[Sandwich]

Originally posted by mikhael
Video on an iPod? Useless for all the reasons mentioned. Not even TV shows can make it useful.

I'm not defending the iPod, I'm defending the "video on an MP3 HDD player" concept.

I have one such player. Having video on it is tremendous fun. I have the music videos of a friends's band, I have all sorts of cool videos from online (Come With Me - that flight sim video, I'm Still Seeing Breen, BigAd... even the Zazoo supermarket one). I also have every episode of BSG on there - which came in handy when my friend had an unexpected stay at the hospital for the weekend; I lent him my iRiver, he tore through every single episode on there.

What with h.264 playback, this could take off tremendously.

[mikhael]

Originally posted by WMCoolmon
Blue != Bob.

I looked at it and it looks alright...I was hoping for something a bit different. IE with more focus on screen space and less on the dial.

Of course, I wasn't planning on buying one either way. Anything that small doesn't seem worth it to watch much of anything on, because you won't be able to tell what's going on in anything but the closeups.

I swear to Dobbs that it said BOB when I replied! This is obvously a vast right wing conspiracy out to discredit me!

Or else, I was just knackered last night before bed.

[Inquisitor]

Listening to my iPod right now actually....

And I have watched 3 movies (UMD's) on the PSP, all seemed to be fine and of reasonable quality.

I think people like to :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored:  about corporate success. Microsoft, Apple, pick your posion, if they succeed, they must make stupid, evil, or inferior product.

[Ford Prefect]

I think people like to ***** about corporate success. Microsoft, Apple, pick your posion, if they succeed, they must make stupid, evil, or inferior product.

Amen to that. I've been nothing but pleased with my iPod, (even if they're making it look old now.) Although with regards to Microsoft, Windows really does try my patience very badly.

[Rictor]

Originally posted by Inquisitor
I think people like to :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored:  about corporate success. Microsoft, Apple, pick your posion, if they succeed, they must make stupid, evil, or inferior product.
 

To an extent, yes. And I think that's perfectly healthy behaviour; we distrust those who have too much power. But with the iPod specifically, I'm mostly annoyed at the hordes of mindless yuppies who wave it around like a badge of consumerist honour.

[Fineus]

That's as maybe Rictor, but you have to admit that - ignoring the capabilities that come in addition to its music playing abilities, it does what it's built to and it does it very very well indeed.

[Grey Wolf]

Eh? We have censored smileys?

[Deepblue]

Originally posted by Kalfireth
That's as maybe Rictor, but you have to admit that - ignoring the capabilities that come in addition to its music playing abilities, it does what it's built to and it does it very very well indeed.

That's the problem. It doesn't serve the function of playing music as well as it should. It excells at UI and design, but those are not as important as sound quality in an MP3 player are they?

[Fineus]

What's the sound quality like then? (At this point I feel inclined to say I've seen someone elses in action, and have played a little. But I've not really used it much. So if it sounds :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: e- I don't know about it. I've certainly not heard anyone say it does).

[Grey Wolf]

It depends on the quality you expect, and your headphones. You'll only notice cheaper DACs if your speakers have a better capability.

[mikhael]

Originally posted by Inquisitor
And I have watched 3 movies (UMD's) on the PSP, all seemed to be fine and of reasonable quality.

I watched House of Flying Daggers on a PSP. I was very impressed with its video capabilities. It is, however, the smallest useable screen for video, in my opinion.

[MicroPsycho]

when I'm listening to my mp3 player, its in my pocket, I don't give a damn what it looks like so I'd say sound quality is more important than looks. I also think its stupid how Apple keeps selling the same !!!! only smaller every few months, although the consumers are ultimately more stupid for buying it. iPods are nothing more than a poser gimmick.

EDIT: This word filter is !!!!ing gay.

[Grey Wolf]

Get over the word filter. It's been discussed, and we got rid of the stupid smilies. Enjoy what you have, not whine about what you want.

And smaller is a good thing. I'm honestly waiting and seeing how well iRiver and Creative do with large flash memory based players. Until then, I have foobar...

[YodaSean]

Originally posted by Deepblue
That's the problem. It doesn't serve the function of playing music as well as it should. It excells at UI and design, but those are not as important as sound quality in an MP3 player are they?

I would guess that the majority of the people who own iPods are playing 128 bit mp3s or AAC files and listening to them through the headphones that came with the music player.

If these are the people that Apple wants to sell the iPod too, would spending money to improve the sound quality be a wise decision?  Are Apple's target customers even going to notice a better sound quality(as opposed to increasing the number of features or making it look better)?

[WMCoolmon]

iPod headphones are actually pretty good.

[Deepblue]

Not fairly good, just not really bad.

[Taristin]

Waste. Of. Money.

iPod = starbucks for the technophiles

People just trying to be trendy.

[WMCoolmon]

For earbuds, at least, they're up to par. I haven't listened to them much (Haven't got an iPod, since I can listen to the radio. That being said, I actually prefer radio to iPod because I've heard most of my music already the radio ocassionally has some new songs.)

[Singh]

ipods are nothing but over-expensive, over-glorified toys for the filthy rich. I bet they wouldn't even last too long.

I've had an Ennyah Digi sound that was ultimately 5 times cheaper than any ipod, has lasted me two years, and carries more than enough songs to entertain me for most journeys, not to mention has withstood significant number of droppings, hard whacks and other things that would normally damage hard-drive based mp3 players....

[IceFire]

Originally posted by Singh
ipods are nothing but over-expensive, over-glorified toys for the filthy rich. I bet they wouldn't even last too long.

I've had an Ennyah Digi sound that was ultimately 5 times cheaper than any ipod, has lasted me two years, and carries more than enough songs to entertain me for most journeys, not to mention has withstood significant number of droppings, hard whacks and other things that would normally damage hard-drive based mp3 players....

I agree except they aren't necessarily for the filthy rich.  I worked at a campus bookstore for 4 years in their computer department.  The vast majority of buyers were students.   of students.  The same ones that eat KD all the time...

I just managed to pick up a MP3 player myself (not a iPod, a Zen instead)...the prices aren't too bad and the usefulness of said device can be around.  It depends on what you want and how much you're willing to spend.

I think the video thing is nuts...but portable music is not.  Discmans have been around for a while and have their uses...MP3 players are so much smaller and more flexible.