Morford: Worship My Radiant iPod

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 7/23/04 | Mark "The Man Freepers LOVE to HATE" Morford

[MikalM]

Mine is the generation that will say they saw the fiery tragic demise of the clunky indestructible rotary-dial telephone and the instant tsunami-like skull-crushing advent of the beeping screaming yammering cell-phone culture like some sort of rabid brilliant must-have disease.

[ICX]

Everyone who's anyone knows about this hot little number, or owns one, or wants one, or has had delicious fantasies about one, or at least thinks the sleek sexy little fetish object is pretty damn cool even if they say they don't because they're snooty culture geeks and don't think anything is cool if it doesn't run Linux or translate Latin.

Is he talking about his iPod or his Ultravibe Pleasure 2000?

[dirtboy]

Mine is the generation that will say they saw the fiery tragic demise of the clunky indestructible rotary-dial telephone and the instant tsunami-like skull-crushing advent of the beeping screaming yammering cell-phone culture like some sort of rabid brilliant must-have disease.

Only to be replaced by the vapid gay columnist who thinks that because he's dumb enough to be gay in the city with the highest AIDS rate in America, then he must have something meaningful to say.

[RichInOC]

I don't hate Markie. I'm amused by him. I just think he's brain-damaged from one too many bouts of butt sex.

[big'ol_freeper]

My daughter has one of these iPods and just loves it. She no longer uses her PDA as the iPod now performs those funtions for her. She also uses it to transfer school related files etc...Its beyond me, but hey "whatever".

[mattdono]

Here's something of more value than his commentary...

[vrwinger]

I envision Mark being issued 5 periods by his editor and is told, "When you run out of these, your column is finished. Use them sparingly." Mark, the 'king of the run-on sentence.' (Or is that 'queen of the run-on sentence'?)

[George W. Bush]

The iPods are quite overrated.

I'll take my Palm Tungsten/T3 with my Ultra 512MB Sandisk SD card over an iPod any day. And I can watch my favorite movies and sitcoms on it, often without any conversion if I download them by BitTorrent or P2P in Xvid or DivX format. The Tungsten C's with their decent color screens and WiFi networking are also an excellent choice as are some of the upcoming Palm and PocketPC devices.

For that matter, the tiny but pricey Archos video players are quite excellent as well for serious video and audio fanatics.

Ms. Morford appears somewhat out of touch with gadgetry. And Nature.

[Hank Rearden]

The whole column just masks what Miss Morford really wants to say: "The iPod is so gay! I just love it!"

[ArrogantBustard]

I shudder to think what Morford thought an iPod was when (s)he first heard the name.

Morford probably shuddered, too... (eeeewwww. yuck.)

[megatherium]

Your Tungsten sounds like an extremely cool device. But 512MB is way too small compared to a 20GB iPod. It's the difference between 10 of your favorite CDs (compressed), and your entire music collection.

I'm waiting for Palm or Pocket PC devices with harddrives. There are now full-fledged XP Professional computers in a small form-factor, very cool but unfortunately they cost two grand plus. In the meanwhile, I'm this close to breaking down and buying an iPod. I'm already hooked on iTunes. (Last night: Born to Run and Tenth Avenue Freezeout by Bruce Springstein; Eight Miles High by the Byrds. Last week: David Gilmour's eponymous first solo album.)

Oh, concerning the article? I was thinking, he's bipolar, and we've caught him on a manic phase.

[Question_Assumptions]

Comparing an iPod to a Palm is like comparing a cell phone to a digital camera. Sure, some cell phones can take pictures but they aren't a digital camera and its not their primary purpose. They Palm and iPod are similarly quite different. They are designed for different purposes and neither does what the other is primarily designed to do as well as the other does, which really isn't all that surprising. I could replace what I do with my iPod with a Palm and you can't replace what you do with your Palm with a iPod. Thats because they aren't the same sort of product.

[Question_Assumptions]

The iPod with iTunes is very cool. You can set up playlists inside the iPod the same way you set them up within iTunes.

[George W. Bush]

Your Tungsten sounds like an extremely cool device. But 512MB is way too small compared to a 20GB iPod. It's the difference between 10 of your favorite CDs (compressed), and your entire music collection.

I simply don't listen to that much music. However, when I wish to transfer, I use a USB 2.0 card reader and transfer is very snappy. I can easily load up about 8 hours worth of music and never find need to hold more.

Or I can, as I did the other day, load up a few hours of my favorite TV series and watch them when I have to wait a few hours for something while working. Way cooler than some puny iPod. And a lot less than an Archos 40GB MP3/DivX player @ $599. And it can record/play from/to television with its own Tivo software. Popular for long-haul commuters.

I'm waiting for Palm or Pocket PC devices with harddrives.

Look for compact-flash form factor drives. The problem remains, as always, in providing the power for the drives. OTOH, we can expect 2GB - 4GB compact flash devices under $100 by year end. I'm just an early adopter and was willing to pay more in order to enjoy it six months early and help drive the market in the direction I choose. Being an early adopter is a form of consumer voting.

Look for the Oqo, a long-awaited device that will be available for under $1500 this year.

The OQO model 01 ultra personal computer (uPC) is a fully-functional Windows XP computer. The OQO has a 1GHz processor, a 20GB hard drive, 256MB of RAM, a color transflective display, and integrated wireless, as well as Fire Wire and USB ports. ... Just 4.9 inches long, 3.4 inches wide, .9 inches thin, and weighing only 14 ounces, the OQO can fit in a pocket or purse and go with you anywhere. For easy typing and cursor control it has a complete thumb keyboard with Track Stik and mouse buttons as well as digital pen and thumbwheel. ... The OQO model 01 is also the most versatile computer to date. With the OQO docking cable, it can easily connect to projectors and Ethernet. Placed in the desktop docking station it is a desktop computer, allowing you to connect with one simple motion to a variety of peripherals, including full-size keyboards, printers, scanners, and high-resolution monitors. ... You can use the same computer for high-powered applications at work, sending email at home, listening to music on a train, or watching a movie on an airplane.

[drool, drool].

This will probably be the Cool Device of the Year, available at the price of a laptop just in time for Xmas '04.

There are also a number of recent breakthroughs in hard drives built in the half-inch to 1" factor that hold from 1 GB - 4GB with very low power. These are for PDAs and cameras and also to replace the USB flash drives. Look for this tech to get more popular over the next year.

[jimtorr]

That's all very nice, but You're still comparing walnuts to cashews. Both very nice nuts, but only walnuts are used in applesause cakes.

I would never take a Palm or an Archos out jogging, but an iPod fills the bill quite nicely for a 45-minute run.