people on the planet if you are routinely outsmarted by your pet then the ipod is the right choice. Justin didn't say that at all. He made comments like:
said by justin :We sometimes have different ideas about what is important in a device. The music they get is all nicely tagged. It is backed up (on the ipod and on their PC). It sounds good. They can get on with doing whatever else they are like to do. I still think the ipod is cool, especially the nano. This probably is the secret to its success. Not only is it appealing to the masses, it is also at least partially appealing to the techno cognoscenti. They did what AOL failed to do: made something easy to use that is also bearably good for (most) geeks. It would be like calling anyone that's excellent with computers an AOL user because they use Windows instead of the latest nightly build of some Linux distro.
I have an iPod to listen while I commute (train and subway). I listen to music (mostly what my wife has purchased from iTunes or ripped from her CD collection) and I listen to podcasts. Before I leave in the morning I plug the iPod into the computer and everything gets synced including any new podcasts which iTunes downloaded over night. Not one button needs to be pressed. When it's done, I unplug it and put it in my briefcase. When I take it out, on the unit I can quickly find any song or podcast.
It's a tremendous integration of software and hardware. No thought required - true plug and play in multiple ways. Like when you turn your stove on, do you care how the gas gets to you, runs through your gas meter, connects to the stove, how the pilot lights the gas and the thermostat keeps it at the correct temp, or do you just want to turn it on and cook?
Computers are supposed to make things better & easier, not more complicated so you can feel some sense of accomplishment or superiority.
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dumwaldo
Premium
join:2001-03-12
| reply to GeekNJ
said by GeekNJ :said by dumwaldo :said by GeekNJ :Thankfully, there's all us below average AOL users to make someone as mediocre as you look so good. and this has what to do with the OP's discussion? oh yeah it has nothing to do with it. it is just another pea brained troll. Hah - Seemed to be an appropriate response to the arrogant "I'm better then any iPod user" post of yours that I replied to. interestingly enough you had no problem with it when justin said it so apparently you have no problem with the POPULAR OPINION in this thread. you just seem to have a problem with trolling me specifically. |
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aliasrlz
Premium
join:2000-09-01
the world
| reply to Steely
the majority of mp3 users can't distinguish between high bitrate lossy codecs and lossless anyway ......also, hence they are ALL called "mp3" players, and the mp3 format is a lossy format.....
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"Long-winded diatribes are not necessary for one-liner comments (regardless of THE POINT). Something some will never get." |
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signmeuptoo
Folding and Crunching Not just Breakfast
Premium
join:2001-11-22
LOSTinSpace
clubs: 
 ·Future Nine Corpor..
 ·AT&T Southeast
| reply to dumwaldo
said by dumwaldo :said by signmeuptoo :But if I get the money for a large capacity device, it won't be an iPod, but one of the file structure players that offer the best sound quality, *if* it turns out that any of them offer superior audio sound. just a general FYI... none of the Ipod's support any lossless formats. if quality is a top concern, by default the Ipod is not even a player of consideration. There is plenty more to sound quality than lossless audio. The amplication circuit, the DAC, so many things are involved in producing quality sound. Assuming that because a player is a "digital player" it is only as good as the digital code that goes into it is wrong, in case you were making that mistake.
The new iPods, starting with the shuffle, began to see audio qualityr improvements, but it is my impression that there might be better.
At this point, after only, what, less than a couple of weeks, I am wishing for a little better audio quality from my mini, and I am using VERY low compression, 1/2 my music is close to, or at 320k MP3 I don't buy iTunes, and I don't use iTunes, so AAC is not an option.
I listen to music where audio quality matters more. I don't listen to hip hop or rap where it isn't such a big deal.
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I support freedom, something that our government is betraying, thumbs up to the EFF. Learn the truth about Taiwan, they've never belonged or been part of Red China, ignore the lies to the opposite. |
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ironwalker
World Renowned
Premium,MVM
join:2001-08-31
Keansburg, NJ
clubs:
 ·Optimum Online
| reply to Steely
I use my ipod on Linux useing gtkpod.
I dont use itunes and I dont buy music online.
I like quality,therefore rip all my store bought cd's to disk and add to ipod.
I dont let ipod handle nameing or tag adjustments or normalization.
The databse is a great thing for huge directories of music although I perfer other options for this...similar to musicbrainz.
All my files show bitrate upon viewing file info.
I keep files at 250vbr....soon I will give .ogg a try and see if there really is an awsome digital sound with lower bitrate/filesize.Right now,40gigs is nothing for me to be concerned with about filesize.
My wife loves it,and has her own 10gig directory which she has no problem removeing/adding songs at will.
She wants the bose speaker dock for her office at work,and yes overpriced but I will get it for her.
I Love my ipod!
As for the op,a little research and paitience would have yielded much results in how to actually use your ipod.You didn't just buy a pc and use it with knowall knowledge the first time you ever used a pc did you?As another poster replied all those issues are easily fixed via some reading...not 3rd party software.How anyone can find an ipod complicated is beyond me but hey,whatever.:)
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Live Free or Die! |
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aliasrlz
Premium
join:2000-09-01
the world
| reply to dumwaldo
said by dumwaldo :said by signmeuptoo :But if I get the money for a large capacity device, it won't be an iPod, but one of the file structure players that offer the best sound quality, *if* it turns out that any of them offer superior audio sound. just a general FYI... none of the Ipod's support any lossless formats. if quality is a top concern, by default the Ipod is not even a player of consideration. the .wav format isn't considered lossless?
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"Long-winded diatribes are not necessary for one-liner comments (regardless of THE POINT). Something some will never get." |
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dumwaldo
Premium
join:2001-03-12
| reply to signmeuptoo
said by signmeuptoo :But if I get the money for a large capacity device, it won't be an iPod, but one of the file structure players that offer the best sound quality, *if* it turns out that any of them offer superior audio sound. just a general FYI...
none of the Ipod's support any lossless formats. if quality is a top concern, by default the Ipod is not even a player of consideration. |
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GeekNJ
Premium
join:2000-09-23
Waldwick, NJ
1 edit | reply to dumwaldo
said by dumwaldo :said by GeekNJ :Thankfully, there's all us below average AOL users to make someone as mediocre as you look so good. and this has what to do with the OP's discussion? oh yeah it has nothing to do with it. it is just another pea brained troll. Hah - Seemed to be an appropriate response to the arrogant "I'm better then any iPod user" post of yours that I replied to.
said by dumwaldo :incidentally, if you were not so below average you might recognize that i am far from mediocre. Sorry I gave you more credit then you deserved! |
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dumwaldo
Premium
join:2001-03-12
| reply to GeekNJ
said by GeekNJ :Thankfully, there's all us below average AOL users to make someone as mediocre as you look so good. and this has what to do with the OP's discussion? oh yeah it has nothing to do with it. it is just another pea brained troll.
incidentally, if you were not so below average you might recognize that i am far from mediocre. now shouldn't you be looking for an "ANY" key? |
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signmeuptoo
Folding and Crunching Not just Breakfast
Premium
join:2001-11-22
LOSTinSpace
clubs:
·Future Nine Corpor..
·AT&T Southeast
| reply to Steely
I tend to agree that the iPod might be for the masses, and as a result, it is so popular, however: I am a Linux user who doesn't follow the masses, and I have NEVER used AOL, and I have an iPod mini, which, as I have been saying, I love. As a technician I still say that this mini is elegant. The button system is better.
But if I get the money for a large capacity device, it won't be an iPod, but one of the file structure players that offer the best sound quality, *if* it turns out that any of them offer superior audio sound.
The absolute MUST is the ability to use the audio player in Linux. I lucked out with the iPod, if it wasn't for gtkpod, I'd be screwed Linux-wise.
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I support freedom, something that our government is betraying, thumbs up to the EFF. Learn the truth about Taiwan, they've never belonged or been part of Red China, ignore the lies to the opposite. |
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aliasrlz
Premium
join:2000-09-01
the world
| reply to AR
I'm finding it will become increasingly more difficult to compare a 30/60GB HDD on the ipod to a cell phone with a very expensive flash card (2GB or higher sticks, may as well buy another phone entirely) ; Especially now with the video add-on on the 5G ipod........but that's just MHO.
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"Long-winded diatribes are not necessary for one-liner comments (regardless of THE POINT). Something some will never get." |
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AR
Premium,ExMod 2001-04
join:2000-09-21
Toronto, ON
·Rogers Hi-Speed
| reply to Steely
I think I've "outgrown" my ipod. Being on the move, I'd like to have an all in one device and that's why I'm excited at the direction the cell phone mfgrs are taking with their devices.
Going to work, I have to take my cell with me. Then I have to take the subway to downtown for an appointment and it's great I have the mp3s on the cellphone. Oh look, I need to take a picture and I can use my cell for that. Then at the gym in the evening, I can listen to fm radio or mp3s on my cell again.
The only time I really need the ipod or a dedicated mp3 player is a coast to coast flight where my cell phone, even with a large capacity SD card might not prove adequate.
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The Confederacy was an Ownership Society. |
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GeekNJ
Premium
join:2000-09-23
Waldwick, NJ | reply to dumwaldo
Thankfully, there's all us below average AOL users to make someone as mediocre as you look so good. |
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dumwaldo
Premium
join:2001-03-12
| reply to Steely
i actually agree with justin on this one. the ipod goes hand in hand with AOL. its designed to be used by the most computer illiterate people on the planet and that cost the device features.
if you are routinely outsmarted by your pet then the ipod is the right choice.
if you know how to hit the space bar instead of spending 20 minutes looking for the "ANY" key then you would probably be better off with a competent player that supports a variety of file formats and does not require extra software. |
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signmeuptoo
Folding and Crunching Not just Breakfast
Premium
join:2001-11-22
LOSTinSpace
clubs: | reply to aliasrlz
Why how nice of you! |
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aliasrlz
Premium
join:2000-09-01
the world | reply to signmeuptoo
Geezuz! Is every message you write like 10 pages long? Where do you find the time? |
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aliasrlz
Premium
join:2000-09-01
the world
|  reply to justin
Well said Justin....Apple doesn't have 80% of the HDD based MP3 market for no reason....... Simplicity and ease of function is huge to Apple. For the non-geeks, firing up iTunes and getting their songs into the iPOD is all the care about....not this ID tagging, windows file structure, and moving songs all over the place. That is probably the minority-minority of their customer base.
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"Long-winded diatribes are not necessary for one-liner comments (regardless of THE POINT). Something some will never get." |
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signmeuptoo
Folding and Crunching Not just Breakfast
Premium
join:2001-11-22
LOSTinSpace
clubs:
·Future Nine Corpor..
·AT&T Southeast
| reply to Steely
First off: I LOVE MY iPod! I bought a mini, next to new, from another member here at DSLR. It is really nice how the click wheel works, it is so easy to use really. It has USB *and* firewire support (the new ones don't, major suckage IMHO). I happen to like that it is colored blue, and I **love** the aluminum chassis, it is a brilliant idea that they were stupid to abandon. There are tons of things that will work with it and some of them I dream of getting if I get my hands on some cash. The screen is clean and clear, and the illumination is awesome and looks pleasing. There is plenty of software out there (though I would like it if there was more). I can use it in Linux (I am a recent convert to Linux, a very dedicated convert, if you haven't tried to learn and use Linux, you are really missing out, it's a dog to learn and set up, but, considering the shear huge variety of versions out there, it **IS** the Swiss Army knife of OSs).
...
OTOH:
Unless you wanna spend money, it is likely, if you are a legal minded soul, that you will *have* to live with iTunes. Now, iTunes really ain't that bad, in fact, it is almost partially intuitive (ALMOST, but not quite, it can be a PITA to use in many ways). The other iPods (not the mini, thankfully) get scratches and cosmetic crap as easy as New Orleans is "The Big Easy". They have abandoned some of the few really neat aspects of it, such as the extended headphone port and firewire capability. They eliminated the included wall charger, a rotten move. My mini cannot record, let alone support an FM tuner (MAJOR suckage that I am bummed about). The clickwheel can get smudged because they insist on their goofy white theme. Everybody and their brother and sister have to sport and flaunt their iPods as though they are hip or something, all of the fitting in and keeping up with the Joneses gets on my NERVES. There are major limitations to the directory structure and navigation system. It is the most popular to steal, and it stands out too much. If you unplug it without safely disabling it, the thing gets borked, though not always.
That, including the above objections that others have stated.
Nevertheless, I am still pinching myself because I am poor and can't believe I actually have a 4 gig capacity digital music player. I only wish it were 10 gig, but 4 ain't too bad, it just means that I have to update it more often.
Now don't get me wrong, I love my player, my iPod. At least it ain't a chinzty plastic thing. It does it's job fairly well. It sounds ok, though I expect others might sound better, I would love to see some comparisons of sound quality, if there are any. It is pretty compact which is nice, it is good because I ride a bicycle to and from everywhere I go. The earbuds are better quality than those of some other players so I hear (though I prefer my Shure E2cs and I laugh at all of the dozens and dozens of clueless Cornell Student posers that are happy living with the stock earbuds (Lame, because these ARE rich spoiled kids who don't know any better, not a single one of them that I have seen had a good set of 'phones on, and just today I saw at least 20 Cornell Students with iPods alone. Not a single other personal digital player was to be found. Call them digital cattle, if you ask me.
I am a poor old bum of a guy, and it felt good to show that I had one too and was "just as hip as a spoiled rich kid", though I am not, and couldn't even care the less, I just like rubbing noses in it, it takes away their illusions that it is cool to own one.
For now, I will remain very thankful to God and the Universal Energy of space (as well as the member who took good care of it before selling it to me), that I own it. If I ever get my hands on the cash, I will get one of the superior players, like the two great ones posted about in this thread. I will also get some Shure E4c's or one of the other really good ones out there. I'd like a pair of dual driver phones though, so I could have great bass AND great uppers too. These E2c's are a little bit upper side heavy, though not so much that it isn't unpleasant.
Just my heartfelt opinion. When the battery dies, if the HD is still good I will replace the battery, because it is pretty easy to do on the mini 2nd gen., and even if it wasn't, I have well trained soldering skills. If the HD goes out, I still might fix it if HDs show up cheap enough, because these aluminum players are a great idea that shouldn't die, as a technician of engineering, I consider the chassis to be VERY elegant and well thought out, and well made (though I haven't yet taken it apart).
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I support freedom, something that our government is betraying, thumbs up to the EFF. Learn the truth about Taiwan, they've never belonged or been part of Red China, ignore the lies to the opposite. |
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Corona
It's cool, I'm takin it back
Premium
join:2000-03-14
Aubrey, TX | reply to Steely
Apple is a marketing GENIUS. Everything else they do is "so-so". |
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GeekNJ
Premium
join:2000-09-23
Waldwick, NJ
| reply to Steely
I have 2 iPods (one for me, 1 for my wife). My kids both want iPods - deciding whether it's the Nano or the new Video one.
I've never had an issue with the 2 I own. We use iTunes and all music is either purchased through the iTunes Music Store or "ripped" into iTunes for a CD we already owned.
I've never had to help my wife or kids use either iTunes or the iPod. They (and I) use it every day. I don't think there's any better product/software integration then iTunes. Any product a wife and kids can use that doesn't require a techy dad to help with gets top marks in my book.
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