OFF: Re: was HW: Vinyl, t-shirts, etc. now "iPods"

[Guido Vacano]

Okay, I'm wrong, get a Creative player. I'll stick with the limited file 
formats:

Audio formats supported: AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from 
iTunes Store), MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3 and 
4), Apple Lossless, AIFF and WAV

Bummer, no Ogg Vorbis. BTW, iTunes works fine on Windows boxes, I know 
firsthand. But Creative's a great choice -- until they o out of business.

Guido


Paul Mather wrote:
> On 20 Mar 2007, at 12:09 AM, Guido Vacano wrote:
>
>> Hi Keith--
>>
>>    Get an iPod. There are reasons why they're selling better than 
>> Creative players. And the way Creative is going these days . . . ever 
>> hear of Rio? :-) I was thinking of buying a Rio Karma a few years 
>> ago. I'm very glad I didn't.
>
> Just a disclaimer: I don't own an iPod or any kind of portable music 
> player (unless you count my laptop as a portable music player:).  I 
> mentioned Creative because their devices like the Creative Nomad hard 
> drive recorder were active in the taping scene and gained respect 
> before laptop recording became de rigeur.  Also, on another list I'm 
> on, which has an active taper contingent, Creative devices like the 
> Zen are well-respected.  I've also heard those devices are more likely 
> to support more different file formats; I believe some Creative models 
> even support FLAC natively.  With the iPod, unless you replace its 
> firmware, you're stuck with Apple's limited audio format support.
>
> I believe iPods sell better than Creative players because they have 
> great styling and are very easy to use.  But, style and ergonomics 
> aside, it's fair to say you'll get more bang for your buck by buying a 
> non-Apple "iPod."
>
>>    BTW, you don't need to buy music from Apple. You can use iTunes to 
>> rip all your CDs, and very effectively (and pleasantly) manage your 
>> music library. I suspect you'd like iTunes far better than whatever 
>> software package comes with Creative players.
>
> Note, though that you're pretty much stuck with iTunes if you use an 
> iPod.  I have an iBook and use iTunes as my music player and it works 
> (unsurprisingly) superbly well.  My sister has an old Windows computer 
> and uses iTunes and it works terribly.  (In fact, right now, it 
> doesn't work at all when it comes to importing CDs as anything other 
> than WAV.)  So, given Keith, by his own admission, doesn't have "the 
> most modern computer," he may have issues running iTunes.  Because 
> it's the way you interface with your iPod, he may have issues there, too.
>
> My brother can load music onto his Creative MuVo without the need for 
> any additional software: just a drag and drop of files from his hard 
> drive to the MuVo USB drive and then he can listen to it on the MuVo.  
> You can't do that with an iPod.  (You can drag and drop the files, but 
> I don't think you can listen to it.)  So the iPod is less convenient 
> for grabbing music on the run.
>
> (His MuVo came with software; it's just that you don't NEED to use it, 
> unlike the iPod.)
>
> Cheers,
>
> Paul.
>
> e-mail: paul at gromit.dlib.vt.edu
>
> "Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production
>  deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid."
>         --- Frank Vincent Zappa