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whats the big deal with the iPod?

Sep 14, 2004 at 8:12 AM Post #76 of 124
Sczervok, I consider what I wrote as sexist as perfume being sold to attract the other sex. I believe it is a fact of life.

And when most Head-Fi ers are writing about why Ipod is a good product or not, they are writing from the point of view of someone who is more into this stuff than the average user. I have several friends who own ipods who could not care less about why it is a good product. They are attracted to it because it is made by Apple and is simple to use. Nothing about the sound quality or battery life.
And then there are those who like it even though they do not usually listen to music with headphones. They just like owning cute little cool gadgets.

And yes, women are a big motivation in why men buy certain products and do not buy others. The entire fashion industry thrives on this.
 
Sep 14, 2004 at 6:33 PM Post #78 of 124
You can't discount good sound, good design, good interface and good integration with iTunes. It adds up to what I consider good product personality. I'm willing to put up with a few feature shortcomings in order to have a product with good personality.
 
Sep 14, 2004 at 9:41 PM Post #80 of 124
Quote:

Originally Posted by wolfen68
LOL. Can I slink in as a non-poser since I have an Archos Jukebox?


Sure. We can hang out by the swingset and pretend to smoke cigarettes. No girls allowed!
 
Sep 14, 2004 at 10:12 PM Post #81 of 124
Ah, I see. Sorry, I just sorta took it like women own men or something... oops.

Well, I'm not very fond of perfume or cologn, mostly I think the natural scent people give off by themselves are more appeasing (sweat aside)... but hey, if you want to smell nice. Whatever... I guess that applies to the iPod too...

A digital device as a substitute for a cologne that girls like eh?... Kinda odd...
 
Sep 14, 2004 at 10:25 PM Post #82 of 124
Okay, There are various reasons "why Ipod," but there's one, big, overwhelming one: ignorance of the masses!

Me: "Why'd you buy an Ipod?"
Person: "I wanted something that plays mp3s."
Me: "Why Ipod though?"
Person: "Huh?"
Me: "Why not the Rio Karma, or Iriver, etc, etc..."
Person: "You mean there's something other than the Ipod that plays mp3s?"

or.

Me: "Why Ipod though?"
Person: "Well, it's the best mp3 player."
Me: "Who told you that?"
Person: "What? It's common sense."

or.

Me: "Why Ipod though?"
Person: "Well, it looks cool."
Me: "But how about it having an insanely short battery life?"
Person: *blank stare* "Uh, it does? Well still, everyone has it, and it looks cool."
 
Sep 14, 2004 at 11:09 PM Post #83 of 124
Quote:

Originally Posted by kyrie
Okay, There are various reasons "why Ipod," but there's one, big, overwhelming one: ignorance of the masses!

Me: "Why'd you buy an Ipod?"
Person: "I wanted something that plays mp3s."
Me: "Why Ipod though?"
Person: "Huh?"
Me: "Why not the Rio Karma, or Iriver, etc, etc..."
Person: "You mean there's something other than the Ipod that plays mp3s?"

or.

Me: "Why Ipod though?"
Person: "Well, it's the best mp3 player."
Me: "Who told you that?"
Person: "What? It's common sense."

or.

Me: "Why Ipod though?"
Person: "Well, it looks cool."
Me: "But how about it having an insanely short battery life?"
Person: *blank stare* "Uh, it does? Well still, everyone has it, and it looks cool."



Exactly!
 
Sep 14, 2004 at 11:32 PM Post #84 of 124
Quote:

Originally Posted by kyrie
Okay, There are various reasons "why Ipod," but there's one, big, overwhelming one: ignorance of the masses!

Me: "Why'd you buy an Ipod?"
Person: "I wanted something that plays mp3s."
Me: "Why Ipod though?"
Person: "Huh?"
Me: "Why not the Rio Karma, or Iriver, etc, etc..."
Person: "You mean there's something other than the Ipod that plays mp3s?"

or.

Me: "Why Ipod though?"
Person: "Well, it's the best mp3 player."
Me: "Who told you that?"
Person: "What? It's common sense."

or.

Me: "Why Ipod though?"
Person: "Well, it looks cool."
Me: "But how about it having an insanely short battery life?"
Person: *blank stare* "Uh, it does? Well still, everyone has it, and it looks cool."


I think it's pretty obvious that most of the iPod users reading this thread don't fall into one of these categories. Many non-headfiers do, but this shouldn't discredit those who have bought iPods after weighing their options.

A ton of pop/rock fans buy "Kind of Blue" by Miles Davis because it's, like, the best Jazz recording EVAR! Of course it's absurd to make such a statement, but that doesn't mean there aren't legit reasons for liking it.

I just bought a 4G iPod a few days ago for the following reasons:

1) I could drop it in my friend's docking station and, after everything finishes uploading, have access to his insane music collection

2) New models have 12 hour battery life, which is acceptable for me

3) They have by far the sleekest UI and the click wheel is great

4) Because so many more people have them, that means WAY more accessories to choose from, a few of which seem pretty handy (and more accessories to choose from means more competition and, therefore, BETTER accessories)

5) According to users of both, the iPod has slightly better sound quality (obviously subjective, but I've read enough posts to buy it)

6) Resale value is MUCH higher with the iPod than with any other mp3 player

Frankly, I'm not even sure why I'm posting this...there have been enough posts of head-fi iPod users that there are CLEARLY a lot of good reasons to buy them. The only people who seem to be bitching are the pop-culture-phobes who think the player sucks because it's popular. I hope that nobody here would make the claim that it's the best player for everyone, because that's simply narrowminded. As for those who just can't imagine why anyone would buy one, GET OVER IT.

And if you're worried about becoming "part of the crowd" by owning one, why not buy one of the hundreds of different types of cases that companies make for these? I see a hell of a lot of iPods on campus, and 90% of the time I see them either without a case or with the stock Apple one that apparently scratches them. When you consider the resale value of these players, buying a $30 case and using it will most likely pay for itself.
 
Sep 14, 2004 at 11:36 PM Post #85 of 124
Well, as long as we agree that although we can contribute a large part of the iPod's success to the ignorance of the masses, the product itself is not undermined by it's chief reason of success. As long as there is no connection made between the reason for a product's success and the quality of a product, there is no real disagreement here.
 
Sep 15, 2004 at 2:55 AM Post #86 of 124
While the new iPod is now, by my standards, is an acceptable DAP, I still like my Karma better, though that is just ME.
A conversation with my friend went like this:
Him: What is that.
Me: An mp3 player
Him: Oooo, and you just have Master of Puppets on it?
Me: No, I have all my music on it (Which is currently over 3000, which is a fair amount).
Him: So its like an iPod
Me: Kinda, each has different features, but I think this is better.
Him: But the iPod has games
....
See, the consumer thinks the iPod is better, and they probably don't even know other products exsist that hold as much (sometimes more) music than the iPod. Its the person that knows only about the iPod, or has an iPod, but has about a 100 songs on it, that annoys me. LOL.... but maybe its just me.
I'm all for audiophiles who have chosen the iPod as their DAP.
 
Sep 15, 2004 at 7:11 AM Post #87 of 124
I don't know about all these fictional, imagined or not methods of comparison. I know one thing for sure. I've owned the iHP, not 'listened' to it. I've owned the Creative Zen, JB3 and iAudio M3.


And I still want the iPod back (even the 3G with the 'insanely short battery life' which I found to be usable without major problems on a daily basis).


Perhaps the new Rio will cure that, perhaps it won't. That is when they finally come out with it of course...
rolleyes.gif
 
Sep 15, 2004 at 4:27 PM Post #88 of 124
Quote:

Originally Posted by gerG
Style means nothing to me, but years of wearing a pouch with a source and an amp had me believing that I was a kangaroo.



LOL
 
Sep 16, 2004 at 1:32 AM Post #89 of 124
Remember when it came out? Do you have any memory of its competitors then?
 
Sep 21, 2004 at 3:37 PM Post #90 of 124
The iPod is OK... with some features better than some other players and also some drawbacks with respect to other players. Technically, just one of a crowd. But many have mentioned the well-designed integration of the iPod and the iTunes service as a unique plus for the iPod and for less technically-inclined users (which describes the majority of buyers as we all know) this is indeed a good selling point. But to that I have one question... my understanding is that Apple has set up a proprietary DRM scheme in their iTunes .AAC files that effectively restricts playback to only Apple portable devices. Is this correct? And if so why in the world would anyone want to pay for a music library that is restricted to only one manufacturer's hardware? Or am I incorrect in this understanding... can iTunes downloads be played on other portable players beside the iPod (meaning without having to first burn to CD and transcode all the iTunes files to another format)? Also are there any other DRM formats besides Apple FairPlay that will play on the iPod? If not this all seems ridiculously anticompetitive on Apple's part and I can't believe that any informed consumer would buy into it. What am I missing here?
 
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