Why the iPod is king

[dragonsgames]

A lot of people have an iPod. In-fact, Apple owns 3/4 of the MP3 market share. Some people are confused by this. My Clie can do that! Sony MP3 players have OLED! But the rest of the market is way behind. Why?

1. Apple iPods are Incredibly User Friendly.
The iPod/iTunes conjunction is genius. It makes it easy to spend money. Open the app, go to Music store, press buy. iTunes has a nice user interface, and works very well. iTunes is a large part of the iPods success.

Then, when you have your music, you plug-in your iPod and drag and drop.
Finding your song is easy, also. Browse by Artist/album, etc.

On the Clie, you have to get the song settings right, you have to convert the songs if you buy them from iTunes (I have to use software to record the music that is playing in iTunes, it is called Audio-Hijack.) Then, you have to open your Memory-Stick on the computer and put it in the Palm/MSAudio folder.

2. Size
The iPod is so small. You really have to hold one to understand. It is amazing. And it has 40GB and up built in. The max you can go on a Clie is 4GB, with hacks. Much, much less.

The UX50 even, a very small Clie, looks very big compared to an iPod. And you can't slip it out and change the song. You have to open the clamshell first.

[JackAxe]

Don't let Volchitsa see this thread. He's still in denial. :D

I can't live without iTunes, so the only other audio device I would buy right now, would be a Motorola SLVR.

I recall when Apple unveiled its Digital-hub strategy, which was years ahead of the rest, this led to the initial design of the iPod, since all other players were lacking in quality and usability.

Cringly made a good point, which I always try to ramble about, but he did a much better job;

"The company's success is always based on this combination of hardware and software, which makes it different from all its competitors. Microsoft competes on software, Dell competes on hardware, but if you want to go head-to-head with Apple you have to go both ways, and no other company really does."

-Robert X. Cringely

<]=)

[dragonsgames]

Yeah, Apple got a head start as well :D

[Pdaman]

someone should delete this thread, sorry X=D

[dragonsgames]

I can guess you don't like iPods... ;)

[dragonsgames]

Oh yeah, another thing...
Accessories. Oh all the accessories. Someone can get an iPod case to suit them ;)

[daver]

the things i don't like about the ipod is the look and weight. i just don't like shiny things, not my style. also, it's too darn light. i've had a friend break their ipod (regular one) on the ground because the weight of the headphone cable dragged the unit off the table at the library. and the library has carpeted flooring. i'm still astonished that the 3 metre long cable has more weight than an ipod.

other than that, the ipod pretty much is king of the market, but mostly for the wrong reasons. people don't buy the ipod because it is the "best" mp3 player (this is highly debateable and causes more internet wars than there should be, second to PC vs Mac). many people buy ipods because they don't know anything about technology, and the ipod is very well designed for the technologically challenged. i mean, 12:00 blinkers can use ipods. a 12:00 blinker is a person with all their household electronic appliances blinking "12:00" all the time because they don't know how to set the clock. also, the itunes and ipod combo is very well designed, but sometimes too much hassle for people who like to dig in deep - i.e. computer science majors like me. i'm just waiting for hte rockbox firmware for the x5 and i'll be on my way.

sorry for my apple ignorance, but what's the "digital-hub strategy"? and cringly couldn't be any more right, but who the heck is he? (i'm too lazy to go to google: i'm on my th55).

btw, in volchitsa's defense, "he" is actually "she" ;)

[dragonsgames]

The Digital Hub strategy is, Apple computer is the main hub, and the iPod is the portable one. iPod, iPod iPod :rolleyes:

[Cyker]

And iPod's are considered "Hip and Trendy".

I'm more utilarian, always preferred iRivers as a player (Mainly because it supports more formats, e.g. things like OGG).

The iPod isn't really a standalone portable media player - It's the playback device for iTunes.

This is why Apple won't let anyone else use their DRM to either sell music to iPod users or make iTunes-compatible devices, and will resist such a thing happening as long as they can - so they can monopolise it.

To them, it would be like Microsoft releasing their API and allowing other people to write their own version of Windows.

But like that, there are people that try to reverse engineer that stuff (ReactOS/WINE are a bit like RealNetworks and DVDJon's attempts ;))

[daver]

yes, i forgot the lack of format support. ipods can't play FLAC. my philosophy: no FLAC support, no like, no buy.

[dragonsgames]

What Is Flac?

[daver]

http://flac.sourceforge.net/

essential, FLAC is the non-Apple version of your Apple Lossless format (is ALE the acronym?). the best part is it's open source :D

[dragonsgames]

The Clie Audio Player won't work with FLAC, and is VERY PICKEY.... >_<

[daver]

i knew that... but what does that have to do with the thread?

all of my FLAC files are 2-3 times larger in file size than my wave files. they're a huge disk space hog, but it's worth it IMO. it's like listening to LP's straight from the turntable... ah...

believe it or not, i bought my first LP a while back in 1998. I'll never forget playing my first LP on my dad's turntable.... go Jimmy Hendrix baby!

unfortunately, i don't have anything that can transfer from LP to FLAC, so i gotta get the CD album and rip it myself. thank god for hard drive based MP3 players! it's freed up SO much room on my PC's hard drive!

[dragonsgames]

Does any MP3 player support FLAC? I never have even heard of it...

[daver]

most new MP3 players (by new, i mean roughly since the beginning of 2005) support FLAC except ipods, as Apple has their own Lossless format. my x5 handles FLAC very well, so i can tell you that at least one type of MP3 can play FLAC! lol

[JackAxe]

Sorry Volchitsa for using the wrong pronoun. :o *hides in corner.*

Correct me if I'm wrong, but FLAC sounds very inefficient, since you're stating it's 2-3 times larger than a WAV, which is an uncompressed format. ;)

Apple Lossless sounds "exactly" like the original AIF, and it's generally less than half the size. And like I've rambled about before, whith an iPod, you can dump an AIF directly onto it from the CD. So no conversions required of any type.

OGG was a good format, but with the massive storage of todays audio devices, it no longer offers any advantages. But, I would prefer it over MP3 support in apps like Flash, since it would make a difference in that area, when trying to keep the files size down and quality up.

Apple makes its money from the iPod, not iTunes, this is why they're selective on whom they'll let interface with iTunes. Apple does not have a monoply. Any company can make their own player and own music service. If Apple were monopolizing, then no other company, not even Sony would be able to create a music service as an example, without Apple's permision. Apple is doing nothing illegal, they're simplay protecting the artists and their business, which they, for reasons us Mac users understand, were able to succeed at, where all others have failed. If Apple did not offer a DRM, then they would not be able to sell music on-line. And unlike other attempts at DRMs, it does not get in the way, it's transparent to the user, which is how it should be. I'm an iPod user, but I've never bought, nor downloaded a song from iTunes. I still buy CDs and I can't see this ever changing, besides to a newer format like BlueRay. I need iTunes to get my CD onto my iPod, but since it's my favorite music app, and has been since its beta release in 2000, It's how I prefer things. :)

Although quite easy to use, iTunes is a powerfull full feature app. A music player should not be a chalenge to use, if it is, then that player is a failure and has isolated most potential customers. But it should not skimp on important features, since that would force the user to look elsewhere to get the job done. Apple is one of the few companys, thas the understanding to make something easy to use, but not sacrifice features which are important. Maybe Apple should design the clocks UI for all appliances. ;)

The iPod is good enough for audiophiles, yet easy enough to use for novices. This is part of what makes it the best player.

I look forward to a new iPod this year. I will post when I get it, so we can once again have this never ending discussion. :)

<]=)

[dragonsgames]

Wow, that was a really long post.... :eek:

[daver]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but FLAC sounds very inefficient, since you're stating it's 2-3 times larger than a WAV, which is an uncompressed format.FLAC is uncompressed. but you can set certain frequencies to higher ranges. most FLAC is usually the same size as WAV, but some can be maybe 5 MB larger. not much really. but I specifically set my FLAC to higher ranges so when i plug my computer into my dad's stereo receiver (you oughta see how long that cable is!) i can get those really high frequencies that's only (well, more like 95% of the time) found in psychedelic music. most of my FLAC files range from 40-100MB. i should have mentioned that the "2-3 times" larger file size is also effected because of the song length. some tunes last over 5 minutes, hence the average 80-90MB size. my bad :o

Apple Lossless sounds "exactly" like the original AIF, and it's generally less than half the size. And like I've rambled about before, whith an iPod, you can dump an AIF directly onto it from the CD. So no conversions required of any type.same goes for FLAC. it's just like copying a CD into WAV directly to my MP3 player. i take it that Lossless files range from 30-50MB for a 3 minute song?

OGG was a good format, but with the massive storage of todays audio devices, it no longer offers any advantages. But, I would prefer it over MP3 support in apps like Flash, since it would make a difference in that area, when trying to keep the files size down and quality up.i think OGG is really good for mp3 players usually in the 128MB - 1GB capacities. i don't even know if 128MB players exist anymore! however, i find that OGG only really saves maybe 500kb per song when comparing bitrate qualities to MP3, so it's not really that much more efficient compression-wise.

Apple does not have a monoply.what? no old guy with a top hat and cane? you could at least grow a big white mustache!

the best player. :eek: :eek: :eek:
you said it! *WHACK* sorry, just a reflex reaction :p

I look forward to a new iPod this year.i'm curious to what you think, since you're an Apple fan: do you think Apple will come out with digital cameras, and when do you think? and if so, do you think it'll successfully catch on (i mean world class recognition, not just Apple people buying it) now that the digicam craze has almost completely died down in retrospect to mp3 players and portable game consoles?

I will post when I get it, so we can once again have this never ending discussion. :)and i'll be waiting :)

[Cyker]

FLAC is basically the same quality as an uncompressed WAV - We've used them for storing master tracks, so that if we need to work on them we can do it without the generation loss that you'd get if you were operating on an OGG or MP3.

They are insane space hog's compared to 'lossy' formats 'tho ;)

I don't know where this 2-3 times bigger crap came from 'tho; If anything it's the wrong way round - Using FLAC, we can fit roughly 3 CD's worth of uncompressed sound on a single CD!

IMHO, Ogg Vorbis is significantly better than MP3 for file sizes, but for any substantial gains in terms of file size, you do need to do some tweaking, and OGG compressors are nowhere near as mature as MP3 at the moment.
Even so, a 500kB gain is nothing to sneeze at!

[daver]

I don't know where this 2-3 times bigger crap came from 'tho; If anything it's the wrong way round - Using FLAC, we can fit roughly 3 CD's worth of uncompressed sound on a single CD!
maybe i'm using a bad codec or something? all my FLACs are brutally huge, but playback fine on my PC and mp3 player... btw, i use dbPowerAmp (the swiss army knife of converters, heh) and the free FLAC codec plug-in. maybe i should reinstall it and try the newest codec? i've got like the 0.4 version, which is probably the first public release of the FLAC codec for dbPowerAmp...

just to show you how ridiculously huge my files are, i've converted an mp3 into OGG, WAV, and FLAC formats. the mp3 and OGG files were converted to 192kbps. check the attached image to see what i mean. i converted from the original MP3 file (256 VBR) to MP3, OGG, WAV, then FLAC.

Cyker, I'd appreciate if you could point me to a much more efficient FLAC encoder. it seems that my encoder is probably some extremely buggy and bogus piece of cr@p!

[Cyker]

If that is an uncompressed WAV, then I can only say:

OMFGWTFBBQ!?!!

:D

Seriously 'tho, yeah, I'd try a newer codec or at least check the compression settings...!

At the moment we're just using the compiled-from-source command line program that you can get at flac.sourceforge.net along with some bash scripts to automate the compression and archiving of the files.
(Essentially it just loops through a given directory gathering any changed WAV files and running "flac -8 $filename" on them ;))
This is with Linux 'tho...

I'm assuming you're using it in Windows, so the CLI might not be that fantastic for you, but I assume it uses a similar method. Heck, you could make a shortcut to the 'flac' with the working directory set to "My Documents" or something and just drag'n'drop WAV files onto to convert them ;).
Alas I'm not too familiar with other Windows FLAC programs, but the website does list a bunch of GUI front-ends that might be worth checking out...

But seriously, that is messed up... compression is supposed to make things smaller!!!

[daver]

OMFGWTFBBQ!?!!barbeque eh? i'll bring the propane!

At the moment we're just using the compiled-from-source command line program that you can get at flac.sourceforge.net along with some bash scripts to automate the compression and archiving of the files.
(Essentially it just loops through a given directory gathering any changed WAV files and running "flac -8 $filename" on them ;))
This is with Linux 'tho...don't worry, i have Linux. i'll definitely have to try that out. btw, do you know if it does batch conversions?

I'm assuming you're using it in Windows, so the CLI might not be that fantastic for you, but I assume it uses a similar method. Heck, you could make a shortcut to the 'flac' with the working directory set to "My Documents" or something and just drag'n'drop WAV files onto to convert them ;).
Alas I'm not too familiar with other Windows FLAC programs, but the website does list a bunch of GUI front-ends that might be worth checking out...i'll definitely have to check out the new FLAC plug-in for dbPowerAmp. the best part is it's all free!

But seriously, that is messed up... compression is supposed to make things smaller!!!maybe they used reversed engineering?
:D

[JackAxe]

I live here in Macville most of the time, so I don't need to convert my CD "AIF" files to a WAV. :p Like I mentioned, with an iPod, you can litterly drag the CD files directly onto it, without conversion. So no stinking WAV conversion or compression. :)

If FLAC files are coming out larger than the original uncompressed format, then they aren't that efficient. Apple Lossless is always smaller. ;)

OGG is best for the lower bit-rates, but in tests when compared to ACC and WMA at the higher bit-rates, it looses its advantage. Before Apple lossless, all of my music was imported at 320 ACC 16-bit 44Khz, just to match the CD. But now, it's whatever bitrate is needed to match the CD exactly.

If I didn't have an iPod, I would use FLAC. :)

<]=)

[daver]

"It seems that your FLAC encoder is out of date. Would you like to check for new updates?"YES

"You currently have: 0.4. The newest version is: 5.3. Would you like to update to this newer version?"
HELL YES

So I finally took the plunge and upgraded my FLAC encoder from the early, early beta release stage plug-in to a stabler and obviously newer version. I tried converting the same MP3 file, and instead of getting a FLAC music file that's over 120MB, I got one that is a little bit over 20MB. Boy, I'll tell ya one thing: compression has improved a LOT over the past year. I checked out both FLAC files on my mp3 player iwth my headphones, and they sound identical. I prefer to use "With My Mind" as a test file as the first 10 seconds or so has lots of heavy guitar reverb and distortion, so it is extremely easy to pick up any poor qualities from conversions or even quality loss due to compression. So FLAC is much more efficient than I previously thought, and well, WAV can go bye-bye now. i think my original FLAC codec was really just putting out a almost completely uncompressed audio file, but just tagging on the FLAC file extension, lol.

@Jackaxe,
I think FLAC is actually the non-Mac version of AIF files. Because from what you described (the whole CD ripping and drag'n'drop part) FLAC is nearly identical. iTunes is basically the drag and drop part for you. for me, i just have to pop in the CD, open up the software that came with my x5, select the optical drive on my PC (i've got 3 altogether so i kinda have to choose the right one - i accidentally tried to rip audio tracks from the Ubuntu DVD once :eek: ), and then click "OK". a split second later, my PC is already part way through ripping the 3rd or 4th track from the disc to my hard drive, or x5 if i have it plugged in at the time. it's lickety-split fast, and i can have an entire CD wherever i want in less than 5 minutes. well, maybe not necessarily less than 5 minutes because it's not like i ever count. but it's only as long as it takes for my optical drive to go from block 0 on the CD to block 123,456,789 or whatever the last block number is on the disc. thank god for uber fast optical drives!

who the hell needs to study for an upper lever economics midterm on thursday! i just found out i can put more music on my x5! even though i've only really put 6 albums on my x5 so far... hmm... study? or rip more CDs... all these tough choices in life... :D

[JAmerican]

You forgot one thing. Ipod is for users who rather spend money than to sweat. I record my TV shows and spend $0.00 for show recorded other than Cable bill. I feel that Apple rips you people off and yet you still run back wanting more. You guys scream at Bill Gates for having issues with Windows XP but praise Steve Jobs much more than the amount of scratches on your iPod. Then you run out and buy another and in a week, your unit looks old. What kind of crap is that. I have my UX which I don't have any protection for (like a case due to EB), and my UX is liek 2 yrs old now and it still looks newer than my friend's iPod he bought in October 2005. You guys make no sense to me. Bet if your Intel Mac crashes and burns you'll still be kissing up to Jobs. Sad, sad, sad.

Its sad how lazy society has become that companies can profit off of our lazyiness. Its really sad. All I know is that I found my video conversion method and audio conversion method. Both don't involve me paying someone to do it.

I don't mean to offend anyone, just think this is redicuous. This iPod fad has got to stop. That's all it is. Nothing else. Just a big fad.

JAmerican

[Cyker]

Wow... I feel some hating from you there JA! *hides*
Don't make me do that Yoda quote!! :p

TBH, this is what a tertiary industry does - It essentially convert time into money and vice versa.
But you keep doing what you're doing, excercise that right! Arse-bags like the RIAA are trying to make it illegal by pretending recording stuff like the way you do has always been illegal, and this is just total BS. If anyone, *they* are the ones trying to rip people off.


Slight off-topic clarification:
FLAC is *far* more advanced than AIF.

AIF is just another raw audio file format like WAV or VOC.
The reason it's smaller than WAV is that AIF tends to be compressed to some kind of ADPCM algorithm by default, whereas WAV is uncompressed by default.

In the Windows 3.1 days, I compressed ALL of my Windows system WAV sounds using a Creative Labs ADPCM codec (Because my AWE-32 could decode them in hardware; Saved me about 5MB and a crap load of CPU time - Laugh, but such savings MATTERED back then! *crotchety voice* Not like you younguns with yer 2000 jigabyte processors and bajillion bogoflop hard disks! :D).

Say... I wonder if there is a FLAC codec for WAVs? I could cross-convert all my system sounds from ADPCM! :D

[JackAxe]

"It seems that your FLAC encoder is out of date. Would you like to check for new updates?"YES

"You currently have: 0.4. The newest version is: 5.3. Would you like to update to this newer version?"
HELL YES

FLAC music file that's over 120MB, I got one that is a little bit over 20MB.


See, it was totally freaking inefficient, well with your obsolete version. :D


@Jackaxe,
I think FLAC is actually the non-Mac version of AIF files.


No no no no non no no non no. :p :) That would be WAV, is the non-Mac version of AIF files.

An AIF is an "uncompressed" format, which is not only Apple's native audio format, but it's also what is on all of your CDs. I'm pretty sure it's like that, since musicians have favored and used Macs since the begining.


Because from what you described (the whole CD ripping and drag'n'drop part) FLAC is nearly identical. iTunes is basically the drag and drop part for you. for me, i just have to pop in the CD, open up the software that came with my x5, select the optical drive on my PC (i've got 3 altogether so i kinda have to choose the right one - i accidentally tried to rip audio tracks from the Ubuntu DVD once :eek: ), and then click "OK". a split second later, my PC is already part way through ripping the 3rd or 4th track from the disc to my hard drive, or x5 if i have it plugged in at the time. it's lickety-split fast, and i can have an entire CD wherever i want in less than 5 minutes. well, maybe not necessarily less than 5 minutes because it's not like i ever count. but it's only as long as it takes for my optical drive to go from block 0 on the CD to block 123,456,789 or whatever the last block number is on the disc. thank god for uber fast optical drives!


Ye still have to convert the format though. :p With an iPod, you have the choice not to. It's just a matter of copying. But I do need to use iTunes, if I want to access my iPod. iTunes launces when the iPod is plugged-in/attached, its just a setting. Part of the whole OS X integration thing. The PC version can do it also, but it requires seperate non-standard-Window's tasks running in the background. :)

I'm also thankfull for uber fast optical drives. :) With iTunes, I either select all of the audio files and drag them onto my iPod, or onto the burn icon, which is only active if recordable media is my Super Drive.

I was curious about what would happen if I draged one of my HD icons into my iTunes playlist area and it automatically started copying over all of my mov files from various projects, which are raw and each one varies from about 8 to 16 gigs in size. :D Fortunately it let me stop. I have the room on my main drive, but I don't want duplicates of these beasts. :o


who the hell needs to study for an upper lever economics midterm on thursday! i just found out i can put more music on my x5! even though i've only really put 6 albums on my x5 so far... hmm... study? or rip more CDs... all these tough choices in life... :D

Not me! :p But I have to finish building my entire site and I still have about a bagillion hours left. Anyways, good luck. :)

<]=)

[JackAxe]

You forgot one thing. Ipod is for users who rather spend money than to sweat. I record my TV shows and spend $0.00 for show recorded other than Cable bill. I feel that Apple rips you people off and yet you still run back wanting more. You guys scream at Bill Gates for having issues with Windows XP but praise Steve Jobs much more than the amount of scratches on your iPod. Then you run out and buy another and in a week, your unit looks old. What kind of crap is that. I have my UX which I don't have any protection for (like a case due to EB), and my UX is liek 2 yrs old now and it still looks newer than my friend's iPod he bought in October 2005. You guys make no sense to me. Bet if your Intel Mac crashes and burns you'll still be kissing up to Jobs. Sad, sad, sad.

Its sad how lazy society has become that companies can profit off of our lazyiness. Its really sad. All I know is that I found my video conversion method and audio conversion method. Both don't involve me paying someone to do it.

I don't mean to offend anyone, just think this is redicuous. This iPod fad has got to stop. That's all it is. Nothing else. Just a big fad.

JAmerican

Yes, if you want, you can also record your own shows and transfer them to the iPod. But if you spen $1.99 and buy an episode from iTunes, not only will it save the time of conversion, but it will look better, since it was compressed from the original format, not re-compressed from already compressed broadasted version.

The scratches on my iPod offend me. NOT!!!. :p I must say, they match my Clié's scratches nicely. :)

Just because the iPod is popular and it's not "Sony's" brand, doesn't make it a fad. If Sony had the upper hand, I can almost guarantee you would be praising them. ;) I know some peeps will buy an iPod, like buying a designer brand, but that comes with being the most recognized brand. Apple makes a great product, that's continually rated higher than its competitors, so the fact that most peeps like it is a good thing, since no other player can truly match what it offers as a whole.

<]=)

[Gizmo]

I don't mean to offend anyone, just think this is redicuous. This iPod fad has got to stop. That's all it is. Nothing else. Just a big fad.

JAmerican
Why do you care what anyone else listens to. :confused: I'm serious. WHY! Is your listening pleasure some how affected by what others are using? Do you lie awake at night worrying about what iPod users are listening to? Give it up! :eek: :D

[JAmerican]

Why do you care what anyone else listens to. :confused: I'm serious. WHY! Is your listening pleasure some how affected by what others are using? Do you lie awake at night worrying about what iPod users are listening to? Give it up! :eek: :D

I don't care what people listen to, I just feel that Apple should not be getting credit when they are selling faulty devices. BTW, JackAxe, how long did it take your CLIE to get as many scratches as your iPod?

You can buy what you want. I'm just saying from my experience, people get it just to get it. Not because its the best alternative out there, just because everyone else has it. BTW, my FAMILY GUY episodes on my CLIE that I recorded, I can't get at iTunes :p. Same with my Robot Chicken and Aqua Teen Hunger Force vids. My videos are also all much larger than the smaller 320x240 res.

Buy what you want, just saying its a waste of money. Not sure how many times you can watch an episode you bought from itunes, you eventually get tired of it and thats $2 down the drain. Now lets say you buy one every day for a month. That's about $62 dollars down the drain. Two months: $124 total. Get my drift. While, I payed $0 for two months. I'm just trying to help you guys save money.

If Apple fixed their scratch issue with their devices, I might consider one. I would still be doing my own conversions but I might get one. I don't hate the iPod and love Sony. I just hate that Apple's products has so many faults and yet its still considered a great product. If they fix their scratch issue by 6G iPod and have a widescreen one, I might get one depending on price and how much money I have. I'd like a some gigs of video in my pocket.

JAmerican

[JackAxe]

Slight off-topic clarification:
FLAC is *far* more advanced than AIF.

AIF is just another raw audio file format like WAV or VOC.
The reason it's smaller than WAV is that AIF tends to be compressed to some kind of ADPCM algorithm by default, whereas WAV is uncompressed by default.


How can FLAC, be more advanced than the format it was compressed from? :p WTF?!!! :D

That's like saying a reproduction is better than the original. I can't debate files size, since AIF is larger, but compressed no matter how good, is never as good as uncompressed.

AIF by "default" on my Macs is set to "Linear PCM," which is the digital standard used for CD's and DVDs.

On a Mac, when you insert a CD, it doesn't label the tracks like Windows, where as the first song is labeled "Track01.cda." On a Mac, the file is labed the song's name, so "Monkey" as an example. If you get info on that song, or show extensions, the file would be labeled "Monkey.aiff."

Since using my first Mac back with System 6, CDs have alwasy showed up with their song name and an .aiff extension. PCs have always hidden this and listed the songs just as tracks.

Here's an image of a CD when viewed from a finder window;

http://www.bainne.com/fun/mac_cd.gif

<]=)

[JackAxe]

I don't care what people listen to, I just feel that Apple should not be getting credit when they are selling faulty devices. BTW, JackAxe, how long did it take your CLIE to get as many scratches as your iPod?

You can buy what you want. I'm just saying from my experience, people get it just to get it. Not because its the best alternative out there, just because everyone else has it. BTW, my FAMILY GUY episodes on my CLIE that I recorded, I can't get at iTunes :p. Same with my Robot Chicken and Aqua Teen Hunger Force vids. My videos are also all much larger than the smaller 320x240 res.

Buy what you want, just saying its a waste of money. Not sure how many times you can watch an episode you bought from itunes, you eventually get tired of it and thats $2 down the drain. Now lets say you buy one every day for a month. That's about $62 dollars down the drain. Two months: $124 total. Get my drift. While, I payed $0 for two months. I'm just trying to help you guys save money.

If Apple fixed their scratch issue with their devices, I might consider one. I would still be doing my own conversions but I might get one. I don't hate the iPod and love Sony. I just hate that Apple's products has so many faults and yet its still considered a great product. If they fix their scratch issue by 6G iPod and have a widescreen one, I might get one depending on price and how much money I have. I'd like a some gigs of video in my pocket.

JAmerican

I've had my Clié for about 4 years and my iPod for over 3.5 years. (It's actually older, closer to 4 years, I traded services for it and got it second hand.) Both still do a good job, and both have lots of scratches, and both have batteries that need to be replaced. :)

Faulty and faults, what? You make many assumptions, which can easily be construed as fallacy. ;) Frankly, I did not buy an iPod because everyone else did, I bought it because it was the best solution and still is for digital-audio playback for a majority of us peeps.

Apple makes a first class player, that gets high marks and is praised because it works so wonderfully. I don't want to be hassled when managing and importing my music, but yet I still want choice and this is why the iPod is such a great player.

Like I said, one does not have to rely on iTunes to get a video. Just like you, any video iPod owner can record their favorite show, then format it to work on an iPod, just like your UX.

Who ever said that the video iPod can only play videos bought from iTunes, was misinformed. It's probaly the same peep that thought iPods could only play music bought from the iTunes music store. :)

Yes, a 320x480 screen for video playback is nice. The UX is a good device and I would be happy to own one. But on the other hand blah, since it's using an inferior selection of codecs and you don't have the storage capacity of an iPod or Archos. :p Imagine how many DVDs you could fit on a UX if it weren't limited to a Memory stick. But even though the iPod does a great job at videos, it's music first and that's something the UX is poor at, when compared to a dedicated player such as an iPod, which is smaller to carry around. :)

<]=)

[daver]

How can FLAC, be more advanced than the format it was compressed from? :p WTF?!!! :D
actually, FLAC isn't really a compressed format. you can just choose to compress it (like a zip/rar file) to save space if you have limited room. people with a 6 GB microdrive would probably want to compress their FLAC more so than people with a 20GB hard drive, for example. none of my FLAC files are compressed (most obviously when i first had that damn codec), and none of my new ones are compressed.


and i see how this thread has turned into an "Apple rules all" vs. "down with fanboys" debate. i don't take sides, but this is what i'm seeing right now; so i'll let you folks carry on. i'm going to step away, so as to avoid getting mauled by the cross-fire (and thanks to Murphy's Laws, friendly fire too). i'll catch ya people later...

<puts hands in pockets, turns around, and walks away whistling>

[JackAxe]

I'm still a bit confused about FLAC. :)

Ok, when I put my CD into my Mac, it has AIFF files on it, which of course to be redundent are uncompressed in Linear PCM, 16-bit 44.1 Khz. (At least my CDs.) I use Apple's lossless codec for compression, because it sounds exactly like the original CD, from what my ears can tell using these HD-555 headphones and it's generally much smaller in file size. Now from what I understand, FLAC is another lossless codec, just like Apple's, but it offers different compression settings, where as Apple's lossless automatically determines which bit-rate it needs and so on, so that it keeps the integrity of the audio flle sounding exactly the same as the original. All other codecs in iTunes offer a full range of settings to tweak.

Now here's what I'm trying to gather about FLAC; How can it be better than the original CD file, if it is using that as the source for "conversion?"

And back to Linear PCM, even though CDs ship at the above settings, it supports 64-bit 192 Khz, which from my limited understanding, the ears could not discern that range, and I'm assuming those settings are for 5.1 sound and all of that monkey stuff?

Yeah, we always fling Mac and Windows pooo back and forth. :o

<]=)

[dragonsgames]

Ugh, you guys and your long posts. I can't read it all! :p

[SonyStyle]

we're really bias posting this on a clie forum. i mean everyone who has a clie is like "dude, i gotz clie dat can do mp3 2, i dun ned anotha mp3 playa dat can do the same thing hence, the reason why "ipod sux"!" lets admit it, ipod has got the looks (like clies), it has a nice click wheel, and its white! white is in, if u look at cars, white cars are in.