Posted on 02/09/2005 12:56:45 AM PST by davidtalker
Pardon the vanity but I believe this will make for an intriguing thread.
I have been following rather closely this I-Pod phenomenon with interest. There was a piece in USA Today last week where they compare the I-Pod users with cult members. One 20 something was quoted as saying "my I-Pod changed my life." IMHO, that means this individual was in serious need of a life.
Now follow me here. Libs complain about those of us in the "radical religious Right." However, it is my observation that the Left is just as religious as any Evangelical,Conservative Catholic or devout Jew. They just worship God's creations not God himself.
They have their own Churches. PETA,NOW,ACLU, Greenpeace,AIM, et al. They have clergy-Shrinks. They have condoms for Rosary beads... Follow. I think I-Pods are now part of their religion. Apple?
Notice I didn't say MP3 player. It has to be an I-Pod. Otherwise, it's like water and Holy Water. Won't work.
Now, I happen to believe MP3 players are definitely nifty gadgets. I am researching the purchase of one for myself. However, they are gadgets not lifechanging experiences. I have no doubt many freepers own I-Pods. I also have little doubt you are more than what is on you I-Pod.
True, but notice how many people are trying to copy the form factor and hardware? That click wheel didn't just pop out of the sand, someone paid engineers and designers a lot of money to figure it out. And they do a nice job. That's why I don't mind giving em my money.
Nope - David is a talk show host. He covers for our guys here in Houston occasionally.
There's a difference between a "restriction" and a feature that isn't implemented. It's not like the iPod could naturally play WMA and Apple deliberately disabled that ability.
Apple has forbidden you from even changing the battery when it goes dead.
Not at all, there are several third party outfits selling replacement batteries.
Heh. The name has a variety of meanings...
Can you tell me how they designed it in 2001 to "forbid" you from playing music from a store that came around 3 years later?
"There's a difference between a "restriction" and a feature that isn't implemented. "
As soon as the real networks cracks the apple code to allow people to buy music from real, apple 'implements' software to restrict the music from playing in the i-pod. If you take a Creative player, plug it into the computer, it shows up as another hard drive. You don't have to use any proprietary software and not only can you play any formats you can store non-music files on it. Apple has too many conflicts of interest. Better to stick with a company that has no agenda other than making a good sounding player.
"Can you tell me how they designed it in 2001 to "forbid" you from playing music from a store that came around 3 years later?"
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6450_7-5449040.html
That is demonstrably untrue. the iPod was around long before iTunes was.
Ditto for the iPod. In fact there was a Slashdot story the other day about somebody with way too much free time who made a RAID array of iPod Shuffles.
Apple has too many conflicts of interest. Better to stick with a company that has no agenda other than making a good sounding player.
I hate DRM in general, so I avoid the iTunes Music Store and its competitors. But stick to MP3s and you won't run into any "conflicts" with the iPod (or most other players).
yeah, the ipod was around long before itunes, but the software for the ipod is constantly being revised... revised to restrict your choice of where you buy your music. the real rhapsody music store has been around longer than I-tunes and has more innovative features. Apple doesn't want you to buy music from Rhapsody so they revised their software to jam it. I'm not saying anything controversial here, it's just the way it is. If apple wasn't so proprietary I would buy the pod myself, but that's not the case.
At first I thought you were just misinformed, but everything you've posted so far contains major factual errors.
Here are the facts: The Mac version of iTunes was around long before the iPod was released. Apple did bundle Rhapsody for Windows users for a brief time until the Windows version of iTunes was released. After iTunes for Windows was announced, iPod sales to Windows users soared.
The credibility of your assertions about the iPod and iTunes is zero at this point.
I used to have this friend in college who (when we were hanging out doing, well whatever...) he would think he came up with this super super deep insight on something and lay it on us and it would fall like a brick.Gee, I don't know what made me think of that.
"The credibility of your assertions about the iPod and iTunes is zero at this point."
Thems mighty tough words pardner. you're dancing around the central point of my argument, which is that the ipod software is designed to restrict your choices of where you buy your music. Here's a chart that shows which players are compatible with which music services. Note that iriver, creative and rio will play music from most anywhere, while the pod has a rather anemic menu. All I'm saying is that apple has an agenda to prop up their itunes store, while many other players don't.
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6490_7-5140299.html
Just trying to set the record straight, friend.
Yes, only Democrats are allowed to purchase iPods.
< /DUH! >
,,, toilet paper changed mine.
I doubt I'll feel any need for an iPOD, but if I were working in a factory or some occupation where communication wasn't really a strong requirement of employment, a device like this would change my life, for the better.
I don't think a group adopting this device with such gusto is anything more phenomenal than what happened when SONY launched the WALKMAN... heaps more capacity and it's disc based rather than tape, but it's the portable independence thing that's got them going. Certainly, in my view, it can't be politicised. The change that's sharper than anything is in the marketing. Along with cellphones we're invited to believe the things should be welded to us so we can stay in touch or have those sixty billion songs on call at the press of a button.
What I find interesting is that many of the Leftists who love their Ipod despise "Corporate America", "Globalization" and consumerism. Meanwhile, here they are, paying a premium, and creating "Golden Calves" out of a cosumer product.
,,, the corporations have them by the short and curlys. They're captives and have paid good money to be.
Are 8-track players Whig?...Reform?
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