Officially Late To The Party

[Gary Whitta]

So I finally actually held and operated an iPod for the first time this week. What a brilliant little bit of kit it is. I'm seriously considering treating myself to a 20Gb model for Christmas. With the FM transmitter add-on, I'll never need to burn another CD to play in my car again. Should pay for itself if about... um, eight years. Well, that's good enough for me.

[Menzo]

iPods do rock. And clearly Apple employs every single industrial designer with any sense of taste, because no other computer company comes close to creating products with Apple's style.

Though the Rio Karma is pretty cool.

[Jason Cross]

I think Sony does a pretty good job with their industrial design as well, especially on the VAIO line (not those early purple VAIOs, though).

I agree that the iPod is the best hard-drive based digital music player, but it does have a couple of faults:

1. Battery life is too short
2. Doesn't play WMA, which is used by every online music buying thingy EXCEPT iTunes (Napster, Musicmatch, BuyMusic, and surely Microsoft's own upcoming store). And the iTunes format isn't supported by any OTHER player. So they're gearing up for a standards battle that they're ultimately going to lose. Or, you could go through the trouble of burning your WMA downloaded music to a CD, then re-ripping that CD to MP3 to put on your iPod. UGH.
3. No integrated voice recorder, you have to buy a bulky add-on. I'd settle for - even prefer - a 1/8" mic jack.

Though those three faults are pretty bad to me, they bother other people to a lesser extent. And still I kinda want one, because it has by far the best interface, look, and size of any of the hard-drive based players.

I've been using the Dell DJ a lot lately, and it's really good. Slightly larger, but still "pocketable" (unlike any of the Nomads) and the battery lasts a lot longer. Plus it has built-in voice recording and WMA support. Of course, it also doesn't look as good nor does it have that awesome iPod interface.

[DrCrypt]

I still haven't played with my DJ (it is waiting at home under the Christmas tree for me when I fly back to Boston), but if I had a slightly more disposale income I would have gladly dropped down cash for the iPod - all of the problems dougherty mentioned are true, but damn, it is still the sexiest player on the market. But that added sexiness just isn't worth an extra $130 bucks to me, and that's all it has going for it (unless being able to play an awkward, ugly game of solitaire on your MP3 player is a deal breaker for you). The iPod is going to have to start getting more competitve soon: iTunes hasn't turned a dime for Apple, they've got some serious competition now that are only going to get more formidable in future generations, and, as dougherty pointed out, right now they are on the fast track to obsolescence.

[DrCrypt]

Hey, dougherty, by the way... are you using Dudebox to transfer your files to the DJ? If not, how are you doing it - I know Musicmatch has a bug where it doesn't transfer track tags to the device.

[Brooski]

Just don't use it if you're a serious runner. My iPod doesn't last past the first 30 minutes of any run. I think that's the length of the anti-skip protection. Then it just seizes up. I had to buy a separate MP3 player just for running with.

[Bub, Andrew]

What are you running from?

[Toddy]

Elves or sanity. Obviously.

[VegasRobb]

I'm waiting till after Xmas to make the choice between the Ipod or the Dell DJ. I appreciate all of the feedback here and in Crypt's other thread, so keep it coming please. :)

Right now it looks like the DJ is the better buy but the IPod is still worthwhile.

By the way, a large part of the reason I'm looking at an Ipod/DJ is because I've discovered audiobooks over at audible.com. Along with an FM Transmitter and it's perfect for work.

[DrCrypt]

Better buy an iPod then... the DJ doesn't currently support Audible format, so that is probably a deal breaker for you. The new Gateway player actually does Audible, though.

One of the iPod idiot-zealots over at digitalmusicsite.com posted this comparison pic of the DJ compared to the IPod as, I guess, a "nuff said" about why the DJ is an unusable monolith.

http://www.popheaven.btinternet.co.uk/comps.jpg

Jesus, gimme a break. I'm not going to pay $150 extra for a couple of millimeters and a couple of ounces. I keep planning a rant here about product zealots, fueled by the endless iPod asshole who flood the DJ forums on digitalmusicsite.com and endlessly trash talk the DJ owners, but I haven't been able to conmcentrate my ire into a laser beam of topical evisceration yet. They are all self-righteous fags though.

[DrCrypt]

Oooh. If you're into Audible and are going to sign up for a membership anyway, you can apparently get an iPod for $100 less (www.audible.com/adbl/store/jandrHandheldOfferLandingPage.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@ @1070272964.1071596481@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccchadckehkmlficefecegedfhfdfom.0). Not valid for me, since I don't want to listen to books, but that's an awesome deal if that is a priority for you.

[Derek Meister]

Hah! I laugh at their attempt to paint the Dell DJ as a monolith.

My 40GB RCA Lyra Jukebox is a true monolith.

Depth: 1 in.
Height: 4.5 in.
Width: 3.1 in.
Weight: 8.8 ounces

Now if I could only find a better alternative to Musicmatch, I'd be set. While you can drag and drop the files through Windows Explorer, it precludes the creation of pre-made playlists.

[Yuki Katase]

Gary, which FM transmitter do you use? I've read conflicting reports about the effectiveness of the Belkin iTrip.

[Gary Whitta]

Gary, which FM transmitter do you use? I've read conflicting reports about the effectiveness of the Belkin iTrip.
I've yet to buy an iPod, but a friend of mine who uses the iTrip says that the majority of published reviews over-rate it greatly and it's basically like listening to your songs on a slightly crackly radio. This has definitely given me pause about buying an iPod... I only really want one if there's a CD-quality in-car solution.

[Yuki Katase]

Yeah that's what I've been hearing from some circles as well. Maybe I'll just plug in a cable into the AUX port on the back of my head unit, and have the other end dangling out of the centre console. Sure it won't look too flash, but I'll be more interested in keeping my eyes on the road than admiring the wiring while the car's in motion.

[DrCrypt]

Gary, it seems basically unanimous that FM transmitters aren't really the way to go. People say that one of those cheap Cassette deck interfaces from Walmart work wonders.

[Menzo]

Yeah, if you've got a cassette deck go with an adapter. None of the FM transmitters I've tried are really good.

Seems to me there's a market for car stereos to have a line-in jack these days. I know some after-market decks do, but it'd be nice to have it pre-installed.

[Ranulf]

I still don't get why everyone loves the ipod so much. Its just too friggin expensive and with one drop, bam its busted. For car audio its not like you can't get a deck that plays mp3 cds (even Ford offers 6 disc players w/mp3 in some models).

[Lunch of Kong]

I still don't get why everyone loves the ipod so much.

because the circular touch interface is really nice, and its the only one that's got it.

[Yuki Katase]

Its just too friggin expensive and with one drop, bam its busted.
Seems to be as durable as my Minidisc player. Heck, I wouldn't want do a durability drop-test with any of my portable digital equipment so it's not a selling point for me.

For car audio its not like you can't get a deck that plays mp3 cds (even Ford offers 6 disc players w/mp3 in some models).
* I bought a Sony head unit before MP3 head units became prevalent, and I'd rather plow more money into new gaming equipment instead of new car audio equipment.
* During college terms the only transportation I use is the train, so the iPod's handy for drowning out the clackety-clack and loud gabfests.

[VegasRobb]

It's been awhile, but the ipod is arriving later today. :)

[AIM]

It's been awhile, but the ipod is arriving later today. :)

Hope you like it. I have the dell dj and I love to carry it as well.

[Ben Sones]

iPods do rock. And clearly Apple employs every single industrial designer with any sense of taste, because no other computer company comes close to creating products with Apple's style.


I agree, though man, they really need to hire some human factors engineers, because while all of their stuff looks cool, much of it is clearly not designed to be used by human beings. I've been spending a lot of time in the Mac lab for a class that I'm taking, and those mice... ugh. Stylish, but outrageously uncomfortable to use. It's a slight improvement over their last travesty against ergonomics (the hockey-puck mouse), but only barely.

And I know they feel strongly about how the simplicity of the "no button" mouse is more important than the convenience of having a right mouse button and a mouse wheel, but they are wrong. And in practice, I don't even think their mouse is simpler, since you have to use reach for the keyboard way too often to perform common tasks.

That said, I have nothing bad to say about the design of the iPod. That device is a brilliant little piece of work.

[DennyA]

Yeah, but the Mac OS engineers are smart enough to realize that people will hook real mice to the Mac. I use a Microsoft Bluetooth mouse with my iBook, and the right button works just fine, bringing up context menus and everything.

OS X has built-in right mouse button support; it's just the hardware weenies including a crippled mouse. If I wanted to install the Microsoft Mac drivers for the mouse, I could even use all four mouse buttons.

[Ben Sones]

Yeah, I know, but that doesn't help me any. I have to use what the lab offers.

[Duality]

Its the one button that keeps those Macs affordable.

[Ben Sones]

Affordable? In what Bizarro world are Macs affordable? The eMac sells for $800, which might seem affordable in computer terms until you realize that it's a 1 GHz machine with 128 MB of RAM.

Oh, wait. That was sarcasm... ;)