all things iPod (buying, using, breaking)

[ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ]

no! don't ! mine died,  and i can't repair it .   buy a creative zen nomad or whatever they're called.  GODDAMN.

I have a friend who went through 3 because they're shitty.

[Pubrick]

are ppl still buying these things? should i?

yes.  yes.

no! don't ! mine died,  and i can't repair it .   buy a creative zen nomad or whatever they're called.  GODDAMN.

u both make good points. why hasn't urs broken, mod?

i was thinking of just waiting for the Nokia N91 to come out, which would only store 4GB of songs (all the best stuff) and also serve as my next mobile (currently k700i)..

having checked out the creative site i think i will get one of their players, (unless sumone here has horror stories to share). i'll hav to do sum more research, availability and value are also a factor. thanks all

[cron]

the cool thing about the zen nomad creative mp3 rocknroll player is that it resists a lot of shit. my sister has had one  for two years now and hers has resisted many things. i've seen it falling on the floor and she's never had a problem with it.   instead i nursed my ipod as if it was an egg and  one day it didn't work and  i lost all my 35 gb of music.  i didn't even got mad cos it was my fault for not backing anything up.  the design of the zen isn't as pretty as the ipod's , but that's not a reason to get the ipod instead. it is designed to be evil.

[Reinhold]

Creative pros that the iPod doesn't have-

-creatives are plug & play
-you can change the battery
-they're cheaper than ipods
-they're not as crazy expensive to get repaired
-you don't have to use itunes


iPod pros that the Creative doesn't have-

-click wheel
-status symbol - apple brand name
-ridiculous number of accessories

[modage]

u both make good points. why hasn't urs broken, mod?

possibly because i'm very careful with it and likely because i've only had it since christmas.  but whatever mp3 device you get, i recommend getting one that holds lots of songs.

[Ghostboy]

Yeah, my 20 gig iPod is already full. I've had mine since February, and I love it to death. I hope it doesn't break. My friends have had theirs for over a year now, and it hasn't broken either.

The design of it is definitely rather fragile. I bought one of those rubber sleeves for it, which protects the screen and everything else. It seems pretty safe now - I've dropped it  few times and it didn't hurt it.

The iPods are aesthetically superior to all the other devices, so if that matters to you, I'd say you don't have much of a choice. The click wheel is the most genius invention since the wheel itself. At least that's how it feels when you use it.

[Kal]

iPod is the best device... the others cant compete... it has some problems but they have been also improving it over the years... the new generation iPods has almost no faults...

I have the 40GB iPod Photo and its the best... I used to have the old 3rd Generation 10GB and after two years it started to have some problems... but with these technology things is normal... same happens with a Computer or with anything else

[cron]

mine is also 4G and it crashed.


EDIT: WAS.

[SHAFTR]

I got a 40 GB around xmas time.  I got the warranty as well.  I have nothing but good things to say about it.  It's especially great for road trips.

[Two Lane Blacktop]

no! don't ! mine died,  and i can't repair it .   buy a creative zen nomad or whatever they're called.  GODDAMN.

I picked up a 60 GB Creative Zen Xtra when Fry's Electronics put it on sale for $210.  I freakin' love it.  I have piled about 4,000 songs into it already and am just now hitting the 10 GB mark.  

2LB

PS- I put all my music onto the player in WMA format, which is why they're taking up so little space.

[cron]

that's just great.


this thread motivated me to repair the ipod without spending any money, and i got the update/restore program, which finally worked , and even though i lost my whole library, it seems to work okay, for now... .. *suspense*

[modage]

there was an editorial in Spin a few months ago basically talking about how an iPod is the greatest piece of modern technology because it only improves your life with no drawbacks.

i got the 40gig (non-photo, damnit) at xmas and i've got 6000 songs on it now.

[cron]

Boy in a bubble

Gabriel Sherman reveals why, after two deliriously happy years together, he has now split up with his iPod

Friday September 24, 2004


On a recent commute to work, I missed my stop. I watched with helpless misery as the doors shut and my train pulled off, whisking me away against my will. Murmurs of frustration degenerated into self-loathing expletives. I hadn't simply spaced out; I had a much more serious problem.


In the past year, I had grown increasingly numb to my surroundings, often oblivious to the world around me, trapped in a self-imposed bubble. My detachment stemmed from the twin white earplugs of my iPod, which in recent months had burrowed their way deep into my ears - and my psyche. A device the size of a pack of Marlboros had come to dominate my daily existence. On the train that morning, I decided enough was enough. I needed a break from the handheld music contraption that had taken over my life.

Looking back, the consequences of my iPod affliction ranged from the mildly comedic (trying to switch songs as I deftly doused my thigh with scalding hot coffee while my train clattered down the tracks one morning), to the potentially tragic (not hearing a truck careening toward me on a road near my apartment in Brooklyn, New York). Almost anywhere I went, I plugged in and tuned out. Need cash from the ATM? The Shins' melodic New Slang would accompany me. Picking up my laundry at the Wash and Fold? How about Rachael Yamagata's sultry swooning. My music even joined me in the bathroom each morning before work (nothing like Jack White's guitar riffs to really get things moving).

But my iPod addiction harboured a darker, more disturbing, side. With more than 1,000 songs at my thumbtip, I could satisfy any desire, any time. My iPod was like a drug. I lived in my own self-imagined movie, instantly tailoring the soundtrack to fit, or inspire, my emotions. Some days unfolded languidly, similar to a Wes Anderson film, filled with nostalgic post-punk songs and the occasional Nico track (yes, Nico). Other times, I blasted on the treadmill at the gym to thumping techno beats.

This winter, after a girl I briefly dated abruptly announced that she was "still in love with her ex-boyfriend", I spent the night trudging through the Arctic air of Greenwich Village with Conor Oberst's wallowing voice on repeat. More recently, when an evening with romantic overtones ended on a positive note, I boozily left the bar amplified by the hopeful lyrics of Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard. The music lent some kind of dramatic import to what I was experiencing. Without it, I felt empty. Mostly, I now realise, it just made my days feel like some cheesy Dawson's Creek episode.

Of course, it wasn't always this way. I bought my iPod two years ago, when I had long forgotten what a pleasure portable music could be. My Walkman had been retired some time around 1994, along with my mix tapes. Minidiscs never caught on. And remember when handheld CD players would skip if they were jostled more than a hair? With my iPod, I quickly loaded up all my music and then some, and was off and running. Well, listening. It was nirvana. Comporting my song selection to whatever I was feeling, I could craft my own private New York devoid of the city's invading decibels.

Then, a few months ago, I watched with horror as my iPod tumbled out of my hands and broke open on the Manhattan concrete. The thought of being without a musical escape mortified me. Quickly - within days - I assuaged the withdrawal by replacing my clunky 10-gigabyte iPod dinosaur with one of those stylish new Mini models. At half the size of the original, I had no excuse not to take it everywhere. And I did. Until, of course, my iPod indulgences became more than just a whimsical way to pass the time. I even acquired the telltale signs of an addict. Just before leaving places, I fidgeted nervously while contemplating what song I would queue up. And on those horrid days that my iPod battery ran out of juice, I became irritable when I couldn't get my fix.

I'm not the only one suffering from iPod fatigue. At a recent barbecue, a graphic designer for a women's magazine told me she too needed a break from her iPod. "The other day on the subway, I was reading some New Yorker article about the 82nd Airborne Division and the Iraq war and listening to something really depressing," she said. "It was all just too much. The music, the soldiers - something had to give. I just had to turn the music off." When my friend James's iPod headphones broke a few months ago, he told me how much less distracted he's been without the ever-present infusion of music.

All over town, Apple's signature white earphones are emerging from pockets and purses like umbilical cords with an ever-greater urgency. As soon as we hit the street, we wire up. Indeed, the iPod might just be the perfect product for an impulsive, self-absorbed populace, used to getting what they want when they want it. Apple has certainly capitalised on this demand, having already sold more than three million iPods in the US alone. The most inexpensive model retails for only $249 (£139) - but they may be getting more than they bargain for.

I'm about a week into my post-iPod reformation. Quitting cold turkey has been difficult, and I've certainly had my lapses. But I'm much happier now. I moved to New York, in part, because I wanted to experience the city's sidewalk cacophony, everything from the rumbling buses to cabbies hollering: "Get the fuck outta my way!" With my earphones in, I became deaf to the urban orchestra playing around me. Even worse, my iPod had sapped the energy that makes New York more exhilarating than the places we all escaped from. Except for better bagels, I had traded one kind of suburban isolation for another. So it's farewell, my iPod. The sound of the city is starting to seem like the best song of all.

[cron]

http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?pt=ul%2FTmp41uepOi%2B9uLEPE3n%3D%3D

do the guys that write that sort of rants really think they're doing the right thing?

[Figure 8]

I've had an iPod for a few years now, I can't remember exactly how long, I think about 2 years, and it's still working great.  It's an older model, so it doesn't hold as much, but it's a wonderful thing.