TV with DVR & Internet: $84.90/mo
- Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 233 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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40 out of 62 people found this review helpful
1.0 stars
"The player for those who don't know any better"
Pros: nice interface, size, and feel
Cons: Cumbersome to put in files (too many steps), completely play list driven, does not allow you to create directories , iTunes is a nightmare (has deleted all my files 5 times), etc.
Summary: Let's get this straight. I own one of these pieces of junk. I am not reviewing it out of ignorance. I made the HUGE mistake of ditching my iRiver H340 for this thing because everybody swears by iPOD. I have owned three different players previous to this - I'm a bit of a gadget hound. So I know what I'm talking about when I say this thing is truly horrible. I feel so ripped off. You can't maintain directories and subdirectories in this thing. FOr those of us who truly have a lot of music, this becomes almost unmanageable. It is all built around playlists. Let me get this straight, I download alot of legal stuff through Kazaa: old radio shows, out of print and obscure music, etc. So I have a legit set of music, all of which has inconsistent tags. This thing makes a mess of all that. So I get this great program called Anapod, which automatically takes my directories and makes playlists out of them. Wonderful program. It is what iTunes SHOULD be. Then I go back into iTunes for the overhyped podcasting and it erases all 45 gigs of stuff I put into it! I guess iTunes assumes we are too stupid to manage our own libraries and destroys everything because it knows better. iTunes by the way stinks on so many levels. I don't get the hype. Ripping CDs is a pain, the process of creating playlists is cumbersome, their music selection is atrocious..bad, bad, bad! Apparently, the people who like iTunes haven't used Winamp. I love how you have to "eject" the player each time you are done with it or risk corrupting your tracks. What is that about??? iPOD lovers - do you understand that all this isn't normal?!? THere are several good players out there where these problems don't exist. Sure, it is pretty and has a neato interface - best looking player around. But dear God - how can you be so lulled by appearances?!? Oh yeah, this is the general public, who is lulled by SUVs, American Idol, & other shallow appearance driven merchandise with nothing under the hood. Understand also that it is mostly Apple lovers who adore this thing. They stand by inadequate products with religious conviction. If it has Apple on it, they would never rate it poorly. Take the Newton for instance. Stop supporting these guys. Buy a Cowan, iRiver, or Sony! Wise up!
- 20 replies to this review
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I have done everything you did except have itune erase my stuff because I used the sofware and didn't let it tell me what to do. All you needed to do is set the thing to manual after uploading your hard drive.
bottom line you have problems using software not with iPod! -
i really understand your pain...especially coming from an iriver H340. why-o-why did you get rid of that thing?? i have the H340 and the drag-n-drop interface is the best thing! at least there are suckas out there willing to pay top dollar for a used one...just look at the idiots hatin' on your review (as well as the apple-lovers at cnet...a 8.0 rating with crappy sound coming out of the ipod?? c'mon!!!!)
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If you start stuffing files into the iTunes data directories, it has no clue that they're there. It will not acknowledge them.
Importing files is the proper way to let iTunes know that you want those files in your music library.
Use the software correctly and it's simple, fast, and won't let you down. -
You are right on in your review. For the review below me, the Ipod advertises it works on pc's and windows, not just some computer that only 6% of people who have computers have. My Ipod sucks, all I want it for are the songs. Had problems with it, returned it for a new one, had problems with new one, returned it for other one. I still have problems with this one but took too long to return so I'm stuck with this one I don't have the time to keep returning this crappy product anyway! The only reason I like Ipod is I fall into that trap that jason was describing of its advertising and looks appeal.
The comment about how Apple people stick by their product religiously is really true. Their retarded, they stick up for an inferior overpriced product and Apple tried to use them and the "cool look" to try to get you to buy an Apple computer. Wake up, I actually want my computer to work. It's funny how every one my friends with Apple's are on the phone with customer support 10 times as much as I am. It's also funny how Apple touts and gets people believing in how innovative they are and how much they think out of the box and think different when in the last 3 years they switched to using the same processors that pc's use, offers Microsoft Windows on Apple's, and their whole history of how they were founded to what their business strategies are now are at least 50% copying what Microsoft and other companies already started doing. -
So you decided to use your windows minded witts to use an Apple Mac OS based player and blame it on them, cause you didn't bother to use the instruction manual. Your like an old guy who can't program a tivo and blames it on the machine.
iTunes erasing your ipod's content five times and you didn't had anything to do with it yourself, it's all the software faults. Sure...
If you know how to use iTunes and if you purchase your music through iTunes, i guarantee that there is no smoother software/hardware combi out there at the moment. Next time, take the time to figure things out before copying all your data on your machine.
PS: And yes, mac's don't use directories directly! It's easier believe it or not if you let iTunes generate the music playlists you want, instead of making directories for every little thing. -
Dude, come on. The iPod w/ iTunes is fine. I'v seen tons of idiots like you down on iTunes for "deleting everything on my iPod!" Guess what: it warns you before it does. Congratulations, the only reason you don't like Apple is your fault
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Shame on Apple! iTune sucks.
It works fine only if you keep English langauge CD or buy music (English language) from the net. If you want to manage none English music - it often doesn't work. You cannot attach jpg file to your song due to iTune not always understands none-Engl. characters or signs like ? _ . and so on (poor Japanese guys). Another problem is that if you trying to read your old CD (with many scrathes) - iTune just gives up silently gives up and you suddenly find out that song has 0 or 3 or 5 seconds lenght. SHAME on Apple!
I do not use iTune anymore - I use "Exact Audio Copy" (really excellent and free stuff)which guarantee finest possible reading of CD and I use latest version of LAME.exe to transfer wav files to mp3. -
So glad I did not get an Ipod. My brother has one and it SUCKS. Listen to this review if you do not "buy" all your music or are not computer illiterate. I have a Creative Zen Vision: M and it's a much smarter interface.
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I agree with this comment, but I also wanted to add about the MP3's. This audio file format sucks, as well as the AAC by Apple. The MP3/AAC decoder built-in with the itunes software purges certain sounds/and silence (specially in Jazz/instrumental tracks) that other decoders don't such the Windows Media player. My first digital media player was a 5GB Zen Micro by Creative and it was wonderful since the beginning : easy to set-up, transfer coverted audio tracks, and the best thing about it was that it plays WMA files, that personally to date are the best audio files you can put in a gigital player. For example a WMA audio file compressed at 128kps sounds much better that a MP3 compressed at 320kps and which by the way takes more room. When I recently run out of space in my Creative player I went hunting for other players with more room for the rest of my CD collection (about 2000 CD's). Creative has a couple of 20GB/30GB, but nothing like the 60GB ipod, so my mistake was to fall into the hype of the ipod and I bought one just 3 days ago. It is very attractive and sleek, and it has a great interfarce. But it plays junk audio files only, and it's something you can not test out at the Apple stores, you have to do your own testing with the music you have already achieved in your computer. If you are a casual music listener who want to download all the music from itunes and listen to Gorillaz and U2, then an ipod is OK for you. But If you are a real music fan with tons of music from different eras and wants to have control over the quality of the audio files then ipod is not for you.
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Thanks for your comment dude, I've seen this in iTunes & iPod for soooo G-Damn long now & was wondering for the longest time what the heck is everyone think'n???? Am i crazy or do i just know something that they dont.... anyways, good to know that there is actually someone else who feels the same about apple's HW&SW crap....
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Thanks. I will check iRiver and Sony. (Creative seems to have similar issues with putting a clunky interface in between you and the file structure.)
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Unlike most, I read the useful instructions on how to manage my music files and my playlists before hooking up my iPod. I have not experienced any of these issues and find my iPod to work like a dream. It is eaasier than any other player I've used in similar GB's. Durability is my main concern but I bought a sleeve and a carrying case which I prefer anyway and love it.
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Unlike most, I read the useful instructions on how to manage my music files and my playlists before hooking up my iPod. I have not experienced any of these issues and find my iPod to work like a dream. It is eaasier than any other player I've used in similar GB's. Durability is my main concern but I bought a sleeve and a carrying case which I prefer anyway and love it.
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It's obvious that the iPod is not suited for this person's very special sort of files. But those of us with a variety of music that we've loaded into our iTunes should experience none of his horrors. I have more than a dozen genres of music, and find accessing all of them quite effortless. I haven't had ANY of the nightmares cited by this reviewer.
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The 60gb ipod is the best music player both in terms of musical quality and most definitely ease of use, the clickwheel and menu structure are a work of genius which won't be surpassed for a very long time if ever! As for itunes it could be better but the integration between it and the ipod makes an unbeatable combination. jasonbryanmillers commnents sound like the ranting of an immature teenager, please grow up
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Best user review I've had the pleasure of reading in a while. Thanks for the very enlightening opinion. I was thinking of buying it (based on looks like the rest of the sheep out there) and I think I'll stick to my thousands of mp3's in folders, not playlists as well as the ultimate player... Winamp. Thanks again for saving me money.
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iTunes will only act based on settings you can set/change. The only reason you need to eject it everytime, is because you haven't taken the time to turn off disk use. (Something that is, by default, disabled.)
As for deletion of your 45GB 5 times, I detect either gross exaggeration or sheer stupidity. iTunes will echo music from its library onto the iPod. Therefore, if the songs on your iPod are not in your iTunes library, iTunes will delete them. This is its purpose. You can change this, again, in the settings and manually manage songs/playlists yourself.
Or, you can do the sensible thing and clean up your ID3 tags so they are no longer "inconsistant" ? then the iPod interface works as it was designed to (ie, without the need for user defined subdirectories). -
I have owned an ipod for two years and like it for the most part. However, I have shared many of your frustrations and will definitely consider other options before I buy second ipod. It's nice to know someone else out there has a brain and realizes that people can be seducted by anything that is pretty and marketed well.
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Apple is over rated and over priced. Simple as that.
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I'm sorry but if your music collection got erased that is your fault entirely for taking 10 seconds to to know the program. The iPods interface is by intention simple, you can browse by artist, album, genre ..etc. The smart playlists are anything but cumbersome. And Winamp, I'm sorry but Winamp is the antithesis. You should learn to discern things upon taste and not assume your's is the only right one.
Where to buy
Apple iPod Photo (60GB):
$399.99
| store | price | in stock? | rating |
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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$399.99 | See Site |
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