[Tfug] iPod Replacement

[Shawn Nock]

Matt Jacob wrote:
> Apple makes some very well-designed products that also happen to be
> the best at what they do. 
I track you on 'well-designed'... They are kind of pretty, but...

There are players that play longer
There are players that play more things
There are players that have more storage
There are players that are more durable
There are players that don't require a broken/hidden file tree (or 
proprietary software)
There are players that are more serviceable and upgradeable
There are players that are cheaper (price performance ratio is higher if 
there are those that object to 'cheap')
There are players that have better available on-board software

The fact is most players on the market hold several of these advantages 
over the iPod

You have a tough fight for 'best at what they do'...
In fact it is a hard fight for the iPod to be called 'good among its 
peers'...
The more attainable claims are 'good enough for what I do' / 'popular' 
or 'well-supported' / 'easiest to use' / 'priciest'

> The iPod isn't the top-selling portable
> music player for no reason, you know. 
Hype counts as a reason right?
> I've tried other music players
> by Creative and Samsung, but I always go back to my iPod.
>   
Samsung was the company convicted of unfair business practices w/ apple 
right RE: flash memory sales for the Nano? Not much of an impetus to 
produce a decent competing product. As for Creative... I distrust any 
company that markets its products with 'professional gamer' endorsements 
(Yes, I know it's not their mp3 player division, but still.... ugggh!)

That being said, I bought two ipods... a 2nd gen 10G when they first 
came out (this was a mistake... for reasoning see above; sold it after 
two months at a good loss) and a 6G mini for my sister's birthday two 
years ago. Why make the same mistake twice? Because teenaged girls don't 
care about value or features... She wanted the hype, bling, iPod 
lifestyle to fit in with the rest of her friends. Plus she can operate 
the iPod by asking the guy down the street for help. Long story short, 
my past experience / disgust with the hype marketing / lies are no match 
for my kid sister's pleadings and the 'being cool' arms race.

Look around, there are better options at all fronts... You like the 
iPod. We get it, please stop hype advertising for Apple with wildly 
generic and inaccurate claims. It painful enough to sell out for family...

Shawn

-- 
Shawn Nock (OpenPGP: 0xEF9B08E7)
Broadcast Engineer; KUAT Communications Group
University of Arizona
nock 'at ' arizona 'dot' edu