somebody in one of the NPGMC download threads asked just how significant the iPods really are. I forget what thread it was in, so thought I'd just answer here. According to this article in the USA today, Apple is dominating the digital music player market - selling them as fast as they can make them, especially with the new iPod mini.

http://www.usatoday.com/t...mini_x.htm

I love my iPod.

yall is sweet people
may Steve Jobs never let ya down

I've got three.

m3taverse said:

Steve is on a roll

- Panther
- iLife
- iPod and iPod mini
- flat screen iMacs
- PowerMac G5
- iTunes
- iTunes Music Store
- Apple stock at new 52 week high

Plus his other company, Pixar, is doing quite well - winning yet another Oscar this past week.

I just bought a new 20" iMac last week, and it is a thing of beauty. Superdrive, 80GB harddrive, Panther. I love it . . I just wish I had a high-speed Internet connection! Soon . . .

I have a 40GB iPod, and it's worked flawlessly since I got it. It's the 3rd generation, with the touch-sensitive 4 buttons. I had the first-generation, but it kept messing up so I finally returned it for good.

I love my iPod -- I have everything that I own on it. I love having my entire Prince catalog on it, ready to listen to whenever!

Apple takes a lot of criticism over the cost of the iPod, compared to competition. BUT, they make the best product, so whatever.

My only wish is that the iPod wasn't chrome-backed and shiny-white. I wish it was more of a matte finish that didn't show fingerprints or scratches. I do have it in a case, but still.

As for the NPGMC -- I'd be disappointed if the songs are not Mac-compatible (iTunes or iPod). There are ways around everything, but you shouldn't have to go through all that to play music you've purchased.

Se7en said:

I read reviews of the ipod saying that the rechargeable battery lasts only 8 hours on a fresh charge, and only has a life expectancy of 16 months, and to buy a new one you can only get it from Apple for about £150 which seems a helluvalot for a battery.

Is this true? Can you put normal batteries in it? I'm considering buying one...

Steve Jobs is a genius - a billionaire once with Apple, then they kicked him out, then he became a billionaire again with Pixar, then Apple ask him back, and he becomes a billionaire yet again and saves the company from ruin - fantastic, much more creative thinking than that staid Bill Gates, just a shame those nice macs don't play nice with pcs...

metalorange said:

here's a place to get iPod batteries replaced:

http://www.ipodresq.com/d...ID=P010068

haven't had any problem here.

What do you mean by "a shame those nice macs don't play nice with pcs?" I'm not sure what more they could do than what they're already doing - take a look a this

http://www.apple.com/maco...s/windows/

In actual daily usage, the battery lasts about 5-6 hours, not 8. 8 is what they "claim", under ideal conditions -- ideal being the EQ off, the lights off, and not scrolling around. You basically have to turn everything off, click "Play", and let it go -- THEN it might last 8 hours, if you don't touch it . . .

But, 5 or 6 hours is cool, it's more than enough to keep me entertained! If you have it plugged into a car charger or your computer, I'm pretty sure it doesn't even USE the battery -- just gets the juice from those sources.

No, you cannot put normal batteries into it (it's sealed), BUT, you can buy a battery pack that plugs into it, and that uses AA batteries. That's a good thing to have if you're on a long plane ride or something like that.

16 months for the battery life? Well, the battery is supposedly guaranteed for 500 complete charges. 16 months would be charging it almost every day!

Charging it twice a week, it should last almost 5 years . . . four times a week, 2 1/2 years (which isn't too bad either). Sure, it's expensive, but the good toys are!
[This message was edited Sat Mar 6 13:52:25 2004 by Se7en]

The Mac is fully compatible with almost all Windows files . . .

Almost everything that PC's have, as far as file formats and programs, the Mac has too (Word, Photoshop, Acrobat, Internet Explorer, Powerpoint, etc).

I've had no problem opening anything sent to me by a PC, and, the Mac's files can be opened on a PC (if you have the program, obviously).

Where the PC's excel is in gaming -- the Mac's have never caught up.

to clarify my post - this is on the page I linked



Combine this with what Se7en said - the file formats for many apps are identical across platforms.

y'all mac users have 2 much $$$$$...I have a mac and a PC at work...software on both is the same in most cases and the PC that cost a lot less pisses on the MAC...thats right.....the mac is much slower!!! and they were both bought at the same time!!!at the end of the day they both do the same thing - XP works as well and in somecases a lot better (ever tried running canon, konica, epson and hp printers and scanners in 1 network - the mac has so many problems with driver compatability it is scary...oh yeah it can all be done...but what a friggin hassle) OS 10. whatever thy're up 2 now...is no better than XP..... nah - I'll buy a modern PC anyday and spend the leftover $$ on NPGMC - but only if the file is gonna play in my car stereo!!! and on my PC and in my home stereos.....sorry 2 say bad things about the macs(I know u mnac users r a proud bunch - if not somewhat 'blindfolded'...they r nice looking copmputers....macs vs PCs r kinda like a ferrari vs a toyota.....the toyota will cost u a couple of sets of tyres and fuel 2 get to 300,000 km...the ferrari will look damn good getting there but will never last the distance and if it does more $$$ will need 2 b spent 2 keep it on the road.....my toyota is almost at 300,000kms and has only cost me $300 to get there in repairs.....I'll take substance over style any day....but who cares....y did I write the above...they r only tools...only computers....scuse me while I go outside and enjoy some fresh air.....i think i'll go back 2 using paints and canvas.....these computers r destroying my creativity....maybe I'll buy prince's new album - from a wrecko store.....

jimino1 - you are working with old information. While it's true that Motorolla has let apple down with their lack of ability to make faster chips, the situation has been flipped completely with the move to ibm for new PowerPC chips. Take a look at this video:

http://www.apple.com/hard...giniatech/

The G5 blows away anything Intel has in terms of performance AND in terms of price/performance. It's so dramatic that even Microsoft has adopted the PowerPC as the basis for XBox 2. Yes - Microsoft even has XBox 2 game developers buying PowerMac G5s for their development platform.

The mac is faster, has better price/performance, and never crashes. And has a growing library of unmatched Mac only software. iMovie, iDVD, Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Express, GarageBand, iChat AV, iPhoto, etc. Plus, they don't crash and there are no viruses for the macintosh - none, zero. because Apple doesn't build in the security problems Microsoft does. Some quotes from over the past year:

"... Our products just aren't engineered for security."
- Brian Valentine - Microsoft senior v.p., Windows development.

"Windows applications don't look all that great, do they?"
- Bill Gates - 2003

Mr. Gates acknowledged today that the company's error reporting service indicated that 5 percent of all Windows-based computers now crash more than twice each day.

"each dual G5 can deliver a peak of 16 GFlops of double-precision performance. That is more than a modern Cray node."
- Dr. Srinidhi Varadarajan - Virginia Tech supercomputer builder

"There are two kinds of people in New York: Those that have an iPod, and those that want one"
- New York Post - 2003

alandail said:

I'm not saying macs are rubbish - they're not, if you want simplicity and don't want to mess around configuring stuff yourself. Bit like a modern car that is so complicated, if anything goes wrong you have to take it to a garage because you sure ain't gonna be able to fix it yourself.

I haven't used a mac for about 10 years - since System 7 I think - so I'm a bit out of date about them. There are certain programs I use that simply do not work on a mac so I gave macs up. Do they still generally only have one mouse button? That is so inefficient, I have a mouse with 3 buttons...

It always seems that Computer chips keep getting faster, but when they double in speed the things you do on the computer still seem to take about the same time...

I built my own pc up by buying the components seperately and putting it together - I know where every nut and bolt goes - which was much cheaper than buying a ready-made system. If anything wears out, or I want to update something, I just buy it seperately and screw it in - it's as fast as I need it to be. That's one of the advantages over macs, being able to mess around with components.

I don't use intel chips, I use Athlon which are a third the price and just as good.

alandail said:

sigh

We've been looking at vids of how much faster Macs are since ... well, since forever ... and never ever has it been true, PCs have always been a lot faster for the same money or less. It's just the same old boring tune Apple likes to sing, at the end of the day its all marketing nonsense. And yeah, everybody who works with both Macs and PCs on a daily basis knows this to be true.

About the XBOX 2 using the PowerPC chips, that has nothing to do with how fast or cheap/expensive they are... it has to do with MS trying to make it a lot harder for people to hack into their next xbox. Because the xbox 1 was basically just a PC in a smaller box, world+dog was able to hack into it and write software for it... Because almost no one uses the PowerPC architecture MS is hoping that that will at least slow down the hacking of their next console. MS will not include a harddisc in the next xbox for this very same reason.
[This message was edited Sun Mar 7 13:43:58 2004 by m3taverse]

m3taverse said:

Did you not look at the video or look into what the video was about at all? Virginia Tech wanted to build an inexpensive supercomputer. They looked into building one out of various Intel based computers, which is common in the supercomputer world. They were still looking for a solution when the PowerMac G5 came out - they looked at the specs and decided to go with them for their supercomputer. 1100 PowerMac G5s, 2200 processers. Built the whole thing for $5.7 million - half the cost they were quoted from Dell - discounted price from Dell, just stock systems with no discount from Apple. Nobody ever built a supercomputer out of Macintoshes before. They ended up with the 3rd fasted supercomputer in the world. faster and far less expensive than the 2900 processer Dell based system at #4. Faster and far less expensive than the Itanium2 based system at #5. In fact, it was by far the cheapest super computer even close to the top 10. The #2 system cost $200 million, the #1 system costs $350 million.

Here's the other thing - every single Intel based super computer uses Linux instead of Windows because Windows is too slow. The Virginia Tech system uses MacOS X.

http://www.top500.org/lis...1/top5.php

metalorange said:

Assuming it is USB based, take your mouse and plug it into a mac and it'll just work. I have a two button track ball myself. Right click to get contextual menus.

m3taverse said:

YOu're quite mistaken about this. It has everythign to do with price/performance and to do with keeping up with Nintendo - who also is going the PowerPC G5 route. It's no harder to put Linux on a PowerPC than it is to put it on an Intel based system, so that is totally irrelevant to the choice of processors. It may be a factor in taking out the hard disk. Reducing cost is probably as much of a factor there.

IBM is kicking Intel's butt these days in price/performance.

kawikabot said:

Mac users scare me. They seem to become hyperactive salespeople that work for free.

Tom said:

Yes, but it's rewarding to know we're fighting the good fight.

kdavis said:

Untill Apple starts doing the same as Microsoft.

Abrazo said:

Yes, but when WE rule the world, it'll be a much more stylish place. And we'll have coolers stocked with fruit juice everywhere!

I use both.
The MAC never lets me down.
The PC? (we're not talking right now)

Have you ever noticed that apple never really pushes virus protection software like mircosoft?
I wonder why? Perhaps most viruses out there are designed to target the operating system of the majority. For this reason alone, I'm glad apple is has the lesser market share. Keeps us out of the line of fire, so to speak.

I've updated that XP machine of mine with all the virus protection crap out there and something always seems to filter in about every 6 months. It's never really been a concern with the MAC.

I'm happy with whatever gets the job done. The flat screen I have for the MAC is way better on my eyes, I'll tell you that. The dual processor is a MUST now for video processing in my line of work.

I know you can build a PC to do just about whatever, but whatever. I got it already when I opened the box of my MAC. From what I understand, I might not like my MAC so much if I were into video games, but I never really have been. But it's the STANDARDS that apple has set that makes me keep coming back.

Current Standards
UNIX based platform (huge difference)
Firewire and USB ports (nothing else needed)
Dual processors (cuts my graphic intensive day 75%)
i-life (all i can say is WOW! why hasn't it always been like this? It just makes too much sence)
HD Displays (apple doesn't make tube monitors anymore. They should be banned anyway, they are too harsh on the eyes. I have little to no headaches now at the end of a long day)


...
[This message was edited Wed Mar 10 9:20:06 2004 by yamomma]

Abrazo said:

Apple will never do the same as micorsoft - microsoft is about copying others innovations, offering mediocre products, using illegal business practices to drive innovators out of business.

Apple is about innovation and going the extra step to build something the right way.

The two companies are night and day. It is unbelievable the unethical and illegal things Microsoft has done over the years. Things that hurt productivity and innovation. Microsoft has never innovated anything as far as I can tell.

Their first product, basic, was such a blatant rip-off of a public domain basic that it even shared the same obscure bugs.

Microsoft's first operating system was first sold to IBM and then afterwards acquired from the actual developer.

When the Macintosh was released, Microsoft developed a lousy port of their basic to the Mac. At the same time, Apple developed a far superior and very innovative version of Basic for the Mac - called MacBasic. This would have threatened Microsofts domination of the basic market, so Microsoft blackmailed Apple - thrteatening to cancel the license for their Apple ][+ basic if Apple released MacBasic. Thus MacBasic was never released. One of many examples of innovation directly killed by microsoft's greed.

Microsoft killed Netscape by making it impossible for them to compete. First Microsoft gave away the browser, then they bundled it with the OS, then they prevented computer companies from bundling Netscape, etc., etc. They even required Apple to bundle IE for the mac in exchange for Microsoft developing future versions of Office for the Mac. The result is Netscape is irrelevant and to get the next version of IE, you have to buy the next version of Windows. When they were competing for the market, they developed it for everything, including the mac. Now that they are dominant, there's only one expensive way to get it. And they put code in their web servers that intentionally slow down competing browsers.

The list just goes on and on.

Oh yeah, the ipod.

Don't have one.
Looks cool.
Just haven't had the need for it yet, I suppose.

I work with audio, video and graphics all day for 10-16 hours. I do have i-tunes, so I get the idea and have almost my entire CD collection imported. I live 5 min away from my job so I'm never really away for long periods from either my headphones/sound sticks on my G-4 or home stereo.

Maybe one day when I take up jogging again!

Been working on both Macs & PCs for quite a long time. They're both good in their own right in my opinion.

IPODS

I'm thinking about buying one (within the next week) but I was told that the only way to get my music onto it is through a software. ITunes and/or Music Match.

WTF is that all about? I mean at the same time I'm reading about you have to use software to put MP3s onto the thing, people also say they use it as a hard drive and copy any files onto it.

I really just want to drag and drop my music in the organizational structure it is (folders. sub-folders) and have no desire to run it all through some software and reorganize 20 gigs of music.

I'm really confused and it's holding up my purchase.

IPOD freaks have any info??

yamomma said:

Well, there *are* CRT displays in the eMac, but those are the only ones still hangin' around.

Doozer said:

I thought of those right after i posted that.
Good catch. You know your mac store. Those are the cheap ones for schools to by in bulk right?