Why the iPod sucks

No support for Windows Media Player - the most popular media player in the market by far

WMP is not "most popular," but most forced down people's throats by MS's monopolistic stranglehold on the OS.

The music you download from this store has extremely restrictive rights, you will only ever be able to play the AAC files you download on your iPod and on your computer, thinking about transferring some songs to your new player at some point in the future? Dream on, you'll have to buy it all again, and most likely from another store anyway.

Not true. You can convert AACs to MP3 for burning onto your own CDs. I've done so several times. I have a whole CD made up of just songs that I've purchased from iTunes. I've also transfered songs to other players. Where do you get this information?

You ignore the fact that iTunes' "restrictive" licensing was something that Apple had to agree to to get the big 5 Recording outfits to agree to putting their music on iTunes. Do you even recall what the downloadable "legal" music arena was like two years ago? I think not.

Microsoft has a stranglehold on the OS market? What's stopping you from installing another x86 OS on your machine? The only stranglehold is the one Apple has on hardware, hence the reason Apple products are behind the times and more expensive then other products.

Transfering to CD is dependant on the licence. The licence then certainly does not permit you to transfer it to other devices or copy it freely, so you are in effect breaking the licence. Due to the Red Book format there is no way to enforce this end of the agreement, but it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

You are correct in saying that iTunes of course had to agree with what the record companies wanted, however other stores manage to have much more flexible licenses.

I heard there was someone somewhere who thought the iPod sucks.

Nice to know we found you.

A rabid diatribe with too many errors to take seriously. For example: You can replace the iPod battery yourself and there are many places that sell batteries. The Dell DJ has the same design of internal battery - why not bash Dell? There is a color screened ipod, the iPod photo. But why add color when its not needed for most applications? The quality of ipod music is dependent on the encoding but various HiFi journals (e.g. Stereophile) have consistently rated iPod sound quality as the best of the available players. Charging over USB2 is supposedly available for later models (I haven't tried it because Firewire is faster). The controls are so good that other companies are mimicking them. Indeed, ease of use is one of the biggest selling points compared with ridiculously complex and unintuitive designs on other mp3 players. Maybe you don't like it, but millions do. Finally, the incompatibility with WMA files is purely a marketing choice. Since the iTunes Music Store is the most popular source of on-line music (70% marketshare), what's the problem? Apple doesn't hide this fact. There are lots of WMA music sources - they're just not very good compared to the iTMS. The restrictions on tracks bought at the iTMS are actually lower than others not more restrictuve. You are confusing compatibility with DRM.

I just realised, I'm probably wasting my time as this reply wll be deleted. Your article is simply a rapid anti-advert for iPods. Go buy a Dell Dj or one of the Muvo's. They're OK and cheaper than an iPod. But they are also inferior in design. Check today's copy of USA Today.......

Considering the very young age of this blog, and considering how this post follows the FUD party line, it would not surprise me at all if this were a blog created to bash the iPod. Maybe someone from Real, maybe someone from Microsoft, but it's almost definitely a bogus blog designed to try and topple the iPod using nothing but inaccuracies.

First, your inaccuracies:

1. The iPod DOES allow charging over USB.

2. You can get an iPod with a color screen if you want.

Wow. Why is it that WMA is somehow better than AAC? Also, which players support Ogg Vorbis? The only one I know of that does warns people that listening to the Ogg files will severely hamper battery life. And, BTW, Ogg files aren't a dealbreaker for 99% of the population, as most people haven't even heard of them.

Have you compared other MP3 players' batteries to the iPod? They are all the same type of battery. They all have about the same life span, and suffer from the same problems. I left my iPod out in the car in the middle of winter for a week, and the battery hasn't been the same since. This would have happened with anything sporting a Lithium ion battery, such as laptop computers.

I realize the format war is troublesome. However, DRM'd WMA or Fairplay-AAC are your choices in this arena. One locks you into not only Windows Media Player, but a Windows computer. The other locks you into the iPod, but gives you choice of Macintosh or Windows computers. In addition, many of Apple's competitors have more restrictive DRM, and some have different DRM on different songs, as well as different prices on different songs. As far as iTunes "hijacking" your system, are you going to claim that Windows Media Player 10 DOESN'T put icons on your desktop? It sure as heck does!

Finally, I believe you are wrong about the flexible licensing of music from other sites. Would you please give at least 2 examples of other stores with "more flexible" licensing than the iTunes music store?

So stop your bitching and don't buy an iPod. Buy one from the multitude of competitors that consitiute the 8% of the HD based MP3 players that aren't Apple. And find out for yourself why over 2 million people purchased an iPod in just the past 90 days and why Apple continues hold it's incredible marketshare lead.

This is the essence of a free-market economy. Don't like it, don't buy it.

Apple suck...thats all i have to say

Fuck you and fuck your bullshit blog and your bullshit opinion. You can take Microsoft and that shitfold of a pc world and you can go to hell with them you lose class, clueless, dumb fuck peasant.

Apple owns the technology world...OWNS it. iPod RULES...you can wipe your ass with WMA and any other shit junk from Microshit..so, you, Bill gates, Real, and all your other whiny mutha fuckers can go and fuck yourselves. Only the clueless buy your junk, and yes, unfortunately they are lots more of them around. So enjoy!

Based on the "facts" in this blog entry...what year was it written? The facts WERE true, but are not today. Not anymore. It feel like I'm reading an old news article.
And is he trying to tell us that WMA restrictions are less restrictive than FairPlay?
Maybe this guy isn't just out of date, but simply uninformed.

Toilet training issues!

I got to the fourth paragraph, and I was then completely convinced.

Anyway, everyone is permitted to have their owns tastes. But, the FACT that you got nearly everything wrong in your description of the iPod leads me to conclude that you actually HATE, HATE, HATE - a different product! ;-)

This is ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS!!!

That was the best laugh I've had in a month!

Wonderful sense of humor, the almost perfect antithesis of the iPod truth.

I'm guessing your have the Dell Junk Box and the iPod confused.

What else can you say about someone, who feels that a quote about killing virtual bugs, is significant enough to post on his sidebar.

Paul, your infantile diatribe truly highlights your lack of education. I pity you.

It's this kind of stuff that makes one think about making public displays of foolishness a criminal offence.

Ah, yes, the "APPLE SUXX0RS!!111" troll post that's filled with factual inaccuracies. Hey, it works for John Dvorak when he doesn't have a good idea for a column...

Anyone else notice the crossposting between Paul and Catherine? Their blogs look EXACTLY alike. Considering their bogus complaints, no WMA, OSX crashing, etc. I don't give them much credibility.

They're just pissed that Apple's stock has skyrocketed. I won't give Catherine the benefit of posting her useless blog on this useless blog. Goodbye forever...

Factual error after factual error after ignortant ignorant asinine factual error. I've tried, but I can't find a true or accurate statement within the entire pitiful excuse for an article.

Are you actually that far out of touch with reality, or do you just like to make this shit up?

I don't know why Macsurfer links to this crap. You'd think some effort would be made to check the facts. He clearly has never used an iPod. I suppose he's trolling for flames? Well for what it's worth he's got them.

As for those who are flaming back, don't waste your time. Anyone who thinks that WMA = choice is deluded, or really doesn't get that "choice" basically means Windows only. AAC, like MP3, is open source, and hopefully more hardware manufactures will see that. WMA is NOT! I wish you all luck, but I'm tired of trying to enlighten these dorks.

"AAC, like MP3, is open source"

Now who's deluded? I'll write out a critque to all your responses later, I'm still laughing over all your mistakes.

Mostly it seems to be a case of anti-Microsoftness, pro-Apple blindness and non-understand-able ranting, or just plane mis-information. So it shouldn't take too long.

No dude, really you are deluded and you just proved it.

Educate yourself:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Audio_Coding

...and your statement:

"Mostly it seems to be a case of anti-Microsoftness, pro-Apple blindness and non-understand-able ranting, or just plane mis-information. So it shoudln't take too long."

is completely ass-backwards.

or is that bass-ackwards. But like I said I'm tired of trying to convince dorks like you to open your eyes.

A little knowledge never hurts. On the other hand I suppose ignorance is bliss...

Wow, never in my life have I seen so many iPod fanboys...

I had an iPod and got rid of it for one reason, iTunes. iTunes sucks. It's buggy, slow and very lacking compared to other services. I'll take MusicMatch, Audiogalaxy, Napster, or MSN Audio over iTunes any day.

Better yet, I'll take any mp3 player that works with any of the services listed above and is not locked down to iTunes.

Sorry buddy, AAC isn't open source. FAAC is "open" but it's still a proprietary codec, like MP3 and WMA. Apple's bolt on DRM technology isn't open, and they don't even licence it, the reason the iPod is doomed.

Do you even know what open source means? A lot Microsoft's source code is available to it's customers.

Now educate yourself on WMA:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WMA

Notice in the first line the word "proprietary"? Do you understand the implications of that? Probably not.

...And don't even begin to champion MS as an advocate of Open Source. You know not what you say!

Oh... and iTunes/iPod will work with the above listed services.

Shit I'm tired of this.

ROFL! You can't even read now!

AAC is proprietary, it's owned, you have to licence it, it's no different then WMA, only WMA sounds a lot better and has a single DRM system, not Apple's bolt-on which won't work with non-Apple devices.

Once your done ROLFing, check out the link titled "AAC open source"

LMAO!!!

Wow a simple iPod review an an Apple blog post has stirred up all these Apple fan-boys into high gear...

Anyway, I'm perfectly fine with my 40GB Creative Zen MP3 player, thank you very much.

Oh, and I've tested the iPod out before. To be frank, I'm not impressed with it's audio quality...

And that iPod is the slimmer, thinner, third generation one I believe....

Quote from tired:

"Oh... and iTunes/iPod will work with the above listed services."

A few years ago they didn't, and that's when I switched. I might go back to the iPod except their too expensive compared to other mp3 players.

"Once your done ROLFing, check out the link titled "AAC open source""

Yes as I already mentioned, FAAC, which still obviously has to work around the AAC patents. Do try and pay attention.

You can only get the iPod to work with other services using illegal hacks, which Apple is stamping out very quickly, and taking Real to court over. And forcing users to upgrade to newer versions of iTunes that include "new features" to disable 3rd party applications that do things Apple don't want them to do.

Reply To: Wester
Another Windows Toady joins the fray...buy what you want. Don't be an ass wipe. The blog has alot of inaccuracies. People have pointed them out. Alot of Window Users buy iPods. How do you know who is replying. Why are you here. You're not even interested in the iPod. What a dick hole.

stumpy wrote:
"Another Windows Toady joins the fray...buy what you want. Don't be an ass wipe. The blog has alot of inaccuracies. People have pointed them out. Alot of Window Users buy iPods. How do you know who is replying. Why are you here. You're not even interested in the iPod. What a dick hole"

I didn't say I wasn't interested in the iPod, I just said I wasn't impressed by it. God, what a fucking cunt.

"You can only get the iPod to work with other services using illegal hacks"

I don't know what you are talking about and clearly neither do you. The iPod and iTunes plays any mp3 from any source just fine. No hacks needed.

Face it... you wrote an article that was full of BS. Now you have a bunch of iPod users trying to set you straight. I don't know where this thing about the sound quality sucking came from either. That really is BS. Perhaps you are confused about bitrates?

Anyway I'm done here. I like my iPod. I think it rocks in every way it needs to, and so far no other hardware manufacturer can come close. So call me a iPod fan boy if that's what I am. Proud to be one!

Good luck!

"I don't know what you are talking about and clearly neither do you. The iPod and iTunes plays any mp3 from any source just fine. No hacks needed."

No stores sell in MP3, they all sell in WMA (apart from iTunes obviously, which sell in Fairplay crippled AAC). Apple like to force it's customers into things. WMA is available to all operating systems, if Apple want to add WMA support so it works with everything else, Microsoft would licence it to Apple in a heartbeat - the truth is Apple want to restrict you into their own stuff.

The iPod has weak sound quality compared to other players, this has nothing to do with bitrates, it's to do with the hardware itself, seriously, hook an iPod up to your hi-fi then do the same with your Zen or other.

Tired - knock of the posting so many replies, you only need one reply, and knock of the childish and insulting language or your posts will simply be removed.

It's odd that people think Apple is apparently restricting customer choise by supporting mp3 and aac and yet it's Microsoft that forces EVERYONE, including retailers, to use wma. Are we really willing to hand all the keys to MS again?! I hope the answer is NO!

Microsoft forces retailers to use WMA? How do they do that? Retailers are perfectly free to use any format they like.

Record companies will obviously only allow their content to be sold with Digital Rights Management. Such as DRM protected WMA, or AAC (with Fairplay).

If Apple would be willing to licence their DRM Fairplay technology, retailers could sell in AAC+Fairplay, Apple will not licence their DRM technology, so that's your loss.

Still retailers can sell in any format they like, as long as it has a DRM technology to keep the record companies happy.

It's funny that it's Apple who seem to be doing all the "evil" that people mistakenly think Microsoft does.

Why would someone so in love with Wintel and so hateful of Apple put forth this disinformation?

Could he have shorted Apple stock, and lost tons of money with the recent jump up in Apple's stock price?

Is he out thousands of dollars because he believed in the Microsoft monopoly?

Or is he really clueless enough to believe his own BS?

The iPod was chosen Stereophile 2003 Product of the Year because an iPod can play back uncompressed AIF and WAV files. Paul, you can try deleting this post, but I will just post it again.

http://www.stereophile.com/features/1203poty/index6.html

Bias Alert your post was deleted for calling all of the posters here "wankers".

Wow Paul,
that was quick!! You quickly deleted my post on abandoning Microsoft for Apple once and for all. Did I offend you? or are you afraid of the truth?

Hey, I once thought M$ was OK too, and to be honest, a lot of their problems arise from stuff they don't directly control.

Have the decency to re-post my comments on the iPod, I'm sure those MacAddicts will get a kick out of it.

Guys...

Posts that feature insulting language either to posters or bloggers will not be tolerated. Zoso, calling posters here "morons" is not allowed, end of story.

Please less of the hot-headed largely useless rants and more of the effective critique.

Wester wrote: I didn't say I wasn't interested in the iPod, I just said I wasn't impressed by it.
-----------------------
Yes, and you know wayy more than the editors at Stereophile Magazine, too.

http://www.stereophile.com/features/1203poty/index6.html

You are absolutely correct, I withdraw my rude comments toward Paul. He, as well as everybody else has a right to their opinion. I seem to be having better results with the iPod than Paul does, my Zen was ok, but I have to admit that I prefer the iTunes/iPod combination over any other I have tried (several). I never had the issues paul describes on my P4 Asus running Xp and beg to differ on many of his points. Maybe its the hardware he is using? Anyhow, since my migration to the Mac (iMac G5), I have NO complaints YET. Who knows, maybe my ecstasy on this side will last forever? I know, I know, wishful thinking.

Again, sorry Paul, I let other iPod lovers get the best of me.

Cathy posted:
Apple suck...thats all i have to say
------------------------------------
Oh, and I also suppose your essay critiquing a particular computer manufacturer for its poor UI naming conventions will get you an 'A' for effort, if not for grammar?

ROFLMAO

Zoso write: He, as well as everybody else has a right to their opinion.
-----------------------------------
Yes, well, there are opinions, and there are informed opinions. That's why I posted the item about the iPod being chosen as Stereophile Product of the Year 2003, which should answer the nonsense being spewed in this forum about its audio quality. Unless we have a blogger or poster here who is a better qualified audio authority, it does seem pointless to debate what has already been settled by Stereophile, eh?

Paul seems to have an IQ of room temperature.

he associates Microsoft and Open Source together.
That's the first damn time i've heard them go together.

Mac OS X on UNIX,i can understand.
AAC, i can understand.

WMA is superior? MS and Open Source?
Oh did i mention MS was trying to sue Linux for infringing supposed patents.

Dude. go take out the trash.

and remember apple invented it first.

Paul sez: The iPod sucks
Stereophile Magazine: The iPod rocks

They named it 2003 Product of the Year

http://www.stereophile.com/features/1203poty/index6.html

Who are we going to believe?

Paul, or Stereophile Magazine?

ROFLMAO

m$ better than apple??

and i suppose you believe the war on terror is actually doing any good??!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAHAHA!!!!!

ms whores are soo funny....just like bush, full of crap!!!!!!

Bias Alert posted:
"Yes, and you know wayy more than the editors at Stereophile Magazine, too.

http://www.stereophile.com/features/1203poty/index6.html"

Dude loose the "I know it all attitude", it doesn't work.

truth wrote: and i suppose you believe the war on terror is actually doing any good??!!
-------------
Well, for one thing, it's creating employment for air marshals. Gotta find jobs for those blokes who've been displaced by outsourcing to India or China, you know. Otherwise, how will they be able to afford to buy shiny new iPods this Christmas?

"WMA is available to all operating systems, if Apple want to add WMA support so it works with everything else, Microsoft would licence it to Apple in a heartbeat - the truth is Apple want to restrict you into their own stuff."

Actually, Microsoft produces Windows Media Player for the Mac. However, it will not play any of the DRM songs sold on services such as Napster. It also won't work with DRM video such as the NFL's online offerings. That means that Mac users cannot use Napster or, in fact, any other legal online music service other than iTunes due to this. Apple is not stopping Microsoft from doing this; they simply don't see the market for it, I'd imagine. So, even if Apple added DRM-WMA to the iPod, people with Macs would still be out of luck. I'd rather that my computer be supported than my MP3 player, considering the relative costs of each.

Wester wrote: Dude loose the "I know it all attitude", it doesn't work.
--------------------
Did you mean "lose"? I certainly don't know it all; heck, I don't even own an iPod. That's why I chose to cite an external, authoritative source: Stereophile Magazine. It's called research. Try it sometime, you might learn something.

Paul,
In a previous post, I asked you to point out 2 services that offer more flexible licensing of music than Apple; I'm still waiting. Also, why won't you acknowledge your obvious inaccuracies concerning USB charging and a color screen?

Matthew

SuperMatt asked: why won't you acknowledge your obvious inaccuracies concerning USB charging and a color screen
---------
People who post blogs like this are NOT interested in the truth. They want to whine and complain, and when they are then shown up by others to be ignorant and/or misinformed, they protest that they deserve respect. Respect is earned -- either show that you know what you're talking about, or accept correction from those who do. Anyone who is too thin skinned to take fact-based rebuttals or admit their errors deserves to be heaped with scorn and contempt if they do the same to others based on their ignorance and arrogance.

Bias Alert...

"Did you mean "lose"? I certainly don't know it all; heck, I don't even own an iPod. That's why I chose to cite an external, authoritative source: Stereophile Magazine. It's called research. Try it sometime, you might learn something."

I mean get rid of the attitude. You do act like you know everything and that I don't. But you're blantly wrong.

*Claps* Yeah everyone researchs now and then, I'm happy you finally learned how to do so, bravo.

Wester wrote: But you're blantly wrong
---------------
Um, did you mean "blatantly"? Hmm?

As for attitude: this is the Internet. Rule#1 -- if you spout attitude, you will get it back, in spades. When you said the iPod doesn't impress you, did you expect a source like Stereophile Magazine to show how ignorant you are? That's why I used sarcasm. When on the Internet, if you can't back up your high-and-mighty opinions with facts, expect to be flamed.

Wester wrote: Yeah everyone researchs now and then, I'm happy you finally learned how to do so, bravo.
----------------------------
Yeah. I've been researching since the 1980's, so I guess I learned how to spell and use the word "blatantly" and not try to pass my inappropriate word usage as a typo. So clever of you to have a "sense of vocabulary" indeed.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Wester wrote: Oh, and I've tested the iPod out before. To be frank, I'm not impressed with it's audio quality...
-----------------------
Your last sentence above should read, in part: "I'm not impressed with its audio quality..."

"it's" is a contraction for "it is"

I guess that's another reason why you're not an editor for Stereophile Magazine.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Wester wrote: Oh, and I've tested the iPod out before. To be frank, I'm not impressed with it's audio quality...
-----------------------------------
I've tested Wester's vocabulary and word usage. To be frank, I'm not that impressed with its quality, either.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Wester wrote: Dude loose the "I know it all attitude", it doesn't work.
----------------------------------
What does? Your ignorance?

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Since this blog is written by Paul, who named his blog "Paul's Blog" "because it is impossible to ever think of a good blog name", we should be hard pressed to think this Paul has any creativity or just simply, an original thought.

That simply enough explains his hate for Apple, which is generally considered by many more mature computer and consumer electronics experts, and even Bill Gates himself, to be one of the most innovative and creative companies around. Even outside of technology, just look at how Best Buy and other retailers are falling over themselves to copy Apple's retail store concept.

This hate of course, could also be because Apple didn't sell an "Apple PC" and "Apple MP3 player" "because it's impossible to ever think of a good product name."

And Matthew, Paul is not interested in rational dialogue, or correcting errors. So don't get your hopes up waiting for a response. Leave him alone so he can wallow in his own ignorance and arrogance.

"Leave him alone so he can wallow in his own ignorance and arrogance."
----------------------------------
No. This is the Internet, where social Darwinism rules. People like Paul and Cathy shall not be left alone, they will be flailed by critics until they have learnt their lessons, or until they turn off further comment posting.

:-)

While I approve of Apple more than I approve of Microsoft, I do not approve of Wester. Wester is not very good, says I. He has essentially no real experience with Macs and has based his opinion on Paul's, who is really a maddened Russian doughnut professor who shoots lasers out of his eyes and keeps skeletons in his closet.

In absolute seriousness, however: I do not agree with Paul's anti-Apple crusade, nor do I agree with anti-Paul crusades. Why all the hate? ;_;

Why all the hate?
-----------------
Because Love does not usually make for compelling headlines, unless you are a certain drug-addled celebrity. :-)

Oh and, incidentally, Bias Alert is the best person to comment here. Your anti-Wester comments are truly hilarious and are appreciated by Ransom, keep it up.

"keep it up"
------------
Can't. Being an annoying prick takes too much energy. Besides, I did keep it up this morning, and the wife came 5 times, by her own estimate. :-)

You cannot leave. Twizzle won't let you. This is Dave. Ransom's gone. Dave makes us scared. *quack*

You forgot that the p.o.s. iPod can't play mp3 tracks gaplessly.

You all forget that this is a blog, not a prestigious magazine. Paul doesn't get money from Apple for praising their products, only magazines do. Regardless, if you don't like what his opinion then just stfu and move on, there's more than one opnion in the world and neither is right.

"there's more than one opnion in the world and neither is right."
----------------
Did you really mean, there's more than one opinion in the world, and none of them is right? Let's look at your logic at its simplest level:
A: There is no such thing as truth.
B: Statement A is True.
A refutes B. This is not a paradox, it is a logical contradiction, pure and simple. Therefore, I conclude that you are illogical. Which is an imprecise way of saying that your opinion doesn't make any sense at all. Is that simple enough for you?

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

You forgot that the p.o.s. iPod
-------------------------------
Wow. I didn't know someone was using an iPod as a Point of Sale terminal! How do you enter the item price? By shitting on the person who wrote the above statement?

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

"Paul doesn't get money from Apple for praising their products, only magazines do"
-------------
Stereophile is a very high-end audio magazine. The iPod is normally beneath their radar, but it ended up in their labs and was tested for audio quality with uncompressed sources, namely AIFF and WAV files, to see if it could deal with uncompromised audio signals with good accuracy. Do you suppose that the magazine would compromise its editorial integrity by selecting a product that will not stand up to scrutiny by other audiophile rags? It's called the "scientific method" and it relies on confirmation from multiple sources using repeatable tests. What did Stereophile complain about? That the iPod had no S/PDIF output. That should give you a clue about its audio quality. Heck, I do not even own an iPod. If people are unwilling to let the lab tests speak for themselves, then we cannot have a fruitful discussion about signal quality. Blog opinions without test results that can be independently verified are worth jack shit.

"there's more than one opnion in the world and neither is right."
-----------------------------
If you'd bothered to leave out the 'p' in 'opnion' you'd have a real gem of a post. Unfortunately, even such mundane brilliance is apparently beyond your ken, and your 'logic' that implies there is no such thing as truth speaks volumes about your mental ability. I abhor relativists, especially dumb ones who can't muster a logical idea. At least Paul has the conviction of his ignorance and some command of logic, however flawed.

admin wrote: Please less of the hot-headed largely useless rants and more of the effective critique.
-----------------------------------------
Yes, well, I shall attempt to provide a critique not only of the sloppy thinking much in evidence in the blog post and subsequent commentary, I shall also pillory anyone who tries to pass off their abysmal language skills as mere typos. This blog and many others like it are rife with ignorance, arrogance, misinformation, and outright lies, and they add to the pollution of the blogosphere. Think of me as part of the Blog Quality Control Police -- if your blog sucks because you've exposed your stupidity for all to see, maybe you can at least improve your vocabulary and word usage by reading my posts. And for boors who tell me to STFU, I say, grow a brain before you post non sequiturs like "there's more than one opnion and neither is right"; learn to think logically and to write clearly, and maybe, just maybe, you'll get some respect.

What the hell are you on about Bias Alert? I'm not ignorant nor arrogant. Your insane ranting doesn't end, does it?

Below is a snippet from a particular Stereophile review, which should give some indication of why Paul's and Wester's low opinions of the iPod's audio fidelity are misinformed, to say the least:

http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/934/index2.html

"The iPod offers such an embarrassment of choices regarding file storage and playback that I had to begin by discarding quite a few of them as irrelevant to a discussion of its fidelity. That's not to say that 96kbps MP3 and AAC, for example, aren't useful space-saving options; simply that they represent sonic compromises most readers of this magazine wouldn't tolerate even while jogging. For the purposes of the following comparisons, I ran the line-out from the docking cradle (thus bypassing the iPod's volume control) to a Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista 300 integrated amplifier, which drove a pair of Amphion Xenon floorstanding loudspeakers. I used Shunyata Research Lyra speaker cables and a Kimber Kable stereo mini-to-RCA interconnect."

I can't afford most audiophile equipment, and in normal use, an iPod (or indeed any portable music player) would not be deemed audiophile quality, but clearly the reviewer from Stereophile thinks otherwise. I could in theory afford an iPod, but my personal music collection is mostly classical, jazz, and baroque, so to experience the maximum sonic quality that the iPod can theoretically deliver, I'd also have to purchase very high-end earphones from, say, Etymotics or Shure, which would cost far more than the iPod itself. Given my budget, that is just not going to happen -- at least not if I want to stay married, anyway. Besides, lovemaking is much better than listening to music, although you can do both at the same time, just not with headphones.

:-)

I read in your blog:

"WMA is available to all operating systems, if Apple want to add WMA support so it works with everything else, Microsoft would licence it to Apple in a heartbeat - the truth is Apple want to restrict you into their own stuff."

Below is a link to site where somebody tried to get Microsoft to license Windows Media Player 10 to them. Lo and behold, they refused. Your argument has officially been refuted.

http://www.linspire.com/lindows_michaelsminutes_archives.php?id=143

Yours,
Matthew

Bias Alert:

I'm on your side completely, but I think people here are having trouble understanding you. I'll go ahead and translate/summarize your last several thousand posts:

"Hello. I'm Bias Alert. I don't even own an iPod yet I feel I need to push the opinions and views of one sole online review (StereoPhile) onto everyone else. Me being the sheep that I am, and having no opinion for myself, I heavily rely on other people/reviewers to set my opinions for me. I may not have any experience with an iPod but I did read the StereoPhile review 31 times, so I feel like I'm one with the iPod. Here, let me post the link again:

http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/934/index2.html

And just incase you missed it:
http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/934/index2.html

Did I mention that the StereoPhile review of the iPod was great? They loved the iPod. I love the iPod. I don't own an iPod. You should love the iPod.

Finally, my main goal in life is to become a 7th grade English teacher. I enjoy grading and correcting other peoples' grammar and spelling. Because I'm insecure with who I am, I need to make myself look better by putting other people down. The easiest way to do this is to shoot people down based on their grammar/spelling skills. Also, my wife came several times. God I'm so cool.

BWHAHAHAHWHWWHAHAHWHFHVN!"

There we go. Now people should have an easier time understanding you.

Love ya!

Matthew bravely offered: "Your argument has officially been refuted"
------------------
Matthew, since when have actual facts gotten in the way of thought processes such as Paul's (or Cathy's)? These unfortunate people understand only one thing, and believe me, it's not rational argument. That much is clear from their blogs.

rack wrote: "Because I'm insecure with who I am, I need to make myself look better by putting other people down. The easiest way to do this is to shoot people down based on their grammar/spelling skills. Also, my wife came several times. God I'm so cool."
----------------------------
I'm not insecure, and I'm not cool. I'm a formerly obnoxious wanker who often likes to play the part of annoying prick because it reminds me of my misspent youth, hence my chosen online persona of language schoolmarm. If other people have a narrow vocabulary, poor writing skills, and limited reading comprehension, that's really their problem, not mine. Anyone can put out a blog and anyone can comment on it, but as the old saying goes, it is better to keep silent and be thought stupid, than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.

rack also wrote: I'll go ahead and translate/summarize your last several thousand posts
-------------------------------------
Several thousand? Don't bother. Since you can't even count, why should we give any credence to your attempted translation?

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Me, being the supercilious jerk that I truly am ;-)

Hey rack, I'm just having a bit of nasty fun at other people's expense, okay? You have a nice day.

Why I Don't Own an iPod
---------------------
My wife is a medal-winning concert pianist and accompanist. We have a Yamaha grand piano in our living room, maintained by a professional tuner. I prefer to listen to my wife's piano playing, just as I prefer making love to her over wanking, any day. So I couldn't care less about Stereophile's opinions, let alone anyone else's, and least of all the ignorant, minsinformed opinions expressed in an unimaginatively-named "Paul's Blog". I just like to have fun at other people's expense. I've had my Internet jollies, it's now time for me to sod off and get back to enjoying my wife's very real charms. Don't hate me because I'm such an annoying prick. Hate me because I have such a wonderful life. I bid you, my fellow wankers, adieu.

Oh, as for the iPod? I don't own one. My wife does.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

"Below is a link to site where somebody tried to get Microsoft to license Windows Media Player 10 to them. Lo and behold, they refused. Your argument has officially been refuted."

Read carefully, they have the licence, Microsoft refused to licence "parts" of it. And considering the only way the Lindows crowd even exists is by ripping off the Windows name they're hardly in a position to speak.

Microsoft have spoken publically, saying they would licence WM tech to Apple in a "heartbeat".

Apple refuse to licence their technology to anyone, period. So why is it Microsoft being "evil"?

Bias wrote:

"Hey rack, I'm just having a bit of nasty fun at other people's expense, okay?"

It's cool. I like to do the same thing.

Anyways, I'm going back to my Windows XP machine, listen to some music through Windows Media Player, surf the Internet using Internet Explorer, and maybe play some Microsoft Mech Warrior, or MS Motocross Madness, or MS Flight Simulator.

*watches all the MAC users cringe*

Love ya!

rack wrote: "I'm going back to my Windows XP machine, listen to some music through Windows Media Player, surf the Internet using Internet Explorer"
-----------
Make sure you don't catch CoolWebSearch, okay? AdAware SE and Spybot 1.3 won't clean off that crap, and I've lost count of how many times I've had to go into other people's Registries to get rid of rogue keys and overzealous browser helpers. That is, unless you enjoy pr0n pop-ups. Makes cleaning the screen and keyboard a bit iffy. ;-)

A-wankin' we will go, a-wankin' we will go, hi ho the merry-o...

Bias Alert,

Keep slicin', I'm having a hell of a good time. Nothing more satisfying thAn seeing 'igmoramiouses' sprewing their version of 'logic' and thEn watching it get shredded before all.

BTW, why is 'moron' NOT tolerated, while the language that 'Wester's uses, is.

And again, it's okay to PREFER another product, really it is. But, is it so repugnant to tell the facts THEN state why YOU 'prefer' something else. Ahh, apparently it is here.

You guys are just too much, quite entertaining for a blog. Keep it up Bias Alert and the "gang"
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAMORONISPAUL

OOPSIDAISY! Fair is fair Wester.

Yeah "the gang" are a bunch of assholes.

Bias alert, you said absolutely nothing about anything other than Internet Explorer. No doubt, IE is an utter piece of shit. But you see the great thing about Windows has something called versability which allows you to to do something such as, hell, I don't know, download a different browser such as Firefox or even Opera if you really wanted to.

I mean seriously, what is there on the mac that isn't on the PC? For that matter, what's on the mac that isn't run on the PC faster?

Say what you will about Microsoft being Monopolistic, You have to figure that there's probably a reason why their products are so popular. I mean they didnt get all the money to buy other companies from some type of money tree.

"Considering the very young age of this blog, and considering how this post follows the FUD party line, it would not surprise me at all if this were a blog created to bash the iPod. Maybe someone from Real, maybe someone from Microsoft, but it's almost definitely a bogus blog designed to try and topple the iPod using nothing but inaccuracies. "

Aaah mac users and their conspiracy theories. If you had taken a second to look about you would notice that this is pretty much the only Anti-Mac post on this blog.

Fuck you and fuck your bullshit blog and your bullshit opinion. You can take Microsoft and that shitfold of a pc world and you can go to hell with them you lose class, clueless, dumb fuck peasant. Apple owns the technology world...OWNS it. iPod RULES...you can wipe your ass with WMA and any other shit junk from Microshit..so, you, Bill gates, Real, and all your other whiny mutha fuckers can go and fuck yourselves. Only the clueless buy your junk, and yes, unfortunately they are lots more of them around. So enjoy!


Ah, the miracle of free-speech.

This is the essence of a free-market economy. Don't like it, don't buy it.

So, really what you're saying is that
MICROSOFT HAS A MONOPOLY BECAUSE THEY'VE EARNED IT!

BTW, why is 'moron' NOT tolerated, while the language that 'Wester's uses, is.

Moron is derogatory towards people with mental liabilities.

(congratulations mac users if you can understand that)

Bias Alert, do you happen to work for Fox News?

You're about as fair and balanced as they are.

Bias Alert says
"Me, being the supercilious jerk that I truly am ;-)"

At last!
A kernel of truth in your mad rantings!

I find it amazing how many people call Wester ignorant and arrogant, but Wester keeps judging himself and refuses to accept other people don't love him as much as he loves himself. Wester, if everyone thinks you're ignorant and arrogant, just because you adamantly refuse to accept it does not change the fact that everyone disagrees with you.

And Simon, Paul is being no less biased against Apple than Bias Alert is on the opposite side. There is no-one on the middle ground here, you're all being total shits and I hate you all.

I don't love myself... what the hell are you on about? I'm not proud of a thing I do.

Ahem. What a mess - the blog post (needs clearer updating) and the comments.

Sound quality: feel this has been done.
Control when it's in your pocket: you get a remote, in case you'd not been talking to anyone with an iPod lately.
WMA: hmm, why hasn't Microsoft released WMP10 for OSX? They've done WMP9. Microsoft could release WMP10 for OSX - do they need Apple's say-so for it? I'd like to at least try out Napster, but can't on an OSX machine.
Arguably, iTunes w/Fairplay has a larger potential platform that Windows Media Audio DRM files as iTunes can get to that OSX niche. Not big, but very noisy. (You may have noticed.)
"Apple should make the iPod play WMA" - well, no, they don't *have* to do anything. You might not like it, and if they only had 2% of the online market, it would be their own dumb choice. As they have about 70% of the legal download market anywhere there is a decent legal download market, they really don't feel obliged to cater for the WMA niche. (That's right, niche. Think about it.)

Finally, not your blog question, but a comment question: I mean seriously, what is there on the mac that isn't on the PC? For that matter, what's on the mac that isn't run on the PC faster?
Answer: a good security model that underpins how the OS works.
Also, Unix twiddles for manipulating genomes.. BLAST.. cheap supercomputing..
But Windows does have a lot of software that isn't available on Macs.
Viruses, Worms. Spyware. Adware.
Damn, I'm jealous. Not.

what is so bad about mac? and i thought i was cynical. at least i don't tear topics to shreds. have you ever considered seeing a psychiartrist? is that how you spell the word? mac has better graphics than pc, and that is something that makes it better. (i do aknowledge that you said ipods have cruddy screens) everything has goods and bads. i see nothing wrong with macintosh sound quality, having both a mac and pc. the pc keeps crashing, loads programs slowly, and sometimes doesn't even start up programs. some good things about pcs are that they're cheap and can run games like red alert smoothly. you must find something negative in other mp3 players, and something good in ipods. quit complaining.

If you're going to lie then don't lie that much.

Most "MP3" players only play MP3 or WAV files
Apple allows you to play 5 different file formats (MP3, AAC,
AIFF[uncompressed], Lossless, and WAV)

A full access wired remote comes with the iPod allowing you to control it without touching the player.

Windows media player is not the most popular music player on the market. It may be the top VIDEO player, but not for music. iTunes makes it so easy to update all of your songs without even a click of the mouse. Apple was the first to do this.

"With Windows Media players you can just plug it in to your PC and let it fly, no installing complicated software that does things behind your back."
What is that supposed to mean? iTunes has to be one of the simplest this to install ever. And is currently being preinstalled on every HP computer being shipped.

I don't use windows anymore and i'll never go back but I know iTunes for OS X is one of the greatest things ever. You can bash apple and macs and whatever else you want to. But... My system has never crashed. My OS kernel isn't 13 years old(NT). And I'm not buying a operating system from somebody that once said "The reason you see open source there at all is because we came in and said there should be a platform that's identical with millions and millions of machines." Bill Gates

"AAC is not open source at all, it's an open standard,"

Well neither is the mp3 format, you have to license that from the frauenhofer institute, so this point is moot in my opinion.

What is an Ipod?

THANK YOU. People are always making these claims that MS has a "monopoly" on the PC software market, but I don't think they know what a monopoly is. Apple is the true "monopoly", but of course this business strategy is not so amazing because smart people like you and me know that this is only so they can force us to install everything Apple on their machines. I mean seriously; what kind of company sells EXPENSIVE hardware, then forces you to install software that puts secret stuff on our system?! And you say you could just use an alternative to iTunes? Too bad. If you're a mac user, you're going to have a hard time finding any non-Apple device/software that works well with your plethora of Apple products.

Two words: Rio Karma. IMO one of the better players on the market today with high quality sound, and support for open source Ogg Vorbis and FLAC. BTW, Flac a lossless audio compression codec. For you iPod users that have to keep music in humungous WAV format to get near CD quality (not that you could tell with an iPod of course, I pity you . Oh wait, no I don't.

die horribly u fuckhead. you're jus a loser that doesn't have money to get an ipod. the new ipod shuffle is the cheapest player so go get it and stop whining, u jealous freak of nature.

"forces you to install software that puts secret stuff on our system?! And you say you could just use an alternative to iTunes? Too bad. If you're a mac user, you're going to have a hard time finding any non-Apple device/software that works well with your plethora of Apple products."

Do you actually KNOW what you're talking about?

Thank God I've found your site.
Because the Ipod is relatively expensive to the earnings I have, I did check-out MP3 players quite a bit before getting one.
Though, the one that I have is probably not the best, but I bought it because of my own reasons - I'm a fan of Sony.
Granted, Apple did an excellent job at marketing iPod. I actually circulated the shopping complex twice to try the iPod at a few retailers...
One thing put me off first and foremost - sound quality. It is really bad than what I've been used to. I really, really (with all sincerity) wanted the iPod to work for me, but just can't!!! he sales guy tried to even 'cover-up' the sound deficiency by letting me try with a far more superior headphone.
So... I bought my Sony Atrac player. Though there are many things to complain about it, but to me, the SOUND QUALITY and SCREEN is much better than the iPod.

IPOD BLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My OS kernel isn't 13 years old(NT)
"UNIX" is about 35 years old.

I'm going to have to second the notion that the Rio Karma is a superior player. It plays MP3, WMA, Vorbis, FLAC, and PCM WAV, instead of the menagerie of worthless proprietary formats that Apple seems bent on marketing. It's also quite a bit easier to get working with my FreeBSD workstation--I just plug the Karma in to my ethernet network, navigate to the web-based management system, and manage my music.

AAC and WMA are both irritating formats. Really, the lack of format support is the only reason why I dislike the iPod. If the iPod had support for FLAC, Vorbis, and gapless playback, I'd seriously consider buying one.

The Ipod is an inferior product plain and simple. The only reason it's done so well is because of Apple's great marketing strategy. Otherwise it would have sunk just like the rest of Apple's crap.

The facts are too hard to ignore. Apple's battery is terrible, they still haven't posted their signal to noise ratio statistics, their support for codecs is non-existent, the itunes store is far too restrictive (especially considering you pay for the music, sure you could burn a cd with music and rip it, but technically that's breaking the DMCA), and lot's of other players come with built in functionality that the ipod can either only dream of, or requires extra hardware to do. And then there's the price... Personally Apple can take their overpriced crappy hardware and shove it down someone else's throat.

i reckon the ipod is cool, its cute and small im sick of carrying my discman around and then it scratches my discs and starts twitching, i mean my cdrw drive didnt work and i thought i was fucked when i first bought the ipod cos i needed the disc, but then i downloaded the updater and itunes and i get all my music from kazaa and its great, i dont c the problem with the ipod besides the battery life now that sux i literally have to take my battery charger to school. and another thing it doesnt except my wma drives, pisses me off but i love the sound, look fuck it whether i paid 400 buks for the piece of shit or not its 2 fucking cute of an invention to resist

Here is my story with my (now sold) 3rd generation, 20 GB iPod and I thought it totally rocked. I took it with me everywhere, school, traveling, everywhere. It held most of my songs and I loved how I had something that people around me were just starting to get. But then things began to turn sour. The screen became almost unreadable in bright light because there was a purple tint over the majority of the screen if you looked at it straight on. The battery life dropped to under 6 hours when my iPod is barely over 6 months old. Naturally, iPod's skimpy warranty left me high and dry when I actually needed it. And the aesthetics of the iPod? Please... the iPod only lasts if 1) you keep it in a case 24.7 or 2) you have absolutely no lint or dust wherever you take your iPod. The iPod scratches like nothing else. Just simply keeping it in my pocket scratches the hell out of the once shiny back surface.
Now I’m looking to the Creative Zen Touch. For me, the argument isn't over codecs; 99% of my collection is 192kbps mp3, so the AAC vs. WMP debate is a moot point. The size difference isn’t going to require me to get new pants or lift weights, so that topic is out the window. Really, what it comes down to is quality and value. On value, Creative wins hands down. Apple has this awesome capability of making people buy a bunch of accessories after you get the iPod to make it more “usable”. Sure, they lowered the price $100, but they cut out a fair amount of previously-included accessories. So the $30 price difference actually broadens to $50-75. On quality, I can’t believe Apple makes something that lacks in durability as much as the iPod. I know people who have broken their iPod within hours of getting it (and no, these aren’t the people who throw their iPod in the air while playing it). Personally, my iPod got stuck in an infinite reboot cycle and I had to RMA it within a couple weeks. Also, people love how it looks; personally, I despise how it looks after 1 week of actually using it. It gets so scratched up that even the best cleaners on the market couldn’t make the back of the iPod shiny again; let alone the white surface on the front. Lastly, the iPod’s audio quality is abysmal. I hooked it directly up to my Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 Ultras and even my Dell Axim X50V sounded better than the iPod did. Review after review, I see more and more people bowing down to the superior audio quality of the Creative Zen Touch/Micro.
I really did love my iPod, but now I see there is much better out there. Ignorance was truly bliss.

All I know is that I heard that people were being targeted and mugged on the streets for their Ipods. I find this amusing to say the least. Everyone I see with an Ipod has it out in their hand in plain sight, sometimes waving it around, trying to show it off; of course why not...it's trendy to have an Ipod. Right?

To make things worse, Apple had to come out with white earbuds and bright colors for the Ipod, making it easy to spot someone with one...and people wonder why they are getting mugged?

I dont realy no much but if this is right then good :). well i think it sucks because what the hell! 99 cents a song! get a freaken cd player! I think people get iPods to show off not for music. I was about to buy one but 360 bucks kiss my ass! and i didnt want a shuffle because you cant pick your song! I searched everwhere for a good price! So i gave up iPod sucks! i want to sue apple sony and hc and any other company that makes a MP3 player like a iPod! so dont buy one! because if u do ur just trying to show-off!!!

No support for windows media player, so stupid!

I agree the iPod sucks.

I used to have one, to say the sound quality is average is a compliment. For such an over prised device, the least you could expect is some decent sound - I guess that was too much to ask for.

The iPod is nothing more then a marketting campaign, and don't get me started on itunes.. sure ripping music is simple.. how about organising it?

Since when is a flat file acceptable for 60gb of data?

All these People Bashing and Arguing Against you!

Protecting a Company that Wouldnt Give Two Shits about them.... what a bunch of Sad idiots....

what the fuck. u retard the ipod is amazing you just cant afored one asshole dont u ever dis the ipod again mother fucker

Wow Chis aren't you good at arguing, I'm sure it's just more of the case that he doesn't want to waste his money on an ipod. It's only "amazing" to some people cos it makes you popular, oh yay great way to make friends.

Jealous you cant afford one?

Apple is doing with iTunes what Microsoft is doing with MediaPlayer...just choose "the virus" you prefer! I connected my iPod to a Linux box using GTKpod to manage it, so I installed none of the previously mentioned. Both are heavy and act as "viruses"...GTKpod doesn't. Sound quality isn't that crappy...
Bye :-)

I grew up with 45s. Records, that is. For a long time we only had one by the Kingston Trio. One side was "Tom Dooly". The other side was "Ruby Red". We listened to them over and over and never complained.

Lol, poor paul. He's obviously never used an iPod. They are clearly the best on the market today as they are the bestselling. DONT DISS THE CLICK WHEEL!!

No one I've ever talked to has ever had a problem with iTunes.

Nobody I've seen or talked to or exists on the web has a problem with iTunes. or iPod it seems. apart from the 'cool' people ;)

I also find your sound quality argument funny. its amazing. i plug my iPod headphones into my PowerBook and the quality is SUPERB. every bass note, the trebles and everything comes across brilliantly. whereas I put the same headphones into my big-ass expensive Laptop and urgh, you hear humming and static noises.

yea. of course. Mac users are used to low quality audio ::rolleyes::

wonder why these iPods are the most popular music players in the world? hah. theres a reason. and not 75% of the hard drive music player market bought them for fashion, probably 10% did.

HAHAHA! Brilliantly hilarious. However, I do own an iPod Shuffle, I find it quite usable but agree that I would rather have a non-Apple HD based player *cough* gigabeat.

Chris

iPods suck. Stop being a bunch of tools already. I didn't believe people could be this stupid until I saw how many actually supported Apple's inferior piece of shit.

Ahh iPOD, fascism in a little white box. If MTV killed rock and roll, then the iPOD is surely dancing on it's grave.

You're only all sticking up for them because you know you've wasted ~£300 on the bloody things! i bet you'd all rant about a shiny white turd if it had apple written on it! go wank on jobbs' face! bunch of pussies, i bet you even use the headphones that come with it don't you! but "oooh, everyone knows i've got an ipod now cos i've got headphones with a white cord!, so who cares if they're uncomfortable and sound crap! not me!!"

There is a solution:

Cowon iAudio X

Uh, I just wanted point out that not only is AAC not open-source, neither is MP3. The patent is owned and licensed by the German company Fraunhofer-Gesellshaft.

I don't know how Fraunhofer are as a licensor, nor mow much they charge per device for manufacturers to use their technology, but I DO know that Dolby Labs, the owners of AAC, are particularly nasty about how their codecs are used, and demand appallingly high fees for licensing.

Wow, I'm glad I'm not the only person that feels this way. Being surrounded by people with iPods makes me cringe. Sadly, I even told a friend of mine that Zen was better, and cheaper, yet he was a fool and bought an iPod. And the sad thing is, people probably think iPod is the only MP3 player out there. And what's real sad is when you ask an a person why they got an iPod, they give you some lame reason. Like I said, why would you buy iPod when you can get a Zen for cheaper and it's better in quality. People are just sticking up for iPod because they don't know any better.

It's just like Mac versus a PC with Windows. People with Macs say PCs with Windows suck, but last time I checked, PC has much better hardware than Macs and Windows supports a heck load of more hardware than a Mac. So, you just have people try to support what they got and not what's better.

So any person that says iPod is better has lost, that's what Mac wants you to say, that's why they still exist because these fanboys save them. Don't support iPod because you're just making a fool of yourself.

I don't like them either, I mean I still use CD players for pete sake I mean you walk down the street now and you see people wearing them in little package things on their arm, showing them off,and like you said why buy a peice of crap that you have to buy from itunes!!!

Would everyone stop argueing! Let me settle this!

IPODS RULE!!!!

I agree with you 100% on the shitty audio that the iPod Produces. Its just not good choice for audiophiles/audio engineers. My old iRiver iHP-120 produces higher quality audio than the iPod. I own two iPods... 5G and Nano... and Apple has to some serious research on DSP's or post/pre fader systems.

Alot of you iPod users dont know what quality audio sounds like, heh.

Thanks Jazz for agreeing with me and all the others about the sound quility and plus the iTunes songs you get cannot be moved or anything and if your iPod takes a crap forget about getting all your songs again unless you want to pay for them again

O and by the way gareth, maybe you should think more and read peoples comments before you post crap cause we all know (its a proven fact) That iPods have crappy sound quality, if any so do some research on this site nexttime you post some thing and think if you can no offense

(P.S) The iPod sucks!

O and by the way gareth, maybe you should think more and read peoples comments before you post crap cause we all know (its a proven fact) That iPods have crappy sound quality, if any, so do some research on this site nexttime you post some thing and think if you can no offense

(P.S) The iPod sucks!

Its because you cant afford one aint it!FUKER

HAHA,
this is funny. Oh btw look at me I just jumped on the bandwagon, I have an IPOD. I am so cool. Another cliche device which everyone wants because it is "cool" to have. I applaud apple though, through there advertising everyone has to have one. Look I have a bag of $h!t. EVeryone is going to buy one, are you???

There's an even better reason to hate the iPod: It's destroying our culture!

I Came across this blog while searching to see if other people were experiencing similar difficulties with their iPods. I have had a rather bad run with them because of the three in my household, two have stopped working completely and one is struggling. Mine (40 GB click wheel) began experiencing random locking/pausing after 18 months, my partner's (Mini) died completely after 12 months --just outside the warranty and my sister's (shuffle) died completely after 15 months. The battery seems to be the primary contributor in each case though my ipod (40 GB click wheel) also pauses at will sporadically and in these instances the only way to get it to unpause is to let the battery run out. Once it experiences a random pause, it does not respond to the click wheel so I have to leave it until the battery has run out and then recharge. Currently, the fully charged battery lasts a maximum of about 90 minutes. My partner's mini began to suffer from fragmented display (so you could not actually read the titles, artists, etc.) and then within about 10 days, its battery went completely dead. Once you have become accustomed to having your whole music catalogue with you wherever you go, its very difficult to go back to the days of a discman ;-) That said, I am loathe to try more iPods and am hoping to find a reliable alternative. Anyone have any recommendations?

Well, some of the stuff you have to say is very interesting. I'll agree that apple is a 100% proprietary company and gives the user no flexibility on how to use their products.

That being said, we live in a world where we can hook an apple product up to a pc, and then an entirely new world opens up. Once you hook the iPod up to a pc platform, you have virtually no limit on what you can do with it. I despise iTunes and any other software product designed by apple, which is why I went with Red Chair Software's Anapod Explorer. It completely integrates the iPod into windows explorer and lets you basically use it as you would a thumb drive. You just copy and paste music files either to or from the iPod without any issues. I don't even have iTunes on my computer, yet have more userability than most iPod owners.

Now that apple has released a decent-sized flash-based player, as long as you have a pc and plenty of third-party software products to use, the iPod is by far the best mp3 player available.

iPod Nano 4GB
Winamp Pro 5.13
Anapod Explorer 8.9.5a
450+GB of mp3 files

Bryan yes you can convert it over to mp3 from AAC but do you not realize when you convert it, the sound quality lowers and is not as good as a normal cd?
ipods are way overated they even say on different websites "Near CD-Quality" whats that? CRAP WMA is much better then AAC. MAc is looking for a way to screw you over by restricting you to their recources. Also do you notice you have to charge the battery every 2 or three hours come on? my digital camera on 2 AA batteries is better then that.

please pick me...

Lets discuss this irrespective of the "space" here. By nature hard drive based players obviously offer larger space. Having said that, I'll write some questions to help you make your purchasing decision.

You can read the features above so I will not reiterate them.

[*]AA (disposeable) battery. Why is that good?
I don't like proprietary batteries. They are expensive, and after few months, they are out of production, non supported as companies come up with newer product models. So you're stuck. Now mp3 players (most of them) have the battery built in. What makes it even worse is that with exception to Creative players, most others are completelye irreplaceable. Ipods too! That is where AA, or AAA batteries come handy. They are found anywhere there is civilization. They are disposeable, cheap!
Of course this little wonder offers 40+ hours of playtime with just one AA battery. Ipods barely offer 10 hours of playtime. So compare that.

[*]The music formats.
Majority of the online music vendors use WMA format. Guess what? Ipods don't play them. Its because they want to force people to buy from itunes store (true for other Apple products, and Microsof is accuesed of monopoly!). With this Samsung player, you are not bound to a specific vendor. Dump your music in it, regardless of the source, it will start playing. Not to mention Samung player also plays more music formats than ipod.

[*]Line input.
Do you have old cassetts? Old records? VHS tapes? Got your favorite songs or any audio on them? Guess what, you can use this player to make mp3s from ANY audio source. Just connect the included cable and press record on the player. You don't need a computer for this. Line input is not available for Ipods even as an expensive add on.

[*]Built in mic.
Need to record your lecture? Capture a moment? Record live concerts or any other events with this feature. Now this is available for ipods. You can get an extra thing to carry for around $40 or more. Then again, Ipods are capable of handling only 1 accessory at a time. You have to remove other add on such as a remote

[*]Control without seeing?
Many people buy Ipods just to show off, "hey, look, I'm controlling an Ipod, look at me! Oopss, I forgot I can't operate it from my pocket! I need to have it in my hands to do everything, except the "hold" switch". Yah. Of course thats true. This Samsung player, you can operate from your pocekt, change volume, skip songs, on, off, pause basically everything. Obviously you'll need to look at the menus if you want to change the settings, but it no way requires you to look at it. You can operate it with your eyes closed. Ipods are incapable of being controlled without looking. There is a remote for ipods (another $40 extra) which has 3/4 buttons such as back, forward, volume up and down only!

[*]Size? Yes it matters.
Please have a look at the images I have added. You can see for yourself how "small" it is. It comfortably fits in your palm. A bit cube shaped so its easier to hold. Just a little bigger than an AA battery. Its just above 2 inches in height, and little more than a half inch depth.

[*]Flash? yes please!
I always prefer flash players to any "hard drive" based players. Sure the space is small, but flash players are more reliable. The reason is, in hard drive players, there are parts moving, spinning and if for any reason they are dropped accidentally, or experiences a big jerk, it is more than likely that the drive data reader (the magnetic head) being displaced. In plain English, your fancy hard drive player won't play anything any more. This is true for Ipods and any other hard drive player as well. Now flash players on the other hand, shake them with all of your might, nothing will happen, and the music will also be skip-free. Basically flash players are generally VERY stable, solid, not allergic to simple or tough shaking, jerk etc. Unless you break them with a hammer, or drive your car over them, flash players are very sturdy, tough guys.
By the way, if you don't believe me, you can try shaking your hard drive player but be WARNED, you might very well damage it parmanently!

[*]Others things about this player.
- Body is made of aluminum (2 sides) and plastic (2 sides) (Its one of the VERY few mp3 players that are extremely well built, built to last! Even some newer models from Samsuing are fully made of cheap plastic, which most other players are made of anyway).
- Portable storage. It comes with both cable and a mini plug so it can be uses as a storage drive. Its plug and play, platform independent. Translation, you can use it at your computer, your friends computer, your secret lovers computer, your boss's (if you're allowed) computer etc. Only few hard drive players are plug and play, but most of the flash players are plug and play.
- FM radio. It wasn't important for me, but its there. Reception is pretty good and again you can directly record from FM radio without any wires to mp3 format. You can even change the region, if you're moving outside the US.
- Advanced SRS, WOW effects, detailed, customizeable equaliser settings, display mode, default volume etc. As it might come as shocking to many, Ipods aren't the only players that "shuffles" music. Its a common feature that many many players have built in. You can set to normal, repeat 1, repeat all, and of course shuffle all songs in this Samsung player.

Final Verdict:
Please don't give in to the "hype" and just buy an ipod. Do compare the features, prices. Ipods are overrated, overpriced and offers very little for the money you pay for it. So if money doesn't matter to you, all you care about is how fashionable, how cool it looks, maybe Ipods are for you but if you are a serious, conscious, educated consumer, this Samsung player is a must buy. This is one purchase you will not regret. I'm actually getting a second one too!

iPod will be kicked off the market sooner then you think.
Next Samsung cellphone has 4GB hard drive in it, see what I am talking about? And yes, it is driven by Windows Mobile (Nokia does the same based on Symbian), supports MP3, WMA and 3d party codecs and yes it has remove control and no stupid weel. Who the hell decided that this weel is an invention? It is usability nightmare. How do I supposed to rotate it inside my pocket?
I bought iPod to my wife. It's cute you can't argue with that. But other then that there is no other reason to buy it. Its like jewelry for chicks you know. If you have a bit more practical mind you don't buy this shit. Besides, real men don't wear jewelry.

WWW.WEBHOLE.BE

EVERYONE GO THERE AND REGISTER

while I don't really know too much about the technical stuff...I can tell you this. My best friend got an Ipod for xmas last year and she never got it to work right...tried to send it back and got shitty customer service from the store. We were discussing this while shopping and two storeclerks behind the counter heard us and said that they knew others with the same problems.
While the mac may "look cute" I am glad I never bought one.

i was actually thinking of buying an ipod video, then i asked around and my friends say they get no where near the 14 hours 'supposedly' you get.
plus you can ONLY charge it with a USB cable, and a wall outlet will cost like 50 bucks extra.

yes it is true, itunes fucking lag!!!! i have a very fast computer and itune still lags!!

My beef with the iPod culture is that the "iPod ear" (pop-term for deafness caused by portable audio) condition these fools do onto themselves, the earbuds blast away - and even though there is a firmware update, they would never install it or switch it on (unless their kids use it).

Also, the dap is sorta overpriced and is the first player people can think of. If this device is a style statement, I'd sure would love see why exclusivity is defenitely not so.

iPODs are for the dumb asses, er...I mean "masses" that exist in our world now.

I don't think any non-iPod player matches Apple's design in terms of style, but in terms of functionality, iPOD doesn't come close to what its competitors offer.

When the iPOD craze dies down in a few years, Apple will be forced to "open" up its music download service options and supported media types.

Until then though, those white earbuds and chic-savvy iPOD users will be everywhere, walking aimlessly and amazed by the "click wheel".

Pity them, for they know not that they are idiots.

iPods are made from the worst components and materials available.. The sound quality is probably the worst I have ever heard from an MP3 player.

Windows > Mac

Mac OS = Computing for dummies...

IPODSUCKSIPODSUCKSIPODSUCKSIPODSUCKS

yall listen
The only good things about ipods are that u can hold so much musik on them.However the longetivity of the ipod battery sucks.You cant also see your musik if u put t in another computer.Why is apple so into too much copyright??Also the the ipod doesnt support formats and doesnt support media player which is much better than the wack ass itunes.

I own an ipod video and the settings for the video arent that good.I also own a psp and the video settings are far much better.

peace

I bought my wife an Ipod for mother's day. What a mistake. The i-tunes store is virtually impossible to use. It is the biggest waste of money I have ever encountered. My son has lost so much of my hard earned money by somehow losing songs when he has made changes to his computer. It is not his fault. The itunes store and the ipod are, in my opinion, designed to woo teens into spending a lot of money on slick looking little white devices that suck up money and provide a lot of aggravation. The itunes store is completely unintelligent. If you log in from a different computer it has no idea who you are. Are there ways around these problems? The answer is probably yes. But why should I become a computer expert to satiate apples desire to bring in more revenue. I have recently thought the new apple ad was so cool where a PC was holding hands with the Mac...HA! I will never buy anything that apple has to offer, ever, never again. I will also take the product back immediately to the store where I bought it.

thats true, with the ipod having restrictive properties, and all the market hype, which preys on idiot kids, whining to their parents so they can get one and get one. Since its cool to have one, people with small penises will buy it compensate for itI was never impressed by the ipod, and yes i do have money to buy one, but its not worth the investment. I dont want to be another apple zombie

Sigh... I wish i'd seen this blog a year ago when I made the mistake of buying an iPod.

£166 + postage for repairs? That's just bullcrap I was just playing the damn thing, and it froze up, giving me a stupid "Sick iPod" icon. No amount of resetting or formatting could make it go away.

I'm going to have a great time taking a hammer to it.

/goes off to buy a Creative Zen

I'm neither a microsoft og mac fan. Both have their qualities, and both have their faults. I bought an iPod Photo because of its superior design and capacity. The first one I got kept freezing until it finally died completely. At that time I had had it a little under a year, so after a few hours on the phone with Apple support i got it replaced. The new one keeps freezing too. Everyone i know who has an iPod with harddrive complains that the drive fails or the iPod keeps freezing. I am now officially sick and tired of iPod and when this one dies (which i suspect will happen i about a year) I'm getting something different.

http://www.creative.com/press/releases/welcome.asp?pid=12585

Now we know that Creative did invent the "click wheel" interface and Apple has admitted to ripping Creative off.

YOUR SOO RIGHT! IPOD SUCKS! why the hell do all these conforming dumbasses beg to differ? it is SO obvious that there is much better then the ipod out there! thank you for saying something!

I bought the best ipod a few months ago and I am now so sorry because it sucks big-time!

My main complaint is how un-userfriendly it is!

1. The user manual is more like a fold-up paper condom to illustrate the fact that you just got fucked. There is absolutely no documentation for itunes (which you need) or the basic functions of the ipod. If you need support your call is transfered to India where you will speak to Rapsanjanniedada and he will not understand you as you will not understand him.

2. If you buy a digital camera or mobile phone you can plug it in your computer and drag and drop files so why can't you do this with the ipod? To transfer songs or any other files you must use itunes which is so cryptic and un-userfriendly. Any other generic portable music player likley allows drag and drop file transfer and then you are done and listening to music instead of using your credit card to buy it.

3. Ipods are anything BUT quick and easy to use.

I love my ipod. I really do. Or I really did. I got a 5th Gen for Christmas. It lasted 6 months. Failed. Had to be replaced. Next one lasted 5 weeks. Failed, had to be replaced. Next one lasted 3 weeks.

Each time, you loose everything. Every playlist you've carefully constructed, all the songs you've collected. This was fine and well when I pods were 5 gigs. Unless you have the 60 free gigs to keep a nice perfect mirror of your ipod, every device failure is a mounting pain in the ass. And given the 5th gen failure rates this is just getting to be to much.

Until I got my Ipod, I used to think Apple products were for people with more money than sense. Now I'm quite sure of this.

Hmm, interesting points all.

I work with the most hardcore Mac zealot still in existence. And, I have a Darth Vader-like anti-Apple running a PC based MP3.

I rue the day they heard I was poking around into MP3 . . .

I JUST want to ride my bike and run some music and podcasts to kill the long rides(mainly to keep work out of my head.)

I was all set to get a freakin' CD player to ride with. Also, wanted to listen to hockey and found lots of AM radios that sucked . . .

So, I bumble into the idea of MP3 . . . Hmmm.

Yet NO players, but one cheesy one, play AM.

Then, it's on to figuring out formats. Having had the 1.5 generation classic Mac up through a 9600 workstation, I have a soft spot in my heart for 'em--even after OS and hardware changes that FORCED users to upgrade, blah, blah. But, true, and they bash Mr. Gates.

Anyway, the Mac PC wars of the 90s are MOOT. Photoshop works on both yadda-yadda.

Now, though I find a range of non-Mac players with more build in features but lacking a good stable of truly integrated FM transmitters etc. See Podfreg, spiffy.

Reluctantly, I find myself leaning toward the 'Pod. But the whole ITune Microsoft-like thing bugs me. The not easily transfering files or cleaning the box etc. and limited machines bugs me.

The expence of an Ipod comptable FM transmitter, that's spiffy as heck but 30-50% more than one that'd work with any of the PC side.

Initial cost, WOW. A 4 gig nana is 199 and no FM tuner . . .
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007Y79B2/ref=pd_cp_e_title/104-1022144-6897568?ie=UTF8

But a nice box.

A new Zen V costs $168

http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Portable-Media-Player-Black/dp/B000IBNXX2/sr=1-3/qid=1160454791/ref=pd_bbs_3/104-1022144-6897568?ie=UTF8&s=electronics

Soooo, many ad's preach 'looks cool' or 'you'll be cool' -- yeah, think differently like all the other guys who buy our stuff!

Whoops. Just angry at all the hype. Whew.

Reiews on CNET are decent, Amazon too. Just tired of having to read between the lines on formats, subscription hassles, battery live.

Hmmm, maybe I'll just get a passe one or two gig'er and go ride my bike!

Thanks for keeping this thread live and open. Very nice to hear a bit of the banter and stuff to consider . . .

Interesting link at CNET on Ipod nightmares.

Man, give me a Sony any day. I know Sony uses its proprietry software and store and all that hoohaa about DRM is a bloody annoyance, but one thing Sony players have over everyhing else: Atrac3Plus.

There is less distortion than MP3 with twice the bitrate which means more enjoyment in terms of sound quality and battery life. And SonicStage isn't too much trouble to use, either.

ipod sux BALLS not just ipod all apple product, i will be busy listening to music in 5 differnt formats while ur waiting ffor apple to replace ur shitty battery

wow... a lot of stupid ipod users...
what a loser

Don't make any mistake, iPod really sucks!
I have one for a year, while my girlfriend has a zen....oh Im jealous. They said that Microsoft was misusing their monopoly....maybe, but what Apple is doing now....!?! Its far and far worse.

You HAVE to install iTunes (really louzy software, almost any media player is superior) to even install new firmware for your iPod!

And something else, somewhere in the latest firmware update they REMOVED the alarm function....Why would you remove a function that was actually pretty handy? Stupid.

And now listen this: My pc doenst recognize my iPod anymore for some reason. I go to the Apple shop, and they tell me I get no support because I use Winamp to sync my iPod!

OMG APPLE SUCKS!

Please buy a windows pc, buy a Creative Zen or some other normal mp3-player which is plug-&-play with all formats & software...

Hi,

I dont know about battery life,licensing,supporting multiple formats etc..

All i know is that ipod's music quality is huge dissapointment..

i wonder why ipod gets so much hype..

I heard sony mp3 player...ipod just does'nt come anyway close to it

Six month ago I bought an iPod (an iPod Video of 30GB 5th generation). First it was an incredible experience, having my hold audio-library in such as small device. But then the iPod start failing, getting worst every time, freezing always when I wanted to use it. And where I live here in Chile is an expensive item, so I was expecting a quality product, but the iPod remains far bellow my expectations. At the beginning I thought that it was just my particular device, but all my friends, that have the same iPod version, told me that it was something usual. And if you considered all the money wasted in this device (including cases, docks, headphones, cables and speakers) is a huge investment for something in which you can’t trust. So if you are considering buying an iPod, please don’t, because it doesn’t worth it. Or you will end up like me with US $300 less and listening to music in a PEN-DRIVE MP3 of US $15, which y guarantee that want failed as much as the iPod Video.

Advertisements suggest getting an ipod. Their great for music. Oh, yeah…Umm…you must also have to get itunes, because you will need to manage your ipod. Oh…..ok, I guess that makes sense. Oh, yeah…..Umm…To get itunes, you will have to create an itunes account. Another online account to have to maintain? Well that is pretty typical I guess, why not? And Umm….Oh, to get an account you will have to provide ‘credit card’ information? They don’t want you just going in there and shopping around. Sorry, that what I get for thinking it was a free software download. Yes, I know the software is free, but when my Credit card info is required, it is usually after merchandise has been determined.

At this point, I’m starting to get the feel that this is a bit of a ‘ride’. Oh, well, already spent 40% more for an ipod than I could have gotten a traditional MP3 Player, why not just see where all this goes. This will CERTAINLY be getting better, right? Well….there is a gentle little surprise in every step. Got another machine? Guess what? You can only use your itunes / ipod from one Machine. I guess that has something to do with the software having so much input for you. After all you don’t really think you can manage your file yourself. Silly human. But, I thought this was good stuff. When does the good come? So far, to listen to music files, we’ve spent more money, more time, more effort, and have become more restricted by the device.

But I’ve seen the marketing gags, and they have implied extreme superiority, and this is good stuff, right? Whatever.

Now, buy some tunes. Oh, you can’t listen to the tune you purchased for your ipod on a CD. You may want to put that in your car, home stereo, or some other place that itunes can’t control. You just paid for and bought the tune, you don’t really think you could own it did you. Silly human, that is why we made the m4p file. What a load of crap. Oh well, it’s already been purchased. Don’t fret over it. Just scratch that off as more money down the tubes, thanks all be to itunes.

Change to another machine, now your really screwed. No wait, everyone in the world is a software guru now day’s, so itunes has made it where you get to exercise those Computer Science Masters geek skills to finally be challenged with figuring out yet another layer of complexity when determining your ipod backup files. That may not be authorized for content you thought you purchased from itunes either, after all you have to let Apple decide what you can do with that file. Don’t perform a sync, or you will loss your content never to be found again.

All of this is really strange to me after using MP3 Players for years, with very simplistic ease. Just move what you want to listen to onto the device, and go. Your device crap out, get another one, put the files on that one. Works every time. Changing machines? Just move the files to the other machine. No need in worrying that your free software will have any grief with the move.

Now, what was supposed to be so grand about ipod? Haha now I remember…it had a cute slim case, and good marketing. That makes it absolutely worth all the trouble and time wasted. Not!

Personally, I will never get rid of my ipod. It will always be more valuable to me crumpled up in a tiny wad of wrinkled metal, and chard plastic, as a trophy, or a solid, sound reminder that you can’t believe everything marketing tries to sell you.

For some reason, I started to believe the hype. Gave it a chance, over, and over, and over. Well…..never again.

IPOD's are awful. I like your article and agree with many points.

Apple likes using DUMBED DOWN TECHNOLOGY. There going down soon as a result!

AMAZING. My ipod just stopped working a few weekes ago. The hard dreive wouldn’t “turn over”. I could hear it clicking and see he apple logo flashing on but no sad face or anything. I was sad. I don’t want to spend $$for a new ipod.

Having spend a lot of money on a 30G Video IPod is like biting in a SOUR Apple. For that amount of money it is a rip off. F.E. There is no compatibility, it is to sensitive for scratches and the battery(meter)is awfull. Luckily I learn from my mistakes ;-)

This is good. I hate ipods too. People who buy ipods only buy them to look cool. N3rD 4 L1f3.

I must agree with you here. iPod sucks. Still didn't stop me getting one though. You don't have to pay ridiculous money for music off iTunes store. Get LimeWire/FrostWire and get it all in ACC format for free. So what if it's illegal, nobody is going to come looking in your hard drive.

I can hardly believe you failed to mention the shitty headphones. White, for a start, so everybody knows you have an iPod, which they probably do already because of the difficulty of changing songs whilst it is in your pocket.

iTunes does ask if you want shortcuts on your desktop, start and quicklaunch, its just one of those already ticked boxes on the set-up menu, and you can untick it, Apple are just benefiting off the fact that they know people never read license agreements and terms and conditions.

And since when has an iPod not charged when connected to your computer???

All the reasons why i still dont have an ipod.

Hating your ipod is normal. You are not alone. Telling us about your hate will make you feel better. Join us and spread the ipod hate around the world!

Ipod just isent that good its nothing special at all
its very overpriced and the acc format is no good
i dont think the sound quality is too diffrent but i havent done a side by side comparisan
ms and apple both do monopolistic things but apple really did it with the ipod it was a decent product at first then it went out of date and they keep selling it
mac is a complete useless peice of shit i did a side by side comparisian and windows media player uses less memory then itunes but wmp used more proccesing power but it wasent that signeficant
theres alot of diffrent music players and the ipod isent that good its expensive though a psp and alot of phones can be used as mp3 players and even video players that sync with windows media player most dont play acc some do though the psp can play acc though you cant use wmp to put a acc on you have to put it in directly and phones like the razr v3m can sync with wmp too even though verizon dosent make it easy there some real monopolizing basterds v cast is very crappy and they make you think you need there packet with crappy software but all you need is a mini usb like whats used on many cameras
if your stuck with a mac you can still get windows media play 9

My iPod is 5th Gen. Well a year-and-a-half later and it sucks. It locks up for no reason. I have to reboot it like 5 times a day. And doing that sucks the battery life. And I can only play two or three music videos with backlite up all the way and then my batterys almost dead. 1yr 1/2 L8R!! I am not paying $50 to get a new bttery. I'm never buying an Apple again. AND the support is the worst. My iPod got wiped out somehow one time called in. They wanted $45 to tell me how. Was I mad. And when you use iTunes for the 1st time, after plugging your iPod where are the instructions? On the internet you say? so you want me to take 20min to figure how to put on 1 playlist. Apple would it really kill you if you put instructions in w/ the iPod? You do? Oh, just about how to use the click-wheel huh? That sure help... I always leave my iPod backlite on the lowest and my Backlite timer on 2sec and it still kills my battery. The games that you can buying lock up your iPod 90% of the time. And you can only play for 30min. with backlite on. Come on Apple do you really expect people are able to play Parachute w/ being able to see to screen. And how about turing off your iPod? holding the [play +pause] doesn't work. If you use the sleep on the main menu it locks your click-wheel and you have to hit menu to unlock. Then u gotta try another 5 times before it works right. And how about customization? All other media players can except Apple. you have the cruddy plain white Background. you can hack ur ipod but it's not pracical. and the audio format? come on really get w/ the program use Mp3 and WAV. not AAC. if you wanna plug ur iPod into another PC whoops a diolog box it can be snyced to one PC.if your a traveler and don't own a laptop then ur stuck. And the battery replacment...i will not even go their because there is 2 much cussing involved. i am never ever never ever buying an iPod again. And the new 6th gen iPods. IT ALUMINUM COVERING has apple gone that cheap and still demand $250? I choose ZUNE!!:) Apple will greatly loose their market share expect for the few followers if they dun't kick it up a gear. Hey that sounds like the Mac's only a few ppl follow. It's showing up 2. U used to barely see adds for iPods. NOw you see them all day long. Why? because the market share is decreasing. And Apple is trying to get it back. And Bill Gates (the true Genius) is gonna be worth 100billion dollas:)...huh what can I say except APPLE IS HORRIBLE!!!

I hate the iPod also.

wow!....there r so many commets!......serousily ( i no i spellped it wrong!)WOW!...i had no clue you can write so much hatred for the ipod!....but man you did a really nice job!

Your a faggot. Just because you can't aford an ipod you hate on it. Your just some poor motherfucker pissed with the world and your taking your anger out on the ipod.
Zen sucks dick
sandisk licks and sucks dick
pc's are for fags!!

i fuckin hate the fuckin god damm fuckin dinnky dick cock,
this is the same fuckin ting as fuckin stealing

i HHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTEEEEEEEEE
IPODS THE ARE SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO
SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO
GOD DAMM FUCKING CCCCCCCCCC RRRRRRR- AAAAAAAAA PPPPPPPPP

Great article - my nano died today because it refused to unmount while i was trying to sync its pathetic 2gb memory.

All I know now is that I am NEVER going to make the mistake of buying a non-USM or non-MSC device. No drivers means no hassle, that's the way things should be. Drag and drop in a file browser - pure and simple. I'm sick of hardware vendors shoving their software down my throat. That's why I've abandoned Windows.

I completely agree! U are god! but, its unfortunate that I read this only after i purchased the Ipod, i am going retarded trying to put song from WMP into the f***ing Ipod (shuffle)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SCREW IT! Ima download songs all over again! GODDAAAAMMMMM!!!!

You forgot to cross another item off your list, dipwad. The iPod's sound quality is now among the best players on the market, I've owned about 10 different portable MP3 players and I even know people with ones I haven't owned myself and I can tell you from personal comparison that it is above and beyond almost all other players on the market, short of a few in the $500+ range.

You know why you hate the iPod? Because you hate Apple. Because they make a nice shiny product that doesn't break and works how it's advertised and does so in a n00b friendly way while reserving a modest amount of customizability. Because they are popular and you are some nerd that can't rap your head around anything that isn't worthy of the title underdog. I bet you use some obscure Linux distro that runs mostly from the command line and loath every type of music but vague indie bands that no one in their right mind has ever heard of or will ever listen to.

Apple's only big mistake is the one corporate giants are forced into, DRM'ing. The only things that disappointed me about my Nano 2G and my brand new iPod Classic was that I couldn't install a custom firmware and the lack of a built in tweekable equalizer, but considering the sound quality is almost better than my PC's Audigy 2 ZS playing the same music, I'm not too irked.

Another few things, who cares about WMA? It compares equally or sucks *badly* compared to recent revisions of MP3 and the almighty AAC. AAC is not a "fringe format," OGG Vorbis, however, *is.* ACC has a better compression to quality than any of what you have listed, and you even bringing up OGG vorbis easily identifies you as someone who is hell bent on hating anything that isn't obscure. To make matters worse you actualy care about lossless, oh yeah, like anyone wants to fill their portable up with 20+ meg music files, right...

As for the iPod's control system, it's not meant for people with *cerebral palsy.* As you obviously must have if you have any problem with it. You're just infuriated that something so simple could work so damn well and you curse Apple for it, typical Linux user attitude. Sure, the old iPods had some control issues, but show me one full featured player that didn't and I will use a mirror to show you a liar.

Windows Media Player? The most popular player? God, that is the most craptastic thing in your whole bloody rant, it basically negates anything else you said just by showing how full of yourself you are. I'd say it's split between WinAmp and iTunes, in fact, I don't know anyone personally that doesn't use one or the other, despite Win Media Player shipping with every copy of Windows. No one uses it, it's a bloated piece of crap, another failed attempted at MS trying to copy from people that actually know what the heck they are doing.

I'd also like to point out that MS is *not in any way* an advocate of open source, Apple has them beat six ways till sunday in that aspect as well with OS X, even if their players are DRMed to hell and back. But *AT LEAST* Apple wont ban you from their services for modding or hacking their hardware, unlike Microsoft, who will ban you from XBox live for just about any personal change made to their console.

I'm not even going to go over the rest of what is wrong with this weak rant, here is a suggestion, how about you just put a long strike out thru all the text on this page and find something more damning to whine about instead of going on about something you *obviously* don't know jack about.

My wife bought me an 80 gig ipod for Christmas. I didn't even want it, but I decided it was best to accept it happily. I put over 1000 songs on it and now what? It crapped out and it restore won't work. Did everything that was suggested at apple's forum site, but still no luck. I have spent way too much time on this piece of shit trying to get it to work again. I'll stick to my CD's. The only reason people support this piece of shit is because they spent the money on it and don't want to admit that messed up. Look for my youtube video soon of me either beating my wife with the ipod in a sock, or destroying it with a hammer.

Let me use my experience to describe it.

I got a Master degree in computer science.

I have been a software engineer for 5 years.

I got the first iPod as Xmas gift from my boss on 2005.

I got the 2nd iPod as Xmas gift from my boss on 2007.

I still didn't figure out how to use any of them yet.

I tried really hard on the 2nd time, since I don't want the money just got wasted. Still no luck.

...

ipods are so yesterday whats the point of having them when our cells all have mp3 players?. i had a video and i can say i returned it twice 1st time screen died. then the thing just quit. any way i ended up trading it for a parts car lol

Yes, iPods have brain washed ignorant people with apple's excellent marketing skillz. Ipods are fashion accessorries and they are used to brag and show-off. I don't care that my creative zen looks "bad" but those ignorant people seriously piss me off. iPods are OK, but people that like defend it that is is so good blah blah blah just piss me off. Especiall on youtube.

i hate my ipod, biggest waste of 300$ in my life, headphones broke immeadiately. A PSP cost 199 with a 1GB memory stick, it plays games, music, pics, and vids. nd on a screen that is 5 times bigger than ipod video y did i throw away 300 $ for the ipod again

I love that some people actually realize that iPod, amongst other Apple products, actually do suck, instead of the "iPod is the best thing ever etc"-bullshit from mac-fanboys.

I despise the ipod. Too locked down. It's run by apple alone.

However Microsoft's conventions are not much better. Beyond bearable compared to apple, but still abominable

We need an open source mp3 player. Preferably one that supports more than just mp3, and doesn't have this simple shit shoved down our throats.

I have a solution for ALL of you on BOTH sides of the issue!
Want a good-sounding codec? MINIDISC!
Want long battery life? MINIDISC!
Don't want to lose your tunes if the player crashes?
Take out the disc!
You can record with a mike, an analog or digital line in, edit WITHOUT a computer, go as slow as 64 kb/s or as fast as 1.4 Mb/s (HiMD), the discs are cheap, and virtually indestructable.

OK, if it REALLY comes down to audio quality, why are so many "sound experts" jamming stuff into the iPod at bitrates that could destroy a 20 Hz. pure sine wave?
I HAVE tried them all, and have decided to go with what sounds best, whether it is "cool" or "fashionable" or not...I think everyone else should, too! Please your EARS, that IS why you buy a player, isn't it? ISN'T IT? I get a lot of weird stares when jogging because I choose to wear full-sized studio monitor headphones tied to a MD player...but SO WHAT!
IF the alternative is to "fit in" with the crowd, then suffer horrid sound quality...no thanks!

ALL the computer outfits are guilty of proprietary
greed, including Sony...but I bought their product because it does what I want. Opinions are fine, facts are even better, but I've seen a lot more BS than either one in this line of belly-aching.

If you don't like what Apple or MS or anybody else makes...build your own, or figure out how to shrink a reel-to-reel studio recorder to pocket size, bedeck it with rhinestones, run it on penlight cells...and still get the audio quality...GOOD LUCK!

Fuck you, you nigger. You only hate the iPod because you're a stupid retarded nigger.

wo so many losers here.. while we at apple are raking in the riches and laughing at all of u. thanks for the money digweeds.

The iPod may not have some features that some other players like the Zen have but i can still state reasons why Ipods are the best portable MP3 players.

[1]Clickwheel is so simple to use
[2]iPod is beautiful by its simplicity
[3]Simple navigation through its menus
[4](Almost) 1 standard of accesories
[5]Syncing with itunes is simple

I have had other portable MP3 players in the past and since i bought my first iPod around 3 years ago i realised why there is such a hype about iPod . Its because it simply is the best . Since i got my first iPod , we now have 4 Apple ipods at home .

the ipod sucks and anybody that doesn't agree can get their fat elitist ass off this blog. some people cant afford to pay 250 bucks for sum ipod crap that lasts a week and has limited storage. itunes sucks ipods its so bad. itunes is the WORST piece of shitware i have ever encountered. its slow and glitchy and itunes store has overpriced music. anybody who disagrees with me can get their fat elitist ass off this blog. and dont even give me any shit cause i know what im talkin about. this blog has been goin on for over 5 years so why are you stupid apple guinea pigs still dishin out your ipod bullcrap.

come on dude... pathetic. why would people listen to some hobby-astronomers journal entries on a blog? i mean, the battery thing i agree with, but the rest, what the hell man?

Most of the Apple loving comments on this blog are posted by one same person with changed names.
I hate ipod very much. It does not matter to me what the facts are, and what are inaccuracies. I am not satisfied with the ipod because of its compulsion to be used iwth itunes, its useless user interface, and bad sound quality. Not even the price is likeable. What else remains in ipod to like? Zilch, nothing, nada.

Sorry to all, I did not read your posts. I am so frustrated with this thing I plan to give it to my son. I have a 120g classic (purchased as a cute boyfriend/girlfriend thing) and I can't do anything with this thing. I own a Creative Zen and am able to move MY music how and where I want. I can't do anything with MY music on this ipod and I resent it deeply. Why should I have to take a class to learn how to move MY music where I want, or authorize a computer to play MY music. Ipods suck.

I have been using computers for more than 10 years now(yes I have been using WinTel PC and I am very happy). I consider myself an above average user of a PC but I cannot figure out how to use iTunes. I cannot make My iPod work the way I want it to work.

I have 1000's of music files and have already organised it the way I want them to be played and stored. But Apple thinks they are smart and I am stupid and I will have to obey to their command and iTunes will manage my music files.

That SUCKS. I hope I had never bought this silly toy.

My Nokia phone does a better job.

All people asking why WMA is better than AAC, play a WMA song really loud, then play an AAC song really loud, then compare the sound quality. AAC is distorted and monotone sounding, and portrays the musics sound poorly. WMA plays all the intended dynamics of the music, without distortion.
This is because AAC cuts of the highest and lowest frequencies, to make the file size smaller.
Anyone who appreciates music wants to hear it in the best quality available. So WMA files are larger, but higher quality.
If you listen to simplistic music without depth or dynamics, then AAC is fine for you, but if you like an array of different genres, any of which are in any way complex, then WMA is for you.

You convinced me! I'll go and buy iPod tomorrow!

ok first. if you didnt charge the ipod when the battery is almost full, you wouldnt screw up the battery life.

Second. the poor sound quality is because of your headphones. idiot. no the ipod

third. why would you control your ipod when its in your pocket. theres no point. and. if you dont want it doing random stuff when its in your pocket... LOCK IT!! thats why its there!

fourth just because other music stores cant import directly doesnt mean you cant take 5 minutes to drag the files over

last, the ipods are priced fine. the 32 gig iphone is gonna be expensive. get a damn job

I agree with roughly 95% of what was stated but I'd like to add my own personal experience with a 160G classic.

The buttons are incredibly fragile, within the first month of normal use the hold button had already broken, in -10C weather the ipod tends to get "too cold" and refuses to work until reset and warmed up and lastly adding a moving, spinning hardrive to a "mp3" player is absolutely stupid and I paid for it. The hardrive's moving pieces broke and now I have a $400 paper weight that occasionally displays a red "X".

All in all the new generation ipods seem to be cheaper and less reliable then their somewhat buggy older generations.

If you're in the market for a mp3 player and for some reason need 160 gigs of space and don't intend to move your device I recommend a 160g ipod classic. If you're in the mood for a well constructed, somewhat cheap, plug and play style device I suggest you look into the Zen, Mosaic or a few other of the other products that compete with Apple.

Your Product SUCKS PERIOD ! Get REAL:)

gtkpod is a great replacement for itunes. I have a 160gig classic and I have never been able to organize my files effectively on it. Eliminating the virus "itunes" helped and accessing my ipod via the linux program Gtkpod is a vast improvement, but the ipod firmware fights against freedom at every turn, so even that only goes so far. I hate itunes with a passion! And I have owned macs over the years, but no more. Linux! Apple only wants us to listen to music we bought from them on equipment they sold us...while breathing air they hope one day to convince us really belongs to them. Apple is anti-American because they always error on the side of controlling others over supporting an individual's right to choose. Its just another flash in the pan sell out for history to gobble up. Money. Money. Money. That will be their legacy. Another company that believed in greed for the sake of greed. How original?

I agree with the blog 100% regardless of any technical inaccuracies, the Apple products are completely user UNFRIENDLY. I have had so much trouble with iTunes that it's not worth it to even use the player anymore. I get far more use out of a random $30 mp3 player from Wal-Mart.

i looked up "why do ipods suck?" in google and found this page and it makes me feel better. (after spending 40 mins trying to fix the name of an artist in itunes and failing)

yay!
my ipone broke and mi mom got me a galaxy phone!

Well I read through almost 7 years of pros and cons for the iPod. I bought a new 4th gen 32GB iPod touch for the wife as a Christmas present. I wish I would have found this blog before I purchased it. I totally agree with the 80% of the people who have written here, that iPod SUCKS!!. I've got an older Archos 605 80gb player that I use mostly for video recording/playback and I've never had a problem with it. You can cut and paste audio, video, software, pdf files, etc., anything you can put on a computer, the Archos will handle. This piece of shit is controlled by some super being that calls itself iTunes, that gives you no control over what you can put on YOUR 32GB of memory. If it doesn't go through iTunes, you can't use it!! Forget about using it between multiple computers, it get's tied to one computer and that's it! Even with the bullshit Family sharing program, you hook it up to a registered computer and it won't sync unless it erases everything and starts over......what a joke! I can just imagine everytime you do sync with the host computer, how much information is going back to APPLE??? Do you know? I bet they've gathered quite a library over the past 7 years........watch out for the VIDEO you can now make with the new ones! Mr. Apple will be pulling on his seed for that! Even though it's pretty poor in quality, I guarantee it's a fact.

I've been through countless ipods in the past 6 years with each of them wearing out, breaking, and simply giving out (hardware failures). Ipods and their displeasing cheap software that resembles a spreadsheet program can go to hell where they belong. Why did I even bother to purchase? I'm heading out to buy myself a Zune hd.

I compared the iPod to the HTC Evo and the Evo blows it away in all categories except the camera. Why anyone would buy an iPod is beyond me...

I HATE I-anything! Every single Ipod I've had has had issues. I had the teeny little one that clips, can't think of what iot's called, then upgraded to nano which was constantly dying after an hour even after it had chardged overnight. Then I upgraded to an Ipod 256GB which I thought would be great. However, from the start it has been plagued with battery issues. It would say it had a full charge on the screen saver thing, and then in the top right it would say it was dying. Yesterday, I went to go plug it into my car as I do everyday and it won't turn on at all. The screen looks like there's water or something under it but nothing spilled on it or anything, it's just plotchy and won't work at all. And it's only 2 years old. I know some may think this is a long life for an ipod, but with as expensive as they are, they should last!
Now, I'm trying to find something comparable to an ipod, because I'm done with apple.

i don't know why ipods or mp3 players were inventened in the first place i knew from the start they were a bad idea i still and proudly use anything that's not mp3 format i still use CDS, Tapes and Vinyl Records for one thing i have a lot of CDS from a lot of lesser known bands that aren't mainstream and itunes and all the other online downloading sites don't have my favorite songs available they just have what's popular and mainstream and if you convert everything from CD to mp3 and put everything onto ipod and then you get rid of all of your CDS and use ipods from then on and then something happens to your ipod and then you lose all your songs and you no longer have your CDS to re put your songs off the CDS onto another ipod and also there's some things that were only released on vinyl and cassette and never released on CD and the songs never been released on itunes and plus ipods isn't the way music was meant to be listen to i'd rather have the music coming out of a stereo cranked up loud nothing against the people that like ipods, mp3 players, zune users or any other portable players out there that's cool everybody has different ways of how they like to listen to music just saying that ipods aren't for everybody.
have a great day everybody

I agree with this blog. Even after so many years it still holds true. I bought ipod back in 2007 after listening to all the hype & hoopla but was quickly disappointed by it. Whatever songs I had from my CD's which were burnt from India, they had to first go through conversion through itunes which to begin with was slow & clunky. Never mind, I said to myself, maybe it is one-off thing although I was sorely disappointed as my Girlfriend had chinese mp3 player which used cells (she used rechargeable cells) but had drag & drop feature which also meant that it was like a flash drive. The sound quality of that mp3 player was so similar to ipod as well. Maybe not as well beautiful but it was so damn straight forward & intuitive. ipod was bloody complicated with me going through so many hoops & hurdles & conversions & eventually some songs were not even recognized or playable after conversion. I don't know why people rave so much that Apple products are so intuitive & simple to use. In fact, it is quite opposite (maybe it my personal opinion). They are the most difficult pain in the neck products which are incompatible with others product. If it would be a perfect world, Apple (specifically ipods) in all honestly should have been a massive failure but in this twisted world, it became a super-hit ... Go Figure. Well, that is not the end of story. Turns out that itune software (I like to call it a virus) is incompatible with some of my installed software on PC machine & eventually it caused a hard-drive failure (I wasn't sure the first time around). I lost all my songs but I though hey atleast ipod still has the collection so no worries (at that point in time, I didn't know that ipod doesn't store actual files. I figured that with all the time wasted on stupid conversion & folders created, I will have files in AAC format instead of mp3). Guess I was in shock after I redownloaded itunes & plugged ipod in there. There was nothing, I lost everything & my friends aka Apple fanboys who convinced me to buy the ipod in the first place forgot to mention this tiny little information. I didn't bother to check because drag & drop & doubling up as flash drive is what every so-called chinese junk mp3 player was doing (did I mention that their looks & sound quality was on par with ipod). Damn Chinese people & every other mp3 player manufacturer bungled up big time. Their quality was better than ipod & guess who wins the war. I took me 3 years to get my lost songs back. Along the way, itunes incompatibity flared up again causing another crash & burn but this time around I was smart. So much for Windows failing & Mac doesn't. My windows based PC crashed 3 times in last 4 years. 2 were when I put itunes on it & the third one was because of virus because that stupid overrated MCafee can't detect even a simple trojan ( & they claim that they have detected ghost internet infiltration most possibly from chinese ... yeah sure thing). I don't know about others but I am one really pissed off Apple customer. Eventually, I have purchased Sony mp3 player which is much better than ipod as it has drag & drop feature & gets charged fairly quickly & not to mention better sound. My ipod after second crash & burn is just being charged direct from electricity outlet & it is stuck in the same year as I am not going to install itunes on my PC again. One might say that itunes crashing just 2 times in 4 years isn't that bad. For them my answer is that 2 times is enough as it costed me my library (to some extent it was my fault but how was I to know that so called Apple quality had that serious flaw) & even before second crash happened my PC became extremely slow & sluggish. Ever since I got rid that ijunk & MCafee (read MCrap) my PC handles very fast & is quite responsive.

Ha, of course I am here because I am having that horrible experience of adding music to the flapple ipod kerfuffle that my wife was given as a promo gift and my daughter uses. Every *time* I forget that you can't do the normal thing which is to just dump files on the drive that you can see mounted on your PC. Why? Please someone provide a sensible and practical reason for this. Suddenly having to learn another way of moving an electronic file from one drive to another is just wrong.
I have to say that really though it isn't just Apple, it's also the whole strange way that media files are managed generally. I just don't see why it suddenly all goes weird just because it is music.

For the life of me I can't figure out why anyone would ever buy anything put out by Apple. Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. fortunately for Apple, most of the wannabe hipster kids who buy this shit are to young to know about apples past. Doesn't realy matter though, both Apple and MS are quickly being replaced by Android anyway, making the whole Apple VS MS thing a moot point. Hell, even our military is dumping both companies for Android based systems.

Luckily, any compatibility problems (maybe except WMP, I don't use WMP) can be solved by installing Rockbox on the iPod. It reads a lot of lossless music formats, allows me to organize my music the way I want and adding new music is as simple as copying the files.

P.S. It supports iPod Classic too