Microsoft's iPod users

seattlepi ^ | 20050202 | seattlepi

[Richard Kimball]

I don't know for sure on .wma, but I believe that's because it's a Windows proprietary format. MP4 allows additional encoding, which is why iTunes will display album art, etc, while playing the song. wma is a pretty standard MS tactic. It exists only for the purpose of MS using Windows to leverage it's desktop advantage to marginalize other formats. There are no sound, size or encoding advantages to wma. There were some rumors that Apple would get wma encoding as a result of their deal with HP, but I don't believe this is true.

[WildTurkey]

You appear to be correct.

"HP's blockbuster deal with Apple will have one exciting side effect. The company will be working with Apple to add support for Microsoft's superior Windows Media Audio (WMA) format to the iPod by mid-year. You heard it here first."

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

Other things that irritate me is that there was no remote included with it.

Why would you want to lug something around which is bigger than the Ipod?

[N3WBI3]

Huh you think iPods are only 3% of the MP3 player market? The last estimate I saw put the iPod at about 90% of the market (almost as dominate in its market as windows is in the desktop OS market). Also sells ipods .iPod's can play straight MP3's (though AAC's are really nice for audio books) the world standard for digital music..

So how exactly does the iPod lock you into a proprietary system?

[N3WBI3]

I am not an expert on the iPod but I believe it does not play .wma files.

Because nothing is as propriatory as teh wma format. If a player plays ogg, mp3 and mp4 it plays all the real standards, AAC and wma are just window dressing.

[N3WBI3]

You have already messed up the fidelity by digitizing the music in the first place. Converting between on digital format and another casues little to know loss of quality (though compression rates vary)

[LexBaird]

I always suspected that MS employees were Pod People.

[Last Visible Dog]

I'm not a kool-aid drinker by any means, but you really should forget what you know about Apple and check out the Mac. It's really a remarkable machine.

I never claimed the Mac was not remarkable.

To quote the Senator from Massachusetts: it was the wrong computer at the wrong time.

BTW: Apple has since abandoned the closed-shop one-computer, one-vender, one-Fuehrer model but the train left the station years ago and Apple is forced to hang out with its 3% and watch everybody else fade off into the horizon.

(ok, maybe THAT analogy went to far - I get carried away sometimes)

[Swordmaker]

Here's a link to a photo of Bill Gates c.1983 (Corbis Photos, can't post it). If you look behind Gates, on his desk, you can clearly see a Macintosh computer. If he can do it...

On the wired website's blogs there is a current photo of Bill Gates listening to HIS iPod...

Bill Gates and his iPod

'tis possible it's a photoshop jobbie...

[IncPen]

Looks real to me.

Surprised he wasn't dressed in his pajamas, what with laying around like that...

[Swordmaker]

Looks real to me.

Nah, I think its a fake... look at the vintage IBM behind him...

And he looks too young.

[Swordmaker]

Not to mention the 5.25" floppy disks in front of him...

[cyborg]

I was pretty skeptical but I heard one last night in Microcenter and am getting one today! WOO HOO.

[longtermmemmory]

I just use my PDA.

[perform_to_strangers]

At 13, your son may not need a full 20-60 GB storage and could save a little bit by getting a mini or similar. The Creative Zen Micro (running around $235) is a pretty attractive player, IMO. Slick looks, more features than the iPod, and reputedly sounds better. Also won't lock him into iTunes as he expands his library.

If he's sure he wants a larger player, there's not much on the market right now to compete with the iPod.

[Calvin Locke]

MS at the time, iirc, was selling apps for the Mac. That was pre-Windows.

[1L]

>>Are iPods really that much better than the competitors?<<

I think they sound better, at least better than the ones I've used. I generally dislike Apple as a company for various reasons, but I like my iPod even though I probably overpaid for it. I'm not sure if the iPod is the only device that uses AAC files, but I've found that those rips are slightly better than MP3s, even at the highest bitrates. I have the 40 gig and have ripped all my CDs on there, and still have a bunch of room -- almost to double my collection. I've ripped them at the highest AAC bitrates.

[Middle Aged White Male]

I am not going to tell you whether or not it is wise for a thirteen year old to buy one, but I can tell you that the iPod is by FAR the best player on the market and for me well, well worth it.

[Middle Aged White Male]

Maybe but do you want to have your entire music library locked into a proprietary system when MS and the other vendors relegate iPods to 3% of the market? In what way are you locked into a propietary system? You can use an iPod on windows or mac machines with iTunes. You aren't locked into iTunes either. Which 3% are you talking about? Do you mean the current market share of the mac? iPods are currently at least 70% of the mp3 player market.