Thursday, September 15, 2005

...And on This Invention They Show Shows

OK - so the title is only loosely tied to this entry, and it is esoteric for sure. Sue me.

I try not to go with the masses on many things, and for several reasons. The primary reason is that the masses are stupid. Now you can call me a snob, and that's OK, but if you want to see a slice of Americana, watch the show Cops and then come back to me and tell me the masses are not stupid.

So, anyway, a couple of years ago I decided I wanted a huge mp3 player. The now famous iPod was a recent addition to the market and it was being pumped up more than the latest ex-Seinfeld (pick any of the three) cast members' new dumb sit-com. I resisted.

I purchased an RCA Lyra 20GB jukebox, and while it was a decent piece of equipment, eventually the headphone jack broke, and the thing is basically, a portable hard-drive now. So the search was on for a new mp3 player. So again I had to decide whether or not to go with the masses.

Since I purchased the Lyra, iPods have become HUGE. I mean every MTV fan has one, where they listen to their bubble gum packaged music. Even formerly respectable artists like U2 have been involved in marketing these devices. The iPod's real target market seems to be the hip-hop crowd as can be easily discerned from their advertising. This is not the kind of product I am drawn to. However, after doing some research, I determined that it might be the best product for my "needs".

Last week, I purchased the 60GB iPod. First impressions are that the masses may have got this one right. I will keep you posted.

6 comments:

Strutter71 said...

My daughter has been after me for a couple of months now to buy her one of those things, but so far I have resisted...

T-_Bone said...

My brother has 2 girls (13 and 11) and they are begging for iPods. I've got a say, so far I am impressed with the product though.

CRAIG said...

I've been researching for a few months now and have been impressed with the Zen Creative product. In addition to better overall sound quality (which is completely subjective) it has a user replaceable battery.

Like any Apple product though the iPod looks like a safe purchase.

T-_Bone said...

Well, I saw some reviews for the Zen Creative and it has a couple of holes (ie buggy software, headphone jack problems like my Lyra, and all files are stored in a single directory). I researched this pretty thoroughly and the iPod seemed to be the winner. We shall see.

Strutter71 said...

Here's the real question...what is the CHEAPEST LEGAL way to download music to an iPod? I've done some research, and it seems like most of the legal sites that offer unlimited downloading to a portable device for a low monthly fee (Rhapsody, Napster, Yahoo Music) have a list of "compatible" devices and none work with iPod. And they all say that if you cancel your monthly membership, then ALL those songs will no longer work on your device. What is the general concensus over here?

T-_Bone said...

I plead the 5th