[lug] iPod or MP3?

[Michael J. Hammel]

On Thu, 2009-05-28 at 15:39 -0600, David Morris wrote:
> I had a chance to play with my sister's iPod at one point.  All I can
> say is anyone who willingly uses one of those things *must* have
> masochistic tendencies.  One of the most obnoxious, stubborn,
> bug-ridden, and difficult to use devices I've ever encountered.  Note
> that this was a relatively new iPod.  They look good and if you can
> get songs on it the functionality is almost (but not quite)
> acceptable.  But overall, other than looks I would put the iPod in the
> "flashy but mostly useless toy" category.

Interesting, but you didn't specify what the problems were.  Having used
other MP3 players and the nano I'm far happier with the simplistic
interface the nano provides. It's pretty simple to browse the music and
I can create playlists offline (can't do it on the device however, at
least not that I know of).

> I use a "Cowon D2" MP3 player.  I like it for four reasons:  (1) It
> can be accessed like a USB drive, 

So can most iPods.  Older ones might not but certainly any newer one
can.

> (2) it has a 50+ hour battery if
> playing audio only, 

Can't say how long the batter lasts on the nano.  I keep it plugged into
my USB most of the time so I never had it die while playing.  It charges
over the USB.

> (3) it will play almost any audio format, 

The nano doesn't play ogg formats.  That's a drawback for it.

> and (4)
> it is flash-based with SD card expansion.  

Nice feature but SD cards are nearly as big as the 8GB nano's width so I
don't see a big advantage to use them unless I had more than 8GB to put
on the thing.  And really, 8GB is a *lot* of music.  Far more than I
listen to.  My two biggest uses are to play music at work and have it
with me when I workout. So I'm happier with the smaller device (but
large enough to have a display).  The nano works out well for me.  It
fits nicely in a pocket when I go jogging.

One thing I haven't figured out how to do is archive podcasts to the
nano.  I think it can be done but I don't know how to do it yet.
-- 
Michael J. Hammel                                    Principal Software Engineer
mjhammel at graphics-muse.org                           http://graphics-muse.org
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