Ok, I’ve had enough. It seems like every time I turn around I see some poor, uneducated fool buying an iPod. Please stop. You’re making Baby Jesus cry. The very least you can do, if you’re going to buy an iPod, is admit that you’re buying it for fashion and as a status symbol… or admit that you really like buying over-priced, over-hyped pieces of hardware with the minimum number of features. Because when you start doing the research, that’s what the iPod is.
But don’t take my word for it… let’s have a look at the facts.
| Apple iPod | |
| Capacity: | 20GB |
| Price: | $300 |
| Formats: | MP3, AAC |
| Features: | Excellent integration with iTunes |
| Creative Zen Touch | |
| Capacity: | 20GB |
| Price: | $250 |
| Formats: | MP3, WMA, FM Radio |
| Features: | Voice and FM Recording |
| Creative Jukebox Zen Xtra | |
| Capacity: | 30GB; 40GB; 60GB |
| Price: | $220; $250; $300 |
| Formats: | MP3, WMA |
| Features: | n/a |
| Archos Gmini XS200 | |
| Capacity: | 20GB |
| Price: | $250 |
| Formats: | MP3, WMA |
| Features: | Small Form Factor |
| Archos Gmini 220 | |
| Capacity: | 20GB |
| Price: | $350 |
| Formats: | MP3, WMA, FM Radio |
| Features: | Extremely Small Form Factor (smaller than a floppy disk — but thicker) |
| Neuros II HD | |
| Capacity: | 20GB, 30GB, 40GB, 60GB, 80GB |
| Price: | $250, $260, $300, $350, $400 |
| Formats: | MP3, WMA, OGG, FM Radio |
| Features: | Built-in FM Transmitter |
| Neuros II | |
| Capacity: | 20GB, 30GB, 40GB, 60GB, 80GB |
| Price: | $330, $350, $400, $470, $500 |
| Formats: | MP3, WMA, OGG, FM Radio |
| Features: | Built-in FM Broadcaster, Comes with a Small 256MB Player and a large capacity HD ‘backpack’ — use the small player for running/working out/etc, Extra backpacks can be bought separately |
| iRiver H300 Series | |
| Capacity: | 20GB, 40GB |
| Price: | $300, $400 |
| Formats: | ASF, MP3, WMA, OGG, FM Radio |
| Features: | Color Screen, can display JPG or BMP images, functions as external HD |
So, basically what it comes down to is that if you have a Mac and use iTunes a lot… get an iPod (although I will point out that your taste in computers and technology is highly suspect)… if you want a player with more features for less money, get… pretty much anything else. I’ll be getting a player before I go to law school next year, and right now it’s looking like I’ll be getting one of the iRivers.
I love my creative zen touch =)
Cool!
Question though: I know what most of those formats are but what are ASF and AAC?
The iRivers do indeed look excellent from your description.
So, I don’t have to admit those things?
It’s not just to “be cool.” It’s not only functional and works seamlessly with iTunes, but it’s beautiful, easy, and fun to use. Apple is top of the line in designing for the user experience. When you buy an iPod, or any Apple product, you are paying for the beautiful design and the way it makes you feel just as much as how much space and features it has.
And, by the way, the iPod Photo stores images with a color screen. All the iPods can be used as a backup hard drive, along with a laundry list of other features. (www.apple.com/ipod).
Also, you have the benefits of the multitude of accessories made by other companies for the iPod. There’s a reason why Apple has a 70% market share in portable mp3 players.
There’s a reason why Apple has a 70% market share in portable mp3 players.
Yep, because people are clueless idiots, basically. The iPod is a mediocre piece of portable MP3 player technology wrapped in a shiny package and way over-priced.
If you buy it because it makes you feel good, you’re not really in the market for an MP3 player, you’re in the market for a self-esteem boost.
Buying something because it’s beautiful and fun to use, and therefor makes you happy is by no means the same thing as needing a self esteem boost.
Apple makes a great product that people love so much they are willing to spend a lot of money on it. If it was mediocre and overpriced, as you claim, it wouldn’t have taken off like it did.
How silly of me. I should’ve known that superior products always flourish despite excellent marketing campaigns, fierce and blinding brand loyalty, and the sheep-like nature of electronics consumers… which is exactly why Beta is still so much more popular than VHS.
What’s that? It’s not? Oh. Well, there goes that lame argument.
Bottom line: you’re willing to pay significantly more for something with significantly fewer features just because everyone else has. Apple could shit on a stick, paint it white, and you’d pay $100 for it because, well, it’s “beautiful and fun to use!”
The “form over function” mentality of most of Apple’s user base is more indicative of bubblegum pop fads than people who give two shits about the quality of what they’re buying.
Besides, the fact that the iPod doesn’t support OGG — even in its most recent generations — is supporting evidence for the fact that they really don’t care about features — they just want to sell “pretty” products to people who care about that more than anything else.
My biggest question… since the design is really the only edge that the iPod has over any other player… why do they cost up to twice as much as these other players? How much did that design cost?
Or are they just shafting their sheeple because they can?
Do any of you know anything about the MP3 players that Dell is now putting out? Since I have a Dell computer and a Dell account I have somewhat thought about maybe getting one.
What’s so cool about iPod anyway?
I still use my SONY Cassette Walkman….BOOYAH.
Pete, I think you’re right that there’s an effect in play that is causing people to buy what seems to be an inferior product (with regard to value). At the same time though, another effect that might be in place is the fact that so many people who have iPods speak so highly of them. I’m not usually an Apple person (my iPod is the first of their products I’ve owned since the Apple IIc), but I will say that for what I’ve wanted to do, the iPod has worked fine. I suppose I could invest time testing those other products, but the search costs that are imposed in doing that (finding out how durable and reliable they are) just makes the costs of those products higher. Maybe iPod purchasers did “drink the Kool Aid”, but in the process I think it’s safe to say they got the product and the piece of mind they knew they were paying for.
Bobby: I think that’s just a repackaged version of another player, but I don’t recall which one.
Matt: That all sounds good, it’s a case of the ends justifying the means… if you don’t do the research, then you don’t know what you’re paying for, at least not as it relates to the quality of the device.
Sure, you get peace of mind, that’s for sure, but that’s little more than a false sense of security and a direct result of “drinking the kool aid” as opposed to the peace of mind you get from doing your research and knowing that you bought a top of the line product.
Also, your “search costs” argument works the other way as well… if you go just buy one of these other players without doing any research, the result is that those producs are EVEN LESS expensive by the same argument.
If a Ford Taurus cost more than a Lincoln, but EVERYONE had one… would that make the Ford a better vehichle? No. Would the Lincoln being a better value mean that people would be unhappy with the Taurus? Nope. Ignorance is bliss.
I also find it hard to believe that you’ve NEVER thought “Oh, it’d be cool if this iPod picked up radio stations” or “Oh, it’d be neat if I could listen to my iPod in the car” or a dozen other things that that iPod can’t do or can only do with expensive accessories.
Besides… at the end of the day, even if you DON’T need more features than the iPod has, you can get players with comparable features (minus the ‘cool factor’) for just over half as much.
Not that there’s anything wrong with buying something because it’s ‘cool’… I just think it’s high time that iPod owners fessed up and stoped acting like they have this amazing product. It’s a barebones MP3 player in a pretty case.
Also a negative to the ipod…(and you know I love apples) is that they break way too easily…seriously- they are very easily broken…I know three people who have had them…all broke just after warranty.
And have you seen the cost of the replacement parts? Ridiculous!
I herad that if you have an iPod, get a cover as soon as possible, because it might be getting so many scretches so quickly. If you put it and take it put from your pocket.