Why iPods suck

Apparently talking smack about the iPod on a science/politics/atheism blog will get me more traffic/comments than my average post, here’s a list of why the iPod sucks (and to be fair I will follow with a list of things that suck about the Zune as well):

  1. iTunes – Why should I have to download firmware cracks to use a device to its full potential? Perhaps I don’t want to give Steve Jobs any more money than I already did for the iPod. Finally, why can’t iTunes at least just turn off and not want to sit in my tray hogging resources that don’t belong to it?
  2. Overpriced – Still $50 more than Zunes on average, and roughly double what any other competitor charges.
  3. The fanboys/girls – Seriously, it’s just a freaking piece of plastic and electronics. Let’s not all be tools to a “hip” marketing campaign. Apple didn’t invent the mp3 player anymore than Microsoft invented the GUI operating system.
  4. AAC – Maybe, just maybe, I want a useful format that the rest of the world uses to listen to music with.
  5. Standards? – Why screw the entire MP3 accessory market the same way that cell phone accessories are screwed by making your plug proprietary? I shouldn’t expect more from the company that likes to control every aspect of its computer line, but still, imagine if one stereo dock ran Zunes, iPods and other less common brands, and all with one plug. This is your fault Apple, being the company that launched the MP3 player to primetime

DRM almost made the list, and is an honourable mention since it took until March of this year for Apple to cut it out of iTunes. Another honourable mention is the lack of card expandability, some flash mp3 players offer SD card expansion, it’s rare though, so I won’t hold it against Apple.

And to be fair, some of these points are shared with other mp3 players, but Apple receives far more credit and good press than it likely deserves.

Just remember: What’s popular is not always what’s best or what’s right – look at Islam/Christianity (or all religions), or the numbers that vote Conservative (or don’t vote at all).

(Don’t worry, a return to regularly-scheduled blogging topics is coming).

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13 thoughts on “Why iPods suck”

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  8. Brian D says:

    There is a setting in iTunes to actually close it when it closes. I was pleased to discover this had been fixed, along with my other primary complaint from early iTunes (that it rearranged your entire freakin’ hard drive if you organized your music by any means other than a Steve Jobs Approved system. Even today, it still won’t let you use a filename (i.e. the one universal constant across all media formats) to categorize anything in its library, though — and FSM help you if you have any non-MP3 files (i.e. the superior Ogg Vorbis format).).

    That said, I still refuse to use it. During the brief window I was forced to use it in (before there was a successful untethered jailbreak for my system – and even then, you need iTunes to unlock the device and transfer the altered firmware to it), it randomly reset my date/time every single time it synced. This has apparently been a problem with iTunes for over two years, and it only shows up if you do the responsible thing and save power by hibernating your computer overnight.

    Reply
  9. Visuthan says:

    I got a Sony 8 GB mp3 player. It doesn’t look as good as the ipod but I really like it for 2 reasons. 1. The ear buds sound quality is just awesome. I tried Apple’s headphones at the local best buy and seriously the sound quality is bad. 2. I can sync it with Windows Media Player OR copy music to it by myself which is very good. Seriously guys try out the Sony players, i think you’ll like the sound quality.

    Reply
  10. Sam West says:

    Not to mention that thanks to iPods we’re going back to a singles industry.
    Emphasis on Albums= Art
    Emphasis on Singles= Shitty Pop

    Reply
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  12. Anonymous says:

    Don’t forget the iPod has a battery that can’t be changed by the user when it dies for good. Out of fairness, the Creative Zen, an iPod copycat, had the same inexcusable flaw. The genius of Steve Jobs began – and ended – with the idea of using computing power to make it easier to use. Given his marketing and planned failure due to battery death, he was a jerk otherwise.

    Reply
  13. User9000 says:

    Steve Jobs was the master of the big lie technique. His most notorious big lie was that the Apple computer is not a PC (personal computer). It was nothing but marketing BS to make the Apple seem like something special.

    Reply

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