Topic: iPod losing its cool?

[idolminds]

^Shock! _Awe!

I don't think a decline in iPod sales would mean its losing its cool, but doesn't everyone that wanted an iPod have one by now? Its going to taper off eventually. Hey, maybe people got wise and realised that other MP3 players have more/better features for less money.

Looking at players (since I want to get one myself), there are some features missing in a lot of them that I find amazing. Like the lack of gapless playback. What is that crap? I would think that would be an important feature to put in a player.

[Quemaqua]

I sincerely hope the damned things lose their cool at some point.  I hate them and just can't understand why people insist on buying inferior products just because of marketing campaigns.  Then again, I'm also one of those people that hates advertising, so this all goes hand in hand.

Anyway, like you said, it has to taper eventually just because eventually people are all going to buy one and sales will start to decline.  I think the fact that they've put out twelve hundred versions of the stupid thing means people have more than enough options already, so any new versions they put out might not meet with the same level of public reception.

[ren]

I'm the owner of an iPod, because my brother bought me one. I prefer it to the other mp3 players I've used: Cowon iAudio X5, Archos AV400, Creative Zen: Touch and Creative Zen Vision: M. The interface on the iPod is a lot better than any of the others, and that's one of the most important things on a portable player. Battery life and all that is no longer an issue since they all come with fairly decent amounts. Price is no longer an issue too, since in many cases an iPod is actually cheaper than the competition, simply because it's so readily available. The biggest advantage I see is that 60GB iPods are easy to come by, but 60 on any other mp3 player is quite rare. That's probably not an issue for a lot of people but I need more than the standard 30gb.

So I'm curious, what makes the iPod so bad? No gapless sucks, and you can consider iTunes a negative feature depending on how you look at it. Other than that I can't think off the top of my head.

Tapering off iPod sales mean the next generation will come out soon, and then sales figures will skyrocket.

[iPPi]

I dislike iTunes.

[ren]

I was editing my post while you wrote that. I also hate iTunes, but I only really need it when I want to put more music on my iPod so it's not that bad.

[idolminds]

I don't think iPods are bad, per se. I just feel Apple "owns" the market and just doesn't even attempt to improve. We're on whatever gen iPods and theres no FM tuner? Voice recorder? More format support. Yeah yeah, not many people use Vorbis or FLAC. However, other players support them, so why not Apple? It seems like Apple could go to the next level, but simply won't.

I'd rather get a player that has those other features.

[Quemaqua]

Exactly what idol said.  It's more or less a monopoly and all it's done is further encourage Apple's laziness.  And they're already pretty fucking lazy to begin with if you ask me.  They have some pretty lousy support.

And yes, iTunes blows.

[Ace_O_Spades]

I have an iPod, and I hate it

I wish I had bought a different player... like a Zen

I hear good things about the Creative players from people that have them... and I hate iTunes so much

so very very much

I wish I hadn't bought an iPod... but I can't justify another 300 bucks

[DrSbaitso]

He cited new mobile phones with improved MP3 players as the cause of the iPod's dwindling appeal.

That's what caused me to ditch my iPod. I bring my mobile with me everywhere, and it does a good enough job of playing MP3s. Why clutter my pockets with two devices when one does the job?

[Quemaqua]

I would think battery life would be the obvious answer.  Am I wrong?  I can't stand having to recharge 8 billion devices, which is one of the numerous reasons that I decided I could give a shit about having a cell phone, and is the sole reason why I stopped using my Pocket PC.  Just recharging my PSP and GBA every now and again is enough to put me off.

[iPPi]

Yea I use a Zen Micro and I'm very satisfied with it myself.  I don't like iPods.

[Cobra951]

Just yesterday, I was trying to find some iPod videos, to see if they played on the PSP.  (Somebody said they do.)  I couldn't find one place that would let me have even a 2-minute trailer, without paying them money.  I read the 60GB iPod specs, and it seems that some of its videos would play on the PSP, but the spec allows for other stuff that I know would not.  I no longer care.  It was just curiosity, since the iPod stuff seems to be so popular online.  But with that kind of comprehensive money lock, it scared me far away.

[ren]

I can send you some video encoded for iPod if you want.

[Cobra951]

OK, how?  PMs?  URL?

[scottws]

Looking at players (since I want to get one myself), there are some features missing in a lot of them that I find amazing. Like the lack of gapless playback. What is that crap? I would think that would be an important feature to put in a player.

Well, just so you know, the MP3 format wasn't built with gapless playback in mind.  Players that play MP3 gaplessly have to do all kinds of special tricks to make it happen.

Now as for the AAC format that iTunes uses, I'm not sure if it supports gapless playback.

In any case, I like the iPod to a degree, but hate iTunes.  Sure, iTunes songs have a fairly loose DRM standard as far as DRM goes, but some of it is just stupid.  For instance iTunes songs only play on iPods.  Also, you can only use the Fairplay license five times or so before having to rebuy the song.

That last one in particular really got me.  I reformatted Jennie's computer because, well, it had a billion things wrong with it.  When I reinstalled the exact same operating system on the exact same computer, it used up one of the Fairplay licenses.  Why?  Even Windows itself doesn't do anything like that.  It's like, "Oh, you're the same computer as before.  You're good to go."  That's crap.

I keep telling Jennie if she wants a song to let me know and I'll get it for her, but she keeps buying them off iTunes.  I keep telling her that someday she'll regret it.  Every time I say that, she says, "How so?"  I try to explain that if she ever, in the future, decides to get something other than an iPod, she's basically screwed.  Her answer, "Why do you think I'll want something other than my iPod?"  I try to tell her that eventually it will break or die and maybe there will be something she likes more that doesn't come from Apple.  But it usually turns into a small argument, so I just let it go now.

She doesn't get stuff like that.  It's the same with her digital pictures.  She takes them with her 6.0 MP digital camera, uploads them to Kodak Easy Share, and then deletes them.  When I tried to explain that if she for any reason ever wanted that original, high resolution image, she has to pay Kodak for something for which should be hers to begin with.  Her answer?  "Who cares?  It's only like $0.19."

[Cobra951]

I learned that lesson with WMAs.  When I first got my Dell PC with Windows Me, I went hog-wild with WMP 7, encoding every CD in sight into WMA.  Halfway through the process, I realized they were being encrypted by default, nd I turned that off.  But I didn't bother re-ripping the encrypted stuff.  Sometime later, I switched to Win XP, and I ended up with a bunch of worthless locked data that used to be my music.  By then, I knew all about EAC/LAME, and I fixed the problem the long (but right) way.

There's a program now which easily unlocks WMAs, but last time I looked, doing the same to iTunes means decoding/reencoding them.  The PSP plays unencrypted AAC music files, and I imagine other portables do too.  So if someone comes up with a direct-decrypt thing like for WMAs, it would be a very good thing.

Edit: But what do I know?

[scottws]

Edit: But what do I know?

Hmmm... In there it says you can only decrypt something you bought, not something someone else bought.  Still, it seems like a start.

This is one of those cases where the DMCA is total crap.  Even though though you legally bought those songs off of iTunes, if you decrypt them to use the music on another portable or another software player on your computer, you are breaking the law.  How does this make any sense to anyone?

[JacksRag(e)]

You know, unfortunate as it is, even if the iPod is losing some steam, you know that the next generation will renew its cool and everyone and their mommas will want one and it'll be emblazoned everywhere and probably be plastered all over the new Transformers movie completely ruining Soundwave.  

[Cobra951]

To Scott:  (Neat feature, warning about new post as I was typing)

Not to me, never has.  You know my take on it is that it's unconstitutional to put a legal lock on expression in America.  I have very strong feelings about that.  It may take until after I'm dead, but I feel confident we'll return to sanity on this issue someday.

The good news for most of the world is that the DMCA only applies in our country.  My brother, the lawyer, once told me that Germans hate American intellectual-property laws so much that it is illegal for German companies to adhere to them.  So in effect, a company has to choose whether it's going to be German, or American.  It can't be both without breaking the law.       

[Ghandi]

Scott, I think that Jennie's view isn't too uncommon. People like convineince, even if it means sacrafice in other areas. I doubt that many people who own Ipod's even know what gapless playback is. Plus, the sad fact is that the marketing campaign for Ipods has worked wonders. People like to be seen with an Ipod, it makes them look cool.

I have an Ipod nano, I got it for a gift, and I like it fine. I despise Itunes, but I'm willing to put up with it. I don't need anything fancy out of my mp3 player, just a play button and some space. And unlike Dr.Sbaitso, my cell phone doesn't even access the internet. I'm a little behind the curve on that one.

[Quemaqua]

So am I officially the only person here that doesn't have a cell phone and doesn't have need for an MP3 player?

[sirean_syan]

Cell phones haven't found their way into my life yet.

MP3 players are a different matter, however. I have one of the newer iRivers that I bought out of brand loyalty, which was a mistake. Still, it works, has more space than my last one, and a better battery life.

[TheOtherBelmont]

So am I officially the only person here that doesn't have a cell phone and doesn't have need for an MP3 player?

Nah I'm on the same boat, I have no use for either.  An MP3 player would be nice to have but I would hardly use it.

[ren]

Cell phones haven't found their way into my life yet.

MP3 players are a different matter, however. I have one of the newer iRivers that I bought out of brand loyalty, which was a mistake. Still, it works, has more space than my last one, and a better battery life.

I wouldn't buy an iRiver out of brand loyalty anymore. They used to be good, but lately they seem to just release generic crap that isn't special in any way.

[scottws]

That's what caused me to ditch my iPod. I bring my mobile with me everywhere, and it does a good enough job of playing MP3s. Why clutter my pockets with two devices when one does the job?

That LG Chocolate is awesome.  Too bad I don't have Cingular.

[Cobra951]

When I was working, I used my PDA as an MP3 player all the time.  Now, I really don't have a use for one.  The car has the radio/CD player, the PC plays whatever I have other than radio, and that's it for any real music-listening time.  I have no cell phone, and little desire for one.  (Emergencies while on the road is the only thing I really want one for.)  So I'm definitely behind the times here.

[JacksRag(e)]

That LG Chocolate is awesome.  Too bad I don't have Cingular.

From what I've seen, the LG Chocolate isn't quite the bee's knees that it's made out to be.  It's more mp3 player than phone.  It's pretty, but you'd expect more out of it.  And it's Verizon not Cingular.  Unless you meant too bad I have Cingular.....I don't know.

[scottws]

From what I've seen, the LG Chocolate isn't quite the bee's knees that it's made out to be.  It's more mp3 player than phone.  It's pretty, but you'd expect more out of it.  And it's Verizon not Cingular.  Unless you meant too bad I have Cingular.....I don't know.

Well, whatever.  I don't have Verizon either.

[JacksRag(e)]

Although there's a flip version of the Chocolate coming out soon that is rather enticing, too.

[sirean_syan]

I wouldn't buy an iRiver out of brand loyalty anymore. They used to be good, but lately they seem to just release generic crap that isn't special in any way.

Well, yeah. That's the problem. I bought one of the players right around the time they made that change. I read ho-hum reviews and still took a shot. It's not horrible, but I I should have looked further. We had this discussion once, remember?

[ren]

new iPods announced today. They have gapless, bigger hard drives, brighter screens and more games. 30GB model is $249.

[idolminds]

Well, Apple showed of the 5th generation of iPod. Hey guess what? Gapless playback for MP3, AAC, and Apple Lossless! Woo! Now THAT would be a worthy upgrade.

They also have $5 games for the iPod you can buy now. They mention Zuma, Texas Holden, Mini Golf, Cubis 2, PacMan, Tetris!, More Tetris! and Mah-jong.

PS, fuck ren for posting while I wat typing.

Holy crap, look how tiny the new Shuffle is.

[ren]

iPods are already at 5G, this is more like 5.5G. Sort of like iPod colour was 4.5.

It seems iTunes 7.0 may be in charge of gapless. Apparently when you update to it it enables gapless playback on 5G iPods. I'm hearing mixed results and am downloading it now to try it myself.

[idolminds]

Let us know. I read that on slashdot that it allows for gapless on older ipods. This makes sense, since the 3rd party firmware Rockbox allowed you to play gapless on ipods.

[Ghandi]

Hmm, so I can get gapless on my current nano? Cool.

[idolminds]

I havent found an answer if it works on older ipods.

The best thing about gapless in iPods is now iRiver, Creative, etc will want to put it in their DAPs to "keep up" with Apple. Hooray!

[Pugnate]

My sis has an ipod. It isn't bad at all.

[ren]

Supposedly it works, you just have to set the albums in iTunes as gapless. I don't really understand that, I plan on just setting everything as gapless. If theres silence in the song, the end of the track usually has silence, so what's the point? Anyways, I can't check because my ipod refuses to update to firmware 1.2, which is needed to enable all these new goodies. Hopefully my problem is a common one and they fix it soon.

[Raisa]

I don't really understand the iPod craze.  I think half of the people who own iPods just use em as a fashion accessory.  Like all fads, it'll die down.

[ren]

I can confirm gapless works.