MY HISTORY & iPod Background
As a long time Mac and prior to that Apple II user, I have had a case of "late adopter blues" when it comes to Apple products. I was late migrating to the Macintosh from the Apple II, I was late adopting to the Newton, and the iPod ranks up as a late adopter.
In fact, only did I become an iPod user in the last 5 months. I enjoy music, but I am not a hard core music guy. My new job gives me the opportunity and almost demands that I listen to something in my headphones. Helps me focus when things get a little loud, especially when your easily distracted like myself.
Only having a 3GB music library, my 2G iPod (10GB) had more than enough space for all my music. Battery life was 4-6 hours, lasted for 2 days usually before I needed a new charge. Once I got the 4G iPod (20GB) I was even more in love. Much better batter life, nicer screen, plus it was new, my 2G was heavily loved - scratched to no end by the previous owner.
The thing I dislike about the iPod is the "gold" it is made of. It is like a little baby you carry around. You have to have a little basket to put it in and strap it in, a car seat for it. When you put it in your laptop bag, it has it's own compartment. When you pull it out and lay it on the desk to jam at work, you find yourself looking for something soft to put it on. When you get up to leave, you take it or hide it. When you go to swing around in your chair to answer a question or jump into a conversation, you have to pick it up and hold onto to it, cause it's heavy and who wants it to fall on the floor when your headphone cord isn't 12 ft long. I don't want to put it on while doing yard work... it's so precious.
I also find that I have what I call, My Favorite song list. It has 80 songs, about 350 mb worth of space. I listen to it all the time. I also turn my iPod on, it's already set to shuffle, I select the same playlist each time, and hit play. I never look at the screen again. On rare, and I mean rare occasions, I have listend to an old CD I hadn't listened to in a long time.
THE IPOD FOR PEOPLE LIKE ME... SHUFFLE AND GO!
When Apple released the iPod shuffle, the price grabbed my attention first. $99. WOW. $149, WOW. Secondly, it was a USB drive, 2.0 no less. Being the owner of 128mb 1.1 USB Flash drive, I have horror flashes when I pull it out to use it for something. Recently a co-worker had a 1GB flash drive USB 2 and I copied some stuff over for him and fell in love. It was fast. So, for only $30 more than a 1GB USB drive, I could have an Apple iPod that did what I do on my regular iPod, how could anything be any better?
So, I bought two. A 512 and 1GB, one for my wife, one for me.
We both love our iPod shuffles. So much I sold my other two iPods. I have yet to charge it, still shows a green light. I can wear it around my neck and spin around in my desk chair for hours in 100 different directions and I don't even notice I have it on me. I can now forge ahead on yard work or house work and jam along without fear.
No screen? Perfect for me. Hard to use? Not at all. Best of all, it plugs into my windows laptop at work and I can copy files to it, and then bring it home and copy files off on my Mac. Something I couldn't do with my Mac formatted iPod (2G & 4G).
Heck, I even might just go outside and throw my shuffle as far as I can just because I can. It probably won't even get a scratch (assuming it landed in the grass). Try that with the any other iPod.
As a long time Mac and prior to that Apple II user, I have had a case of "late adopter blues" when it comes to Apple products. I was late migrating to the Macintosh from the Apple II, I was late adopting to the Newton, and the iPod ranks up as a late adopter.
In fact, only did I become an iPod user in the last 5 months. I enjoy music, but I am not a hard core music guy. My new job gives me the opportunity and almost demands that I listen to something in my headphones. Helps me focus when things get a little loud, especially when your easily distracted like myself.
Only having a 3GB music library, my 2G iPod (10GB) had more than enough space for all my music. Battery life was 4-6 hours, lasted for 2 days usually before I needed a new charge. Once I got the 4G iPod (20GB) I was even more in love. Much better batter life, nicer screen, plus it was new, my 2G was heavily loved - scratched to no end by the previous owner.
The thing I dislike about the iPod is the "gold" it is made of. It is like a little baby you carry around. You have to have a little basket to put it in and strap it in, a car seat for it. When you put it in your laptop bag, it has it's own compartment. When you pull it out and lay it on the desk to jam at work, you find yourself looking for something soft to put it on. When you get up to leave, you take it or hide it. When you go to swing around in your chair to answer a question or jump into a conversation, you have to pick it up and hold onto to it, cause it's heavy and who wants it to fall on the floor when your headphone cord isn't 12 ft long. I don't want to put it on while doing yard work... it's so precious.
I also find that I have what I call, My Favorite song list. It has 80 songs, about 350 mb worth of space. I listen to it all the time. I also turn my iPod on, it's already set to shuffle, I select the same playlist each time, and hit play. I never look at the screen again. On rare, and I mean rare occasions, I have listend to an old CD I hadn't listened to in a long time.
THE IPOD FOR PEOPLE LIKE ME... SHUFFLE AND GO!
When Apple released the iPod shuffle, the price grabbed my attention first. $99. WOW. $149, WOW. Secondly, it was a USB drive, 2.0 no less. Being the owner of 128mb 1.1 USB Flash drive, I have horror flashes when I pull it out to use it for something. Recently a co-worker had a 1GB flash drive USB 2 and I copied some stuff over for him and fell in love. It was fast. So, for only $30 more than a 1GB USB drive, I could have an Apple iPod that did what I do on my regular iPod, how could anything be any better?
So, I bought two. A 512 and 1GB, one for my wife, one for me.
We both love our iPod shuffles. So much I sold my other two iPods. I have yet to charge it, still shows a green light. I can wear it around my neck and spin around in my desk chair for hours in 100 different directions and I don't even notice I have it on me. I can now forge ahead on yard work or house work and jam along without fear.
No screen? Perfect for me. Hard to use? Not at all. Best of all, it plugs into my windows laptop at work and I can copy files to it, and then bring it home and copy files off on my Mac. Something I couldn't do with my Mac formatted iPod (2G & 4G).
Heck, I even might just go outside and throw my shuffle as far as I can just because I can. It probably won't even get a scratch (assuming it landed in the grass). Try that with the any other iPod.