December 2007 Archives

My iPod has one redeeming factor: its storage capacity. At 80 GBytes, I can actually have all of my music on it. But I won't buy another iPod if this one breaks. The reasons are:

1. I don't like iTunes. It doesn't run on Linux, and even if it did, I'd probably want to use something else because of its poor user interface and slowness. (I use Amarok instead, but it won't install firmware updates.)
   
2. My iPod crashes regularly. I can't just reset it according to Apple's instructions; I actually have to let it sit for a while and try several times until finally I'm lucky enough to reset it.
3. When I turn it on and start playing a song, the controls are rendered useless for about half a minute while the song plays. The song will occasionally pause, too.
4. Apparently even minor MP3 stream corruptions will cause the iPod to skip the song rather than fast-forward to the next usable MP3 frame.
5. Apple's proprietary formats might offer a reasonable quality, but I'm strongly opposed to proprietary formats.

I don't know which music player I will be purchasing next, but I'm convinced it won't be made by Apple.