Why I Chose iPod...Again

[Kent Pribbernow]

<img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/ipod-photo-kent.jpg" /><br /><br />As some of you may already know, I'm an iPod user. To be more specific, I own a 10GB third generation model that I purchased about three years ago. Since that time my experience with the device has been nothing but pure joy. iPod has served my digital audio needs in every manner, and very well I might add. But after several years of use, battery life is beginning to deteriorate significantly, often needing to be recharged daily..sometimes TWICE daily. Since my nephew's graduation is coming up this week, I thought I would donate my little white audio workhorse to him, and upgrade to a new device. So began my journey.<!><br /><br /><b><span>A House Divided...</span></b><br />My choice in a new digital audio player was not quite so clear cut as my previous purchase had been. Back when the 3G iPod models arrived on scene, Apple's competition in the portable audio player market was laughable at best. Devices like the Creative Zen and Archos hard drive players were ugly bricks bundled with clumsy software. What a difference three years makes. Today the market is filled with some very compelling Windows Media based players, particularly by Creative. I have held a deep fondness for Creative's Zen Micro line, which in my opinion is the first truly compelling digital player conceived outside Cupertino. This little device has all the markings of a successful product that incorporates the best features of iPod; style, simplicity, and fun. It comes in a range of fun colors, is easy to use (for the most part), and priced appropriately for its class. You can't help but like this product.<br /><br />In addition to the Zen and Zen micro, Creative has recently introduced other new models that equally impress, and even have a few tricks that excel and exceed iPod in many ways. The new Neeon line is absolutely drop-dead COOL! Available in a variety of colors (I'm a whore for color options) that look stunningly sleek, especially the black unit. And the concept of Stik-Ons skins may seem hokey to some, but will no doubt resonate with consumers..if marketed properly. Creative did its homework with this model. <br /><br /><b><span>But wait..there's more! </span></b><br />Creative isn't alone. Korean based iRiver has also come on strong since the early days of iPod-mania. The H10 series offers a lot like. Though a bit on the pricey side, H10 delivers a great iPod Mini-like form factor with a nice color display (something not found on the mini), with all the bells and whistles of a modern digital audio device. iRiver may be a small fish in a big pond, but they sure know how to swim. <br /><br />Even Sony has shown some improvement, to a lesser extent. Add to that a rapidly growing list of other lesser know, or less relevant players from Asian manufacturers. <br /><br />And I haven't even got into devices that go well beyond audio. Video or multimedia players are seen by many as the next big thing, though I don't share that view personally. Microsoft's Portable Media Center devices deliver just about any content you could possibly want on one device, ranging from photos, audio, and video. And they sync up with your Media Center PC. Cool, but very pricey, I see PMC hardware as being very first generation. But look out for the next iteration of this device category.<br /><br />That's just the hardware side of the equation. I haven't yet touched on what is perhaps the biggest factor; online music content. <br /><br /><b><span>Plays For Sure, Just Not Here</span></b><br />One factor that I have becoming increasingly aware of is the bifurcation of the digital audio market between iPod and basically the entire digital content landscape. Although iPod dominates, Apple's native AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) is used solely with iTunes Music Store, available only to the iPod line of digital audio players and nothing else. What's worse, iPods do not currently support Microsoft's WMA format which has become the linqua franca of all online music stores. This may prove to be iPod's Achilles heal. As good as iPod is, it locks you into Apple's business model without offering a choice in content services. This means that while you do benefit from having access to the best online music experience (for now anyway), you at the mercy of Apple's price structuring model. As other online services begin to slash prices and offer discounts, Apple may or may not follow suit...which means the potential exists that iPod users will always pay higher prices for music downloads compared to their Windows Media based counterparts. <br /><br />Like Jason, I see the market ultimately shifting from a hardware driven model to a platform driven model. In other words, in a not to distant future, the greater battle will not be waged between iPod vs.. iRiver, but rather a showdown between Windows Media (Plays For Sure) vs. everything else. Apple is building hardware while Microsoft is building a platform. Unless Apple ultimately changes that focus, or makes a solid attempt to push AAC as a universal format, I see them coming out on the losing end of this equation. But that's for another discussion. <br /><br /><b><span>The Choice</span></b><br />So what device did I finally settle upon as my next digital audio companion? iPod Photo. Why? For my particular needs, iPod just makes more sense. For starters, I already own an iPod and have invested money in peripherals, iTunes music, etc. And here at Digital Media Thoughts, I am sort of unofficially in charge of covering the iPod beat in news posts and commentary. Aside from that I strongly favor Apple's end-to-end experience. iTunes is still the best Jukebox/audio library management solution available, IMHO. So it makes more sense for me to stay on that path, at least for now. <br /><br />But as I alluded to earlier, my choice was NOT clear cut. And over the past week in my quest for a new device I found myself constantly being pulled away from Apple. The Creative Zen (and Zen Micro) nearly had me, as did the new Neeon. For now, however, I'll stay with iPod.

[Macguy59]

Ok Kent you can admit now that you were gently prodded into pimping the Windows based devices to give the appearance of fairness and to keep the advertisers happy :wink:











Just messing with ya :lol:

[Kent Pribbernow]

Shhhhh..... you were not supposed to know about that! ;)

[Jason Dunn]

Ok Kent you can admit now that you were gently prodded into pimping the Windows based devices to give the appearance of fairness and to keep the advertisers happy :wink:

We have advertisers? 8O :lol:

[Mr. MacinTiger]

You know, I had a few bucks that I was going to throw at a flash-based mp3 player recently. I went to the store fully intending to buy an iPod shuffle, being the Mac zombie that I am, but I ended up buying one of the iRiver flash players. It doesn't play AAC BUT it does have basic Mac software that comes with it (in addition to Win software) and I liked the tiny screen on it that would let me see what I am playing. The iPod shuffle screenless "feature" is LAME LAME LAME - Apple should be ashamed of themselves for marketing it :oops:

Anyway, I am with you on iPod mini and regular iPods though. I still have my 1 Gen iPod and although the battery life is now down to about 4 to 5 hours before recharging, it is solid and dependable and integrates with my Mac well.

[Kent Pribbernow]

Speaking of Mac software, has any developer yet come up with a "hack" to make third party hardware players work with iTunes? That would be rather interesting.

[klinux]

I thought a number of 3rd part Digital Audio Players already work with iTunes? It will show up in the iTunes library but it will not allow you to auto sync like iPod.

[Mr. MacinTiger]

I can't speak for all flash players, but as far as I can see the iRiver flash player I have does not show up in iTunes at all. The software that comes with it though is reliable (very basic though), and I have had no problems with it yet.

As for any hacks that would make the iRiver or other 3rd party device work with iTunes, I haven't seen any yet, which is kind of odd. I mean, they have Patchburn which lets 3rd party external CD/DVD burners work with the iLife suite, so you think there would be somehting out there for MP3 players

[Kevin Jackson]

I can't speak for all flash players, but as far as I can see the iRiver flash player I have does not show up in iTunes at all. The software that comes with it though is reliable (very basic though), and I have had no problems with it yet.

As for any hacks that would make the iRiver or other 3rd party device work with iTunes, I haven't seen any yet, which is kind of odd. I mean, they have Patchburn which lets 3rd party external CD/DVD burners work with the iLife suite, so you think there would be somehting out there for MP3 players

Check this (http://www.furiousbear.com) out. If you have an H100/300 series player this will allow you to sync with iTunes. I haven't tried it (yet) myself, but it sounds like a great solution.

[Kevin Jackson]

About a year + ago a purchased an iRiver H140 (40 Gb) for my digital music listening pleasure. Shortly thereafter I got a "free" iPod mini (silver - 4 Gb). Since then I have gotten more use out of the iPod than the H140 despite its smaller capacity and lack of support for anything but .mp3 and .aac files.

Why? I haven't really tried to analyze the reason before now, but I think I prefer the ease of use of the iPod. With the H140 I have to drill down further into menus in order to play files and I like the click wheel on my iPod. Don't get me wrong, I love my H140 and its versatility, it's just that I find the iPod more useful/easier to use.

Just my two pesetas worth.

[hoffm11]

I am a user of a 20 GB ipod and a ipod shuffle. I used to own a Creative Zen 30GB device and ended up selling to get a ipod. The Creative Zen was nice and stable, but just wanted something smaller. I really enjoy the ipod, but I really do like the Creative neoon and micro. They are sweet players also.

I hear so many people calling apple LAME for releasing the ipod shuffle. The shuffle is a brilliant device. No cords, easy management, small, durable, etc. People like to use the shuffle when exercising, biking, etc. Now why do you need a screen when doing those activties. There is no reason. I would hate to see some biker riding down the road trying to scroll through there songs and getting hit by a MAC truck. Apple also indirectly incorporated safety into the shuffle.

Now people are concerned that apple doesn't integrate with other music services... Well burn the songs onto a CDRW and rerip them. That is what I do. If you have many songs to rip, then I am sure there are batch ripping programs.

Well thats my 2 cents.

[MyquiH]

Thanks to the magic that is eBay (buy a cool item at a slightly lower than retail, try it, sell it on eBay used at nearly retail...), I tried 7 different players. The first was the standard iPod (Gen2 at the time), and the one I settled on... iPod Mini (new gen). For me it ended on two factors:
1) Ratings baby, ratings -- I have over 20000 songs I ripped from my own CDs, and I "need" the ratings system to help me remember which of the 43 mixes of a track is the one I like. I have a 3GB random playlist that selects unrated tracks, another 2GB is a random blob of 3 star or better tunes, then 1GB of stuff I pick manually ("Stuff I want to hear now"). I can't really do that level of flexibility with ANY other player I've seen.

2) Bugs -- All other players but the iPods had at least one annoying-as-heck quirk or bug. With the Zen it was the touch pad -- I never bonded with it. With the Dell it was the crazy fact that it couldn't sync and charge at the same time (it would take an hour to sync, and my battery would be back at half charge). The iPod seems fairly bugless (not quite, but close).

Being iPod faithful was a tough transition, as I'm a Windows slut and have a fair amount of WMA audio. However, I REFUSE to buy tunes on iTunes because of the DRM issues... it's all mp3 or unprotected WMA for me.

Of course, I say all this, and my poor Mini seized up on me three days ago and even removing and replacing the battery didn't fix the problem, so it's riding in a DHL box back to California as I write this... Come home soon, Mini, I miss you!

Mike

[sub_tex]

Now people are concerned that apple doesn't integrate with other music services... Well burn the songs onto a CDRW and rerip them.

Some of us don't like having that many generations of sound quality ripped out of our music. :D

[Damion Chaplin]

Kind of disappointed that there was no mention of the Archos GMINI 400. You did say you weeded out the video players, but I think this unit deserves a good look: It's only a little bit more than the iPOD photo and does so much more - and it's the same size! OK, so it doesn't work with DRM schemes, but that's exactly what DRM is - a scheme to get your money. For those of us who prefer to buy the CD and rip it into MP3s, iTunes, Napster, RTG are all rip-offs and deciding which device to choose based solely on what DRM scheme you prefer is not an option.

Definitely the best value I've EVER received from a gadget purchase:

http://www.archos.com/products/prw_500637.html

And no, I don't work at Archos. Just think they're highly underrated.

[sub_tex]

For those of us who prefer to buy the CD and rip it into MP3s, iTunes, Napster, RTG are all rip-offs and deciding which device to choose based solely on what DRM scheme you prefer is not an option.

Hear hear!

The Archos is a sweet product. I agree.

[whydidnt]

As I read this article I can't help to wonder if in 5 years we won't be seeing Apple and the iPod going through the same difficulties Palm is currently going through. Apple clearly has the best, easiest to use player on the market today. However, their refusal to open the platform enough to allow other music stores to sell compatible DRM'd music has give MS a HUGE opening into this market.

Eventually their will be enough people who want the freedom of choice in their online music store because of price or other features --- "You mean I can't use these songs on an iPod?" They'll then be thinking maybe that device from Creative isn't so bad after all. Apple is in danger of killing the golden goose in my opinion.

[Damion Chaplin]

"You mean I can't use these songs on an iPod?" They'll then be thinking maybe that device from Creative isn't so bad after all. Apple is in danger of killing the golden goose in my opinion.

Judging from the amount of people I see everyday wearing an iPod of some sort, I would tend to disagree. IMO people are more likely to say "You mean I can't use these songs on an iPod?" and then they'll look again at iTunes. It sucks, but based on the amount of people who already own an iPod, I don't think Apple is in that much danger.

Oh boy do I hope I'm wrong. :)

[whydidnt]

Judging from the amount of people I see everyday wearing an iPod of some sort, I would tend to disagree. IMO people are more likely to say "You mean I can't use these songs on an iPod?" and then they'll look again at iTunes. It sucks, but based on the amount of people who already own an iPod, I don't think Apple is in that much danger.

Oh boy do I hope I'm wrong. :)

History is littered with failed companies who had a very successful product, but failed to change with the market. Particularly in the technology world. Remember 3Dfx - they dominated 3D gaming for years, but clung to a proprietary rending platform - GLIDE and ended up out of business. I mentioned Palm in my previous post - 5 years ago, they dominated the PDA market. They initally refused to change - no color - why do you need it? They have slowly realized the need to change, but in the meantime have watched their market share drop from 85% to less than 50% of the market. Apple, themselves, were poised to be a dominant player in the home PC market in the late 70s - early 80's, but refusesd to "open" their system and watched MS and IBM take over the market.

The point in the article about MS building a platform hit's the nail on the head. Apple's selling point today is superior hardware. Competitors are catching up, and in many cases offer more features. Eventaully, Creative, iRiver or the like is going to catch or pass Apple, when that happens, how is Apple going to maintain market share, when their solution is the one that limits choice?

[ScottytheMenace]

Apple's native AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) is used solely with iTunes Music Store, available only to the iPod line of digital audio players and nothing else. What's worse, iPods do not currently support Microsoft's WMA format which has become the linqua franca of all online music stores. This may prove to be iPod's Achilles heal. As good as iPod is, it locks you into Apple's business model without offering a choice in content services.

While much of this review was fine, this excerpt is simply factually incorrect.

AAC (or more accurately, m4a) is not a native Macintosh format. It is an open standard known as mpeg 4 created by the same standards body responsible for mpeg 3 (mp3). Any music software developer is free to add AAC compatibility. It is only the protected songs purchased from iTunes Music store that are currently available only in iTunes (Windows or Mac). Owning an iPod does not lock you into Apple's business model, it is only the ITMS songs that do, but I have not one purchased song on my Mini and I'm doing just fine.

The reality is that WMA is the propietary format in this discussion, wholly owned, developed, and distributed by Microsoft. AAC/M4A is a standard. WMA is not. Furthermore, protected WMA files are as limiting as protected AAC files in that they only work with those players that Microsoft lets them work with. Not all that comforting in my opinion.

I wholeheartedly agree that Apple should (eventually) be more open with its protected files; and no doubt they will be when they need to be. This is not the same Apple that blew it in the 80s and 90s. This is a market savvy company in the midst of a remarkable string of marketing successes. If they see any serious competition to either iPod or ITMS, I am certain they will adapt.

[whydidnt]

I wholeheartedly agree that Apple should (eventually) be more open with its protected files; and no doubt they will be when they need to be. This is not the same Apple that blew it in the 80s and 90s. This is a market savvy company in the midst of a remarkable string of marketing successes. If they see any serious competition to either iPod or ITMS, I am certain they will adapt.

The time for any successful company to adapt is *before* the competition catches up, not after. Once you allow the competition momentum, it is extremely difficult to stop. In my opinion Apple is already behind the curve on this one. They've left an opening for other players in the market and have refused to close it.

[sojourner753]

Kent, I wonder if your choice would have been that much more difficult if none of your music was DRMed.

It will be interesting to see this "great exodus" that Apple is in danger of experiencing.

I can see it now...
"You mean I can't take any of the music that I spent thousands of dollars on with me to the Zen? I wonder what the latest iPods are like."

Apple truly has a captive market. They can't take their music with them, nor can they take their iPod with them.

[whydidnt]

Hmm. it seems that iPod sales have started to slow. Is this a sign of change in the market? From USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2005-06-03-apple_x.htm

Investment firm Goldman Sachs said in a report Thursday that it expects shipments of Apple's digital music player to be flat this quarter. Internet news site AppleInsider also reported Thursday that Apple has a glut of most iPod models, especially the recently launched iPod Shuffle.

AppleInsider quoted unidentified sources who said that shipments of most iPod models are "flat or declining" for the first time since the device was launched in 2001. The report also said Apple was overstocked in some models of personal computers and other products.

To be fair they expect Apples revenue to still be fine.

[Tim Adams]

I too have recently switched to an iPod from an Olympus m:robe 100 (you can read more about that here (http://discuss.pocketnow.com/showthread.php?s=4619cce2d0dddaebdae5e26af527762c&amp;threadid=17843)).

Since switching to the iPod, I've only had one major problem (had to reformat), but since I had everything backed up, no real issue - just cost me about 45 minutes of reconfiguring/reloading.

As far as the Apple DRM is concerned, I just use jhymn and strip it off. I paid for it, I'll use it as I please.

And no, I won't be paying for a service anytime soon that uses .wma only....