Key To Power On The Internet: Having An iPod
from the really? dept
iPod owners are "among the Internet's most influential users", some market research firm is claiming. Apparently iPod owners are more likely than the rest of the plebes on the internet to have blogged, sent a text message on their phone or downloaded videos. The hard-hitting study also says they're more likely to own DVRs, PDAs, laptops, cell phones and digital cameras, and probably have broadband. Hang on -- you mean early adopters are, uh, early adopters? Really? Don't wait much longer, folks, just two more months to get your entry in for the 2005 Obvious Awards. And the competition's looking pretty stout.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Numpties
anyone with half an ounce for a brain can see the Iriver has a better media experiance than ANY Ipod and 90% of the creative players are much better audio quality. What do Ipods have ?! Crap heaps - I own a Zen and all of the above ... minus the ipod of course...heres a revolutionary statment just like the one above
"people with computers are 98% more likely to have the internet than people without computers"
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Numpties
translation: "I'm too cool, or too cheap to buy an iPod."
Seriously, I did the research and found the iPod to be the best player for ME. Yes it's a little more expensive, but after dealing with crap like Sony's ATRAC, I'll take iTunes (or winamp running a plugin) any day. I also like the cleaner form of the iPod compared to the other players I looked at. Most of the other players look like some garbage from a Sci-Fi channel afternoon matinee in my opinion.
So you decided to buy a Zen, good for you. I looked at the Zen, and decided not to buy it because there are 100 times more accessories and addons for the iPod, and it jacks right into my Audi.
If the Zen was a better machine for me, I would have bought it. I have no brand loyalty, especially not to Apple. Your generalization about iPod users is rediculous.
Must be time for your meds.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Numpties
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Numpties
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Numpties
As a long time Ipod user i can say Ipod is overrated when compare with what you can buy in the market right now.
The only thing that Ipod tops the rest is the look.
Whats with this vidoe Ipod? I think portable vidoe is the dumbest idea. WOULD YOU WATCH A CLIP, A MOVIE OR SITCOM ON THAT THINY SCREEN WHILE WALKING DOWN THE STREET? I guess not. Then again I've been wrong before.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Numpties
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Numpties
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
so..
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: so..
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Bad association
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I held off, too
It also takes 22 seconds from pressing the button (in an Off state) until you hear any music.
It also uses a proprietary Samsung cable that costs $16 to replace, and for whatever reason it won't charge from USB - only from an AC Adapter, and a second AC adapter is $82 (from Samsung).
The battery life works out to about 5.5 hours of play time so you can't get through a full day of work on battery, so you need to spend almost $100 more to get a second cable and AC adapter so you can have power at work and at home. At that point you've exceeded the cost of an iPod.
Get a sudden hankering to hear a song by Yes on your Samsung? Plan on hammering away on the Down button a few hundred times to work your way through your artists list.
I bought an iPod three weeks ago and haven't regretted it yet. From Off to Play is around 1.5 seconds (depends on if you're resuming an audio book or music). The click wheel on the iPod makes it a matter of 2-3 seconds to find your way from Abba to Yes
I have a docking cradle at home and at the office, both with the line-out connected to the PC so I can keep my headphones plugged into the PC. At the end of the work day I shutdown the iPod (2-3 seconds, much faster than the Samsung's 15 second shut down) and carry it out to my car where I snap it onto a Belkin auto kit which provides power and an audio connection to a cassette adapter, and then when I get home I pop it off the auto kit and drop it in my desktop cradle there where I can listen to music through my nice desktop speakers.
The desktop cradles are non-OEM from Insten and cost me $8 each via Ebay, and the Belkin auto kit was $18, again via Ebay. The iPod has no problem charging via USB so no need for another $82 AC adapter, either.
Also with the Samsung I don't get the convenience of roughly a zillion free podcasts that will automatically download and update without my having to do anything more than drop my iPod into a cradle.
I was at Sam's Club this past weekend and they had one of the Samsung YH-820s left for $60 - significantly less than the $200 I paid for it earlier this year. iPod prices drop, but not that drastically because they retain their value.
I should point out that I am not a fan of Apple. This is the first Apple product I've ever owned (although I have used iTunes for a year or so, strictly for buying music). I am not suddenly an Apple fan, nor will I rush out and buy one of their over-priced/under-powered PCs because of this, but I will give them credit for getting the iPod right.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: I held off, too
What is with this "Mine is bigger than yours" thing about the iPod? Was Carlo's post about this? Is it relevant here? (is it relevant ever?)
Shall we strive to understand the little irony that's behind the story we were told by Carlo, or will we react like bulls in front of a red rag everytime somebody uses the wrd iPod?
Shall we try? iPod, iPod, iPod!!! Photo, Video, Mini, Nano! There! Now, very good, you've remained calm, haven't you?
Now shall we discuss (or laugh, as the case might be) about the cluelessness of someone who can't identify a causal chain between owning an MP3 player and owning a lot of other hi-tech gear, regardless of the actual type of Mp3 player? Or has this escaped all of you?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
No Subject Given
Kudos for Apple's marekting team and their ability to take very pedestrian consumer technology, put it in a really cute package, and spin it as "cutting edge".
[ link to this | view in chronology ]