Arainach
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2005
- Posts
- 1,983
- Likes
- 16
All the latest rage in Portable Players seems to be towards touchscreens. First was the iTouch/iPhone; now there's the upcoming Zune HD and the announcement that MS is cutting all non-HD Zunes. Let me be the first to say: I DON'T GET IT.
I own a 160GB iPod Classic (from when they first came out, not one of the just-announced ones) and a 30GB Zune. In the past, I've owned an 8GB Flash Zune, a couple of 4G iPods, a Creative Zen, etc. All of these players fulfilled the same basic functionality - play music, get out of my way, done.
There are several features that go into making a great player - sound quality (I tend to like the Zune more here), interface (another point to the Zune in my book), etc. But one feature that often gets overlooked but that I (and several of my friends) consider important is the ability to use a device while doing other things.
I can navigate my iPod/Zune in my pocket. I can navigate it while looking in the opposite direction on my desk. If I want to change a song, I never need to look at the screen. This disrupts my workflow less and is faster and easier. I can do similar things with my phone - I can easily start speeddialing someone long before I ever turn my head towards the phone.
Touchscreens deny me all of this. When using a touchscreen, I must always be looking at the device to do anything on it - change tracks, change volume, whatever. So I ask: Why do people seem to love them so much? I've used the iTouch and the Zune HD, and while they look pretty, as a music player they're far more inefficient for everything I do. So what's the big appeal? I'm hoping someone who enjoys the devices (which is fine, I'm not trying to bash them, I just don't "get" it) can explain it to me.
I own a 160GB iPod Classic (from when they first came out, not one of the just-announced ones) and a 30GB Zune. In the past, I've owned an 8GB Flash Zune, a couple of 4G iPods, a Creative Zen, etc. All of these players fulfilled the same basic functionality - play music, get out of my way, done.
There are several features that go into making a great player - sound quality (I tend to like the Zune more here), interface (another point to the Zune in my book), etc. But one feature that often gets overlooked but that I (and several of my friends) consider important is the ability to use a device while doing other things.
I can navigate my iPod/Zune in my pocket. I can navigate it while looking in the opposite direction on my desk. If I want to change a song, I never need to look at the screen. This disrupts my workflow less and is faster and easier. I can do similar things with my phone - I can easily start speeddialing someone long before I ever turn my head towards the phone.
Touchscreens deny me all of this. When using a touchscreen, I must always be looking at the device to do anything on it - change tracks, change volume, whatever. So I ask: Why do people seem to love them so much? I've used the iTouch and the Zune HD, and while they look pretty, as a music player they're far more inefficient for everything I do. So what's the big appeal? I'm hoping someone who enjoys the devices (which is fine, I'm not trying to bash them, I just don't "get" it) can explain it to me.