EBMCS03

Oh Oh I want the 30GB iPod Video now...! Mainly for the Picture but MP3 will be a bonus.

Hpdrifter

I can't understand why people line up to buy those stupid over priced ipods! I own an Archos 20GB, which when I bought it it was the same price as the ipod 4 GB. Ok rocket scientist why would I spend the same amount of money for 4 GB when I can buy 20gb? Also ever try and use the ipod? Your stuck with that crappy proprietary itunes crap that doesn't let you do anything! My Archos runs "Rockbox" which is a hacked tweek that makes using the archos way better! Also when I connect to my computer by USB the Archos shows up as just another hard drive allowing me the freedom to copy, arrange and move any type of data onto it that I want! try doing that with your ipod! Funny, Apple pretends to be the hip trend setting company that gives you freedom when in reality their stuff is way more proprietary than IBM stuff has ever been. I'd never be caught with any thing produced by them!

UUronL

I too think there's nothing of interest with the video iPod. I have a PSP and it's about perfect. Only the horribly lazy wouldn't just DVR the very same ABC episodes (or download them for free) and use them as is, or re-encode them for whatever portable they happen to have. The big storage on the iPod is fine, but honestly - with that kind of battery life on video, does it really matter how much you can hold? You're still stuck with a few hours of playback. Just plan ahead and 1 or 2 GB on a Memory stick is fine. The screen on the iPod is still tiny, and the sound is still so-so. Sony's stuff sounds much better, and the screen on the PSP is huge and clear by comparison.

As always, I'm sure they'll sell tons of them.

mr_djurgarden

Don't have one...

mr_djurgarden

Don't have one...

stream

Grasshopper, grasshopper, grasshopper...you're so predictable.

Making bold statements...that are incorrect, and insulting people who have a view different than yours. Why must you be so angry...

Well, "rocket scientist" I can also use my iPod as a hard drive--it's a standard feature of iTunes...

Just like your opinions regarding waxes, glad you like what you're using--no need to bash other people's preferences...and make false statements in the process.

John007

Ya you need to add an Ipod photo to that I have a 40 gig with a LV sticker cover thing ... I'm sooo mad that that new one is coming out it plays video's I just updated my Itunes and now you can store your videos on it... What ever happened to letting you have the best of a product for at least a year? I got the new ipod 20 gig when it came out then a few months later the iphoto came out so I had to sell my ipod on ebay now this .... maybe I'll do it again.. funny thing is I don't even use it that much, maybe when they finally come out with the adapter so we can see the songs on our idrive screen that will change... love Itunes though!!!!! Any new news on that other hook up (forgot the name) wasn't it supposed to come out in October?

stream

Dension has been saying their ice link product will be released "in a few months" for ever...I wouldn't hold my breath (I didn't--I hardwired my iPod!).

UUronL

I think the disconnect here is that a good portion of us aren't the target market for 99% of consumer electronics. The "roll your own" crowd is always going to balk at these solutions. None of these devices are perfect, forcing each of us to make decisions based upon which of the imperfections and strengths play to our usage habits.

I like my portable game systems and iPod stuff when I travel, but most of the rest of the time they sit collecting dust. At the gym, the ambient music is so loud that listening to the iPod there is an exercise in frustration.

When traveling I always have my laptop, so for me storage on the portable playback unit is less important. I can swap content from the laptop between battery charges, but the reality is that this is often unnecessary since I can fit more than I can play on even two batteries with a measly 1GB memory stick.

I generally run from device to device until I kill the power... PSP, laptop, iPod - not necessarily in any order. The laptop excels at web access, storage, and video quality. The iPod gets the nod for battery life. The gaming on the PSP is unmatched and there are a ton of UMD titles. I can also encode anything I want to H.264/AVC. I can put MP3, ATRAC3, or AAC music files, photos, and I even have WiFi for browsing. With Sony's new "Location Free TV", I can even access my DVR content and live TV from my cableco on my PSP from a WiFi connection (although am holding out to see how this space evolves before giving Sony $350 for a 1.0 product). Guy Kawasaki of early Apple fame once said, "Version 1.0 means never having to say you're sorry."

Anyway, Apple products have their place - clearly. The amount of industry support they recently grabbed from the content holders is stunning and unprecedented - I've been involved in media convergence for the better part of 10 years and this is the biggest leap we've seen for video yet. Regardless of whether Apple wins or loses on this particular front, we all stand to gain quite a bit. The widespread -legal- proliferation of "valuable and desireable" video content has been an unrealized promise for far too long.

Hpdrifter

Grasshopper, grasshopper, grasshopper...you're so predictable.

Making bold statements...that are incorrect, and insulting people who have a view different than yours. Why must you be so angry...

Well, "rocket scientist" I can also use my iPod as a hard drive--it's a standard feature of iTunes...

Just like your opinions regarding waxes, glad you like what you're using--no need to bash other people's preferences...and make false statements in the process.

[/quote]

As per usaul reading obviously isn't one of your strengths! If you will notice, my "rocket scientist" comment was about the fact that people are paying the same price for 4GB as 20GB! In my mind that's a no brainer. But I guess you failed to comprehend that since your reading level is what...on a 3rd grade level? As for using your ipod as a hard drive try dropping mp3's on there and getting the ipod to recognize them. Ha.... (Before you open your mouth I have tried it and it doesn't work!) You have to use that crappy itunes program to load songs. That way apple figures they can protect copyright laws. And if you really want to argue that apple's not a proprietary system go ahead, it will be like boxing a man with no arms. Oh I guess you used to that by now, arguing with people much smarter than you. Wanna know why the ipod sucks? Try having someone read the following to you and explain all the big words!
Five Reasons Why Apple's iPod Sucks

1. Poor Sound Quality
First I should mention that everything I listen to is in 192kbps or higher mp3 format. I personally cannot even stand to listen to 128kbps or lower. That being said the Apple iPod (4G) is lacking heavily in the sound department. The Apple iPod when A/B tested with almost any other mp3 player (playing the exact same mp3 file) will almost always lose. The sound is not very dynamic; the highs and lows sound especially hollow and brittle. And who knows what the signal-to-noise ratio is? Apple will not publish this information. Even iRiver lists (and seems to be proud even) the iRiver h10's 90dB signal-to-noise ratio. So it seems to me that the iPod's could not be much higher than that, or not any maybe. Could it be that Apple is ashamed of the iPod's inferior sound quality? Also, it seems as if they brag quite a lot about how great their earbud headphones are. I have no idea why because my $10 pair of Sony earbuds I purchsed from Best Buy blow them out of the water. It also seems that they "leak" sound. In other words, they let a lot of sound out away from the ear. My cheap Sony earbuds don't do this and someone sitting beside me cannot hear any noise when I am using them, but the iPod earbuds let everyone around you know what you are listening to. Personally though, I would rather not use earbuds at all. Instead, I would rather wear a good pair of studio monitors (which is what I do unless I am walking across campus or running).

2. The Rediculous Price
They cost $299 dollars. They have been out for many years (through four generations of the player), yet the cost has stayed about the same. Although it is typical for Apple to screw customers over in product costs, it is ridiculous when compared with the prices of any rival company's players (which are either cheaper or offer more features, many times both).

3. Difficult Controls and No Features
No FM tuner. No voice recorder. All other players in this price range have at least one of these. And I know that know one is always going to carry both bulging attachments that enable the iPod to have this with them. Sure I'll admit the Apple iPod's click wheel is a novel idea. But it is not exactly something that can be used while you are jogging, or for that matter walking. It is useless when the player is in your pocket, and the menus are much more difficult to navigate than on competitors players. The volume control is also more difficult to access than on other players. And lastly, you can't bookmark a particular point in a track (very useful and a must if you listen to podcasts).

4. Longevity
The battery, if you are lucky, lasts 12 hours (only 8 hours on the iPod Mini), and after about 12 months of regular use the battery will start to lose its ability to hold a charge. So what seems to happen is just after the player is out of warranty the iPod is out of warranty. You can't change the battery yourself simply because Apple decided to force you to fork out over $100 to just replace the battery. You have to send it to Apple to do this, so you are out of a player for at least a week. On the many other players, the battery is easy to change, and cheap to replace. For example, the Creative Zen Micro has a cellphone type battery that you can purchase from Creative for about $40. Plus on long traps, you can carry a spare battery, and change the batteries in a matter of seconds when the first one dies. No tools required. Spend $300 dollars for something that will cease to work in a few years? I don't think so.

5. iTunes
I have heard many people rave about iTunes, so when a few weeks ago I wanted to listen to song (that wasn't available on Rhapsody), but I did not want to purchase album so I bought the track through iTunes. I downloaded iTunes which put icons on my desktop and quick launch taskbar everytime I turned on my computer. It also kept changing my default file associations, even after I set it within the program not to. I had heard from many people that the songs purchased from Apple's music store were very high quality, but the track I paid $0.99 for was encoded in 128kbps .m4a. Unfortunately, there is no way to know the bit rate of a song before you buy it. I was informed that this low quality was not typical. Yet, after another few weeks and many more iTunes purchases, I had seen no higher bit rates. I can't believe that people pay a dollar for such poor quality audio. iTunes thankfully, is no longer on my computer.

Conclusion
If you care about quality do not buy an iPod. Buy a Creative Zen Micro, or if that is not big enough for you buy another Creative Zen player, a Rio, a Sony, an iRiver, or for that matter any other brand because they are most always better than an Apple iPod. If you care only about style, buying into commercial hype, and you want low quality audio the Apple iPod is for you.