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iPod owners - cons about an iPod?

Apr 8, 2003 at 12:08 AM Post #17 of 61
Quote:

Originally posted by NewSc2
I'm almost all but settled into buying an iPod, but I still have a couple questions about the iPod's build and sound quality that I haven't really found a great answer for.

First off, have you had any problems with the sound quality of the iPod? I plan on mostly using a pair of Eggos with my iPod, but I want to be able to plug in my HD580's and not cringe at the sound sometimes.

Secondly, regarding build quality, it seems like the biggest problem is the lack of a replaceable battery. It's to the best of my knowledge that this really isn't a widespread problem, but to those of you iPod owners, how long do you think your battery will last and how do you deal with this?

Thanks in advance,

Anthony


first: I personally don't have any problem with 320K mp3 on iPod. The background is extreme quiet. and the power is 30mW+30mW, quite ready to drive most of the decent phones. for sound quality, I really don't have anything to complain.

yes the playback time is really a drawback of iPod. But if you are working in the office and you can plug it to your computer to charge the battery whenever you want, it won't be a problem. 80% charge only takes 1 hr. plus it's a li-ion battery (correct me if I am wrong), so the "memory effect" doesn't really matter.

but one more thing for iPod that I hate so much is the management software MMJB for iPod windows version. When you create a playlist, let's say you put 10 songs in this list. after several days, you don't want to listen to them any more. so you want to kick them out and free the HD space. if you just delete the playlist, you just disorganize the 10 songs but didn't free the HD space. you have to go to the root directory to find the 10 songs and delete them to free the HD space. but oh my god, I have thousands of songs shown up in root directory, how can I find a needle in a haystack?
 
Apr 8, 2003 at 1:44 AM Post #18 of 61
uhm... 580 + almost any portable made in the last 8 years = bad idea. If i complain about my 4S sounding thin on the NJB3 unamped, i can't imagine how much i'd be complaining about the 580 sound.
 
Apr 8, 2003 at 2:11 AM Post #20 of 61
Sony & others could come with longer lasting and cheaper and even smaller players but from all I've experienced from such companies so far, I doubt they'll match iPod's user friendliness. Unless they rip them off (in which case there'll be litigations, but that seems to be normal business practice for modern world).

The only beef I have with iPod is that if you have long songs (15-20 minutes or such), it can pause for two-three seconds during play to reload the buffer. A friend finds that extremely annoying. I don't, though I run into this issue all the time, as the classical music typically has long tracks.
 
Apr 8, 2003 at 2:32 AM Post #21 of 61
Quote:

Originally posted by Watchdog

I figure with a NJB3, since I can plug in a wall wart I'll always be able to use it. With the iPod you need to be near your computer to use the firewire power. Although I think I did see someone build a wall wart that terminates in a firewire plug.



what do you mean? the ipod's firewire cable can either connect to a PC or to a square wall outlet that comes with the ipod. well I am speaking from experience with the Mac iPod. not sure how the PC one works.
 
Apr 8, 2003 at 3:46 AM Post #22 of 61
After owning several ipods and giving one to my gfriend. I have found out that a lot of the issues people are worried about the ipod simply melt away after purchasing one.

The battery is not an issue to me. If the battery lasts 2 years, then i'll be fine with it. But more realistically, i'm sure the battery will last a lot longer than the ipod itself.

I love the way how the HD inside hardly spins up at all. It only spins up when it has to reload the 32MB buffer.

The ipod sounds great by itself. I've even tried my HD600 on it, and it sounds decent.

another thing. I've never heard of anyone not loving the ipod after owning it.
smily_headphones1.gif
 
Apr 8, 2003 at 3:47 AM Post #23 of 61
oh yes, I forgot. The only 'con' I can think of is that it scratches easily. -- thats it!
 
Apr 8, 2003 at 4:58 AM Post #24 of 61
Thanks for all the replies again, guys.

What really put it best I think was austonia's reply. Sure I might have problems replacing the battery in 3 years or so, but by then I seriously doubt I'll still be listening to my decrepit iPod
smily_headphones1.gif


As for battery life between charges, my roommate listens to his iPod all day long and charges it at night; I don't mind this at all ... except I suppose if I ever went on vacation... yeah.. that might create a problem
frown.gif
- lol

But realistically, the reason I'd get the iPod over anything else is pretty much that it looks cool and simple, sounds great, and holds thousands of mp3's. I also suppose it's got something to do with always having the best new stuff =)
 
Apr 8, 2003 at 5:37 AM Post #25 of 61
I've taken the ipod on many of vacations and if I was going for long periods (1 week) I just take the charger with me. It's actually VERY_VERY small. Like the size of 4AA batteries. The cord you use to charge is also the firewire cable, so it is very portable as well.

Now you starting to get the picture? It's a very well thought out machine.
 
Apr 8, 2003 at 6:40 AM Post #26 of 61
No regrets whatsoever on buying mine. Cons? The buffer spinup and battery life, dont like the case it came with, had to buy firewire card also, but nothing that bothers me enough to wish I hadn't bought it. I'd recommend one.
 
Apr 8, 2003 at 9:04 PM Post #27 of 61
Another happy Ipod user here!
biggrin.gif
I find that even with fairly heavy usage, (with shuffle on after I patched it with the new firmware update) I still only have to charge the battery maybe once a week. It does scratch sort of easily, but you can't beat the coolness factor...
smily_headphones1.gif
I frequently use my Ipod with my HD-580/amp combo when I go on roadtrips, and it performs very well. I haven't had any problems with the buffer, (probably because my songs aren't that long) but I do wish it had unit-based playlist configuration and an auto-queue feature, but other than that, the disign, both in build and software, is very sound.
smily_headphones1.gif
 
Apr 9, 2003 at 9:39 AM Post #28 of 61
Like that which has been pretty much established- the only real cons of the iPod (except perhaps the price and the whole battery-issue) are nitpicky things.

So therefore I will add a couple more, because often times it is the nitpicky things that can sway a decision
smily_headphones1.gif


I find it a little difficult to precision-navigate with the touch-scroll wheel. Like if I'm trying to move down one entry on the list- I ususally end up skipping down 2 or 3 and have to backtrack. I think that it would be a bit more precise with the old style wheel where it's like 1 click movement per screen entry, but the other pros of the touch wheel outweigh the cons.

The lack of the enqueue feature is also another bummer. If you have rapidly changing music tastes you have to continually scroll through to the correct album and select that song.... it can get a little annoying at times.

And yes, it does seem to scratch easily. Granted there's not much you can do about it unless you like diamond-coated it or something... maybe construct the front part out of glass? I guess that'd make it too fragile.

Also, IMHO- I would probably be willing to put up with a slightly thicker iPod if they slipped a second battery in there, doubling the playback time. Those batteries are only like ~3mm thick, so it'd be like having a 10GB iPod with double the playtime in the form factor of the 20GB.

So there are a few nitpicks that I have, but overall this thing is one of the best gadgets I own. I have not regretted buying it in favor of another model of mp3 player, and have not found any serious lack in any area of its performance. I actually have never had any battery issues with any firmware I've had, and never really found the avaliable playtime off of one charge to be insufficient (note though that I've only traveled a few times since I've had it, and always I've had my charger on me).

Ruahrc
 
Apr 22, 2012 at 12:35 AM Post #30 of 61
i've had a Ipod Classic 5.5gen 30gb for awhile now, i think a few months. or a year?
 
which i bought from a pawn shop, because i dont like itouches anymore (since Ipod Classic 5thgen has a wolfson audio chip, which provides more detail in sound than the Cisco chips in today's ipods)
 
its in the colour of black, which honestly i wanted a white ipod because of the Apple Classic look.
 
i wasnt an Apple fan, but i loved the ipod, i love the old ipods even more.
____________________________________________________________-
 
to let you know, like everything. the ipod batteries are not so easy to remove. but because of my knowledge any others. you can actually replace the batteries on the ipod Classics better than the harder-to-open itouches, nanos(3rd generation and up), and shuffles.
for me, opening an Ipod classic is just prying off the backplate, and disconnecting+detaching the battery. all in just seconds!
 
i like ipod, because of the general build quality and nice simple look and design. (plus, i love plastic faceplates more than the disgusting shiny aluminum faceplates)
 
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