Comments on: Will the iPod ever die?

By: ty

ty — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 08:11:56 +0000

if you knew anything you would know that sound quality does not stem from the player itself, that is simply the device that stores and conveys the music. sound quality has to do with the file size and format, and no, mp3 is not the highest sound quality out there (certainly worse than that of current CDs). apple endorses and ships a format that you can import music into your library directly with, ACC encoding. if you actually cared about music quality like you claim to, you would have looked into the option. You’re just dont like to go with whats popular, even if its popularity is from funcion and quality, not from trend.

By: Azhar

Azhar — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 13:08:18 +0000

Hey,
Thanks for the mention!
Very thankfully, Azhar | ForOnceAndForAll.

By: Bob McConnahew

Bob McConnahew — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 12:47:59 +0000

whereas streaming content to your Xbox360 is a piece of cake. (From your PC that is)

By: Bob McConnahew

Bob McConnahew — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 12:46:10 +0000

What makes him a bigot? He has an opinion, and I agree, Its generally accepted that the iPod does not have the greatest quality output, there *are* players which sound better. Though I disagree with:
“One of the point that isn’t true
- We want simply stuff, which looks good and works. -”
Unless you are a tech-head, most people just want something that works out of the box, the iPod (which I don’t have, so don’t accuse me of fanboyism) delivers this (I also think the Zune will, I’ve been impressed with WMP11 so far, but we’ll see), the iPod was also the first (And still is really) the only mp3 player with nearly faultless, and very easy to understand, software.
This is something companies like iriver (one of which I own (an H10), albeit with Rockbox firmware), and Creative always seem to fail on, either the interface is too clunky, or it doesn’t “Just Work”. This example can be applied to the PSP (another item I own) aswell, while its all great touting it as a portable media player with video etc. unless you know what you are doing, or fancy splashing out *more* cash its nearly impossible to get your video’s onto it, whereas streaming content to your Xbox360 is a piece of cake.
The main issue, it seems, is that companies spend an awful lot of time on the actual hardware, then go and stand on their heads in the corner when it comes to supporting software and firmware. (Can you believe my H10 didn’t organise albums by track number when I first got it!? It was all alphabetical) Until they pull their finger out of their proverbial bum, and perhaps Microsoft have this time with the Zune (Which I think they need a bit of a break about, god knows everyone was critical about the Xbox on first release), the iPod will remain the market leader, sound quality or no.

By: Lokkison

Lokkison — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 08:50:11 +0000

Jonathan Turner – the iPod can store the 50Gb+ of pirated mp3′s you have and play them.

Danny – You’re a bigot who obviously doesn’t have a clue as to what sound quality means, and from which component it comes.

By: danny

danny — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 06:05:07 +0000

I for one dont like ipods, their sound quality sucks.(OR at least they used to)

One of the point that isn’t true
- We want simply stuff, which looks good and works. -

Maybe true for some people, but if u r really music lover, you value the quality of the sound of the portable player.

There are mp3 players out there with FAR greater sound quality then ipods.

By: Tom Barta

Tom Barta — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 20:32:32 +0000

Where’s the competition? 4 years and counting, and the iPods are STILL the only MP3 player worth buying on the market. I think that even if Creative Zen or somebody managed to put out a decent piece of hardware, they still would be unable to back it up with decent software. Doubly true for Zune. MSFT has NO track record on software.

About 300 Million Sony Walkmen were sold; electronics are cheaper than ever these days for what you get, and only 50 millionish iPods have been sold, I think.

By: Marco (Griffith) Jardim

Marco (Griffith) Jardim — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 17:00:31 +0000

If your music is in MP3 format you don’t need to convert it. And there is absolutely no obligation to use the stock earphones, they’re crud anyway (well, the old ones at least, I’ve never tested the new ones).

By: Jonathan Turner

Jonathan Turner — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 16:39:34 +0000

I’d love a portable music player that could store my 50GB (and counting) of music, and i LOVE the iPod useability, but I don’t know if I can be bothered with all of the converting to the Apple format? Also, I’d rather not be seen in public wearing those stock white earphones!