Yes, there does exist a world beyond the iPod.
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5 Comments
Perhaps I’m betraying my age, or merely my lengthening memory, but glancing over this batch of un-iPods, I can’t help thinking of all the little companies at the dawn of the personal-computer age that were energetically turning out clever products “better” than the Apple II.
In some sense, at least on a spec sheet or in a BYTE magazine review, they probably *were* better than Apple. But somehow none of them ever quite connected with the public the way Jobs-and-Wozniak’s little beige box did. I don’t know why — maybe it was as simple as Apple having gotten there first (though this isn’t strictly true). Maybe it was the mere fact that everyone else was designing their products with reference to the Apple II, which ironically guaranteed that the Apple II would remain in the center of everyone’s conscience. I mean, look at the title of the linked blog here: “Anything but iPod.” It’s kind of like the Democratic platform in 2004, and it isn’t likely to work any better this time.
Face it: iPod is a winner. It is beautifully designed and effortlessly functional. You can “prove” that some other product is better, in much the way you can “prove” that a Dodge Ram pickup is way better than a BMW. (“More headroom! More horsepower! And the Beemer can’t haul your dead refrigerator to the dump!”)
Nobody cares. They’d rather drive the Beemer. A gazillion people are in love with their iPods. You *might* convince them they’ve just bought into Apple hype … but it’s gonna be a really tough sell.
Maybe the guy should call it ANYTHING BUT AIR or ANYTHING BUT PLANET EARTH … it’s an intersting psychological study when because something is “popular,” there are a group of people who need it, want it but refuse to buy it as some proof of their “intelligence” or taste … it’s hilarious how they are willing to look off any defect (it’s really thick and the battery tends to fall out … but buy it!) of these “other” players but everything about the ipod is a defect … iPod, it’s not proper English!
hahahaha
personally, i would like to buy a better portable player, iPod or not. and lets face it, if u buy your music, whats this deal of only being able to play it on 5 machines?? i can play my cds anywhere!
Personally, I think the I-Pod is nothing but a piece of proprietary craptastic hardware. I can’t believe how many people were fooled into buying them by Apple’s incredible marketing department (yes if it wasetn for their brilliant marketing, Apple would have been dead years ago because marketing is the only good thing to come out of Apple)
Check out the Clix by iRiver — it’s a nicI player. Their next generation Clix2 won’t require MTP, either and will have a standard mini-USB port. Should be nice.
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