I think that you meant that Dragging files to the player is a crap interface for 99% of all iPod users out there… there is a difference, it’s also very bad to quote random statistics to support a bad argument…
Dude, you usually sound pretty damn smart, but this story is full of wrongs. It’s allright if you don’t like the iPod, really it is. But it hurts your credibility to openly dislike a device for reasons that are simply not true.
That said, it was an enjoyable read as allways. But the next time my iPod fails for whatever reason, i’ll go back to minidisc before considering a different kind of mp3 player.
By the way, as far as i’m concerned; I allways recommend people who rip wma’s to shoot themselves in the face. That way, all the pain and trouble of using the worst audio file format I’ve ever come across will suddenly fade…
Red.
Oh how I wish a decent MP3 had AM radio. I need my sports and talk radio.
I’m loving all the Apple apologists here, BTW. Hilarious.
I’m the very proud and very happy owner of a Creative Zen V. Very small, very powerful, synchronizable through Winamp’s Media Library among others (I have to try it with MediaMonkey). And really cool: contrary to their belief, good design is not an Apple’s monopoly.
I’m a recent convert to media libraries, prior to that I managed by 16K+ song collection through Windows Explorer. Tried iTunes once, never again: I don’t like it messing with my folder structure. MediaMonkey, on the other hand, allows me to tweak the MP3 tags, and rename files and even folders, but when I want it to. So now I’m in the middle of the really boring job of tagging everything correctly.
Rossen – thanks for the Archos tip! Some very cool stuff and it appeals to my “fight the popular trend” personality, or is is personalities…I forget
because my audio library doesn’t change very much over time.
I buy at least an album a week. A pretty different usage pattern 
Kris - What reasons are untrue? And at least he provides reasons. lol
Well put. Ignore the Mac fanboys who go into denial and spin-harassment mode.
The conspicuous lack of WMA support is a not-so-subtle f*ck you to the Windows community.
But WMA is a not-so-subtle f*ck you to the non-Windows community. As well as many other things out of Redmond.
However lack of OGG is why I don’t consider buying an iPod.
How do you reconcile point 2 with point 5? If you have a subscription service, they aren’t going to just let you drag and drop their songs wherever you want.
Judging by the number of comments it would seemed you touched a sore spot.
I lean more to the non-iPod camp. I think the click wheel is pretty slick but other then that I’m not impressed with alot of the design aspects that you mentioned.
I have an old RCA Lyra and to me that thing rocks (except that it only holds 128M, told ya it was old). being able to drop almost any format (haven’t tried OOG or AAC) on it via windows explorer or with a bash script makes reloading music a snap. Hardware aside I find that Itunes software to be the slowest, most annoying software ever. let it be said that I have used alot of slow annoying software, some of which I wrote.
The Ipod would seriously have to drop in price for me to want to get one. I stick to brands that aren’t so restrictive.
I agree with most points as well, I have heard horror stories about people I know trying to get their ipods to synch using iTunes and having problems. Then when they call apple for help the get one free support call, if you want any help after that you have to pay for it.
Anyone else see the potential for the zune though?
All you need is a hacked OS loaded on there and you can share your files over wireless to other zunes.
They’re giving you a wireless router, you can detect and connect to other wireless devices. Am I the only one that thinks that’s cool?
There’s a lot more possibilities than just trading music 
I had high hopes for Zune… but MS let me down, no surprise there.
I haven’t had an mp3 player since my ipod was stolen in the summer. I made a promise to myself that the next player wont be an iPod.
Sadly, there’s no alternative so far that’s at least close to iPod in overall experience… even more sad, it’s really not hard, i guess manufacturers just have no desire to compete with ipod. That’s the only explanation I can think of considering the slew of meritocracy and pure shit mp3 players out there.
MS could’ve done it if really put their shit together and maybe found somebody who actually understands the product and market.
Use Linux. It should be plenty easy to upload files, and convert them to MP3’s (think LAME). Support for subscription services requires Wi-Fi or another Internet connection - not really something you always have on the go. It also need hardware and that makes the device heavier. And FM is usually terrible quality without antennas.
Yeah that’s what I’m thinking zune linux, with wifi support.
Not just useful as a music player since you can detect other wireless devices, opens up a whole new world of possibilities.
The hardware base just needs to have the limited OS removed and it’s much better.
Clearly I’m in the lunatic fringe minority myself – I actually care about audio quality. The Ipod actually has a pretty nice DAC, but the file formats the Apple firmware supports all suck. So does WMA.
The apple zealots can rant all they like, but (to pull my own statistic out of my ass) 99% of them don’t care about sound quality since they use those fashionable, but execrable, stock earbuds.
Most of my music is ripped to FLAC, which requires a hard drive player to store and decent headphones to appreciate. The Ipod hardware is certainly good enough, but the stock firmware most definitely is not.
Kris - What reasons are untrue? And at least he provides reasons. lol
Hey man, read the posts above! Several of the points are wrong. It has EQ, gapless playback and it can be used as a USB storage device, for example.
But really, we didn’t buy an iPod to use it as a USB storage device, we bought it to use with iTune!
Btw, I own a samsung MP3 player and XP’s MTP ( Media Transfer Protocol) is truely evil!
With Windows Media installed I in fact CANNOT use the device as a USB drive, as Windows will warn me if I copy files that are not in supported formats, and that I should use Windows Media to convert them.
If MTP is disabled, or I plug the Samsung in my iBook, I can use it as a USB drive without being locked_in by Microsoft.
With either media player, anyway, like most people I am not managing a file system. it’s either iTune or Windows media that automatically syncs the device.
I guess the killer thing for many people is the accessory range for the iPod. For example, for my car (a Toyota Corolla), I can get a box which will allow the factory fit CD player to control an iPod as if it were a massive CD changer. I haven’t seen such a useful feature for any other player.
I just got a Zen Vision:M on Monday and I love it! Way better then ipod, if only for the fact that you don’t have to use that dumb/bloated/ugly/slow itunes. the screen is MUCH better to, my g/f has a video ipod and my zen just blows it away.