iRant
Actually I don't really see this as a rant, merely a product review, but since it is about an Apple product, I thought I'd give it a cool title and that was the first one I thought of.
Every once in while, I feel a little behind the times when because I don't have an iPod. Then I kick myself because for me, this is clearly not a product that is worth the $300. Whether something is poorly designed or not is certainly dependent upon what it is supposed to be designed to do, but since the ad campaign definitely tries to make it me feel it is for me, I feel like I need to take a stand.
Right before Christmas 2003, my friend Bryan moved from Chapel Hill back to Fresno, and so I helped him drive cross country. We loaded up all the music in his iPod and plugged it into his car stereo and never had to change it. I will say that was very nice.
Every once in while, I feel a little behind the times when because I don't have an iPod. Then I kick myself because for me, this is clearly not a product that is worth the $300. Whether something is poorly designed or not is certainly dependent upon what it is supposed to be designed to do, but since the ad campaign definitely tries to make it me feel it is for me, I feel like I need to take a stand.
Right before Christmas 2003, my friend Bryan moved from Chapel Hill back to Fresno, and so I helped him drive cross country. We loaded up all the music in his iPod and plugged it into his car stereo and never had to change it. I will say that was very nice.
- I don't really have a whole lot of mp3s that I don't have on CD. I can listen to CDs at home and at my office on my laptop and in my truck, and I'm almost always in one of those places, and so a portible mp3 player of any sort isn't really the right device for me. And certainly not for $300.
- The device is portable, but yet it doesn't have any type of belt clip. I'm sure it's not difficult to find something to hold it, like maybe a pocket, but the only time that I really use a portible device that plays audio things is when I run. Is something to hold it on me while I run too much to ask? I see that the iPod mini has an armband, but I hate armbands like that.
- Would it be too hard to build a radio into the thing? When I run, I almost always listen to NPR. Sometimes, WYXC, or occasionally a football or baseball game or classic rock (somehow that works for me when I'm running much better than when I'm sitting still. I still haven't figured that out.) but virtually always NPR, and this isn't likely to change even if I had easy access to all my mp3s. I should point out that I think I heard that the next generation of iPods will have a radio built in whenever it comes out.
- I found the thumb wheel interface to be incredibly annoying. Yeah, up-down button would be the obvious way to make a cursor move up and down, but that's not cool. "You’ll find such thoughtful construction only from Apple." What good is having a song if you can't access it?
- I've always had this same problem with stuff made by Apple. Part of the selling point to me at least of the Mac has always been that they look cool, hip, and exciting. Their cutting edge aesthetics aren't just thrown together. Except that I don't think they look very good at all. Maybe I'm somewhat aesthetically Amish? What's so wrong with black? If it's an electronic device like stereo equipment or a computer, it should not call attention to itself. (It is okay if they have buttons though.) I realize it's easier to sell something if you brand its image with a distinctive look, but if you insist upon something like the little white bud earphones, you have to accept that not everyone likes them.
2 Comments:
try this
http://www.digitalnetworksna.com/shop/_templates/item_main_Rio.asp?model=264
i have an earlier model and love it for running. not the memory of an ipod, but you can add more (and some models come with more). more importantly, it is flash as opposed to a hard drive like an ipod, so better for running. and comes with FM radio and a belt clip.
Part of the appeal of Apple products is the design; this is certainly true. But as with cars, design is polarizing - people either really love or really hate the PT Cruiser. I really hated the clamshell iBooks, but I liked the old iMac (I hate the new LCD iMac).
I think your problem here is that the design folks designed a wonderful music player for someone not you, but the marketing people are marketing it to you. It's not their fault they are stupid--they are in marketing.
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