iPod/MP3 player question

[bacchanal]

A high end gaming pc was expensive 3 years ago and still is. Many family pcs drop in price because lately they are more and more equipped with old junk. The amount of clockcycles isn't a measurement anymore... so the average Joe goes for the cheapest pc which runs windows and can be used to surf the net. An average pc could do that 5 years ago as well. Once Vista is out I bet that the price of an average family pc found in warehouses raises again.

You don't know what you're talking about. Old junk? How many processor architecture revisions have there been in the last 3 years? Clock cycles were never a measurement that meant anything, that was just intel marketing for their inefficient (long pipeline) processors. Computers can now multitask thanks to multi core cpus. As in they can run Word and Outlook at the same time, try that three years ago! Also intel chips have dropped 40% in price since last year. You can now get a real (not a celery) dual core cpu for less than $100. That and intel is about to release a new architecture called 'conroe' or Core Duo 2 or something like that. It's a much more efficient design, that will basically blow away the current intel (and amd) chips...then there is the quad core version of the conroe architecture coming in 1Q07. That should be about the time Vista arrives....

Anyway...consumer pricepoints won't change. There will always be PCs at $500, $1000, $1500, and up, but there is always more functionality and performance to be had, if you know or care how to use it. It's not like your $500 pc from '03 came with a DVD burner and a 250GB hard drive.

Maybe I don't know the avg joe too well. But I build pcs, and most people I know want a comp that will do a little more than surf the net.

[bacchanal]

Oh yeah, and back on topic...

for the adventurous, you can try http://www.rockbox.org/
it is a complete rewrite of the firmware for several mp3 players including several iPod models. The main benefits are that it alows drag and drop and support for alternative formats like FLAC and Ogg

you can run it in dual boot mode with the original iPod firmware, so you can still watch videos and stuff. it's pretty cool

[PHiX]

It's not like your $500 pc from '03 came with a DVD burner and a 250GB hard drive.

Maybe I don't know the avg joe too well. But I build pcs, and most people I know want a comp that will do a little more than surf the net.

I was just giving an example to illustrate my point and I guess it still didn't get across. Of course a $500 pc now does more than one bought for the same price 3 years ago. Just like iPods bought a year ago didn't play videos... I know, because I have one of 2 years old and it does not even show colour pictures. The price of the components did drop, but Apple doesn't drop the price.... they give more for the same price with each generation.

Today's iPod is the high end game pc, my iPod is like the budget pc's you find at Walmart, old technology. 2 years from now current iPods will be old again, but unlike pcs they'll be taken off the market in favor of keeping the brand out of the budget segment..

[audio_dude]

aren't we getting a bit off topic here, lol....hehe, i'm glad I opened this back up, lol

[Feanor]

I thought the new Ipods were compatible with wav and MP3 now? Does this mean they convert all these other formats in iTunes or whatever?

All files must be imported into iTunes before they can be loaded onto an iPod. The process is no big deal: it's easy and relatively fast. If the file format is one that the iPod can handle natively, such as MP3, iTunes doesn't convert the file, it just registers it in the iTunes Library. If the format isn't handled by iPod, iTunes, in many cases, will offer the user to convert it to an Apple format before bringing it into the Library.

The whole issue of having to use iTunes is blown out of proportion by some people -- most of them non-iPod users.

[N. Abstentia]

The whole issue of having to use iTunes is blown out of proportion by some people -- most of them non-iPod users.

Or even more accurate...former iPod users...due to iTunes.

[Feanor]

Or even more accurate...former iPod users...due to iTunes.

Any given piece of software isn't going to work ideally for all users all the time. iTunes is certainly no exception.

For me the big issue is that a given user can have one a single Library on a single computer. This is a fairly significant pain for me: I would like to have multiple Libraries and access them from multiple computers on my home net work. No can do!! I can set up a separate user on the same computer and import an existing set of files into the second user's Library, but obviously this is not an ideal solution. Nevertheless I find iTunes to be very slick and easy to use in general.

Same thing for the iPod. In the case of my Mini at least, the need to have the battery factory installed is an issue; I had to this once already, though under warranty.

[Mike Anderson]

All files must be imported into iTunes before they can be loaded onto an iPod.

Nope. See the link above to Rockbox. You can basically re-jigger the iPod so it doesn't have to be used with iTunes.

The process is no big deal: it's easy and relatively fast. If the file format is one that the iPod can handle natively, such as MP3, iTunes doesn't convert the file, it just registers it in the iTunes Library. If the format isn't handled by iPod, iTunes, in many cases, will offer the user to convert it to an Apple format before bringing it into the Library.

The whole issue of having to use iTunes is blown out of proportion by some people -- most of them non-iPod users.

I agree with this.

[Feanor]

Nope. See the link above to Rockbox. You can basically re-jigger the iPod so it doesn't have to be used with iTunes.

....

Interesting to hear about Rockbox, Mike A, thanks. For myself, I'm basically quite content with iTunes which is slick and easy in most respects.

[audio_dude]

what about GNUpod, or another free iTunes alternative

[Fritz]

I use Winamp with a plugin for my iPod. It works very well, and I like it because Winamp is the best media player I have found for windows so far. I really want try out iPodLinux and rockbox too, but they dont support the 2G nano yet.... I also would love a line-in recording feature, especially since my major is 'Sound Recording Technology'..hehe. I would just love to make a dock connector adapter and an external pair of preamps