iPod
Dare, Andy, and Omri are enjoying their new iPods. I’ve been enjoying mine as well. Iwas previously able tolisten to music on my Siemens XDA using a 256MB SD card, but the 30GB drive of the iPod is nice. I’ve already used about 10.5GB, and now am using the Belkin Car Stereo hookup to listen to music in my car. Since others have covered the high points of an iPod, I’ll share a few of the things that bugged me:
- When the device is cradled, it enters this “do not remove from cradle” mode. You have to click some menu option on the PC before it is “safe” to remove the device. Of course, I have removed the device “unsafely” a few times and it seems to work fine, but it’s annoying to see the big alarmist flashing graphics.
- About 900 of my songs were in Windows Media format. It took roughly 36 hours of continuous processing for dbPowerAmp to convert them all to MP3 so that iPod could play them.
- No facility to save the “on the fly” playlist from the iPod UI. Playlists have to be created on the PC.
- Power On/Off was unintuitive. Every complicated function I was able to figure out without reading the manual; it’s one of the most usable and intuitive pieces of technology I have ever used. But I used the device for nearly a week before figuring out how to turn it off (hold the play button for five seconds).
These are all minor nits; the thing is well worth the money. There is something magical about having every single piece of music in your collection available with the touch of a finger. I expect the iPod to last me at least two years, or until the inevitable convergence occurs when I can get a single pocket-sized device which combines PPC, Phone, WiFi, 2Mpx Camera, and 30GB drive.
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[Updated - It’s the 17th; NOT the 10th!] Rumors are that Scoble is organizing another dinner at Crossroads for a buch of bloggers and book authors who will be in townWednesday the 17th at 6:30.