Over the last few days I have been taking a close look at Mp3 players as I have been in the market to replace my aging Nomad II. It’s amazing; the little thing has been with me for almost 8 years now. It predates all my hand phones and PDA’s, most of Poly and all of Army. It even outlasted two girlfriends.
Now that’s what I call loyalty.
So the best that I can do is find a suitable successor and finally put the little guy down to rest.
Seeing as how it came from Creative, it’s only natural that they are my first choice for a replacement and that only a hard disk based player with gigs of space would justify retiring the Nomad.
However over the years, the products from Creative have been intriguing but somewhat lacking. The first jukebox series seemed like the CD players of old and the Zen series, while being a big innovation, just seems like an external hard disk. Not to mention that they all lack the easy one-handed operation of the Nomad.
How about the competition? iRiver and Apple being the only alternatives worth considering.
iRiver contains the best feature set but at extravagant prices when compared to the amount of space they are offering.
As for Apple? Expanding from my general resentment of their views on computer culture and product development, I find their offerings to focus too much on style and design over technical aspects and compatibility for such a premium price.
So back to the present, Creative is coming out with their new player and it looks they finally came up with something that is usable and not too big. Of course they did this by copying almost full scale from Apple, so they lose points there. And what’s with the vertical touch bar? I not sure if that would be easy to use.
And Apple? The iPod minis are cute and have the right idea in terms of navigation but are not value for money. Then I saw the new 4th generation iPod and I have to admit.
I am impressed.
Seems to me with this, Apple have finally fixed what have, in my eyes, been wrong with their whole line till now.
No more awkward placed buttons, now they almost match the configuration of my old Nomad. And of course the touch wheel is still there, a trademark of the iPod and somewhat gimmicky to me, but its a tried and found to be practical method and I’m all for practicability.
Better battery life, which Apple previously ignored to maintain the seek look of the old iPods, yet another decision of theirs that I disagreed with. And finally, Windows and USB support right out of the box, so no more ignoring the bigger percentage of computer users.
In short, I’m actually considering buying a Mac product.
I know. I’m as surprised as you are.
My one consolation is that it seems that this is the most disliked iPod among current Mac users. They call it a step away from what makes Mac a Mac, that it is too mainstream. But that is actually the reason why I like it.
It strikes me that I should explain the history of my dislike for Apple one day. Especially if I do end up buying an iPod.
Till then, the first salvo in the digital music battle for my money has been fired.
