I own an iPod mini (waiting for the nano update) and I have not once used the iTunes store (and no, the vast majority of my MP3s are not pirated). Why?
I like audio quality. I'll either buy a CD or vinyl record and then convert it to MP3 for easier listening. I also spend the time to hunt down speciality online MP3 stores or artist sites which sell MP3s at the highest possible bitrate with no copy protection (eg. bleep.com).
Maybe I'm not a typical consumer (although most people I know do the same thing) but I honestly don't think a music store matters all that much (especially one with the limitations of iTMS). Having the best quality MP3 player and library management software is the most important factor IMO.
But it's not just the iTMS. iTunes is a really great program for conversion too. It offers a lot of options for format and bitrate, but more importantly, it is just so easy to set it up to automatically rip a CD, get the tracknames, and eject the cd without the user doing anything more than putting the discs in the drive.
"Comedic"? Seriously? That was one of the tackiest and lamest sites I have ever seen. Major corporations shouldn't ever try and play the nonconformist card. Don't be a sheep...but get suckered in by this advertising...and be a sheep.
The iPods are certainly overdue for a refresh, but it definitely looks like it will happen in September. By the time this is out, new iPods may be shipping.
Does anyone else laugh when they see that Sandisk named their player Sansa? Sansa is the dregs of the olive oil making process. It is the stuff that no one will use for cooking unless absolutely forced to. Quite fitting.
It's great being first to market something! It's just too bad that their product looks like shit, and probably runs like it too. When will these shmucks learn? Apple puts THOUGHT, R&D, and CREATIVITY into their products. Just because you double the storage capacity (which is a joke - as if to say that Apple won't blow it away within months) doesn't mean that your product will amount to anything. Cheers to the next-gen iPod.
Does anyone else laugh when they see that Sandisk named their player Sansa? Sansa is the dregs of the olive oil making process. It is the stuff that no one will use for cooking unless absolutely forced to. Quite fitting.
according to the os x dictionary it is another word for "thumb piano"
which makes more sense. are you sure your definition of "sansa" is not italian or something?
- as if to say that Apple won't blow it away within months) doesn't mean that your product will amount to anything. Cheers to the next-gen iPod.
I guess that SanDisk doesn't need it to amount to "anything" like we'd think of it. I mean, if they took away just 1 person in 50 who owns an iPod, then that's not much to Apple, but it's a huge increase in share for them, proportional to what they have now, which means $$$.
It's tough staying so far ahead, but lets hope that Apple is very agressive, not even giving other products a foothold, not letting there be any possible thought that they're better than the iPods. Of course, if some company does produce a product that is better, end-to-end than Apple's offerings, then good on them. I'd like to see them try (oh, hang on, they're already trying aren't they?).
I like all the comments after the review saying how much better it is than a nano, interspersed with all the freezes, problems updating firmware, ghost files you have to jump through hoops to delete, tricks needed to get album art to display, songs playing in the wrong order, etc.
I especially liked this comment:
Quote:
I just got this mp3 player yesterday and I was listening to a song and it froze none of the buttons worked. Dont be afraid because you just have to let it sit there until the battery dies and then you restart it! This is a lot better than the ipod nano.
Would be cool if Apple decided to scrape up any remaining Windows hangers on by offering conversion tools for WMA and OGG file formats for new iPods...
Would be cool if Apple decided to scrape up any remaining Windows hangers on by offering conversion tools for WMA and OGG file formats for new iPods...
I'm pretty sure they already offer the ability to convert unencrypted WMA. I doubt they will ever offer anything for encrypted WMA. Whether they will offer something for OGG is a different question. I think if someone makes a Quicktime plug-in for it, then iTunes should be able to convert it.
Hey, LOOK EVERYONE! Its an iPod Nano!! oh, no, never mind. It's just a knock off. Don't be sheep, they say, then they make it look like a nano. Riiiiiiight. Someone's jelouse!
Yes, I know I spelled that wrong. We need a spell checker on here.
I have, though I rarely use it, since I have my ipod, a tiny memorex SD card based player. The primary reason I don't use it, aside from small capacity (yeah, I know I can get a 4GB SD card for $80) is that it has a tendancy to corrupt the data on the card. Gets annoying having to wipe the card and then copy all the music back on. And it can't play AAC.
I use my iPod for not just music, but Audible audio books as well, most of which are available from iTunes.
I would like to see recording capability built in, but remember that this isn't a new concept. Dell had it on their player. You know, the one they discontinued?
Satalite? hmmm.... would be nice if it didn't require an external antenna... would it?
FM I definately would like built in. I currently have no radio but in my car, and no TV (they rot your mind, you know. I saw it on the Discovery Channel), so I tend to get behind on local news... like that tornado over there.... uh, gotta go.
Courtesy Mac Help:
Using advanced spell-checking options
In applications that use the Mac OS X spell-checking feature (such as Mail and TextEdit and even Safari), you can see suggested spellings for words, add frequently used words or terms to the dictionary, or choose dictionaries for specific languages.
Open the document you want to check.
Choose Edit > Spelling > Spelling.
Choose a dictionary from the Dictionary pop-up menu.
The first misspelled word is highlighted. Do one of the following:
Double-click the correct word or spelling in the Guess list to replace the incorrect spelling in the text.
If the correct word does not appear in the Guess list but you know the correct spelling, type the correct word, and click Correct.
Click Ignore if the current spelling is correct and you want to leave it as it is. If this is a term or name you use often, click Learn to add it to the dictionary.
If no alternate spellings appear in the Guess list, select the misspelled word in the Spelling dialog and try a different possible spelling. Click Guess to see if new spelling options appear in the Guess list.
Click Find Next and continue with steps 4 and 5 until you find no more errors in your document.
If you accidentally add a misspelled word to the dictionary, type the misspelling in the Spelling dialog, then click Forget.
It's a good idea to read through your document yourself, even if you use the spell-checker. If you type "fine" instead of "find," it won't show up as a misspelled word because "fine" is a word found in the dictionary. Only you (or another reader) can spot misused words or words that are out of context.
It's great being first to market something! It's just too bad that their product looks like shit, and probably runs like it too. When will these shmucks learn? Apple puts THOUGHT, R&D, and CREATIVITY into their products. Just because you double the storage capacity (which is a joke - as if to say that Apple won't blow it away within months) doesn't mean that your product will amount to anything. Cheers to the next-gen iPod.
I just don't get comments like this. "their product looks like shit, and probably runs like it too". So... basically, you've never used it and simply because it's not an iPod, it's crap? Pretty much every review I've looked over on the Sansa E series has been quite favorable. I have had a number of DAPs over the years (actually... lots)... For a while now, my favorite is my Nano. I think the Nano is cool and tiny and all that stuff... but it's the integration with iTunes that's the reason it's my favorite. I have a fairly long train commute to and from work and I've become somewhat addicted to podcasts. It's nice to have something intelligent to listen to now and then when I get tired of listening to my music. I really don't think anyone else has the ease of downloading and loading up their DAP that Apple does with the iPods and iTunes. I think Creative has something (but I've never tried it) and I'd imagine they don't have as many podcasts as iTunes. If Apple opened up iTunes to other players, I would probably consider options other than the iPod line. I really don't think they're the best players out there (that's far from saying they're bad)... but no one has come close to the integration of something like iTunes and the iPod.
Take it for sure: the definition of "sansa" - according to the Italian vocabulary - is the olive-ish one
Of course, the term could mean different things if considered in different languages.
I think that the choice of a product's name should be made with more consciousness, sometimes. Like this one!
Also....
Hon'inbō Sansa (本因坊算砂, 1559 - 1623) was a Japanese player of Go, and the strongest player of his day. He was a Buddhist priest of the Nichiren sect, and his original name was Nikkai. Living in a hut called Honinbo, he taught Go there and eventually came to found the house of Honinbo. Among his students were the Japanese warlords Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
This is really a moot point... They could have also just made up a name like ummm... iPod. What is it with people and their vehement dislike for things non-iPod. The best way to get any company to make something better is for a competitor to come out with something that might steal some of their market share. So long as Apple has a 75%+ share on the DAP market, they have little need to innovate (e.g. Microsoft). We should be happy about other companies coming out with decent competing products. Even if they're not "better" than the iPods, but only as good as them... that will give Apple more incentive to work on the line. When Apple realized that IBM wasn't getting them what they needed to be competitive in the computer market, they made the drastic change to move over to a completely new (for Apple) architecture. If the PC market had just crept along and wasn't moving ahead as fast as it was, Apple would never have switched over to Intel.
In applications that use the Mac OS X spell-checking feature (such as Mail and TextEdit and even Safari), you can see suggested spellings for words, add frequently used words or terms to the dictionary, or choose dictionaries for specific languages.
Open the document you want to check.
Choose Edit > Spelling > Spelling.
Choose a dictionary from the Dictionary pop-up menu.
The first misspelled word is highlighted. Do one of the following:
Double-click the correct word or spelling in the Guess list to replace the incorrect spelling in the text.
If the correct word does not appear in the Guess list but you know the correct spelling, type the correct word, and click Correct.
Click Ignore if the current spelling is correct and you want to leave it as it is. If this is a term or name you use often, click Learn to add it to the dictionary.
If no alternate spellings appear in the Guess list, select the misspelled word in the Spelling dialog and try a different possible spelling. Click Guess to see if new spelling options appear in the Guess list.
Click Find Next and continue with steps 4 and 5 until you find no more errors in your document.
If you accidentally add a misspelled word to the dictionary, type the misspelling in the Spelling dialog, then click Forget.
It's a good idea to read through your document yourself, even if you use the spell-checker. If you type "fine" instead of "find," it won't show up as a misspelled word because "fine" is a word found in the dictionary. Only you (or another reader) can spot misused words or words that are out of context.
<sigh> I only have a windows pc at this point in time. /cry. Thanks for rubbing it in, dude. Should be getting my PBG3 back in a week or two though! Oh, Wallstreet, how I have missed you these past 5 years!
What is it with people and their vehement dislike for things non-iPod. The best way to get any company to make something better is for a competitor to come out with something that might steal some of their market share....
Hello Joey,
really: I didn't mean to express such an idea as the one you depicted: I'm not APPLE=GOLD, ANY-OTHER-BRAND=SUCKS.
Just laughin' at the final results of a brainstorm (expensive, I suppose) made to find a product's name like this. The name's sound, to my ears, recalls a squishy, greeny, slippery thing... And it doesn't help selling, I hope you agree
It's publically available information that a reel (1000) of single-chip 8GB chips can be had for a certain amount of money. I get this through distributors such as Digikey. Since Apple buy giant quantities directly from the manufacturer, they get greatly reduced pricing. You can take it for granted that the next Nano will have an 8GB version. As for the 16GB, Apple is generally a half to a full generation ahead of the rest of the industry because of the popularity of the iPod. So Samsung is more likely to roll out their 16GB stacked package on the iPod than on any other product.
As an engineer who keeps an eye on the low-power electronics industry, I don't know for sure that the Nano will have 8 and 16G versions. As a soccer fan, I also don't know for sure that Chelsea will have a great year, but I'd be shocked if either example proves to the contrary.
- all flash with sound and movies: an excellent idea
Sure, it's bigger than a nano (so?), but it is an interesting device that should shake things up. Competition is the backbone of innovation. Any sitautaion where there is competition makes both sides work harder; what they come up with is a different matter, but they work harder.
First to market: well, they were the first to announce their device, even if it does not go on sale until next month (which only happens to be two weeks away). How many, many times has Jobs stodd on stage announcing a product that made everyone's mouth water and say it will be available on a certain day that is not the day of the demo?
I hope this product will get Apple moving: release more update more regularly (smaller comapnies can, so can you) and be more innovative. Lastly, listen to your customers; sometimes they know what they're talking about. (Sometimtes they have no clue.)
- all flash with sound and movies: an excellent idea
Sure, it's bigger than a nano (so?), but it is an interesting device that should shake things up.
Have you read the entire thread? There are more issues with it than "only" being twice as thick. User replaceable battery isn't new to the portable audio player market, though I'd say that the nano's battery is user replaceable, so long as the user isn't a dunce.
Comments
I own an iPod mini (waiting for the nano update) and I have not once used the iTunes store (and no, the vast majority of my MP3s are not pirated). Why?
I like audio quality. I'll either buy a CD or vinyl record and then convert it to MP3 for easier listening. I also spend the time to hunt down speciality online MP3 stores or artist sites which sell MP3s at the highest possible bitrate with no copy protection (eg. bleep.com).
Maybe I'm not a typical consumer (although most people I know do the same thing) but I honestly don't think a music store matters all that much (especially one with the limitations of iTMS). Having the best quality MP3 player and library management software is the most important factor IMO.
But it's not just the iTMS. iTunes is a really great program for conversion too. It offers a lot of options for format and bitrate, but more importantly, it is just so easy to set it up to automatically rip a CD, get the tracknames, and eject the cd without the user doing anything more than putting the discs in the drive.
The iPods are certainly overdue for a refresh, but it definitely looks like it will happen in September. By the time this is out, new iPods may be shipping.
Does anyone else laugh when they see that Sandisk named their player Sansa? Sansa is the dregs of the olive oil making process. It is the stuff that no one will use for cooking unless absolutely forced to. Quite fitting.
It's great being first to market something! It's just too bad that their product looks like shit, and probably runs like it too. When will these shmucks learn? Apple puts THOUGHT, R&D, and CREATIVITY into their products. Just because you double the storage capacity (which is a joke - as if to say that Apple won't blow it away within months) doesn't mean that your product will amount to anything. Cheers to the next-gen iPod.
That'd be like comparing a 360 to the ps2, everyone knows its on it's way out.
Does anyone else laugh when they see that Sandisk named their player Sansa? Sansa is the dregs of the olive oil making process. It is the stuff that no one will use for cooking unless absolutely forced to. Quite fitting.
according to the os x dictionary it is another word for "thumb piano"
which makes more sense. are you sure your definition of "sansa" is not italian or something?
- as if to say that Apple won't blow it away within months) doesn't mean that your product will amount to anything. Cheers to the next-gen iPod.
I guess that SanDisk doesn't need it to amount to "anything" like we'd think of it. I mean, if they took away just 1 person in 50 who owns an iPod, then that's not much to Apple, but it's a huge increase in share for them, proportional to what they have now, which means $$$.
It's tough staying so far ahead, but lets hope that Apple is very agressive, not even giving other products a foothold, not letting there be any possible thought that they're better than the iPods. Of course, if some company does produce a product that is better, end-to-end than Apple's offerings, then good on them. I'd like to see them try (oh, hang on, they're already trying aren't they?).
Mendosi
Read the review...
http://www.anythingbutipod.com/archi...ies-review.php
I like all the comments after the review saying how much better it is than a nano, interspersed with all the freezes, problems updating firmware, ghost files you have to jump through hoops to delete, tricks needed to get album art to display, songs playing in the wrong order, etc.
I especially liked this comment:
I just got this mp3 player yesterday and I was listening to a song and it froze none of the buttons worked. Dont be afraid because you just have to let it sit there until the battery dies and then you restart it! This is a lot better than the ipod nano.
Cheaper = cheaper, not better.
Would be cool if Apple decided to scrape up any remaining Windows hangers on by offering conversion tools for WMA and OGG file formats for new iPods...
I'm pretty sure they already offer the ability to convert unencrypted WMA. I doubt they will ever offer anything for encrypted WMA. Whether they will offer something for OGG is a different question. I think if someone makes a Quicktime plug-in for it, then iTunes should be able to convert it.
Hey, LOOK EVERYONE! Its an iPod Nano!! oh, no, never mind. It's just a knock off.
Yes, I know I spelled that wrong. We need a spell checker on here.
I have, though I rarely use it, since I have my ipod, a tiny memorex SD card based player. The primary reason I don't use it, aside from small capacity (yeah, I know I can get a 4GB SD card for $80) is that it has a tendancy to corrupt the data on the card. Gets annoying having to wipe the card and then copy all the music back on. And it can't play AAC.
I use my iPod for not just music, but Audible audio books as well, most of which are available from iTunes.
I would like to see recording capability built in, but remember that this isn't a new concept. Dell had it on their player. You know, the one they discontinued?
Satalite? hmmm.... would be nice if it didn't require an external antenna... would it?
FM I definately would like built in. I currently have no radio but in my car, and no TV (they rot your mind, you know. I saw it on the Discovery Channel), so I tend to get behind on local news... like that tornado over there.... uh, gotta go.
Courtesy Mac Help:
Using advanced spell-checking options
In applications that use the Mac OS X spell-checking feature (such as Mail and TextEdit and even Safari), you can see suggested spellings for words, add frequently used words or terms to the dictionary, or choose dictionaries for specific languages.
Open the document you want to check.
Choose Edit > Spelling > Spelling.
Choose a dictionary from the Dictionary pop-up menu.
The first misspelled word is highlighted. Do one of the following:
Double-click the correct word or spelling in the Guess list to replace the incorrect spelling in the text.
If the correct word does not appear in the Guess list but you know the correct spelling, type the correct word, and click Correct.
Click Ignore if the current spelling is correct and you want to leave it as it is. If this is a term or name you use often, click Learn to add it to the dictionary.
If no alternate spellings appear in the Guess list, select the misspelled word in the Spelling dialog and try a different possible spelling. Click Guess to see if new spelling options appear in the Guess list.
Click Find Next and continue with steps 4 and 5 until you find no more errors in your document.
If you accidentally add a misspelled word to the dictionary, type the misspelling in the Spelling dialog, then click Forget.
It's a good idea to read through your document yourself, even if you use the spell-checker. If you type "fine" instead of "find," it won't show up as a misspelled word because "fine" is a word found in the dictionary. Only you (or another reader) can spot misused words or words that are out of context.
Darn. The next Nano will have 8 and 16G variants. An 8G NAND chip costs about $50 in quantity. Perhaps less in Apple quantities.
How do you know this?
It's great being first to market something! It's just too bad that their product looks like shit, and probably runs like it too. When will these shmucks learn? Apple puts THOUGHT, R&D, and CREATIVITY into their products. Just because you double the storage capacity (which is a joke - as if to say that Apple won't blow it away within months) doesn't mean that your product will amount to anything. Cheers to the next-gen iPod.
I just don't get comments like this. "their product looks like shit, and probably runs like it too". So... basically, you've never used it and simply because it's not an iPod, it's crap? Pretty much every review I've looked over on the Sansa E series has been quite favorable. I have had a number of DAPs over the years (actually... lots)... For a while now, my favorite is my Nano. I think the Nano is cool and tiny and all that stuff... but it's the integration with iTunes that's the reason it's my favorite. I have a fairly long train commute to and from work and I've become somewhat addicted to podcasts. It's nice to have something intelligent to listen to now and then when I get tired of listening to my music. I really don't think anyone else has the ease of downloading and loading up their DAP that Apple does with the iPods and iTunes. I think Creative has something (but I've never tried it) and I'd imagine they don't have as many podcasts as iTunes. If Apple opened up iTunes to other players, I would probably consider options other than the iPod line. I really don't think they're the best players out there (that's far from saying they're bad)... but no one has come close to the integration of something like iTunes and the iPod.
according to the os x dictionary it is another word for "thumb piano"
which makes more sense. are you sure your definition of "sansa" is not italian or something?
Hi!
Take it for sure: the definition of "sansa" - according to the Italian vocabulary - is the olive-ish one
Of course, the term could mean different things if considered in different languages.
I think that the choice of a product's name should be made with more consciousness, sometimes. Like this one!
Hi!
Take it for sure: the definition of "sansa" - according to the Italian vocabulary - is the olive-ish one
Of course, the term could mean different things if considered in different languages.
I think that the choice of a product's name should be made with more consciousness, sometimes. Like this one!
Also....
Hon'inbō Sansa (本因坊算砂, 1559 - 1623) was a Japanese player of Go, and the strongest player of his day. He was a Buddhist priest of the Nichiren sect, and his original name was Nikkai. Living in a hut called Honinbo, he taught Go there and eventually came to found the house of Honinbo. Among his students were the Japanese warlords Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
This is really a moot point... They could have also just made up a name like ummm... iPod. What is it with people and their vehement dislike for things non-iPod. The best way to get any company to make something better is for a competitor to come out with something that might steal some of their market share. So long as Apple has a 75%+ share on the DAP market, they have little need to innovate (e.g. Microsoft). We should be happy about other companies coming out with decent competing products. Even if they're not "better" than the iPods, but only as good as them... that will give Apple more incentive to work on the line. When Apple realized that IBM wasn't getting them what they needed to be competitive in the computer market, they made the drastic change to move over to a completely new (for Apple) architecture. If the PC market had just crept along and wasn't moving ahead as fast as it was, Apple would never have switched over to Intel.
Courtesy Mac Help:
Using advanced spell-checking options
In applications that use the Mac OS X spell-checking feature (such as Mail and TextEdit and even Safari), you can see suggested spellings for words, add frequently used words or terms to the dictionary, or choose dictionaries for specific languages.
Open the document you want to check.
Choose Edit > Spelling > Spelling.
Choose a dictionary from the Dictionary pop-up menu.
The first misspelled word is highlighted. Do one of the following:
Double-click the correct word or spelling in the Guess list to replace the incorrect spelling in the text.
If the correct word does not appear in the Guess list but you know the correct spelling, type the correct word, and click Correct.
Click Ignore if the current spelling is correct and you want to leave it as it is. If this is a term or name you use often, click Learn to add it to the dictionary.
If no alternate spellings appear in the Guess list, select the misspelled word in the Spelling dialog and try a different possible spelling. Click Guess to see if new spelling options appear in the Guess list.
Click Find Next and continue with steps 4 and 5 until you find no more errors in your document.
If you accidentally add a misspelled word to the dictionary, type the misspelling in the Spelling dialog, then click Forget.
It's a good idea to read through your document yourself, even if you use the spell-checker. If you type "fine" instead of "find," it won't show up as a misspelled word because "fine" is a word found in the dictionary. Only you (or another reader) can spot misused words or words that are out of context.
<sigh> I only have a windows pc at this point in time. /cry. Thanks for rubbing it in, dude. Should be getting my PBG3 back in a week or two though! Oh, Wallstreet, how I have missed you these past 5 years!
Also....
What is it with people and their vehement dislike for things non-iPod. The best way to get any company to make something better is for a competitor to come out with something that might steal some of their market share....
Hello Joey,
really: I didn't mean to express such an idea as the one you depicted: I'm not APPLE=GOLD, ANY-OTHER-BRAND=SUCKS.
Just laughin' at the final results of a brainstorm (expensive, I suppose) made to find a product's name like this. The name's sound, to my ears, recalls a squishy, greeny, slippery thing... And it doesn't help selling, I hope you agree
Have a nice day!
How do you know this?
It's publically available information that a reel (1000) of single-chip 8GB chips can be had for a certain amount of money. I get this through distributors such as Digikey. Since Apple buy giant quantities directly from the manufacturer, they get greatly reduced pricing. You can take it for granted that the next Nano will have an 8GB version. As for the 16GB, Apple is generally a half to a full generation ahead of the rest of the industry because of the popularity of the iPod. So Samsung is more likely to roll out their 16GB stacked package on the iPod than on any other product.
As an engineer who keeps an eye on the low-power electronics industry, I don't know for sure that the Nano will have 8 and 16G versions. As a soccer fan, I also don't know for sure that Chelsea will have a great year, but I'd be shocked if either example proves to the contrary.
- user replacebale battery: an excellenet idea
- user expandable memory: an excellent idea
- all flash with sound and movies: an excellent idea
Sure, it's bigger than a nano (so?), but it is an interesting device that should shake things up. Competition is the backbone of innovation. Any sitautaion where there is competition makes both sides work harder; what they come up with is a different matter, but they work harder.
First to market: well, they were the first to announce their device, even if it does not go on sale until next month (which only happens to be two weeks away). How many, many times has Jobs stodd on stage announcing a product that made everyone's mouth water and say it will be available on a certain day that is not the day of the demo?
I hope this product will get Apple moving: release more update more regularly (smaller comapnies can, so can you) and be more innovative. Lastly, listen to your customers; sometimes they know what they're talking about. (Sometimtes they have no clue.)
Let's see what Apple can learn from SanDisk...
- user replacebale battery: an excellenet idea
- user expandable memory: an excellent idea
- all flash with sound and movies: an excellent idea
Sure, it's bigger than a nano (so?), but it is an interesting device that should shake things up.
Have you read the entire thread? There are more issues with it than "only" being twice as thick. User replaceable battery isn't new to the portable audio player market, though I'd say that the nano's battery is user replaceable, so long as the user isn't a dunce.