Why do you NEED an iPod?

[cwa107]

first the battery died, so i replaced it and was really happy to have music for longer than an hour again. then the hard drive kicked it.

and apple says it costs $250 to "fix" it.

I don't like the idea of a company that builds a product they know won't last for longer than a couple years. I have know a bunch of people, people who I personally told to buy ipods, whose ipods then died before mine. Ever since apple started making them for the masses, the quality has gone down the tubes.

That is a real shame, but in my experience is somewhat abnormal. I have quite a few friends that own iPods and haven't heard of such a short life for one yet. If you'd consider buying another, it might be a good idea to go with the AppleCare extended warranty. I really don't know of any good alternatives to the iPod for Mac users.

 

[baggss]

first the battery died, so i replaced it and was really happy to have music for longer than an hour again. then the hard drive kicked it.

and apple says it costs $250 to "fix" it.

I don't like the idea of a company that builds a product they know won't last for longer than a couple years. I have know a bunch of people, people who I personally told to buy ipods, whose ipods then died before mine. Ever since apple started making them for the masses, the quality has gone down the tubes.

So you've never had an 18 month old car that a problem that was not covered by the warranty? Maybe you don't want to buy a car then. Anything produce4d "en-mass" is liable to have problems, it's the nature of mass production...

 

[RottenApple]

So you've never had an 18 month old car that a problem that was not covered by the warranty? Maybe you don't want to buy a car then. Anything produce4d "en-mass" is liable to have problems, it's the nature of mass production...

that's a pretty dumb way to look at it.
If I bought a car and it broke that fast, then no, i would not rush out and buy the same car again.
especially since it would be comparable to the engine or transmission failing...

 

[Kar98]

I don't need an iPod. In fact I barely have one (just the 2GB first gen nano). But after I bought my first Mac and played with iTunes, I got the nano to listen to music while working outside.

 

[steven11]

I work in a lab at a bench 9- 10 hours a day and altough I do "play well" with others I do get a wee bit tired of listening to them and their drama. I'm not terribly interested in what happened on dancing with the stars or american idol. So I am very thankful for my iPod and I know I've said on more than one occassion "I NEED MY iPOD" Now with what I know about myself i realize this is a frivolous statement but holds some truth to it, as far as working in a laboratory goes. I use my iPod for listening to mainly audiobooks then music and finally podcast. I love it and insist on getting every nickel out of products i choose to purchase. I'm very happy with my decision. I've had my 5G 60 for over a year and I feel it was very worthwhile purchase. Furthermore; much to Apple's joy, I feel it was a springboard to me buying a MacBook around 7 months ago. I dig the apple/mac interface and find it very intuitive

 

[dtravis7]

I will have to say I agree with Baggss post. Really most of us do not NEED an MP3 player of any kind leave alone a lot of things. My feeling of needs is maybe different than Baggss but I see what he means. To me I NEED a place to live, utilities to light and heat it, food on the table, Water to drink. Those are the basics. Everything else is a luxury although computers are what pay for my house and food so owning one is sort of important!

Now on to the iPod. I can get a iRiver, Creative, Zune or Flash player. I have tried most of those. I find the interface of the iPod nicer and easier to use for ME. And since it's for ME, that is what counts. I don't buy stuff to please other people, so I buy what does the job the best for me and the iPod of everything I have tried does that for me. Also I love iTunes and the way it and iPod work together.

I hope my words don't cause anyone to be mad. That is not my intent at all. I could have bought any MP3 player when I got my iPod but choose the iPod as it works for me the best. This will shock people but I do like the Zune, but not the way it works with adding/downloading music and no support for OSX. Still the iPod to me is easier to use, but if there were no iPod I would try a Zune and hoped MS adds OSX support.

 

[PixelP 2.o]

Distinctions between "want" and "need" aside, I picked up a 1Gb iPod shuffle because the 1Gb SanDisk Sansa I recieved as a gift broke, and the pause/play/>>/<< buttons on it were difficult to press even when it was working. While I don't directly "need" an mp3 player, I certainly need to exercise more, and music definitely helps. I'd love to get a video iPod someday, but as far as "just music" players go, I'd still go with my Shuffle over a Nano, just because it's so easy to wear.