Things I hate about my iPod
What do we hate about our iPods?
One thing I hate about my Nano is that it's too hard to put it to sleep. A typical situation is that I update the iPod, eject it and upplug, then I want to put in my bag and head out the door. But the gd thing is on and I don't want to put it away on. So I hold down pause/play and wait and wait and wait. Damn thing wont sleep. I can't get it to sleep. I have to go as far as to play a song and then pause that and then hold down pause/pay to get it to sleep. Very annoying.
Anyone else?
One thing I hate about my Nano is that it's too hard to put it to sleep. A typical situation is that I update the iPod, eject it and upplug, then I want to put in my bag and head out the door. But the gd thing is on and I don't want to put it away on. So I hold down pause/play and wait and wait and wait. Damn thing wont sleep. I can't get it to sleep. I have to go as far as to play a song and then pause that and then hold down pause/pay to get it to sleep. Very annoying.
Anyone else?
Comments
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Personally, ( this is only based on trial experience, it would probably get better with time )
I don't like the size of the scrollwheel on a nano. Whenever I use my friend's nano ( not very often ) it just feels awkward and I often have trouble landing on the selection I want. ( as I said, this would probably get easier with time, just like everything else )
To few buttons: it's not possible to change the volume or to switch between random/normal-playback without using the menu.
Battery cannot be removed: My old player had ~70 hours playback with 1 AAA Battery, which could easly be replaced, so battery-life has never been an issue, even with very old batteries.
Software-wise the ipod are far ahead of the sony players but sony definately has better hardware engineers.
To few buttons: it's not possible to change the volume or to switch between random/normal-playback without using the menu.
Doesn't the scroll wheel change the volume while a song is playing?
Battery cannot be removed: My old player had ~70 hours playback with 1 AAA Battery, which could easly be replaced, so battery-life has never been an issue, even with very old batteries.
When your battery dies in your ipod and you take it back to Apple, they give you a replacement for a fee. This fee is more than you'd pay for a battery but you get a whole new ipod:
http://www.apple.com/support/ipod/service/battery/
$65.95 is a lot of money but like I say, you get another ipod. This is obviously better value for the more expensive ipods.
Doesn't the scroll wheel change the volume while a song is playing?
And about the battery, I'm not talking about replacing the battery when it can't be recharged at all.
I really liked the possibility to just drop another AAA-battery in the player when there was no way to recharge the player (camping, on train, on the ski-slopes etc), but I think I can live with 24h.
- In my attempt to fast-forward, I usually end up skipping to the next song.
- My iPod Mini is blindingly bright in the car at night.
- Scroll wheel doesn't work well if your hands are at all wet/sweaty/greasydirty/whatever.
eh... I'm pretty much grasping here. I don't really have that many substantial complaints.
- In my attempt to fast-forward, I usually end up skipping to the next song.
Exactly, is there really no other way then the 20s steps?
Exactly, is there really no other way then the 20s steps?
Click the "Select" botton while you're playing a song... your progress indicator will turn into a little diamond. Now, when you use the scroll wheel, you can move forward or backward in the current track. When you're done, it will return to functioning as the volume control.
Doesn't the scroll wheel change the volume while a song is playing?
Yes and no.
If a song is playing, but while it's playing you go into the menu system to, say, look at your calendar or play a game or change your backlight setting... whatever... the scroll wheel no longer controls the volume any more, it controls menu scrolling.
If your music suddenly gets too loud while you're off in a menu, the only thing you can do apart from pull out your earbuds is wait it out for 11 seconds until the iPod decides to let the scroll wheel be the volume control again.
While I understand the appeal of the very minimalist set of controls on the iPod, I'd much prefer to have a separate, indepedent volume control which is never anything other than a volume control. I think the addition of a couple of cell-phone-like soft keys would help too, to provide a quick means to exit the menu system, turn shuffle play on and off, etc.
The two soft keys would be tactile click buttons, the volume strip would be a touch sensitive area to drag your finger over to control the iPod's volume. Perhaps pressing the volume strip for a couple of seconds, or a quick double tap, could perform a Mute function.
These aren't my most thoroughly thought-out soft key assignments for music-playing mode, just suggestions. I'm pretty sure I'd want a shuffle button that would cycle through off/song/album modes (it would be interesting to figure out the best graphic representations for those ideas to use in a tiny area of screen real estate), but the second button could be a repeat control instead of a short cut to the On The Go playlist, or perhaps some other function.
While in the menu system, one button could be an Exit key, to either take you to the top of the menu system, or back to music/video playing mode. As I think about, I often only feel one button short of the amount of control I'd like to have, but if one was going to modify the iPod design in the first place, might as well stick with a familiar paradigm, like the nearly-standard pair of cell phone soft keys. I think the playability of many games could be greatly improved with a couple of extra buttons available.
One thing I hate about my Nano is that it's too hard to put it to sleep. A typical situation is that I update the iPod, eject it and upplug, then I want to put in my bag and head out the door. But the gd thing is on and I don't want to put it away on. So I hold down pause/play and wait and wait and wait. Damn thing wont sleep.
I dislike it when people think that all instances of a device work like theirs and go around bad-mouthing it, rather than realising that actually, there is something wrong with their individual device.
Now, I don't want you to think I don't think it sucks that your iPod isn't behaving itself. It does suck. But this behaviour is not inherent in the design of the iPod. It shouldn't require those steps to put it to sleep. Have you tried resetting it?
Other iPod changes I'd like to see...
I like all of these ideas.
This one can be worked-around quite easily. In iTunes, make sure the shuffled playlist is ordered by the "play order" column (the first column on the left). The songs will then appear in that order on the iPod.
This one can be worked-around quite easily. In iTunes, make sure the shuffled playlist is ordered by the "play order" column (the first column on the left). The songs will then appear in that order on the iPod.
Would that leave you stuck with the same "random" play order last choosen by iTunes, until both iTunes reshuffles (typically only after playing through a list once, of if you toggle shuffle play off and on again) AND you sync your iPod again after that shuffing?
Would that leave you stuck with the same "random" play order last choosen by iTunes
Yes, it does. So, it's not perfect for everyone, but better than nothing.
How does this roughly-sketched out idea look?
The two soft keys would be tactile click buttons, the volume strip would be a touch sensitive area to drag your finger over to control the iPod's volume. Perhaps pressing the volume strip for a couple of seconds, or a quick double tap, could perform a Mute function.
These aren't my most thoroughly thought-out soft key assignments for music-playing mode, just suggestions. I'm pretty sure I'd want a shuffle button that would cycle through off/song/album modes (it would be interesting to figure out the best graphic representations for those ideas to use in a tiny area of screen real estate), but the second button could be a repeat control instead of a short cut to the On The Go playlist, or perhaps some other function.
While in the menu system, one button could be an Exit key, to either take you to the top of the menu system, or back to music/video playing mode. As I think about, I often only feel one button short of the amount of control I'd like to have, but if one was going to modify the iPod design in the first place, might as well stick with a familiar paradigm, like the nearly-standard pair of cell phone soft keys. I think the playability of many games could be greatly improved with a couple of extra buttons available.
Why?? You control the volume with the scroll wheel, first of all. Second, the iPod has five buttons. That's what you get. I don't think it will change anytime soon; extra buttons are no-no when it comes to the minimalist look Apple goes for. I dunno. It doesn't really take all that much time for me to hit menu a couple of times and turn on shuffle... I just don't see the benefit to the extra buttons.
What do we hate about our iPods?
One thing I hate about my Nano is that it's too hard to put it to sleep. A typical situation is that I update the iPod, eject it and upplug, then I want to put in my bag and head out the door. But the gd thing is on and I don't want to put it away on. So I hold down pause/play and wait and wait and wait. Damn thing wont sleep. I can't get it to sleep. I have to go as far as to play a song and then pause that and then hold down pause/pay to get it to sleep. Very annoying.
Anyone else?
In settings, you can choose to have "sleep" a main menu item.
Why?? You control the volume with the scroll wheel, first of all. Second, the iPod has five buttons. That's what you get. I don't think it will change anytime soon; extra buttons are no-no when it comes to the minimalist look Apple goes for. I dunno. It doesn't really take all that much time for me to hit menu a couple of times and turn on shuffle... I just don't see the benefit to the extra buttons.
a volume rocker on the left side would be benficial. and apple could make it so unnoticible and sleek, that nobody would notice it till they needed to use it.