No product has sold more than the iPod and no product has turned the future of a comany as drastically as the iPod has.
Here I give as usual an unbiased review of the product and how it compares to its nearest rival the Zen from Creative.
A little about the Brand Apple...
Need I say anything about Apple...started by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak as all companies in those days in Wozniaks garage, well Microsoft started off in Bill Gates Harward hostel room...later shifted to a hotel room in Alberquerque( I always get the spelling wrong...) started off by building Personal Computers(another anecdote is that Steve Woz actually was working on the PC as a part of a special program funded by HP and that HP had any rights to use the product he develops...and when he showed them a rough working model of the PC...the HP Business executive laughed the whole thing off by asking...What would the normal man do with a computer...??) Well they started building PCs and with some Venture Capital thrown in by the Intel of then...and by astute marketing of Steve Jobs...Apple scaled heights in no time...then came along Bill Gates and a small company called Microsoft Corporation...talk about thieves stealing from the thief. Apple revolutionised the PC usability by launching the Mac with a new GUI based OS(well another anecdote goes that Apple actually got the software and the mouse integration module from Xerox...well the executives of Xerox told the inventors of the GUI all of whom were Xerox employees...that the mouse and the software wouldnt work with the masses...because it would be difficult to market a product called a mouse) well anyway...Apple got the new GUI and was booming ahead and would soon beat big brother IBM...and here comes Bill Gates with his boyish charm...convinces Steve Jobs that he wants to work with apple to beat IBM...steals the same concept and gets out IBM compatible Windows 3. Down goes Apple...Steve Jobs gets fired...Mircosoft is on top...Bill Gates becomes the big brother and with it the richest man on the planet....and in 1998 buys 30% of Apple...gets back Steve Jobs. And then Job decides that Apple has to look elsewhere for the future...
Then dawns the idea of a music player which is portable as well as stylish....the Dawn of the iPods...
They have been through several changes or generations as apple so fondly calls them...the present ones being the 5th generation....it started of with smaller memories...monochrome displays...and click wheels...gone on to huge 60 GB with video 65k colour screens and touch wheels but all the while maintaining the iPod and Apple charm...
I will discuss the iPod 60 GB with video here as thats the one I am using...
Features:
Music player...supports MP3, Wav, M4a and M4b formats....no WMA or Flac support...Video playback only supports .mp4 formats...the sound is like a MP3 player...people generally think that its overly dependent on iTunes but its not...there is a host of third party software which could do the same as iTunes, but I iTunes is the best and easy to use once we get used to it.
Battery backup:
Excellent for playing music 20 hours they claim close to 13 hours in reality...Video...2 hours max.
Looks:
Looks like cheap plastic but the stainless steel cover also doubles as a mirror...but easily scratched...
Price:
The 60GB retails for around 30k here.
SO IS THE iPOD really worth all this hype....NO!!!
WHY...??? Read on....
Creative.....Creative....Creative...
Apple might be the geniuses when it comes to the iBooks and the G4s but when it comes to sound Creative definitely are better equipped.
The Creative Zen 30 GB plays all sound formats...all popular video formats with better battery backup...and sounds better. So why is the iPod on top of the buyers list because of Hype...Hype and more Hype...Creative doesnt have the aggresive marketing tactics that Apple has and no CEO like Steve Jobs.
What Apple has done is that they have moulded the iPod as a fashion accessory as well as a portable MP3 player which Creative has failed to do.
Also it has become a status symbol to own an iPod...well I am one of the victims...but I bought the Creative as well later...the Creative is much cheaper as well....
So the Final Word....buy the iPod if you are status conscious...but if you want better value for money and more allround usability look no further than the Creative Zen....also I would reccomend the Shure E3C series in ear phones to go with it...retails at around 150$ and not available in India but your credit card can take care of the purchase on thier website...and they deliver to india...