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iPod - tell me why I should buy one

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Target:
I'm looking at replacing my old mp3 player and have been looking around for potential candidates

let me state up front that I am (or at least have been) staunchly against anything apple.

I've never had an Apple device so I may well be missing out on something, but if I am I've yet to hear about it.  I don't buy into the whole fashion/image thing, and it's extremely unlikely that I'll ever use iTunes (I'd much rather buy a cd).

Trouble is the Apple machine has been so successful/pervasive/infectious that it's almost impossible to buy anything else. 

I had a whip around the local retailers at lunch and while I can buy an iPod anywhere, there is a serious dearth of alternatives.

Given that my options seem to be very limited, I'm looking to the apple users here to convince me why I should buy an iPod instead of an alternative (if I can find one...).

I'm already grinding my teeth in anticipation...

Darwin:
I'd seriously hold out until the Archos 43 Internet Tablet becomes more widely available, if only to give one a whirl and compare it to the iPod. I had an iPod for about 24 hours but couldn't stand the iTunes lock-in and returned it (thought the hardware was nice, though. Didn't keep it long enough to form much of an opinion about the GUI/Software). Now that I think about it, isn't the ZuneHD available where you are? Or the X series of Sony Walkmans?

Renegade:
If you like easy and have lots of money and aren't worried about compatibility, the iPod is a good choice. It's actually a good device. (iTunes is another matter entirely.)

Apple, like many other large companies, is risk averse, and what that means is poor format support. No OGG, no FLAC, etc.

Smaller companies aren't so averse to risk and will include FLAC and OGG support along with others.

If you're an audiophile, WMA is one of the best formats out there. WMA lossless is excellent. WMA lossey still beats MP3. FLAC is lossless, and excellent, and open.

If you have a lot of wave files, an iPod is a poor choice as iPod wave format support is very poor.

Sony's proprietary formats are also a very bad idea.

I'd say have a look at COWON as they are aggressive and hungry. But I have a bit of an irrational affection for them, so YMMV. The X7 and the J3 look very slick. One other good thing about COWON is that they offer far better compatibility than just about anyone else out there. Oh, and battery power -- the company puts a lot of focus on that with some of the best in the industry (I could be out of date though - check some recent reviews).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_portable_media_players

I don't know about Samsung players. Years ago their UI design was absolute crap in their phones, but they've come a VERY long way. Might be worth looking at.

Not sure about Sony.

There are a trillion players out there with no name that are really cheap. You could get one for $30 then figure out what you like/hate about it and go for a better one. MP3 players are literally disposable now.

Phones are a bad way to go. Their batteries just don't stand up enough for media playback. Especially video.

iPods have had a bad run with battery power. Not sure about the most recent ones.

Anyways, just my $0.02. Hope it helps.

J-Mac:
I had a Creative MP3 player a couple of years ago: much cheaper than iPod; I could put just about any music on it that I wished, purchased & downloaded, my own ripped CDs, etc. Only problem was that the battery started lasting less and less hours each time I used it until it was impossible to keep it charged. However iPods were also having battery issues then and theirs weren't replaceable at all. Anyway I don’t use one now.

Thanks!

Jim

Target:
I'd seriously hold out until the Archos 43 Internet Tablet becomes more widely available, if only to give one a whirl and compare it to the iPod. I had an iPod for about 24 hours but couldn't stand the iTunes lock-in and returned it (thought the hardware was nice, though. Didn't keep it long enough to form much of an opinion about the GUI/Software). Now that I think about it, isn't the ZuneHD available where you are? Or the X series of Sony Walkmans?-Darwin (November 16, 2010, 11:42 PM)
--- End quote ---

nice as the archos device looks, it's way more than I'm looking for (or am likely to use - it's also a bit more than I was looking to spend, but that's to be expected with the extra functionality).

Likewise the Zune, but that's irrelevant as it doesn't appear to be available here

Your feelings on the ipod pretty much reflect how I feel about the things - the hardware is probably nice, but the lock-in factor has had me looking elsewhere straightaway...

Renegade

Somehow I can't help feeling that you might not be as objective on the subject as some others here ;))

Money is a consideration - face it, this is never going to be a hifi experience so I don't see the value in a big dollar multimedia or audiophile device (if there is even such a thing - I commute by bus and use the player to ease my boredom which may give you some idea of my requirements)

I'm not averse to other brands (my current player is an IRiver, and it's been excellent), I was just trying to get an alternative viewpoint on iPods seeing as our retailers don't seem to stock anything else.  Ideally I'm looking for a device that is in no way proprietry, ie one that doesn't require special software or drivers to charge or manage (effectively it would be USB key with a music player built in...), but that wasn't actually the point of this thread

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