Convince me to buy iPod

Originally posted by RockSTaR
Rio's Karma has nice crossfading between songs and nice EQ presets. Does the iPod have these features.
The iPod does not have cross-fading. It does have an EQ, although to be perfectly honest with you...it stinks. And to top it off, it's not customizable, so you're stuck with the settings that Apple created. Hopefully (crossing-fingers), Apple will improve the EQ in a future firware release.

As far as the Karma goes, it seems like a nice player and I'd certainly consider one for myself if...
1) They had better Macintosh support for the player.
2) They didn't have hard drive failure issues. I'd purchase some sort of extended-warranty for sure if I were to purchase a Karma.

I looked hard at the Rio Karma before deciding on an iPod. The sound quality of the Rio Karma is excellent and has the cross-fading you mentioned. There's a lot of good information on the Riovolutions.com forum. The drawbacks for me were that it only comes in a 20 GB model -- as the FAQ for the forum puts out, any references you run across on the internet about a 40 GB model are referring to something that was considered but never produced. Also, there are a fair number of people reporting hard drive failures. Of course, people who have problems are far more likely to post than those who don't, so it is hard to tell how serious this is. I was struck by several posters who had gone through several Rios, and who, despite liking the product very much, had given up on it for the time being. In my own case, my previous player (a Creative Labs Nomad Zen Xtra) had suffered a mechanical failure, and so I wasn't ready to take a chance on another one that might be defective. Of course, Apple makes defective iPods, but the number of complaints in this forum of these problems seems smaller than I saw in the Rio forum, especially when you consider the much greater number of iPods sold.

Still, there are good qualities to the Rio. I think if you were to ask Rio users, they would recommend getting an extended warranty. The initial warranty for the Rio is only good for 90 days.

I doubt that cross-fading will be added to the current iPod generation. MMJB is obsolete for more than 6 month, use iTunes for Windows, it's the best program I ever seen.

if you do video too, go to CompUSA and buy a firewire card for your computer. 30 bucks, and they install (if nothing's wrong with your system) for free.

I did it. best decision I made (GREATER than USB2 speeds, in my opinion)

I too am considering making the leap to an ipod. Presently I have two players. One is a nike-philips mp3 cd player and the other is a rio sport S35. I have an extensive music collection in various formats ranging from vinyl to mp3 files on computer harddrive. I am not looking to get rid of either of these players because I use both in different situations. What I am looking for is a quality player with excellent sound reproduction and something I don't have to load and reload with music all the time. Will the ipod fit the bill? I have thousands of dollars invested in music so the player's cost is not an issue at this point.

I have also heard the provided headphones stink. Is this the case?

Thank you very much for your advice. That's why I joined this forum.

But remember, if you buy the rio, get the extended warrenty. I heard they are very anal about their 90 day limited warrenty. Apple will take your ipod within a 1 yr without asking questions on how it broke.

Rio has better sound quality, but ipod is just sleeker and has more memory. Rio has a better battery life and comes with decent headphones, but I still bought a 40gb ipod. I just LIKED the ipod more.

I have Windows XP with USB 2.0 and a sound blaster sound card with firewire that works just fine with my iPod. The 6 pin will recharge the iPod while it is hooked up to the computer the four pin will not charge the iPod. No need for purchasing a 2.0 usb cord.

The iPod is small & lightweight and with good headphones or earphones the soundis greatly improved as with any player.

The warranty is 90 days phone support and 1 year material and workmanship at no charge. You can extend to 2 years for about $59. If you have a problem with the player they will absolutely replace it for free at the store or you can request service on line. They will send you everything you need to mail it back to them (instructions, tape to seal the box, packing material, etc.).

The support website at Apple.com is extensive and comprehensive plus there is a discussion board you can use if you have questions you need answered.

You also have the iPodlounge for help.

The iPod can also be used as an extra removable HD.

It looks so darn good.

You can, if you want, get it colored at colorwarepc.com (I think it's about $49).

You have a larger variety of cases and very nice portable speakers to use with it that match and sound good.

The music transfer to the iPod is very fast.

You can make smart playlist in a snap.

You can keep your contacts, notes (has a 4k limit) & calendar on the iPod. It syncs with Outlook (not the Express).

There is numerous 3rd party software apps to use with it for a variety of things.

You can import photos onto the iPod so you don't have to take a computer with you when you travel.

The battery back pack works great to extend the plying time when away from a power source.

Also consider - Can you get this type of support for any other player? The iPod has its own forum here and at Apple and around the world.

And you can go to (http://www.apple.com/feedback/ipod.html) to give your suggestions on how to make the iPod better.

Originally posted by Vicsun
Beauty is subjective. Happiness is subjective. Anything to do with aesthetics or morals is subjective. Numerical quantities are not.
An opinion is a judgment or belief not founded on certainty or proof because said certainty or proof can't be (easily) obtained. In my opinion Jenna Jameson is hotter than Jennifer Lopez. This is an opinion because there can be no facts supporting or opposing this claim.
However there is conclusive mathematical proof of the value of pi (or the speed of a USB2.0 cable), so one can't have an opinion on the subject.

That is just plain stupid.

ANYTHING can be subjective. I can tell you that my Porsche feels SLOWER than my Ford Taurus, even though we can prove (and already know) that the Porsche IS faster. If I think it's faster, then to me, it is faster. This is not about "mathematical proof" it is about perception. Everyones reality is based on their perception of the world around them. Sure USB 2 IS faster then FW 400, but as long as it feels faster to him, it will be. But just because he "feels" that is faster, doesn't make it so mathematically. Just because you can PROVE something is faster/better or whatever, doesn't mean that everyone will PERCEIVE that it is.

I suspect your letting you hatred of all things Apple (except the iPod) cloud your view on this subject. ;)

This whole speed thing is stupid anyway the actual rated speed of USB2 could be THEORETICALLY higher than Firewire but the persons hardware configuration (i.e built onto MB or not) could impact on the speed. So firewire might actually BE faster on this guys machine, but not on any machine (my opinion anyway). Plus I don't think that our current hard disks can read or write at 480mbps anyway. Otherwise in theory it would take about 10 seconds to transer a 5gb music collection to the iPod. But when you actually do it takes about 10 minutes (on my machine anyway).

I love some of the things that us iPod nerds (no offence intended) start argueing about!