I hate Apple!!!!

seagizmo

Why Apple, Why!

Why do you do this to me! Just checked out the iPod shuffle (http://www.apple.com/ipodshuffle/) & the Mac Mini (http://www.apple.com/macmini/). They both look absolutely fantastic!

I want them both, do I need the both?

Maybe the Mac Mini, maybe I could swing that as a home computer.... maybe.......

I hate you Apple, this is a conspiracy to seperate me and my money!!!!!!



SG

HomesickAlien

how much do they think it'll cost?

(sorry, i mean the ipod)

seagizmo

http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObjects/irlstore.woa/90505/wo/f95mZmOX1sYe27kcwZhFnvF7Qg6/0.0.11.1.0.6.21.1.4.1.0.0.0.1.0

€149 inc VAT & free delivery.

Pretty nifty.

SG

eth0_

I know how you feel. When I saw the mac mini, I almost reached for my credit card! But I think i'll wait til the summer to get one, I don't really _need_ one right now.

Scottish

Just bought the 1GB shuffle.

Already have a 20G 3G but can't resist this. What is it about Apple??

Tech Overhaul

That mac mini is unreal. I want one.

koneko

Scottish wrote:

Just bought the 1GB shuffle.

Already have a 20G 3G but can't resist this. What is it about Apple??

LOL
Have you seen the (lack of) features on the iPod Shuffle? I knew they were announcing it, I was expecting something big, but this is a crippled player, it doesn't even have a screen or FM radio. It plays songs shuffled, they label the fact it's limited like that as a feature.

I'm actually confused, I thought it was a joke at first. Most of the other flash players on the market beat this hands down.

The Mac mini looks sekshy though.

Goodshape

My god that looks tasty.


Must. Resist. Temptation.

_sheep

koneko wrote:

LOL
It plays songs shuffled, they label the fact it's limited like that as a feature.

Thought there was a shuffle switch on the back, and that was just an option ?

koneko

In theory, but you can't play stuff in a track order in the other mode, only the order it was transferred over, which would be grand if it's a small player, but with 1GB of songs, transferring them over in the order you want is a chore more than anything.

Scottish

You can import playlists as well.

Not having a screen is one thing, but for the gym etc this is great.

Having iTunes synchronisation alone is worth it. 1GB is 240 songs. You can have iTunes randomly organize the tracks, and it converts to AAC on the fly.

Excellent news, if you ask me. They are selling like hotcakes.

elvis2002

MAC looks TASTY! story of my life and my pocket.

dudara

I worked on the assembly line in Apple Cork for a while making G5s. I really admire Apple's style and design. The way the whole machine fitted together was just lovely. I'd love one of those bad boys with liquid cooled processors and big f**k-off nvidia graphics cards.

damien

SteveFE

Hehe, whoever spent a few minutes of their life creating that is one sad and envious puppy . The words a, life, get, suggest themselves.

Urban Weigl

I plan to get the Mac mini (€519 in Ireland) to replace an old computer, which already has a nice 19" Samsung LCD display to hook it up to.

I might also get the iPod shuffle as a gift for someone else. The 512MB model is €99 (the 1GB version is €149). Show me a better value flash-based MP3 player.

Jim

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=304311&cks=PRL

For €20 extra you get a screen, folders, FM radio (which I wouldn't use anyway), voice recorder.

I'd pay the extra €20 rather than get that piece of crap Apple are flogging. I don't think I could live with 512mb or 1gb of unorganised music.

Ro: maaan!

It's worst MP3 player I've ever seen.

Jim

Urban Weigl wrote:

Show me a better value flash-based MP3 player.

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=303212&cks=SPK

€96

monkeyfudge

Apparently the iPod mini hard drives will be making a significant jump in storage capacity later in the year.

My first generation iPod will do me until then.

I am keen to try out their new word processor Pages too.

iPod shuffle does nothing for me really...

flywheel

another take...

flywheel

Jimeatsmenu wrote:

I don't think I could live with 512mb or 1gb of unorganised music.

using up your playlist(s) in iTunes would sort that out for you...

• While listening to your iPod shuffle, flip the slider on the back to mix up its contents
• Just flip the slider again to play your hand-picked playlist in the order you synced it from iTunes

David Stewart

koneko wrote:

LOL
Have you seen the (lack of) features on the iPod Shuffle? I knew they were announcing it, I was expecting something big, but this is a crippled player, it doesn't even have a screen or FM radio. It plays songs shuffled, they label the fact it's limited like that as a feature.

I'm actually confused, I thought it was a joke at first. Most of the other flash players on the market beat this hands down.

The Mac mini looks sekshy though.

The whole thing is about addressing market segments. The iPod shuffle is perfectly pitched to go after the mainstream flash market. It won't appeal to everyone, as evidenced by the comments here. But for people who just want to go out for a jog, or down to the beach and who want to take SOME music with them, it's ideal. For people who want to take more music or all of their music with them and want more control over how the listen to it, th iPod mini and iPod are there as well.

The iPod shuffle has a few advantages going for it:
1. rechargeable battery, recharged through the USB port
2. integration with iTunes. You can manually move the songs over from your collection to the shuffle or you can set up rules e.g. songs rated with 3 or more stars that I haven't listened to in more than two weeks or purely at random
and
3. (and this is the big one) It's an iPod.

This time last year, iPod has a 31 percent share of the MP3 player market, while flash-based devices had over 60 percent. That situation is now reversed with iPods accounting for 65 percent of all MP3 players sold. It's now getting to the stage where the term iPod is being applied generically. I predict that this time next year, its market share will have increased substantially (although maybe not as dramatically).

Jim

I don't hate Apple, I had an iPod about 2 years ago and was very happy with it (until it was stolen).

Is it possible to switch through playlists though? If I had it I'd put different albums into different playlists so I could switch easily between what I wanted rather then skipping every single song thats before it.

Urban Weigl

Jimeatsmenu wrote:

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=303212&cks=SPK

€96

So I save €3, but I have to pay at least €10 for shipping, so in the end I pay €7 more. It also won't play MPEG4/AAC files (even my Nokia phone does that), and it does not have a recharge battery. In other words, I have to keep buying AAA batteries to use with it.

A review from their site:
"-> The sound quality is terrible
-> The build quality is even worse than the sound quality
-> The Battery life is not as good as advertised (When it works)
-> Earphones and carry case are terrible"

Urban Weigl

Jimeatsmenu wrote:

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=304311&cks=PRL I don't think I could live with 512mb or 1gb of unorganised music.

You can organise it in iTunes before you sync it. 512MB or 1GB would never be enough for my entire music library (I have over 15GB), so I would only sync what I want to listen to, and organise my iPod shuffle playlist in iTunes from time to time.

Scottish

So many people that just HATE apple stuff have really freaked out over this (ipod shuffle).

It has one enormous advantage over other flash mp3 players - iTunes. Transferring music and organising it before you go anywhere is just so easy. This will appeal not just to the lower end of the market, but to current iPod owners who are into sport and don't want to damage their full size iPod. Thats the reason I'm getting one.

It already looks like its going to EXPAND the market for this type of player, making even more of a difference to the way people listen to their music.

As a music lover first, and an ipod lover second this is just fantastic news.

The only downside is the ****ty headphones. My advice to any ipod owner is - get these:

http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er6i.asp

Jim

Eh...you can organise music on any other Flash player.
Well, I don't know about some, but my Creative MuVo you can create folders, which I put albums into their different folders which I can easily select so to get to song no.120, I don't have to skip through 119 songs.

I'm not saying the player I linked to is any good, I wouldn't buy it, but I was asked for one at a similar price. I still stand by the Creative Micro I linked to earlier. Btw about shipping, afaik Apple only do free shipping for anything over €100, you would have to pay shipping on the 512mb model Shuffle.

Urban Weigl

Jimeatsmenu wrote:

Btw about shipping, afaik Apple only do free shipping for anything over €100, you would have to pay shipping on the 512mb model Shuffle.

You do get free shipping on the Irish Apple online store ( http://www.apple.com/iestore/ ). While I do not know about Apple's exact policies regarding free shipping, I did just order the €99 iPod shuffle on their site. It said "Free shipping" all over the store pages, and when I went to checkout, it said Shipping = €0. The total that was charged to my credit card was €99, no more.

This player is not for everyone though, for example many people will want to sync their entire music library -- usually several gigabytes in size. That is why you can also get the iPod mini (4GB), iPod (20 or 40GB) and iPod photo (40 and 60GB). These people users will not want to purchase a flash based player of any kind due to the capacity.

Scottish

Jimeatsmenu wrote:

Eh...you can organise music on any other Flash player.
Well, I don't know about some, but my Creative MuVo you can create folders, which I put albums into their different folders which I can easily select so to get to song no.120, I don't have to skip through 119 songs.

I'm not saying the player I linked to is any good, I wouldn't buy it, but I was asked for one at a similar price. I still stand by the Creative Micro I linked to earlier. Btw about shipping, afaik Apple only do free shipping for anything over €100, you would have to pay shipping on the 512mb model Shuffle.

From what I have seen, and everything I have read about the various systems for transferring music confirms it, nothing is as easy and well thought out as the iTunes and iPod set up.

Lennoxschips

Most people I know who have an iPod have switched over to the alternative Ephpod software because iTunes drives them insane. It makes life hell when trying to connect your iPod to somebody elses computer and I've heard that it is a very fidgety. Other MP3 players just get recognised on your computer as a removeable hard drive, and you can drag and drop anything you want onto them, using your own existing system of folders and playlists.

Look, I used to use Apple hardware and software all of the time (Mac Plus was the first computer I ever used) and am a great fan of the Macintosh system, but the iPods are mostly hype and marketing. Very successful marketing too.

Scottish

Lennoxschips wrote:

Most people I know who have an iPod have switched over to the alternative Ephpod software because iTunes drives them insane. It makes life hell when trying to connect your iPod to somebody elses computer and I've heard that it is a very fidgety. Other MP3 players just get recognised on your computer as a removeable hard drive, and you can drag and drop anything you want onto them, using your own existing system of folders and playlists.

Look, I used to use Apple hardware and software all of the time (Mac Plus was the first computer I ever used) and am a great fan of the Macintosh system, but the iPods are mostly hype and marketing. Very successful marketing too.

What on earth are you talking about? All you have to do is change the iPod to update manually in the preferences. Then you can connect it to other peoples computers if you want.

The iPods are a combination of things, and hype and marketing do play a part. I've had one since the mac only versions were around. They are quite simply the best of the bunch, by a long way. The total package has not been bettered by any other company.

Jim

Scottish wrote:

From what I have seen, and everything I have read about the various systems for transferring music confirms it, nothing is as easy and well thought out as the iTunes and iPod set up.

The click and drag method is my man.

Scottish

Jimeatsmenu wrote:

The click and drag method is my man.

You people are making judgments on a product you know nothing about.

You can set the iPod to be a hard drive as well.

And you can drag and drop your folders until your heart is content, if that is what you want to do.

Use them first, comment second.

Matt Simis

Scottish wrote:

You people are making judgments on a product you know nothing about.

You can set the iPod to be a hard drive as well.

And you can drag and drop your folders until your heart is content, if that is what you want to do.

Use them first, comment second.

You could be accused of the same, have you used any of the recent "big" HDD players (Zen Touch, Philips HD120 etc) or Micro HDD players (Zen Micro, Rio Carbon)? You'll find they offer more at a lower price. Ipods are successful not because they offer more or a "complete package" as you like to put it, but because they offer less and provide a product that even the most intellectually challenged members of society can use without feeling dumb.

You must not have spent much time with a Flash player in the 4 years they have been available either. Taking the Muvo N200 as linked already for example vs Shuffle:

- Um, LCD screen, you know, the standard method of navigating portable devices..
- FM Tuner, Microphone, Line Input (records from any audio source directly)
- Better battery life (something like 16hrs on one AAA)
- Smaller than the Shuffle
- Also works in ITunes (yes, ITunes can work removable harddrives)
- Available in multiple colours
- Supports various playmodes and playlists, but I wouldnt be so moronic as to list "shuffle" playback as a seperate feature. :eek:
- Can actually play MP3 and WMA files natively.. you list "conversion to ACC" as if its a good thing. Recompressing a compressed format to another lossy compressed format is a terrible thing. A copy of copy of a copy.. AFAIK the Shuffle can only playback 128KB/s AAC... this is likely a way of artfically making the "big" IPods sound better (as recompressed 128KB/s AAC is gonna sound pretty rough).
- Priced competitively.. there is a similar model without the Line Input recording feature available for less if you want too..


Lets see what the Ipod Shuffle offers over the competition then:
- Named after its only feature - no more trying to remember complicated model numbers or terms like "L Cee Dee".
- Has nice and big buttons
- Kinda shaped like a pen, so you can use it tap your bottom lip and pretend to be thinking
- Ipods are hot right now.. got to be good right?
- Um... something to add your Steve Jobs collection?


Seriously, the Mac Mini peaked my interest.. but I dont know if I could purchase a product from a company that also produces such a monsterous insult to consumer intelligence.



Matt

eth0_

Well considering the Apple Store online isn't shipping until the end of the month, are you surprised you can't find the Shuffle in real world shops?

Urban Weigl

Matt Simis wrote:

- Smaller than the Shuffle

All the other flash based players I have seen so far have been either bigger and/or heavier.

[/i] AFAIK the Shuffle can only playback 128KB/s AAC... this is likely a way of artfically making the "big" IPods sound better (as recompressed 128KB/s AAC is gonna sound pretty rough).

I do not know where you got that information from, because that it is incorrect. The iPod shuffle offers you an optional feature to automatically recompress high bit-rate songs in 128kbps AAC format. This is to stop for example 320kbps MP3's from using up all your space, since flash does not offer as much storage as hard drive-based players.

- Priced competitively.. there is a similar model without the Line Input recording feature available for less if you want too..

So far I have not seen a less costly player once shipping has been figured into the price. That said, feel free to post an URL.

- Ipods are hot right now.. got to be good right?

Do you boycott Nike or other designer brands because they're hot? Just curious.

As far as the batteries, the shuffle weight includes a built in rechargeable battery. A journalist tested it, and it did 15.44 hours as far as I recall, which is more than quoted. Also, you don't need to spend money on AAA batteries. They add up to a lot of extra running costs. I owned another Flash based player a year ago, until I got rid of it for its uselessness.

Jim

Scottish wrote:

You people are making judgments on a product you know nothing about.

You can set the iPod to be a hard drive as well.

And you can drag and drop your folders until your heart is content, if that is what you want to do.

Use them first, comment second.

If had read my previous posts, I used to own an iPod.
I'm not talking about the iPod anyway, I'm talking about the shuffle.

And with the iPod I had you could only drag and drop folders as storage, not to listen to them.

Ro: maaan!

I can't believe anyone is using batteries as a bad point against other mp3 players. Anyone who uses an mp3 player on a regular basis uses rechargable batteries. You'd have to be mad to keep buying batteries.

Urban Weigl

Ro: maaan! wrote:

I can't believe anyone is using batteries as a bad point against other mp3 players. Anyone who uses an mp3 player on a regular basis uses rechargable batteries. You'd have to be mad to keep buying batteries.

It's an inconvenience, and adds to the cost. You can't just plug it into your USB or Firewire port to recharge, so for example if you travel, you also have to take your charger with you. It just makes the solution less elegant.

Urban Weigl

Jimeatsmenu wrote:

And with the iPod I had you could only drag and drop folders as storage, not to listen to them.

Apple did that under pressure from the music industry, to stop casual piracy. You can however easily drag folders onto iTunes to import them. There is also a little plugin for iTunes, called iPod Download, which I use.

Ro: maaan!

Urban Weigl wrote:

It's an inconvenience, and adds to the cost. You can't just plug it into your USB or Firewire port to recharge, so for example if you travel, you also have to take your charger with you. It just makes the solution less elegant.

What do you mean by travel there? If it's just for a weekend or something a spare battery or two would do it. Seeing as you'd buy most of them in packs of 4 that's not a problem. If it's anything longer than that then you're going to be bringing enough stuff that a charger the size of an adaptor won't be too much trouble. (Either way it's easier than bringing your computer + usb port ) And it's only a one off charge anyway. The batteries I use now I've had for 3 mp3 players...

Urban Weigl

Ro: maaan! wrote:

(Either way it's easier than bringing your computer + usb port

You can extend the shuffle to over 30 hours playback with an AAA battery (you also get an armband and a bunch of other things if you buy that). Won't appeal to me though, just saying there is the option right there.

But my actual point is that using AAA batteries makes the solution more complicated and less elegant.

Ro: maaan!

Urban Weigl wrote:

But my actual point is that using AAA batteries makes the solution more complicated and less elegant.

Oh I can certainly see the convienience in recharging it through a usb port It would be less messy an' all. But I wouldn't even consider it when choosing a player. Also to recharge it it has to be at home. I'd frequetly go out (with my mp3 player) and leave batteries recharging at home. With it I'd have to either wait for it to recharge, or go out without it.

Gmodified

seagizmo wrote:

Why Apple, Why!

Why do you do this to me! Just checked out the iPod shuffle (http://www.apple.com/ipodshuffle/) & the Mac Mini (http://www.apple.com/macmini/). They both look absolutely fantastic!


SG

yes i do hate apple for this Polo sweets container

OMG it has Shuffle mode, another marketing bull$hit. Does dental floss come out on the side or this is girly product and it's more like an electronic pregnancy tester.

i do like some apple pc's and standard ipod but this product is brutal.

this must cost 30$ in China and the rest must be price of Itunes software,

I think Matt Simis was just nice saying that Apple was trying to provide a product that even the most intellectually challenged members of society can use without feeling dumb.

Urban Weigl

I doubt this thing costs $30 to make, otherwise I bet there would be others undercutting what Apple charges, after all there will be companies willing to sell at a loss or with very little profit in order to get into the market. Flash memory alone isn't cheap. Go into a store in Ireland and check out their prices for 512MB and 1GB flash memory sticks.

The iPod shuffle is definitely going only after one target market (which is why Apple makes different iPod's for different people). And that market is people who want an inexpensive product that is elegant, ultra affordable, and just works as advertised with no "hassle". I hardly think that is insulting. After all, you should not have to be a geek to use technology. Just like I do not want to know how to build a car to drive one.

Jim

Urban Weigl wrote:

Apple did that under pressure from the music industry, to stop casual piracy. You can however easily drag folders onto iTunes to import them. There is also a little plugin for iTunes, called iPod Download, which I use.

Your completely getting off my point.
I wasn't talking about the iPod in the first place, but the Shuffle. Scot guy brought up the Pod and said you could drag and drop and listen to music, I was merely correcting him.

His original point was that the Shuffle has the best organisation because of its sync to iTunes, I was stating that I prefered the drag and drop method.

Jim

Urban Weigl wrote:

After all, you should not have to be a geek to use technology.

MuVo...

Plug it in, open it, drag and drop what you want into it.

Genius!

Although I use iTunes as my Mp3 player of choice on my pc, I found it sometimes irritating to use with my iPod.

Urban Weigl

Jimeatsmenu wrote:

Your completely getting off my point.
I wasn't talking about the iPod in the first place, but the Shuffle. Scot guy brought up the Pod and said you could drag and drop and listen to music, I was merely correcting him.

You can drag and drop music to copy it to the shuffle. Just drag and drop it onto the shuffle's playlist, even from the desktop. It will be copied instantly.*

*Turn auto-sync off.

Jim

Do you read my posts....

My point is that from what I can see is that there is no organisation on Shuffle apart from playlists (how many playlists can you have on it btw? (not being sarcastic, actually asking)).

I was saying on the drag and drop flash players you can set each album into a folder (or playlist in shuffles case) so you can easliy skip through folders without having to skip through songs to get to the song you want.

Ie. if I had 4 albums, and wanted track 5 on album 3, I simply select the folder on album 3 and skip 4 tracks. As opposed to what I can see on the shuffle where you would have to skip through each of the preceedding albums before getting to it.

Urban Weigl

Well, the regular iPod lets you have an unlimited number of playlists (i.e. folders, directories, whatever you want to call them -- they do the same thing). So you can browse by playlists (folders), or alternatively by album, artist, etc.

For example, I have a playlist with a couple of my up to date favorites, another with ambient music, and so on. In addition, you can have "dynamic" playlists, which update dynamically as your music library changes. For example, my top 15 played, 80's music, and so on.