19 replies to this topic

[silent mercenary]

Celebrating they're 100 millionth song download Apple released they're 4th generation ipod, it has the same basic design with a 12 hour battery life (compared to 8), redesigned menus and the click-wheel from the ipod mini. The 20gb version still weighs 5.6 ounces but costs $299.

[CustomSnake202]

What kind of crappy design is that!? I mean, I, along with many others, hate the mini's wheel design. Why did they decide to use it? That's my big gripe with the new pod, but everything else is great.

[reversedracula]

My CD player never skips. It's covered in about 300 dollars in cash I saved from not buying an iSuck.

[cxwq]

Lets see, slightly smaller, 50% more battery life, buttons under scroll wheel so I don't have to move my fingers as much, oh yeah, and 20GB for the same price as the old 15GB.

Whingers.

I do respect the CD player option, but how can you even compare the current ipod to the previous gen? They get so much better with each rev.

[okto]

snake, i've never met anyone that dislikes Click Wheel. editable playlists are something the iPod has been needing., and more battery life is always welcome. evne if those dont convince you, 5GB more storage for the same price is a good deal.

as far as CD player: make sure you include a palm III and 500 CDs when you compare it to the iPod. have you ever even used one?

[Cadmond]

I dislike Apple for almost no reason, but regardless, I dislike them for all of eternity. So, to get around them, I've bought mainly cd players for the last 5-6 years of my life (only had to buy 2 so far.. my old one crapped out after 5 years)

But that part isn't really important. The part I'm getting to, is that I bought a minidisc inbetween those 2 cd players, and loved it. 5 cds in 1/4th the size of 1! Of course, it ends up being a fancy mp3 cd player, but woah ho ho! Look at this!

So, doing the math, we have a 200 dollar minidisc player, vs a 300 dollar ipod with 20 GB capacity.. I don't know who actually fills them up all the way.. but for math's sake, lets say so.

100 dollars difference, and 6 dollars a gig for the MD, and Ipod wins by 20 dollars. But you can easily pocket some of the 100 difference, and live off 3 gigs for a while. Or wait till they sell the HI-MD discs in bulk, instead of one at a time.. which I doubt they'll do any time soon.

Also, they can apparently record video.

But that just confuses me.

Anyways, I dislike sony as well, because its products only work with 98SE + (as does everything these days D: ) so if you don't like the alternative, oh well.

(By comparison, you can get a 100 dollar mp3-cd player, and then buy 30-ish 700 MBs cds for 50 cents each: 15 dollars worth of discs for 20 gbs, $185 saved. Of course, then you're lugging around 30 discs. Ipods might just be one of those "convenient" things. )

[reversedracula]

I just use my laptop... it only gets six hours of battery life, but it's got a decent harddrive. Granted, it's not as compact on the go, but I'm not exactly one who listens to music on the go. I'd rather think or listen to the world. To each his own. As for CDs, they're dirt cheap/can be procured for next to nothing or nothing from friends, etc.

[Zero Talent]

I only have 7.39GB of mp3 files to go on (I guess I'm slow, or spend too much time parsing out the good stuff), so 20GB is a bit much for me. I'm going on the Mp3 CD Player / CD's thing right now, and aside from size, it's just dandy for my listening habits. Apparently, I paid exactly $101USD for the whole "equivalent" setup, 29 700MB CD's and all.
But that's hardly the point. I need a wearable computer, or something small with a TFT and a frogpad.
I'm sure the Ipod is also very useful as a storage device for those of us who regularily carry around 10GB of extraneous data.

[CustomSnake202]

snake, i've never met anyone that dislikes Click Wheel.

Well, I do. I like the new iPod in every way except for the click wheel. The four buttons on the second and third gen give the iPods more character, and just looks cool. But that's just me. Pretty soon apple is going to have iPods with palm pilot or pda capabilities: it's just going to get better and better.

[CheeseNerfer]

I have no need for an Ipod because I have a competoter (sp) product that was cheaper and is just as good except it's a little thicker, no games or calender (I don't need) and not as nice looking. Anyway my only complaint about Ipods is that the earbuds suck ass. Every single Ipod owner I know has had their headphones just stop working after about 5 months and I also find them really uncumfortable, but thats just my opinion.

Edited by CheeseNerfer, 29 July 2004 - 11:15 AM.

[okto]

yeah, but that's not really a good reason not to get one. i immediately throw stock headphones from any device in a drawer, they all suck.

cadmond: minidisc is quite nice i had a portable recorder til it got stolen, and i loved it. the main advantage to me was the ability to record from either line or mic inputs.
but sony has continually shot themselves in the foot over DMCA type issues, because sony corp is both a hardware manufacturer and a record label. they have split interests, both for and against ease of copying, and it's killed minidisc.

and to those who wonder, i have a 15 gig player filled and have another ~4GB of music that wont fit. and i do listen to all of it.

[NinjZ]

Im happy with my 101 cd disc changer, so i have no need for mp3s and crap. Now you may ask, what about when your not at home? Well to that I say, home mini-disc player that plugs right into my receiver that can record and play back. With it, came a portable mini-disc player that has 9 hours of battery life and each disc can hold up to 90 minutes ! The discs are so small I can just carry an extra one or two easily in my pocket if I feel Ill get tired of the one I have in it already.

edit: It only cost $200 and came with 3, 90 minute discs.

Edited by NinjZ, 29 July 2004 - 11:47 AM.

[silent mercenary]

But that part isn't really important. The part I'm getting to, is that I bought a minidisc inbetween those 2 cd players, and loved it. 5 cds in 1/4th the size of 1! Of course, it ends up being a fancy mp3 cd player

MD players are so fagile! Mine broke in a week, plus after recording songs to the mini-discs in Sony's low quality formats (lp4, lp2) theres only a few hours of power left to listen to them.

The new ipod's price is lower and has a larger HD to compete with other mp3 players, although apple already owns almost 50% of the market. I like the new click wheel because you can go through the entire menu without ever lifting your thumb.

[cxwq]

My mp3 folder on this computer is 25.7GB. Granted, I don't regularly listen to all of that, but it would be awfully nice to be able to carry the bulk of my music collection around with me.

[NinjZ]

"MD players are so fagile! Mine broke in a week, plus after recording songs to the mini-discs in Sony's low quality formats (lp4, lp2) theres only a few hours of power left to listen to them."

Ive had my MD player for 4 years, hast broken. What are you talking about "only a few hours of power left"? The package came with two parts, the home system you plug into your reveaver, and a portable player. No power is lost on the portable at all during recording as its got nothing to do with the recording.

[Cadmond]

On the subject of apple and iPod, here is another pleasant alternative to iTunes (the downloading part at least) which comes from distraught copyright laws of Mother Russia!

A penny a MB, weee!

While I disagree with ripping off artists, I disagree more with lieing about it... somehow.

Edited by Cadmond, 29 July 2004 - 08:04 PM.

[okto]

hahaha! thieving music hurts the record execs, the assholes, a lot more than the artists.
ripping off artists is what CDs are all about, man. the big labels give the artists something like 10-20% of CD sales. artists make money touring and selling shirts.

oh, and DMCA is bullshit.

[Oroku Saki]

hahaha! thieving music hurts the record execs, the assholes, a lot more than the artists.
ripping off artists is what CDs are all about, man. the big labels give the artists something like 10-20% of CD sales. artists make money touring and selling shirts.

oh, and DMCA is bullshit.

Amen to that. A while back, I started a topic about that, and got mixed responses from the people around here:

http://nerfhaven.com...ic=1629&hl=riaa

Since about 1999, there are only 2 instances that I can think of where I actually purchased a Big Music-Labeled CD, and as I recall, both times were where I bought them for my very insistant girlfriend. All the other CD's I bought were either used, or video game soundtracks that are not made under the main labels (Sony, BMG, Universal, Warner, etc.)

On my computer, there are about 2-3 gigs worth of mp3s. The reason why I downloaded most of them is because they are so obscure that I can't find them on a CD or a paid music service like Itunes. I think that the main reason why I never bothered to buy regular cd's is the fact that I no longer give a shit about what is put out in mainstream music.

As most of you know, buying CD's does not usually give much money to the artists, and I have found that Itunes is not much better when it comes to that.

http://www.downhillbattle.org/itunes/

If you want to support your favorite artists, go to their concerts, or buy their merchandise(t-shirts, stickers, etc.). I believe that it is only a matter of time before consumers get to the point where they had enough of the bullying from overpaid record execs and politicians who receive large campaign contributions from the RIAA.

Edited by Oroku_Saki, 30 July 2004 - 05:33 PM.

[okto]

yeah, iTunes actually doesn't even make Apple a profit. every cent of iTunes' revenue lines record execs' pockets, then some piddling fraction of that trickles down to artists.

i have no problem buying stuff on iTunes, you save money by not buying the crappy tracks that are on most CDs and only pay for what you want.
this may encourage artists and producers to quit padding their albums with shit and actually do something relevant, or it may not, i don't know. but i like to think it does

[Oroku Saki]

yeah, iTunes actually doesn't even make Apple a profit. every cent of iTunes' revenue lines record execs' pockets, then some piddling fraction of that trickles down to artists.

i have no problem buying stuff on iTunes, you save money by not buying the crappy tracks that are on most CDs and only pay for what you want.
this may encourage artists and producers to quit padding their albums with shit and actually do something relevant, or it may not, i don't know. but i like to think it does

I think that Itunes in general is a step in the right direction for music, but they have a lot of improvements to make.