iPods - which do you prefer? (1 Viewer)

[*yooneek*]

i <3 the ipod mini...
although i drop it ALOT!
...but i'd do that no matter what size it was

itz pink>>> so pretty!!!

 

[Collin]

Apple's market share has come from advertising, not superior products (or lack thereof, I'm not arguing either case here).

Advertising obviously boosts sales, but I have strong doubts advertising alone can bring a 70-80% market share to a company in the consumer electronics market in this day and age. Most places which review iPods tend to give them a pretty decent review. However I acknowledge that many places also give other products a slightly better rating (e.g some iRivers, Creative Zen), but the conclusions drawn from that is that those products can be considered slightly better (atleast from those reviewers), and that the fact remains Apple's iPods are still quality products.

And just analysing many of those reviews.. the main downfalls of iPods reported are (not including Shuffle):

1. Some are easy to scratch.
2. No custom EQ.
3. No-replaceable lithium-ion battery.
4. Radio and recorder must be bought as an option (excluding Nano, for which there is no option for that anyhow).

All I have to say is:
1. No argument against this, iPods are easy to scratch.. pretty simple.
2. Most music players in the consumer market doesn't have custom EQs either. Infact many don't even have presets still.. or perhaps just around 5. Atleast the iPod comes with many, and the ability to unique each song with a different preset via iTunes.
3. Many mp3 players don't have replaceable batteries either. Alot of people who bag out this issue (usually biased Apple haters) tend to totally ignore this fact.
4. It's a mp3 player. Those features are perhaps best left as options. Hence lots of people view this as an advantage.

So scanning through those issues, the fact remains that the Apple offers a mp3 product which can play sound and music at good audial quality, offers essential features, integrates arguably the best user interface (in both efficiency and user-friendliness) in a music player, appealing design aswell as marketing it at reasonable prices. Hence why it's generally regarded as a quality product.

 

[Collin]

Now Microsoft's getting in on it too... Due out in 2006.
Specs:
- Windows Mobile 5.0 (for Pocket PC)
- Triband 3.5G (GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA TBD)
- 240 by 240 (65k color)
- Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Infra-Red
- 64MB RAM, 64MB RAM
- 4GB NAND Flash Memory + Micro SD Slot
- FM Radio, Dual Stereophonic Speaker
- 416Mhz Processor
- 2.1 Megapixels Camera with Flash, VGA Camera (front)
- TV-Out, USB 2.0

LOL.. erm that's a PDA Smartphone, genius..

 

[malkin86]

Close enough - it seems like it'll do all the things that an iPod will, so M$ is trying to get in on the market, no?

 

[Collin]

Erm no silly. You're totally confused.. lol. Do you know what a PDA or a Smartphone is? There's a whole market in place for them. You realise that PDAs have been able to play music for years? That's simply Microsoft's new OS for PDAs and Smartphones. PDAs are essentially portable computers. It's just that Microsoft included Media Player in the OS so that it CAN play music if you wanted it to. PDAs aren't designed for music.. this whole concept is just like how you can play music from mobile phones nowadays. It can do it, doesn't mean it was designed to. Microsoft isn't trying to 'edge' into the market at all, this feature has been available for years. If anything, it's different manufacturers of PDAs who are using the OS which will benefit directly. Microsoft only programmed the OS.

 

[Callistogenic]

umm did u guys actually researched what other things out there than iPods, you would b surprised that there are sooo many things better than them. Like the Ipod nanno has a defect where the screen cracks and the iPods firmware is renoowned to be faulty and i kno 1 bloke where he got his replaced 3 tyms :O my creative zen micro may not have the flashy features but wats the point having an mp3 player that isn't reliable and that's the basic fundamentals in a mp3 player RELIABILITY

Don't make me get out Ars Technica again:
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/nano.ars

The nano is a great little device. Where else are you going to find a device which is that small, has a colour screen and plays as many songs as it does?

I own a 4th Gen 20GB iPod. For what I need it to do it does perfectly - be an mp3 player. It's also nearly a year old. Providing you look after your electronics, they will be faithful to you for as long as you're willing to let them serve.

 

[chocolate_lover]

I've got an iPod Nano (a black one) and its screen still isnt scratched, after about 2 months. Like any mp3 player if you look after it, it won't get scratched (like mine ); but if you don't look after it, of course its going to get damaged!!

 

[Capitalist Pig]

Advertising obviously boosts sales, but I have strong doubts advertising alone can bring a 70-80% market share to a company in the consumer electronics market in this day and age. Most places which review iPods tend to give them a pretty decent review. However I acknowledge that many places also give other products a slightly better rating (e.g some iRivers, Creative Zen), but the conclusions drawn from that is that those products can be considered slightly better (atleast from those reviewers), and that the fact remains Apple's iPods are still quality products.

And just analysing many of those reviews.. the main downfalls of iPods reported are (not including Shuffle):

1. Some are easy to scratch.
2. No custom EQ.
3. No-replaceable lithium-ion battery.
4. Radio and recorder must be bought as an option (excluding Nano, for which there is no option for that anyhow).

All I have to say is:
1. No argument against this, iPods are easy to scratch.. pretty simple.
2. Most music players in the consumer market doesn't have custom EQs either. Infact many don't even have presets still.. or perhaps just around 5. Atleast the iPod comes with many, and the ability to unique each song with a different preset via iTunes.
3. Many mp3 players don't have replaceable batteries either. Alot of people who bag out this issue (usually biased Apple haters) tend to totally ignore this fact.
4. It's a mp3 player. Those features are perhaps best left as options. Hence lots of people view this as an advantage.

So scanning through those issues, the fact remains that the Apple offers a mp3 product which can play sound and music at good audial quality, offers essential features, integrates arguably the best user interface (in both efficiency and user-friendliness) in a music player, appealing design aswell as marketing it at reasonable prices. Hence why it's generally regarded as a quality product.

2. irivers have ~30 presets and i *think* custom equaliser.
3. irivers do.
4. irivers have radios, and they retail for about the same as ipods.
+ a colour screen on all models

They are inferior products aside perhaps from the appearance, but that is quickly diminished by point 1), and while they may be "decent", there's no real reason to buy them when there are better products on the market for similar prices.

 

[Capitalist Pig]

I'm hardly an iriver fanboy, and in fact I'll be purchasing a creative zen touch in about a month's time because I feel that I don't need the extra bells and whistles that come with some of these players, but felt that irivers, as players which cost about the same and have imo superior features, were the best for direct comparison. I'm sure some people need their mp3 player to look hot to take attention away from their ugly faces, but I can assure you I have no such need, and given that it's going to be in your pocket 99% of the time unless you walk around with it displaying it like a douche bag it's a rather redundant point.

 

[Collin]

2. irivers have ~30 presets and i *think* custom equaliser.
3. irivers do.
4. irivers have radios, and they retail for about the same as ipods.
+ a colour screen on all models

They are inferior products aside perhaps from the appearance, but that is quickly diminished by point 1), and while they may be "decent", there's no real reason to buy them when there are better products on the market for similar prices.

Don't forget user-interface (both hardware & software on player & music transfer software). I'm sure most even hardcore Apple-critical mp3 fans would be hard pressed to disagree that the iPod's scrollwheel interface is the best in the industry. iRiver's touch strip is generally lauded as a good solution, but still inferior to iPod's wheel. Another method is the way by which songs are loaded and synchronised (referring to music transfer and PC player software). In my opinion, iTunes is one of the greatest.. and certainly most users tend to agree. Graceful & efficient, I haven't seen much better for a player. One example; although a good mp3 player, the iRiver H10 5GB (competitor to the iPod mini, now discontinued) uses Windows Media Player 10 (not sure about the 6GB & 20GB versions).. an experience I can say was certainly less simple and effective than iTunes. As for the software on the player, navigation is extremely user-friendly, and when combined with the scrollwheel.. the entire software interface becomes extremely efficient.
On the issue of reviews, I certainly also haven't found any reviewer boasting any mp3 player's hardware or software interface superior to that of iPods.

For the issue of the iPod's physical design, I have to say that I think it looks pretty good. However I must clarify that if anything.. it was detrimental to my purchase of it. Simply put, I try to avoid exposing it in public since I know iPods tend to be associated alot to teeny-boppers by the mass public.
Btw, don't forget the 5th generation iPods are coming out soon. Even smaller & lighter, it also boasts video playing capabilities (something which I admittedly don't give a crap about, but nonetheless a flagship feature I should mention).

For the issue of battery replacement, I should clarify that you can replace the batteries for iPods. The only iPod for which the user can't actually replace is the Nano. The whole issue of replacing batteries within iPods is that it's simply more difficult than other products which claim their lithium-ion's to be user-replaceable. If you don't want to do it yourself, send it off to Apple.. they replace it for you for a fee. I just need to point that out because many people just assume once the battery dies, the product itself is screwed forever. Of course, this is utter bullshit.

On the issue of colour screens, reviewers have labelled some of the iRiver's with inferior quality to that of the iPods. The latest review I've read on this issue was from MaximumPC.

Some iRivers do have custom 5 band EQs indeed, which is good. However I should mention that iTunes offers preset EQ transfer capabilities for individual songs. This wipes away some of the benefits of having a custom EQ. Another benefit of it was that many people wanted the classic skate ramp EQ (basically high on bass, low mids and high treble). Apple recently enhanced their 'Rock', 'Latin' and 'HipHop' presets to pretty much that anyway, which can be viewed as a nifty solution to that problem.

As for radios, simply put.. iPods of course don't offer that; only as an optional addon. To people who desperate want a radio (although I'm sure most people would buy an mp3 player for mainly playing erm.. mp3s (and other common formats)), then you may perhaps find the iPod lacking in features. If you're like me and don't care (nor want) a radio, then I see this as no 'quality' disadvantage.

 

[Collin]

That's good.

 

[Capitalist Pig]

Don't forget user-interface (both hardware & software on player & music transfer software). I'm sure most even hardcore Apple-critical mp3 fans would be hard pressed to disagree that the iPod's scrollwheel interface is the best in the industry. iRiver's touch strip is generally lauded as a good solution, but still inferior to iPod's wheel. Another method is the way by which songs are loaded and synchronised (referring to music transfer and PC player software). In my opinion, iTunes is one of the greatest.. and certainly most users tend to agree. Graceful & efficient, I haven't seen much better for a player. One example; although a good mp3 player, the iRiver H10 5GB (competitor to the iPod mini, now discontinued) uses Windows Media Player 10 (not sure about the 6GB & 20GB versions).. an experience I can say was certainly less simple and effective than iTunes. As for the software on the player, navigation is extremely user-friendly, and when combined with the scrollwheel.. the entire software interface becomes extremely efficient.
On the issue of reviews, I certainly also haven't found any reviewer boasting any mp3 player's hardware or software interface superior to that of iPods.

For the issue of the iPod's physical design, I have to say that I think it looks pretty good. However I must clarify that if anything.. it was detrimental to my purchase of it. Simply put, I try to avoid exposing it in public since I know iPods tend to be associated alot to teeny-boppers by the mass public.
Btw, don't forget the 5th generation iPods are coming out soon. Even smaller & lighter, it also boasts video playing capabilities (something which I admittedly don't give a crap about, but nonetheless a flagship feature I should mention).

For the issue of battery replacement, I should clarify that you can replace the batteries for iPods. The only iPod for which the user can't actually replace is the Nano. The whole issue of replacing batteries within iPods is that it's simply more difficult than other products which claim their lithium-ion's to be user-replaceable. If you don't want to do it yourself, send it off to Apple.. they replace it for you for a fee. I just need to point that out because many people just assume once the battery dies, the product itself is screwed forever. Of course, this is utter bullshit.

On the issue of colour screens, reviewers have labelled some of the iRiver's with inferior quality to that of the iPods. The latest review I've read on this issue was from MaximumPC.

Some iRivers do have custom 5 band EQs indeed, which is good. However I should mention that iTunes offers preset EQ transfer capabilities for individual songs. This wipes away some of the benefits of having a custom EQ. Another benefit of it was that many people wanted the classic skate ramp EQ (basically high on bass, low mids and high treble). Apple recently enhanced their 'Rock', 'Latin' and 'HipHop' presets to pretty much that anyway, which can be viewed as a nifty solution to that problem.

As for radios, simply put.. iPods of course don't offer that; only as an optional addon. To people who desperate want a radio (although I'm sure most people would buy an mp3 player for mainly playing erm.. mp3s (and other common formats)), then you may perhaps find the iPod lacking in features. If you're like me and don't care (nor want) a radio, then I see this as no 'quality' disadvantage.

Point taken, though I believe you can use drag and drop with irivers to a certain extent.