it's true they've become a fashion statement, but it's also true that hating them has become a fashion itself. when the mini came out and the older ipods, they were damn fine mp3 players for their time and nothing on the market really compared that i can remember. i've still got my mini from way back and i really don't have a single complaint towards it. interface is slick and clean, easy to use. i don't even take it out of my pocket while i switch songs, fast forward etc. its a great size and has held up the test of time.

how many times has this ipod vs. world discussion occured on this forum?

Arkan, I know what you mean about iTunes. I used to despise it. I was a winamp user too but then I actually used Itunes and after you get used to it and learn how to use it, it really is a great media player. For me, it was just getting over the initial stage of not being familiar with it.

My old Dell had a system sort of like what you guys are saying. I would open it like a harddrive and drag files from my computer onto it like copying/pasting files. After doing that, I gotta say I like the way iTunes syncs. Zune is the same or a very similar way. The Dell's method took a long time and I had to remember all the locations of what I wanted to sync and it was harder to keep track of what I had and hadn't synced.

If you want to drag and drop, I would recommend turning off automatic syncing in iTunes. Then you can drag and drop an artist/song/album within iTunes. This is what I do with Zune because I can't stand the automatic sync doing stuff I don't want it to do.

it would be nice for that to be an OPTION, but there are alot of advantages in having software. You can have the software automatically sync up new additions you make on your computer to the player... you can make 'playlists' from the computer which 'taps' into the songs already on the player so you dont have a bunch of duplicates... you have support for album art etc.. there are more features i use too, but actually my iriver can do all those things using windows media player so its pretty nice.

Not a matter of hating them for the sake of it, its a matter of they do fuck all different from any other mp3 player yet theyre considered better for the simple reason theyre made by apple. Since when was apple the all knowing authority on what makes an mp3 player good? (they were practically bust in 1997 till ms bailed them out so it shows how good their business strategy was then). There were mp3 players on the market well before the ipod that worked just as well, just seemed like all the trend whores jumped on apples dick as soon as the ipod appeared and theyre now the be all end all of portable music for no good reason.

ipod vs world part 45 coming to a forum near you SOON

i looked around alot before i bought my ipod and i didn't see anything that compared to it. they were considered better and in a way still are for their size, streamline menu's and functionality (keep in mind this is awhile back, i can't say such for now because i don't keep up with what's coming out now a days). i dont know a single person that bought one because it's an apple. for most, the namebrand has nothing to do with it (i doubt that slut clubbing everynight cares what namebran her mp3 player is). it's just ipods were considered to be better because well, they were awhile back which secured their popularity and their great business has been credited to that ever since. sure i'm going to jump on ipods dick because i love my mini, i loved it at the time and i still do. i still haven't used an mp3 player that has compared to it.

I agree entirely.

leave it at this; ipods are overhyped but you can't deny they are good mp3 players and their success has always been attributed to that.

I would have to disagree. I would attribute the "early" success of the ipod at first to its revolutionary features YES. BUT it's long term success is due to its brilliant marketing campaign. Apple has done a fantastic job with product placement, and making this thing a symbol of culture to youth. The Andy Warhol commercials were rediculous ;)

yeah you're right. i just have a hard time beliving the fact that marketing campaigns work to such a large affect.

To be honest, what steered me to the iPod vs the others was the support and aftermarket world. There are TONS of add-ons for the iPod and a few forums.

What anti said.

Stick with iTunes, once you start using it it is really easy to use. I use it to play the music on my computer with. Fuck using WMP.

But as stated before, the nano was a good choice because of the flash memory. In the store we did a test where we threw it back and forth to each other, which was dropped several times, screen actually cracked and it still worked. Dont try that with a hard drive mp3 player.


I'll get a Zune in about 2 years when my ipod stops functioning and i dont want to send it away to have the battery replaced.

I use the iriver in my car...goes through the cig lighter...and uses an unused FM transmission to play the ipod...only bad thing is that wher ei live cuz it';s basically toronot radio...it's all almost filled up with interference.

FM transmitters suck. If you can hard wire it to the radio, or use an auxiliary cable if you got that hook up.

Aux input in my '91 Subaru Legacy rock: happy:

I didn't have aux output :(...thats what i looked into first