Why the iPod Suxs

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after reading that, I can tell you that most f his problems are user caused, and not cause of the ipod, like the whole batterything, other companies now sell up to 40 hour batteries for the ipod and give you the kit to change yourself. and sound quality, buy better headphones, its that simple. I hate when people go off on something for no reason when
the problems often lie on their end.
 
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*Snip*
Why the iPod sucks
I hate the iPod, everyone who knows me well knows I hate the iPod, not everyone knows my reasoning, it follows.

Longevity problems, dare I mention the battery issues that have plagued the iPod, batteries in a device with this kind of price should not fail or lose a significant amount of charge for years - months and weeks is simply not acceptable, what's more if (or when) the battery fails this actually requires Apple to sort it because the batteries aren't removable, a critical flaw in the design. Apple don't cover this in their warrantee, so that's hundreds of pounds down the drain.
My iPod is new, so I can't counter this statement. But from what I've heard the 4G iPod has a better battery and isn't so error prone as the 3G battery and prior.

Poor sound quality. I don't know what Apple can get away with among it's Mac OS users but Windows users are used to far better sound quality. Virtually every portable media player (even bargain basement players) I've listened to has exceeded the iPod in sound quality, this is one area where Apple need to do a lot of work to catch up, I'm not saying they'll ever be able to match what Creative have with their Zen players, but for a several hundred pound device not to compete with a £60 device in this department certainly raises a few eyebrows.
This is completely untrue. I have a 4G iPod and I can honestly say that it sounds better than my Windows machine. Granted I only have an Sound Blaster Live 5.1 sound card, which isn't too great. My speakers are fine, Logitech z5300s and my headphones are Sennheiser HD477. I can honestly say that the ipod sounds better through my Senns than through my Senns on my PC. I can see upgrading to a Audigy 2 which would help my PC sound quality, but it wouldn't be anything major. And my iPod definitely sounds just as good or better than my Sony Minidisc player.

Poor control system - yes I'll admit the wheel looks like a good idea, and it's easy to control if you've got it out in front of you, but what about in your pocket? Where these players are suppose to be? It's virtually impossible to control, another gimmick feature out of Apple.
I really like the click wheel. It's actually fun to use, and I can't say that about any other interface I've ever used on any mp3 player. So you have to take it out of your pocket. Big deal, you moved your arm. Fumbling around in your pocket to change a song wont work anyways, unless your just skipping ahead which is doable on th iPod as it is. If you're going to look for a particular song you're going to have to take it out of your pocket anyways. This arguement is just stupid and no thought was put behind it. If you're that hard assed, buy the little iPod remote and clip it on your shirt collar/pocket or whatever.

Poor compatibility - this is probably the iPod's worst defeat. Zero support for Windows Media Audio, the best lossy codec there is today and no support for Ogg Vorbis, an open source ultra-high quality codec that enjoys mass support from Linux fans (and myself) and then it lacks support for lossless formats like, WMA-lossless and Monkey's audio both very popular among audiophiles. Apple are bent on using the fringe format AAC, with their own copy protection bolted on the side for the iPod, a format that has almost zero support, a format that requires lots of unstable plug-ins on other players to actually work.
Who cares, 99% of all people's music is in MP3 format anyways, and 192kbps MP3 sounds pretty **** good. Apple doesn't care about Linux users, they only count for like 2% of the entire market. The iPod is marketted towards normal teenagers, not computer nerds. It's meant to be used by everyone, and OGG isn't much better (if at all) than MP3. Just buy your music and rip it at 192kbps and you'll be happy with it. Why people whine about not having OGG or WMA or what have you I'll never understand. MP3 is just as good.

No support for Windows Media Player - the most popular media player in the market by far. Over 70 devices support the latest version of Windows Media Player (version 10) these you simply plug them in and WMP will auto-sync, transfer media the lot - all automatically if you want, you don't need to install any software you just plug them in - simple, how things should be. Not the iPod. Apple want you to install their own software called "iTunes" which like a lot of Apple software, is slow, it's buggy it's glitchy it just isn't very well thought out. It places icons on your desktop, start menu and quick launch all without asking, it installs several other applications that you never asked to be install and secretly boots them with Windows. Forcing users to install your own software and having the software do things behind your back is not on at all, you could quite easily compare that to the behaviour of a virus.
iTunes is a better program anyways. Granted it does take a bit of memory, but I don't care I have 1GB of ram and if it wants even 50MB of it, it can fill it's boots. I really like how iTunes has crossfade, automatic volume check, and easy organizing of playlistsb y any category you want. It's just a matter of a mouse click and it's in any order you like. iTunes is not buggy? You say it installs other programs, so does like every other program out there. You just have to delete them, or tell it to not install them. OMG it places an icon on your screen, oh know. Right click, delete. That doesn't take too much effort does it?

The choice is clear - don't go for an iPod. It's an evil hugely over-priced, parasitic device with virus like software that attempts to trap you and limit your options.
It's no more expensive than a comparable Dell, iRiver, or Creative unit. It's software is user friendly and very easy to use.

1980s style LCD - not even colour? Come on this is the 21st century, for that kind of price it should have double the resolution and at least 16bit colour.
Yeah because you really need color to display a song title. It's just uneconomical. It looks sharper this way.

No charging over USB, that's right you can't even charge the iPod over the USB cable. Sorry but that is totally not on, most of the competitor products do that at a far lower price point, very few mainstream computers have firewire ports, adding the ability to charge over USB would of cost just pennies, yet Apple cut corners yet again.
Hmmm, I charge my iPod over USB 2.0 all the time. You just need to make sure it's a high power slot, that's all.
 
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Well he just argued against everything mentioned there... I like mine. The wheel is awsome and better than some cheap up and down buttons like on most players. Every song i have or import from a CD are all mp3's. I think the sound quality is pretty good... you jsut have to find the right setting in the EQ. Only thing i dont like is the battery dying. THey only charge 100 bucks... It's like getting a new iPod...
 

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I don't get, where the person goes off saying the iPod has poor sound quality. Every review I remember always loved the sound quality of the iPod. Maybe the person should clear the earwax out of their ears, then, update us.

Poor control system? Is Apple suppose to put controls on the top, bottom, back, left, and right, just so this person is able to control the iPod from their pocket.

The most popular media player is Windows Media Player? That's only by default though. I'm not sure this goes for everyone else, but on Windows, iTunes never crashed on me once. Apple updates iTunes with many fixes and features that are a lot better than WMP. I think, he's got iTunes mixed up with RealPlayer with the last part of his paragraph about iTunes being like a virus. But what software does not put there icons all over the place. So when I install something, I don't want any icons anywhere, weird. One can easily complain, about how some mp3 player manufacturers take for granted that most of the customers are Windows users, and that they leave us mac users out.

As for Apple's music store, Apple is not forcing anybody to buy from them. You can just simply go to the store.

I honestly think Bill Gates wrote the article. Nobody can have this much hate for a electronic device. This person must be having a bad day, or something.
 
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I like the iPod better than all the other players.
 
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The mac 13

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really makes me feel sad. so have anyone here calibrated their iPod batteries? i have.
 
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The iPod does have poor sound quality out of the stock earbuds. But if you have Sennheisers or Grados or something it has good sound quality. Some people care about it, some don't. And some just blame the iPod without even thinking. Their loss :).
 
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The mac 13 said:
really makes me feel sad. so have anyone here calibrated their iPod batteries? i have.
calibrating batteries? Im thinking of getting that new one, it takes about 3 hours to fukllly charge and lasts about 40 hours. Id love that kinda ipod batt life.
 
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What do you mean calibrating? You can get batteries that last 40 hours!!!
 
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The mac 13

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but u will pay more! simple
Calibrate
1. Charge my iPod battery fully for about 4 hours.
2. Under "Settings", set "Shuffle", "EQ" and "Sound Check" to "Off".
3. Let it play continuously until the battery is fully drained.

Then repeated Steps 1 & 3 above.

So for those who notice a drop in your iPod battery life, you should calibrate your battery regularly (i.e. a delibrate full discharge & recharge every 30 charges). This is also applicable for your iBook/PowerBook battery
 
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bobx2001

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see, there is a large amount of people in this wrold that jsut hate the ipod, and they amke un-justified comments about it, just be they have un-conditional support for another palyer commonly known as a "iPod killer" what ever that is ment to mean, that atricle was most lielly wrritne by a ipod hater that has alot of free time.

if you want to read some more aint-ipod bullsh!t go on this website http://www.misticriver.net
 
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Performa460

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I had an iPod hater in dixens (an electric store anyone from the UK will know what im talking about) real irritation, bill gates type person.

Hi have you got any iPods?

No

It says on the website you do

Oh the ipod has a very low batte.......*2 hours later*.... so would you like a
reo?

Nah one of my freinds baught that and it broke in the first week. Never heird any complaintes with ipods..

How about a samsung then

nah iPod

iRiver?

iPod

How a windows media center.

Good bye

OK ipod....would you like an extended warrentie, cos they always brake...

"ect"
 
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pdp

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Macman said:
... like the whole batterything, other companies now sell up to 40 hour batteries for the ipod and give you the kit to change yourself

i generally agree with your posts but this is not to par.
unless this company is giving away the batteries and kit for free it still is not acceptable. you can not substitute the shortcoming of one product with aftermarket upgrades and call it equivalent.

say you go buy a car. with normal maintenance, under normal environmental conditions, you notice the body work is rusting or paint bubbling after a few months. do you think this is an issue about quality build or an opportunity to get a custom paint job and new body kit?
 
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KingAdrock

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pdp said:
say you go buy a car. with normal maintenance, under normal environmental conditions, you notice the body work is rusting or paint bubbling after a few months. do you think this is an issue about quality build or an opportunity to get a custom paint job and new body kit?

The battery doesn't die in "a few months", they run down in 1.5-2 years with normal use. They run down and eventually don't work, as do all batteries. The battery in your car will probably only last 2-5 years. It won't last as long as your car, is that the fault of the car company?
 
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The only reason you hear so much about the Apple battery is because SO many people have an iPod and there are enough idiots that don't understand how batteries work so they go on the internet and complain about how their battery died after a year of use. Of course it did, you charged it 3 times every day, newb.

If as many people bought the iRiver or Creative model, you would hear just as much of this crap.
 
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Performa460

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To quote David Bowie, "apple draged the music industry kicking and screaming into the new milenium" about the music store. Same with the iMac, no floppy drive, USB ports ect. People complain that music for the music store can only be played on the iPod. As far as I know thats not apples fault! Ive only seen 1 othe mp3 player with ACC support. Once again thats apple trying to move things on to a far better format.
 
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pdp

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KingAdrock said:
The battery doesn't die in "a few months", they run down in 1.5-2 years with normal use. They run down and eventually don't work, as do all batteries. The battery in your car will probably only last 2-5 years. It won't last as long as your car, is that the fault of the car company?

who said anything about batteries dying in a few months?
my point is aftermarket replacements should not be viewed as
a way out.
 

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