Another iPod...or two

[Reenee]

http://images.apple.com/ipodnano/images/indextop20050907.jpg
http://www.apple.com/ipodnano/

http://www.apple.com/itunes/mobile/

iTunes 5 and QuickTime 7.0.2 were also released today. iTunes 5 has some nice improvements, in addition to the interface.

The iPod nano replaces the iPod mini.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Reenee on 2005-09-07 13:34 ]</font>

[Split]

sum1 stop teh ipodz0rz!!!11

[Dek]

And they got rid of their iPod Mini for that!?

The iTunes program on your mobile phone is something I can tolerate, but why get rid of the iPod Mini, which was $199 for FOUR gigs and $249 for SIX gigs?

The joys of business... http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_disapprove.gif



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Arthas_Zero on 2005-09-07 14:21 ]</font>

[rena-ko]

since when do apple users go for anything but design http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif

[Dek]

On 2005-09-07 14:27, rena-ko wrote:
since when do apple users go for anything but design http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif


how could I forget... http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_disapprove.gif

Another change I noticed is that they dumbed down the color selections from 4 to 2. Who's idea was that?

"Let's change Silver, Pink, Blue, and Green to Black and White. WOOHOO!!"


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Arthas_Zero on 2005-09-07 14:47 ]</font>

[FIDELCASTRO]

in the words of will smith from the first men in black...


"i feel like i'm gonna break this d@mn thing"

i want one just so i can break it.

[Eihwaz]

I never understood the big thrill of being able to look at album art on your iPod. "OMFG THE CD ART!! IT IS SO COOL! OMG IT'S ON THE NEXT SONG TOO!!" I can understand using it as a way to store/carry/display actual photos of stuff, but I still don't get the album art thing. >_>;

But anyway, this does look kinda cool. I already have a iPod (20 gig), but I suppose I could always get one of these nanos for workouts.

[Ketchup345]

Is this a flash based player?

Still don't like the design (though a full metallic black iPod may be somewhat nice looking...).


They fix any of the software/firmware things that were annoying? Examples:
No scrolling of long Albums/Artists/Songs
No loop when scrolling
Necessity to use iTunes
Im guessing they didn't change any of them.

And still too expensive when looking at $ per Gig.
I also don't think selling a 2 gig player for the same price as your old 4 gig players went for is a good idea, or your 4 gig players the price of the old 6 gig players.

[Reenee]

Necessity to use iTunes


You're damn kidding me, right? That Windows Media/Winamp crap is pathetic.

[Ketchup345]

On 2005-09-07 18:20, Reenee wrote:
You're damn kidding me, right? That Windows Media/Winamp crap is pathetic.

I don't use either for my MP3 player.
I use MMJB (which I do dislike, but I like it more than what I remember of iTunes), or Windows itself.

Unless of course they took out the part of iTunes sucking up RAM (by running two processes) even when it isn't running and there is no MP3 player hooked up to the computer. Then iTunes may be bearable to me.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Ketchup345 on 2005-09-07 18:41 ]</font>

[Wyndham]

On 2005-09-07 14:27, rena-ko wrote:
since when do apple users go for anything but design http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif



...i seriously take offense to that statement.
and besides, if you have a problem with it, buy a mini which will most ikely go down in price? win-win situation.

[J3553]

On 2005-09-07 18:20, Reenee wrote:


Necessity to use iTunes


You're damn kidding me, right? That Windows Media/Winamp crap is pathetic.



Actually, Winamp is awesome. Not only is it a full featured player, it still manages to have a light memory footprint.

For example, here is the amount of ram both are using while playing the same .mp3 file and while minimized to the system tray.

iTunes: 35,120 K
Winamp: 2,276 K

Not to mention the iTunesHelper and iPodService programs which you cannot disable. Can you say bloated?

Anyways, the iPod Nano is pretty much exactly what I've been looking for. It uses flash memory, is compact and lightweight, but still can have up to 4GB storage. Perfect for my needs as the older flash players were too small while the larger players used hard drives which are not very good for active use.

Too bad you can only use iPods with iTunes. I don't hate iTunes or anything, but it just feels so bulky compared to good old Winamp.

[Reenee]

35 megabytes? Do you all have a ton of RAM or something? My 768MB iMac G5 Rev A runs iTunes at 25MB. And what could you possibly be running at the same time with iTunes? It can't be a game; common sense dictates to quit everything before you play. Bloated or not, how about the Virtual Memory iTunes or WinAmp is using up?

And how about that functionality? I don't see WinAmp doing all the things iTunes 5 is doing. I'm pretty sure whatever WinAmp lacks is the very reason it doesn't do what iTunes is doing, which leads to its teeny memory use.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Reenee on 2005-09-07 19:50 ]</font>

[astuarlen]

On 2005-09-07 14:27, rena-ko wrote:
since when do apple users go for anything but the myth that Apples have, omg, cool and unique design that automatically marks me as a really awesome, creative, original, artistically savvy person http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif


Ogod, time for the flame-retardant suit? http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wacko.gif Gotta admit I don't see the Apple allure (and, no, you aren't going to convince me to throw away my PC no matter how much we argue).


And how about that functionality? I don't see WinAmp doing all the things iTunes 5 is doing. I'm pretty sure whatever WinAmp lacks is the very reason it doesn't do what iTunes is doing, which leads to its teeny memory use.
This is a completely innocent question: I would like to know what exactly iTunes can do that makes it so much more convenient or functional than WinAmp? Personally, I love WinAmp (I got a cute li'l one from oldversion.com); it does exactly what I want such a program to do: play my music with minimum hassle and resource usage. And for ripping music, editing ID3 tags, etc I use Media Monkey.

http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

[Monomate]

On 2005-09-07 19:02, Oran1324 wrote:


On 2005-09-07 14:27, rena-ko wrote:
since when do apple users go for anything but design http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif



...i seriously take offense to that statement.
and besides, if you have a problem with it, buy a mini which will most ikely go down in price? win-win situation.



they don't exist anymore...that's the point...

the iPod mini is no more...it has been replaced

a ridiculous move...the only way you'll find a mini is a refurbished one, or until stores run out of whatever shipments they received prior to Apple no longer shipping them...

[Reenee]

On 2005-09-07 20:10, astuarlen wrote:

This is a completely innocent question: I would like to know what exactly iTunes can do that makes it so much more convenient or functional than WinAmp? Personally, I love WinAmp (I got a cute li'l one from oldversion.com); it does exactly what I want such a program to do: play my music with minimum hassle and resource usage. And for ripping music, editing ID3 tags, etc I use Media Monkey.



iTunes can/has:
-A great visualizer. Anybody who likes staring at these knows iTunes has a clearly superior visualizer, and not to mention you can add some to iTunes (although this is not well-known, but who cares when it's great on its own?). I've seen that silly visualizer. It's like it came from the psOne.
-Music Store. Not just music either.
-Podcast compatibility and Podcast Directory. iTunes will handle them perfectly between your iPod and iTunes as well. Combined with the Music Store, iTunes has immense convenience. Is the Podcast you like not listed? You can have iTunes subscribe to it anyway with a custom set-up.
-Just released with iTunes 5, when you delete a music file from the playlist, it will also remember to delete it off your iPod. How's that for convenience?
-Oops, forgot: http://www.macworld.com/news/2005/09/07/itunes5/index.php

Getting lazy right now.

[Wyndham]

On 2005-09-07 20:38, Monomate wrote:


On 2005-09-07 19:02, Oran1324 wrote:


On 2005-09-07 14:27, rena-ko wrote:
since when do apple users go for anything but design http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif



...i seriously take offense to that statement.
and besides, if you have a problem with it, buy a mini which will most ikely go down in price? win-win situation.



they don't exist anymore...that's the point...

the iPod mini is no more...it has been replaced

a ridiculous move...the only way you'll find a mini is a refurbished one, or until stores run out of whatever shipments they received prior to Apple no longer shipping them...



ebay..
ebay....

[Nai_Calus]

On 2005-09-07 21:31, Reenee wrote:
iTunes can/has:
-A great visualizer. Anybody who likes staring at these knows iTunes has a clearly superior visualizer, and not to mention you can add some to iTunes (although this is not well-known, but who cares when it's great on its own?). I've seen that silly visualizer. It's like it came from the psOne.
-Music Store. Not just music either.
-Podcast compatibility and Podcast Directory. iTunes will handle them perfectly between your iPod and iTunes as well. Combined with the Music Store, iTunes has immense convenience. Is the Podcast you like not listed? You can have iTunes subscribe to it anyway with a custom set-up.
-Just released with iTunes 5, when you delete a music file from the playlist, it will also remember to delete it off your iPod. How's that for convenience?
-Oops, forgot: http://www.macworld.com/news/2005/09/07/itunes5/index.php

Getting lazy right now.



- Hate visualizations. Don't use them.
- I just rip CDs I own, or *cough*. The kind of music I'd buy can't be bought from US online music stores anyway. Which leaves P2P and importing actual CDs. Whoops.
- My idea of an iPod is burning a CD of music and listening to that on my nice CD player that gets insane battery life and doesn't skip no matter what I drive over. Podcasts? Pfft. I just want to relax on the way to work or while sitting on the computer at home. For the car, there's my CD player. For home, there's Winamp.
- Still don't have or want an iPod
- Heil Macintosh? *shrug*

Winamp does exactly what I want it to do, and nothing more. I also found a skin for it that I love. Also, I'm sure there's a way to do it, but it doesn't seem to play .ogg files 'out of the box', going on Wazzy's experience? Lame. Half my music is IN .ogg files. Which Winamp happily plays for me. >_>

So yeah. I see no reason to switch from something that performs exactly as I want it to perform to something that does a bunch of crap I neither need nor want.

[astuarlen]

On 2005-09-08 07:12, Ian-KunX wrote:


On 2005-09-07 21:31, Reenee wrote:
iTunes can/has:
-A great visualizer. Anybody who likes staring at these knows iTunes has a clearly superior visualizer, and not to mention you can add some to iTunes (although this is not well-known, but who cares when it's great on its own?). I've seen that silly visualizer. It's like it came from the psOne.
-Music Store. Not just music either.
-Podcast compatibility and Podcast Directory. iTunes will handle them perfectly between your iPod and iTunes as well. Combined with the Music Store, iTunes has immense convenience. Is the Podcast you like not listed? You can have iTunes subscribe to it anyway with a custom set-up.
-Just released with iTunes 5, when you delete a music file from the playlist, it will also remember to delete it off your iPod. How's that for convenience?
-Oops, forgot: http://www.macworld.com/news/2005/09/07/itunes5/index.php

Getting lazy right now.



- Hate visualizations. Don't use them.
- I just rip CDs I own, or *cough*. The kind of music I'd buy can't be bought from US online music stores anyway. Which leaves P2P and importing actual CDs. Whoops.
- My idea of an iPod is burning a CD of music and listening to that on my nice CD player that gets insane battery life and doesn't skip no matter what I drive over. Podcasts? Pfft. I just want to relax on the way to work or while sitting on the computer at home. For the car, there's my CD player. For home, there's Winamp.
- Still don't have or want an iPod
- Heil Macintosh? *shrug*

Winamp does exactly what I want it to do, and nothing more. I also found a skin for it that I love. Also, I'm sure there's a way to do it, but it doesn't seem to play .ogg files 'out of the box', going on Wazzy's experience? Lame. Half my music is IN .ogg files. Which Winamp happily plays for me. >_>

So yeah. I see no reason to switch from something that performs exactly as I want it to perform to something that does a bunch of crap I neither need nor want.



Quoted for intense agreement.
Looks like unless you have an iPod (or enjoy being hypnotized by visualizations http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wacko.gif) iTunes has no advantage over more compact players, yes?

[Eihwaz]

Even if I didn't have an iPod, I'd still use iTunes as my music player. I absolutely love the control it gives you over your library: it's so easy to change song information, create/edit playlists, and organize your songs. I know WinAmp probably (AFAIK) can do all of these things, as well as do other things like play .OGGs (not that I have any, I have Ian format any song he sends me to MP3 http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wacko.gif) but I vastly prefer the interface that iTunes has.

Really, you should just go with the media player that you like best, be it WinAmp, iTunes, or even Windows Media Player. It all depends on what works best for you.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Eihwaz on 2005-09-08 10:20 ]</font>

[Feelmirath]

The iPod nano replaces the iPod mini.

And ive only had my mini for about 2 months XD
ah well, mine stores 500 more songs than that... http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wacko.gif

[Reenee]

So, what, you guys overlooked the caveat of the ROKR?

You know how Apple does the "x songs in your pocket rocket docket locket" slogan? It's 100 for the ROKR.

Only this time it's literal. Even if you don't meet the memory limit of the ROKR, it'll only let you store 100 songs. No more.

I forgot to mention that QuickTime 7.0.2 is the actual first release on Windows. You'll need it, of course, to use iTunes 5...I think. Dunno how the funny shit works on Windows. Crazy OS, I swear...

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Reenee on 2005-09-09 08:48 ]</font>

[Solstis]

On 2005-09-08 10:19, Eihwaz wrote:
Even if I didn't have an iPod, I'd still use iTunes as my music player. I absolutely love the control it gives you over your library: it's so easy to change song information, create/edit playlists, and organize your songs. I know WinAmp probably (AFAIK) can do all of these things, as well as do other things like play .OGGs (not that I have any, I have Ian format any song he sends me to MP3 http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wacko.gif) but I vastly prefer the interface that iTunes has.

Really, you should just go with the media player that you like best, be it WinAmp, iTunes, or even Windows Media Player. It all depends on what works best for you.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Eihwaz on 2005-09-08 10:20 ]</font>


Word, wazzy.

Just me, or do some people get all aggressive in threads like this?

"How DARE Apple release a new iPod? I am perfectly happy with whatever I'm using right now, but still must express my opinion as if Apple is currently pointing a gun at my head. An overpriced, trendy, and useless gun, at that."

[Dek]

On 2005-09-09 09:21, Solstis wrote:
Just me, or do some people get all aggressive in threads like this?

"How DARE Apple release a new iPod? I am perfectly happy with whatever I'm using right now, but still must express my opinion as if Apple is currently pointing a gun at my head. An overpriced, trendy, and useless gun, at that."


True. However, there were some valid reasons in regards to the Nano itself.

Such as the one I gave in regards to the memory size. I still think the memory sizes (2 and 4 GB) available are a step down from the 4 and 6GB that were available in the Mini. However, at looking at the details a little more, Apple is using Flash memory for this iPod compared to a hard drive, hence the reason why the iPod is skip free, which is quite convienient, even though many people don't deal with skipping issues in the first place.

The one thing I don't agree with is that they're selling the iPod Nano for the same price as the Mini and then letting the Mini have a fluctuating price (based on where you go).

Oh well... at least they still have updates for each of their iPods in the first place...

[Blitzkommando]

I have a 20GB iPod myself that I use very frequently. I don't like some of the features, such as the whole 'delete all data' when you first connect. But, I personally don't care too much for WinAmp or iTunes. WinAmp feels cheap and I just generally feel it has a poor setup. iTunes is fine for transferring music but other than that I find no use for it. I like Foobar 2000 and, I know someone here is going to get pissy about this, Windows Media Player 10. I grew up using WMP, what is called the "Classic" player now. I've had no reason to change and thus still use it. I can play any format I have, I just use the proper codecs. But really, I could use Foobar2000 just as well. It has all the codecs built in, like WinAmp, but it is done in more of a 'database' style. Simple and easy for me to use and doesn't look like cheap plastic that WinAmp looks like.

But the main reason I use WMP is because it loads the fastest for me. I have a growing collection of about 50GB of music, and programs like WinAmp choke on it. iTunes could do it, but I don't like the format and it cannot play the WMA files I have. And no, it cannot convert them as they are protected files. But, like Eihwaz said, it is all personal preference. I will however be downloading the newest version of iTunes just so as to have the most up to date software.