It's about the quality. iPods are the best for a reason... that and they look wicked cool

While I've been having way too much fun with my sunglasses, black gloves and pen-laser my favorite present would have to be my gigantic, bomb-proof, three-ton canon camera bag for my Rebel and lenses.

I got my brother the complete set of 24, and we've been watching them again in shifts of about 6 hours.

quote:

Originally posted by titaniumdoughnut:
It's about the quality. iPods are the best for a reason... that and they look wicked cool

Quality!? Bah, quality is for girls.

lol quality is something, i've dropped my ipod mini a couple of times, and it's still working fine (granted i didn't drop it on concrete). i also once lost it while playing in play place balls, that scared the crap outta me. i onjly realized it was gone like 5mins before we had to go (it was at a museum on a fieldtrip). so me and a couple kids run up there (and yes it had to be on the 3rd floor), but it wasn't busy that day and it was still in there. that doesn't really have anything to do with quality, i just thought it was a funny story (and yes it is true, even the little movie moments like 5 mins to go and the 3rd floor), lol.

My aunt got me a nano. It's alright, but I got the Archos. I love it. It's got 30 gigs, a 4 inch screen, it plays video, and it's got a 12ish hour battery life for music, and a 5 hour battery life for video. It's also got the removable battery. The nano pales in comparison. My girlfriend has had hers for a few months, and just keeping it isolated in a pocket of her purse caused it to be scratched to high hell. Apparently it's quite the epidemic. I tried to clean some of them off and I bought her a case, but it's still quite scratched.

Even given the choice between the Archos and the Video Ipod, I'd prefer the Archos. Bigger screen, removable battery, and ability to plug in a digital camera to it to dump the pictures is a big plus in my book. It also works as a DVR, so I can connect RCA cables to it and capture video directly from any source into it.

I don't know the big appeal with iPod. I think a lot of it has to do with the culture thing, how you feel like you're part of a club when you've got white earbuds. Even with the Nano, i'd use the nice pair of sony head phones that I bought. The sound quality is a bajillion times better, and I'd rather hear good music from my 300+ dollar device than look trendy.

It serves its purpose, but it doesn't serve mine.

Yeah, the iPod Video disappoints me. I feel that the next few versions will be significantly better. And, yes, apparently the Nanos get scratched like nobody's business! An odd thing, but now that everyone knows to be careful with them, it will hopefully not be so bad.

The video iPod has a design flaw. I don't like that the screen is so tiny, it gives me a headache. As much as I'm not an advocate of mac or apple, they did revolutionize the mp3 player by really marketing hard drive based mp3 players (despite not actually making the first.) They really brought it out to the market, and i'll give them the credit for that. the iPod is a nice device, and while it does have flaws and is a tad over priced, it's decent. However, the video iPod is a poorly designed and rushed attempt to cash in on a market that other companies are really beginning to shine in. I'm sure it'll get better after some more research and development. When the video iPod devlops more and surpasses other devices, the other devices will step it up and it will make better quality products all around.

I don't understand why the nano scratches so much. My theory? They probably began using a cheaper material than they've previously used, since I don't recall other iPods scratching as easily. It lowers the cost to make the device, but looks the same. I read somewhere that an iPod mini cost Apple approximately 100 dollars to build, probably even less since they buy in bulk. I guess the nano only costs 99.88 dollars or something due to the more scratch prone plastic. It's a cute device, and my girlfriend digs hers a lot, but it becomes an eyesore after you keep it in a pocket (a pocket with nothing else in it, no keys, coins, or anything) for 8 hours. They make an extra .22 cents profit and your iPod looks like hell. The music is what matters, but I know a lot of people buy it because it's cute, and when something gets scratched up, it's no longer cute.

quote:

Originally posted by paul:
ability to plug in a digital camera to it to dump the pictures is a big plus in my book

iPods have been able to do this for a while.

People don't get iPods to be "part of a club." I'm the most untrendy person you will ever meet, and I have an iPod. I had one when they were first introduced, before the rest of the world had them. I got it because I'd previously owned other Mp3 players and none of them could even compare. Nowadays there are much better ones out there, mostly because they've copied the iPod. I still use one because I'm loyal to the product and I still think Apple is the one paving the path for everyone.

quote:

quote:
Originally posted by paul:
ability to plug in a digital camera to it to dump the pictures is a big plus in my book



iPods have been able to do this for a while.

always? or with the newer generations? I don't dispute it, I know theres devices that connect to it, but when did it start?

The archos has a usb port to plug the camera right in, with out a required addon.

quote:

People don't get iPods to be "part of a club." I'm the most untrendy person you will ever meet, and I have an iPod. I had one when they were first introduced, before the rest of the world had them. I got it because I'd previously owned other Mp3 players and none of them could even compare. Nowadays there are much better ones out there, mostly because they've copied the iPod. I still use one because I'm loyal to the product and I still think Apple is the one paving the path for everyone.

JW, you're the exception to the rule. When people hacked Mac OS to run in a PC a few months back, I know people who reacted to it like it was the end of the world. These are the same people who refuse to see that there are better devices out there. You admit that there are better ones out there right now, and you still use an iPod, which is fine because you and I both know that they will improve it. They always do.

My friend though, he's a fanatic. We liked messing with him. We told him "try these headphones, they're better than the earbuds" and he refused because they weren't the white earbuds and people wouldn't know he had an iPod. His friends are all like that too, as are about 85% of the people I know who own iPods. There are exceptions to every rule, and you're probably in that category.

quote:

Originally posted by paul:
My friend though, he's a fanatic. We liked messing with him. We told him "try these headphones, they're better than the earbuds" and he refused because they weren't the white earbuds and people wouldn't know he had an iPod.

No offense to your friend, but thats pretty sad.

And those earbuds suck. I use Sennheisers.

quote:

No offense to your friend, but thats pretty sad.

And those earbuds suck. I use Sennheisers.

None taken. He's sort of an *******/hipster wannabe type. He made some of the most unbearable movies in high school (basically ripping off of Powaqqatsi, Koyaanisqatsi, and Le Ballon rouge,) and to top all of this he was completely cocky and spoke about how badly NYU needed him, and then he got rejected.

I sort of felt badly for him, since the movie was so unbearable that people began getting up and leaving during it at a HIGH SCHOOL film festival. They sat through the poorly directed PSA, the misframed shot on video horror movie that was edited for content because it was deemed too gory, my movie about a high school hall monitor, and some other assorted short films. He insisted on ending the film festival with his movie, because it was the best, and none of us disagreed because if people left during it, they wouldn't have missed anything else. Our assumptions were correct and people just panned it.

anyways... Sennheisers are nice :-D They blow the earbuds out of the water.

I've got to get me some of those Sennheisers!

quote:

I've got to get me some of those Sennheisers!

We all should. In a perfect world, we'd all have them.

i still use the earbuds, just beacuse i haven't had a lot of moey to spend on better headphones. but i'm gonna be getting a new pair here soon. all you people with the messed up friends that only want the white earbuds, just tell them some people have been getting their ipods jacked, just because they see the earbuds and know they've got an ipod.

yeah, i was thinking that people would see the earbuds as some kind of a target for robbery on the subway to Newark NJ this morning. i dont understand these people that walk through town with an mp3 player out. it's so easy to steal from someone. i keep mine in a zipped pocket so that if someone runs by and tries to take it, they've got a minor challenge.

if my friend's ipod got jacked, his parents would buy him a new one. psh... stupid white earbud club. i could have an mp3 player that's 1 inch by 1 inch with a terrabyte of space and the ability to produce holographic images onto a table like in Starwars, and it still wouldnt be as good as his iPod. I wouldn't be allowed to listen to his pod cast.

(I'm not knocking ipod users, just my friend's bizarre fetish/attitude)

Forget Sennheisers... the Etymotics are by far the best option for portable listening with an iPod. Superb isolation, headroom and clarity beyond any other earbud-type headphone.

If some people do buy iPods to be 'part of a club,' that's incredibly lame. The iPod is by far the best pure MP3 player out there. How can anyone consider the screen on the current iPod tiny? It's very bright (with backlight), large, and sharp. The crappy video/MP3 players like the Archos are generally enormous, cumbersome, and poorly designed. The significance of the iPod is not the specific technology, but the integration. My friend had an Archos Jukebox years ago, when 128MB Rios were the most common MP3 players. It was enormous, loud, had pathetic battery life and a tiny, dim screen. The first iPod was miles beyond the Archos, despite offering similar functionality.

FWIW - Apple constantly has discounts, etc. My present iPod (4G, 40GB) was around $150 since my brother bought a PowerBook at the same time. Even if you just buy an iPod, the educational discount generally takes off 10% of the price.

well, i dont think the Archos that I have is really that big. it's the same size, actually a few mm smaller than my PDA was. The old Archos was like an old gameboy, hardly portable and big and clunky. The AV500 isn't really that cumbersome and isn't poorly designed at all. Compared to the video iPod, the screen is great. Four inches is great for me, since I sit at work for 8 hours a day and do nothing. The video iPod is very vibrant, but I couldn't imagine watching the screen for more than about 12 minutes. My buddy watches music videos on his, but it doesn't suit my needs.

About the battery life... I've been here listening to music and watching videos since 8:00 in the morning, it's 1:50 now and my battery is about half empty. Nothing like passing the time by watching The A-Team.

The initial iPods blew the Archos out the water, I realize that. However, they're comparable now in quality, although the ipod is much more compact since it has a small screen. Go to sharper image and play with an AV500.

quote:

Originally posted by Evan Kubota:
Forget Sennheisers...

You take that back.

lol