Friday, March 23, 2007

Why I don't like the IPod

The IPod is a HOT item. Everyone wants one. Joggers carry that while running on the threadmill. Every other music player is considered copycat and inferior. The IPod had Microsoft scared that it made its own Zune. Microsoft goes after every successful product, well that's another story.

Yes the IPod has some great features. Good sound. The lightweight and the key hold switch is required for joggers. It has more memory than my computer. But I dare to say it has some serious design flaws.

1. Anti-intuitive dial

This may be a cool unique feature but I don't like it. What? you spin over the buttons to choose something? What? you can't tap on the screen to choose a song? The dial has limited the interface. My ipod even comes with games. But what games can I play just with that dial?

2. No turn off switch?

You basically can't turn it off. I demand it to be turned off NOW to preserve battery.

3. Must connect to a computer to charge

Connect the IPod to the USB port, songs will load to it immediately and charging. Good. What if you don't have a computer and want to charge? Sorry no way to do that, except you buy a charger. If you take your ipod on a flight half way around the world and you don't have access to a computer you're out of luck.

4. ITunes needs to follow my orders

ITunes will download everything in "My Music" directory, no question asked. I can't make it download some but not all. Some of my songs don't have the singer name and it will not let me organize my songs. Itune should let me choose what to download and perhaps let me do some editing. When I plug in the USB it will say "Do Not Disconnect". Come on I am done, I WANT to disconnect, ok?

The Palm is a much better music player. However, it can only play Real Player files and do not have a key hold switch needed for jogging.

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