Does the iPod need a tune up?
A lot of people seem to think that the iPod has fallen behind in the
“features” race. Don’t believe me? Head to your nearest seller of
home electronics and take a look at some of the devices competing with
the iPod for your dollar. They have radios built in, microphones and
displays (for those that compete with the shuttle). Some are cell
phones too while others are PDAs. Why some will even let you play
games and watch movies! And here all that the iPod does is play music.
So, do you think things will ever change? And perhaps more importantly
do you want them to? Here are my thoughts on the matter.
First off Apple will never include those aforementioned features in
the current batch of iPods. In fact, I would be very surprised if any
of these features make it into any of the next few generations.
Support for video might come but thats about it. And I am basing this
on these three important conclusions:
“The Feel” - The iPod plays music extremely well. And guess
what, that is fine with me. I don’t want all of those extra features
that I will never use. And if Apple ever started to bundle all of that
crap it would just make the device harder to use. I don’t want or need
anything else, I only want to play music. End of story.
“The iPod Industry” - How big has the iPod support industry
gotten anyone know? How many hundreds of millions of dollars does it
make it make each year? How many companies make products designed
completely around the iPod? Radio tuners, jackets, holders, mics,
transmitters, speakers and on and on. I can’t imagine Apple wanting to
do anything just yet to break the momentum. So, for the time being,
they are quite happy to sit back and watch other companies design
houses and cars with the iPod in mind.
“The Future” - This might be the big reason why Apple is in no
hurry to change the
title="iPod">
iPod. This article makes the very interesting
suggestion that Apple might use the iPod as a device to bring OS X to
the masses. In that case a radio tuner or microphone might not be all
that useful.
So, there you have it. Some interesting ideas to bat around as Apple
announces new and exciting things this September 7th. What will it be?
Haven’t a clue but I wouldn’t bet on a radio tuner.
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Comments
I don’t want or need
anything else, I only want to play music. End of story.
I’ve noticed that “feature creep” only ever refers to any and all features Apple products DON’T have. So your iPod only plays music and that’s the ONLY thing you want it to do. You sure about that?
My iPod plays slideshows of my photos. Great feature. And if it played QT movies, even better. Those are features that were added beyond music and they definitely improve the iPod. Are those examples of “feature creep”?
And if they added an FM tuner, that would round out the features rather nicely. It’s certainly desirable to yet another gangly garish add-on, especially if it’s something I use regularly.
No, I don’t want my iPod to display pictures, I have a laptop for that. I don’t want it to play movies, I have a DVD player for that. I don’t want an FM tuner, microphone or potato peeler, I just want it to play music. That is it. Nothing else, just music.
Now, if Apple creates a NEW product that can display pictures and play movies then I might be interested. Assuming of course that they designed it from the ground up with those features in mind and didn’t try to bolt them on to an already established product.
No, I don’t want my iPod to display pictures, I have a laptop for that. I don’t want it to play movies, I have a DVD player for that.
You also have a laptop to play music, but you use your iPod. What’s the difference?
The whole point is that iPod saves you the trouble of having to lug around a heavy laptop. Same with photos. Same with movies. And in my experience thus far, the Photo feature does not interfere in any way with the iPod’s ability to play music.
And opposing an FM tuner because you just want your iPod to play music makes no sense. What do you suppose is coming over the FM airwaves? I guess you could be referring to talk radio, but your iPod also plays Podcasts. Unless maybe you don’t think it should do that either.
“And opposing an FM tuner because you just want your iPod to play music makes no sense. What do you suppose is coming over the FM airwaves?”
Of course it makes sense. It’s about me choosing what music I want to listen to, not what some FM radio playlist maker thinks I want to listen to. I hardly listen to FM radio for that very reason. Now with my iPod, I can listen to practically what I want.
“I guess you could be referring to talk radio, but your iPod also plays Podcasts. Unless maybe you don’t think it should do that either.”
Again, it’s about choice. If I want to listen to a podcast, such as a discussion as to whether Einstein’s theroy of gravitation is true or not, then I can download it and listen at my convenience. If I listen to talk radio, I have to put up with whatever discussion is going on at the time, and usually it will be crap. I would rather listen to what I am interested in when it is convenient for me.