Nano
Mmmm. Apple's new iPod nano. Me want one. This is definitely Apple's sexiest music player yet. If you make MP3 players and you are not Apple, it sure sucks to be you.
Unfortunately, a switch isn't that easy for me. Even if my perfectly functional Rio Karma was busted, I couldn't just run out and buy an iPod.
The reason is that, when I started really building my digital music collection five years ago, I ripped my CDs in the Windows Media Audio format. There were several reasons for this, one of which is that I found WMA compression to be slightly better than MP3.
I also figured that, with all the legal attention being lavished on it by the likes of the RIAA and such, MP3 might not survive in the long-term as a commercially viable format.
The problem is that the iPods support MP3 but not WMA. Since I have more than 200 CDs -- 3,600 songs -- ripped in WMA format, this is a non-trivial issue.
Why can't someone make a digital music player as cool as the iPod? I thought the Rios were getting close, but they threw in the towel. I can see why. Apple controls 70 percent of the market. Other companies are fighting over the remaining 30 percent like bums wrestling for the last few fries in the garbage can.
You have Creative, Sony, Samsung and Dell, just to name a few off the top of my head. Each of them have their problems. Check out Creative's confusing product line-up. Their designs are decent, but where Apple has the iPod, the iPod nano and the iPod shuffle, Creative has no fewer than 21 different players. Not only is that confusing to the consumer, it must be a bitch to run as a business.
Sony, once the leader in portable audio, is only now getting their ass in gear after trying to pretend that MP3 didn't exist. Their designs are about as sexy as a Toyota, which is to say not at all. In contrast, Korean firms like Samsung caught on early and quickly established themselves. But their players seem designed to appeal to a) young girls and b) people who are fascinated by bright, shiny objects.
That leaves Dell, which has a pretty solid hard-drive based jukebox offering. They probably need to refresh the design a little more often, but it's a clean-looking gadget that could border on sexy if it was a little smaller and smoothed out.
But damn if that iPod nano doesn't make me want to re-rip my entire CD collection.
Unfortunately, a switch isn't that easy for me. Even if my perfectly functional Rio Karma was busted, I couldn't just run out and buy an iPod.
The reason is that, when I started really building my digital music collection five years ago, I ripped my CDs in the Windows Media Audio format. There were several reasons for this, one of which is that I found WMA compression to be slightly better than MP3.
I also figured that, with all the legal attention being lavished on it by the likes of the RIAA and such, MP3 might not survive in the long-term as a commercially viable format.
The problem is that the iPods support MP3 but not WMA. Since I have more than 200 CDs -- 3,600 songs -- ripped in WMA format, this is a non-trivial issue.
Why can't someone make a digital music player as cool as the iPod? I thought the Rios were getting close, but they threw in the towel. I can see why. Apple controls 70 percent of the market. Other companies are fighting over the remaining 30 percent like bums wrestling for the last few fries in the garbage can.
You have Creative, Sony, Samsung and Dell, just to name a few off the top of my head. Each of them have their problems. Check out Creative's confusing product line-up. Their designs are decent, but where Apple has the iPod, the iPod nano and the iPod shuffle, Creative has no fewer than 21 different players. Not only is that confusing to the consumer, it must be a bitch to run as a business.
Sony, once the leader in portable audio, is only now getting their ass in gear after trying to pretend that MP3 didn't exist. Their designs are about as sexy as a Toyota, which is to say not at all. In contrast, Korean firms like Samsung caught on early and quickly established themselves. But their players seem designed to appeal to a) young girls and b) people who are fascinated by bright, shiny objects.
That leaves Dell, which has a pretty solid hard-drive based jukebox offering. They probably need to refresh the design a little more often, but it's a clean-looking gadget that could border on sexy if it was a little smaller and smoothed out.
But damn if that iPod nano doesn't make me want to re-rip my entire CD collection.
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