dont be so quick to hate on ipods and itunes. this magic 'lock in'
that i hear about, seems to actually bite more the other way.
ipods have by far the most accessories and support, which other players
get locked out of.
you may argue that ipods have a limited number of formats, which
may be true, but that small sacrifice is made up for in their
maturity and stability (im sure there are stories against this claim)
there are loosely equivalent itunes clones for linux, i dont know
how video support is going yet, but in terms of audio i have
had good experiences.
other points to complain about may including having to import
music into the happy ipod filesystem. anyone who has used an mp3 player
with a filesystem browser, as opposed to what i consider to be a very
intuitive ipod interface, will attest to just how annoying drag and drop
filesystem still mp3 players are.
by bringing the music into the ipod filesystem, the ipod os is
able to browse and play the songs based on a variety of different
metadata, not only that but to do so very quickly.
as for itunes it is what it is. i quite like it. its gaining features
(many of them are actually improvements) and isnt as overloaded with
garbage as windows media player. it does want to take over your media
collection, but you can fight it off. maybe im just used to it. im
not sure what its doing 'wrong' exactly (although no linux port), but i
know its doing a lot of things 'right'
i have played with the usb thumb drive style sony mp3 players fairly
extensively, and they really are a step in the right direction. but they
are just following in the wake of ipod.
i loved my 3g ipod, alas it died, i bought the latest video ipod
thinking the video would be a gimmick - but its really great.
the irony of having a pirate on the box never ceases to amuse me
there is a reason why ipods rule the mp3 player realm.
that is that they are a really really really good product.
this thread should probably be in slug-chat
Dean
Sonia Hamilton wrote:
My noname mp3 player is on the blink, I'm looking at buying a new one.
What are ppls's recomendations? (iPod, iriver, etc).
I want something that will plug into Ubuntu and Just Work (TM). I play
music, but also want an easily navigable and sortable filesystem for
podcasts and language study. After using (and hating) iTunes, I'm a bit
cautious of an iPod (I disliked the Drag n Drool interface, and the
lockin).
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