GarudA said:
I hate iPods because of
Poor sound quality
Poor battery life
Breaks easily
Anything else I have missed?
I've never had an iPod so I can't say anything about the sound quality or fragility, but yeah, my co-worker has a Nano and he was complaining about the battery life too.
I hate iPods because of what Apple is withholding from the consumers, as well as their money-sucking ways. They have the technology to put in a radio receiver, a recorder, and a FRIGGIN' REPLACEABLE BATTERY, but because they're evil they don't put it on the iPods. Even my 500MB Acer player had all of that, and it was cheaper than the iPod Shuffle. Sure, it's ugly in comparison, but despite being an aesthetic person I prefer functionality to prettiness.
I received my new Sandisk Sansa the other day and I'm IN LOVE with it. It looks similar to an iPod (it's got a moving scroll wheel), but it seems hardier to me. The back panel is made of metal, so it's heavier than it looks, but I like it.
It's only 6GB, but it's a hell of an upgrade from my 500MB player, LOL. My techie friend was proud of me, since the Sansa is exactly what he would recommend for people who are boycotting iPods.
It plays vids, stores photos, has a radio receiver, a voice recorder, and....the user can replace the rechargeable battery. My cousin joked that the battery kit would cost $60 (how much it costs to send in an iPod to replace the battery) but I just checked and nope, it's about $12. I have yet to test how long a charge on mine actually lasts, but I've read reviews that say it does last the reported 19 hours, and 4 hours of video. My only qualms so far are that it's a bit of a hassle to upload music and video (I have to convert videos using their software), it has a bit of feedback the first few seconds after loading a song, and that it charges only by a USB connection. I just bought a AC-USB adaptor for $6.50 though, so the last point is no longer valid.
The folks over at Apple are money-suckers. If you told anyone unfamiliar with iPods that it would cost $60 to replace a battery, or that it would cost $34
just to tell you what was wrong if your iPod no longer worked (which is what happened to my roommate), they would laugh at you. Not to mention that they come out with a new model every 8 or so months, to keep people buying. It's completely and utterly ridiculous.
People only keep buying iPods because
everything else is made for them. I mean, iPod-compatible cars? iPod-compatible speaker docks? iPod-compatible speaker PILLOWS? Crazy...
My coworker is still planning buy the new iPod even though he hates his Nano, only because loading from iTunes is so convenient. Admittedly, my Sansa is a bit of a hassle to sync up. I have to make playlists in WMP10 so that album tracks will be in the right order, but it's a small price to pay fighting a corporate giant.
