Technology catch-all thread

[Y2HH]

Hmmmm, interesting. Tell me more, I love hearing about these things I never said, yet you've somehow gathered. No really, I'd love to hear!

 

It's how you say things. You cherry pick a product, for example, the nano, and try to make it something it wasn't meant to be. The target audience that bought them were primarily gym rats that wanted a super small, light device attached to their arm who didn't really care about a screen since they'd never be looking at it anyway (because they'd be running, or biking), which you continue to press on as a big deal, when it wasn't. As soon as the technology existed to add a screen, without increasing the size of the device...they added it. But here you are, ranting about a product they haven't even sold for over 2 years.

 

At the time they sold these (years ago), if you wanted a screen, all you had to do was get next device up from that, and then you had one. But you're going to drone on about it not having a screen when it's intended audience at the time didn't really require one.

Edited August 2, 2012 by Y2HH

[BigSqwert]

Hmmmm, interesting. Tell me more, I love hearing about these things I never said, yet you've somehow gathered. No really, I'd love to hear!

You're right. My bad. There really is no evidence at all that you may have that opinion. I have no idea where I came up with that.

[Y2HH]

You're right. My bad. There really is no evidence at all that you may have that opinion. I have no idea where I came up with that.

 

[iamshack]

IT DIDN'T EVEN HAVE A SCREEN!!! Lol, are you guys serious right now? You can stroke Apple all you want, but why the HELL would you ever buy an mp3 player when you have no idea what's even playing? Jesus, even CD players had track #'s listed. Absolutely idiotic. You want something small to run with? Take a look around at all the other brands selling mp3 players that are small and HAVE SCREENS.

 

I mean, I honestly couldn't stop laughing when I heard it first announced.

Hey Joe...it was called THE SHUFFLE...

 

What do you suppose you were intended to do with it?

 

You turn it on, go for a run, and let it randomly play songs you have loaded on it IN SHUFFLE MODE.

 

Last I heard they didn't sell many units or make any money off of the device.

 

By April 2005, the end of Apple's second fiscal quarter, the iPod Shuffle had already proven itself to be a successful product for its manufacturer. Although Apple has chosen not to specify how many iPod Shuffles were sold in the product's first three months of existence, analysts at Piper Jaffray estimated that 1.8 million of the 5.3 million iPods sold in the second quarter were Shuffles. NPD Group estimates that the iPod Shuffle captured 43% of the flash-based music player market in February 2005, after only its second month of existence.[15] By March 2005 the iPod Shuffle's market share had risen to 58%.[16]

In September 2006, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced during his keynote presentation on the "It's Showtime" Special Event, that until then, Apple had sold 10 million first generation iPod Shuffles.

 

Wiki

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

You're right. My bad. There really is no evidence at all that you may have that opinion. I have no idea where I came up with that.

 

Thank you. I accept your apology.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

The point of it was to be small, and a storage unit for songs you wanted to hear play...you didn't need a screen for what the device was...you could hear the song. It was a great size for people who wanted to run with it...and that's all it was. It wasn't meant for any other audience. This is the part you don't seem to get.

 

Until recently, most cars didn't have displays for their CD players, either...so what? You couldn't hear the song playing?

 

Except....the technology DID exist. Other devices were just as small and HAD screens.

 

For example, the Zen Micro......

 

Came out before the shuffle, was small, had a built-in FM radio (which I believe ipods didn't even have until the iPod Touch's, right?), had a microphone, it could record songs off the radio, and it could display pictures.

 

And then you have the Creative Muvo, which had a display, and FM radio, and microphone, and came out a couple years earlier.....

 

 

And while I didn't look up prices, I'm willing to bet that BOTH of those cost cheaper than the Shuffle did.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

And then of course you have something by Rio, who has been making mp3 players since WAYYY before Apple ever did....

 

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

I think I've made my point, but just for the hell of it......another Rio one that came out years before the Shuffle, you know, when the technology to add a screen to micro mp3 players apparently didn't exist.....

 

[Balta1701]

I think I've made my point, but just for the hell of it......another Rio one that came out years before the Shuffle, you know, when the technology to add a screen to micro mp3 players apparently didn't exist.....

 

There's another difference though...those devices were nice, but you couldn't hook them up easily to an available, legal online store for music. Hooking a shuffle up to Itunes, being able to rapidly swap in and out playlists and other content...legally, was a very important part of their success also.

[bmags]

That means they failed.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

There's another difference though...those devices were nice, but you couldn't hook them up easily to an available, legal online store for music. Hooking a shuffle up to Itunes, being able to rapidly swap in and out playlists and other content...legally, was a very important part of their success also.

 

Are the songs you buy on iTunes only allowed to be moved to Apple devices? I am pretty sure other devices can play them. Creative players come with PlaysForSure, which ensures that any music you purchase through an online music store is capatible to play on the device.

 

Plus, "drag and drop" is a much more simplistic and easier system to use than iTunes. iTunes is pure garbage as a software. My dad made the mistake of buying an ipod a long time ago, and he could never figure out how to use iTunes, and neither one of us could figure out how to get a video on the damn thing. He ended up switching to a Sandisk I believe, and it was much easier to work with.

[iamshack]

There's another difference though...those devices were nice, but you couldn't hook them up easily to an available, legal online store for music. Hooking a shuffle up to Itunes, being able to rapidly swap in and out playlists and other content...legally, was a very important part of their success also.

This was the huge leap that Apple made...you could actually upload your music to the device easily and without constant bs errors and the device crashing.

 

There is a reason none of us have a clue of what those other devices are and yet we all know what the Shuffle is/was...and my Apple sold a s***load of them.

 

But you can keep ignoring the real facts, Joe.

[iamshack]

Are the songs you buy on iTunes only allowed to be moved to Apple devices? I am pretty sure other devices can play them. Creative players come with PlaysForSure, which ensures that any music you purchase through an online music store is capatible to play on the device.

 

Plus, "drag and drop" is a much more simplistic and easier system to use than iTunes. iTunes is pure garbage as a software. My dad made the mistake of buying an ipod a long time ago, and he could never figure out how to use iTunes, and neither one of us could figure out how to get a video on the damn thing. He ended up switching to a Sandisk I believe, and it was much easier to work with.

You are just making s*** up as you go along...

 

Seriously, the anecdotal evidence of you and your dad versus the billions of downloads on iTunes...you are really grasping here.

[StrangeSox]

The next song I buy on iTunes will be the first, and I've had an iPod for 6 or 7 years now.

[bmags]

Apple used as an anathema to drag and drop...

 

hmmmmm

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

You are just making s*** up as you go along...

 

Seriously, the anecdotal evidence of you and your dad versus the billions of downloads on iTunes...you are really grasping here.

 

Lol, just like I'm sure you think it's a myth that the dogs in my family have automatic feeders and yet aren't fat, unhealthy, or over-eat. LOL. You don't have to believe anything, but it doesn't mean my stories aren't true.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

This was the huge leap that Apple made...you could actually upload your music to the device easily and without constant bs errors and the device crashing.

 

There is a reason none of us have a clue of what those other devices are and yet we all know what the Shuffle is/was...and my Apple sold a s***load of them.

 

But you can keep ignoring the real facts, Joe.

 

Is because Apple has a huge marketing campaign. Microsoft is the only other company I can ever remember advertising their mp3 players on TV a lot. Possibly the Dell DJ, but when you are constantly seeing something advertised on TV, you are going to think about it first. Ask anyone you know, and almost all of them you ask will say Apple invented the mp3 player. They were never the first, they were just the loudest. Just because you are unaware of other companies that produce products doesn't mean a whole lot other than you aren't looking in to alternatives, and they don't advertise as much.

[iamshack]

Lol, just like I'm sure you think it's a myth that the dogs in my family have automatic feeders and yet aren't fat, unhealthy, or over-eat. LOL. You don't have to believe anything, but it doesn't mean my stories aren't true.

Not at all...

 

As a baseball fan, you should be familiar with something called "sample size."

 

Just because you can provide anecdotal evidence for something, that does not carry the same weight as expert opinion, or tens of millions of people disputing your opinion.

 

 

[bmags]

Is because Apple has a huge marketing campaign. Microsoft is the only other company I can ever remember advertising their mp3 players on TV a lot. Possibly the Dell DJ, but when you are constantly seeing something advertised on TV, you are going to think about it first. Ask anyone you know, and almost all of them you ask will say Apple invented the mp3 player. They were never the first, they were just the loudest. Just because you are unaware of other companies that produce products doesn't mean a whole lot other than you aren't looking in to alternatives, and they don't advertise as much.

 

Part of making a product successful is getting people to buy it. It also helped that it was a very good mp3 player. Those mp3 cd players were garbage. There are a million products that may be good but don't take off, and those companies have no one to blame but themselves. Apple was not a major player in the early 00s. The imac was kinda getting more popular. Ipod took off because it was a really good product. If you would have made a bet it 00 on who would make the next big music device, i would have probably bet sony.

[iamshack]

Is because Apple has a huge marketing campaign. Microsoft is the only other company I can ever remember advertising their mp3 players on TV a lot. Possibly the Dell DJ, but when you are constantly seeing something advertised on TV, you are going to think about it first. Ask anyone you know, and almost all of them you ask will say Apple invented the mp3 player. They were never the first, they were just the loudest. Just because you are unaware of other companies that produce products doesn't mean a whole lot other than you aren't looking in to alternatives, and they don't advertise as much.

Obviously Apple is the gorilla in the room now, but when they first released the iPod, the company was not particularly in good shape...they had gained some traction from the iMac, but the iPod was basically the second good product they made in their return to profitability.

 

How do you explain the incredible appeal and sales of the iPod in the wake of Microsoft at the height of it's powers?

 

Apple didn't even set out to create an mp3 player. They set out to create software for mp3 players, and upon examining what was available on the market (mostly devices similar to those you posted about earlier), they determined the market was lacking and decided to create their own. At the time, they were not really any bigger than Creative, or Rio, and much much smaller than many of the other players, such as Microsoft, Samsung and Sony.

 

 

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

Part of making a product successful is getting people to buy it. It also helped that it was a very good mp3 player. Those mp3 cd players were garbage. There are a million products that may be good but don't take off, and those companies have no one to blame but themselves. Apple was not a major player in the early 00s. The imac was kinda getting more popular. Ipod took off because it was a really good product. If you would have made a bet it 00 on who would make the next big music device, i would have probably bet sony.

 

I don't blame them for marketing the s*** out of their products, advertising obviously works. I am just saying, I'm generally not the kind of person that gets sucked in to marketing campaigns. I research the s*** out of products before I buy them. I remember when I purchased my first stand-alone mp3 player (not the mp3-cd player devices Sony made). I printed off specs and prices for the Creative Zen Touch, Apple iPod 4G, Dell DJ, iRiver something, and possibly a Rio. I went over them with my parents for a long time, looking at pros and cons of each. I chose the Creative Zen in the end. I had no opinion of Apple at that point. I went in to it completely unbiased, and made an opinion based on the information I had in front of me, and reviews I read online. It wasn't until a few years ago that I started to hate Apple and completely ruled them out of any purchase I will ever make.

Edited August 2, 2012 by JoeCoolMan24

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

The only product Apple ever made that stood out to me as being really cool and different from what I had seen elsewhere, was the iPod Touch. At the time, I wasn't aware of any other completely touch screen mp3 players that had a bunch of games and apps on them. THAT was cool. Everything else they have made I have said "ok, and why is that any different or better than anything else already out there?". I don't see them as an innovative company at all. They just take things that already exist, and slap their logo on them and people freak out, piss themselves, and wait in line for days to buy it for 2x the price of similar items that already exist.

[iamshack]

The only product Apple ever made that stood out to me as being really cool and different from what I had seen elsewhere, was the iPod Touch. At the time, I wasn't aware of any other completely touch screen mp3 players that had a bunch of games and apps on them. THAT was cool. Everything else they have made I have said "ok, and why is that any different or better than anything else already out there?". I don't see them as an innovative company at all. They just take things that already exist, and slap their logo on them and people freak out, piss themselves, and wait in line for days to buy it for 2x the price of similar items that already exist.

Hah, I understand you enjoy getting a rise out of me, but honestly, if you have this opinion, you're only doing a disservice to yourself, and in the meantime, wrecking all credibility you have on this issue.

 

Even the harshest of Apple critics would concede the opposite of the bolded above.

[chw42]

Are the songs you buy on iTunes only allowed to be moved to Apple devices? I am pretty sure other devices can play them. Creative players come with PlaysForSure, which ensures that any music you purchase through an online music store is capatible to play on the device.

 

Plus, "drag and drop" is a much more simplistic and easier system to use than iTunes. iTunes is pure garbage as a software. My dad made the mistake of buying an ipod a long time ago, and he could never figure out how to use iTunes, and neither one of us could figure out how to get a video on the damn thing. He ended up switching to a Sandisk I believe, and it was much easier to work with.

 

They are now, but iTunes purchases were DRM'd for iTunes and Apple devices for a LONG time.

Edited August 2, 2012 by chw42

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

Hah, I understand you enjoy getting a rise out of me, but honestly, if you have this opinion, you're only doing a disservice to yourself, and in the meantime, wrecking all credibility you have on this issue.

 

Even the harshest of Apple critics would concede the opposite of the bolded above.

 

What product, outside of the iPod Touch, has been completely new that we've never seen before?

 

And just to be clear, I'm not talking about stuff from way back in the day when it was run with Woz at the helm. I mean in the new age of portable technology.