I have a Sony MD player and it's all I really need as far as music playing goes. I run with it stuffed into the back pocket of my running jacket, which then gets stuffed down my tights, and it has maybe skipped once in about 100 hours. The capacity of one disc can hold way more music than I need in an outing and the 50-odd hours you get on one AA is killer. With it you can use batteries from anywhere. YOu can't with the iPod.
My brother, on the other hand, just bought the 10mb iPod and it's a lot different. I wouldn't run with it. It's heavy and it's too nice. It has a much nicer user interface, however, and when you can actually figure out how to sync it up with your PC (make it easy on yourself and buy a firewire card) without the software hanging (the Sony software is equally bad) then it's great to be able to store that much stuff on it.
Two things terribly annoying about the iPod (when used with a PC) is the total inability to sync it with power connected, and the terrible software. The firewire cable doubles as the power cable, which is really a neat thing when you're updating the firmware and the battery dies. Stupid, I know, but not being familiar with it and having it chucked at me by my brother to get it to work on my old laptop with a PC card USB adaptor wasn't the most elegant of solutions. I really don't like having to interface with horrible software either - musicweb is horrible. For all the elegance of the iMac's design, the supplied software ruins it. Perhaps there is a third party software product out there that's nice to use. Still...I don't think I'll be getting one. If I had a Mac and I wasn't running with it, I'd totally get one. They're cool. The two problems here - power and software - are solved by using it with a Mac. Using it with a PC, however, is a little like buying a right-hand drive car and then using it in North America. The software and interface is most definitely a workaround with the PC. Not cool at all.
Message edited by author 2003-11-12 21:55:01. |
