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On Apr 8, 2004, at 8:52 AM, D.E. Chadbourne wrote: > Derek Martin wrote: >> Since recently I have some extra money in my pocket, I'm interested in >> buying some sort of portable music player... > > if you're in the mood to play around; > http://ipodlinux.sourceforge.net/ > -eric. I own an iPod. It came cheap with my PowerBook, otherwise I wouldn't have bought it. Its too expensive and uselessly-trendy for me. However, since I use (and happen to really like) iTunes, it works out for me. I'm really excited about iPod Linux, however, as far as I can gather, even the latest release can't yet play mp3's or oggs at full speed. I'm not sure if there is even an aac player yet, which would be an issue for me, though from what I understand the iPod can dual boot, which is sweet. It also doesn't seem like there is a unified media-player application for the iPod linux. Ideally there would be a linux distro that boots right into a unified media-player interface that just works. I'm not sure that exists yet. In addition, despite what all the apple-lovers out there might say, the iPod interface SUCKS. Its designed to be intuitive, with the smallest learning curve possible. Unfortunately, the result is an interface designed for people with one finger, and an music collection of about 10 songs. Specifically, let me break it down for you: 1) Touch sensitive panels are cool and sell gadgets, but turn out to be stupid: You get no tactile feedback that your press registered anything, and since most of the face of the ipod is button, its too easy to brush your hand against a button while reaching for the ipod in your pocket or desk and accidentally change a setting. 2) the simulated jog dial is cute, but when you are browsing an alphabetical list of 1000 songs for something that starts with 'R', you have to spin your finger around the stupid circle a million times. A sony-style variable speed jog dial would be a miracle worker on the iPod. There's only so fast you can spin your finger, and the motion is repetitive (RSI anyone?) 3) It also bugs me that volume and song-browsing are controlled by the same dial. Do people never browse their songs and feel the need to change the volume at the same time? Mode switching makes sense sometimes, but on the iPod, its just annoying. Oh yeah, and the song title scrolling on the screen is a cute idea, but it flickers so bad you can never read it, and unlike most computer-based media players, it doesn't even pause for a second in one position. -Josh -- Bush/Cheney '04: Compassionate Colonialism.
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