Anyone ditching their I-Pods?

[bejiita]

Is anyone going to ditch their I-Pods for this?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/32469.html

Or do I just sit back and wait for Sony to come out with their version.

[Caustic Saint]

That's pretty damned spiffy looking. I just picked up a Riovolt CD/MP3 player, and am pretty happy with it. It's not tiny, and doesn't hold a ton of music, but it's working well and the price ($40) was too good to pass up.

[Taro Toporific]

Is anyone going to ditch their I-Pods for this?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/32469.html

Or do I just sit back and wait for Sony to come out with their version.

In one word: DRM.*

*Quoting theRegister article:
"The device will play MP3s, but Toshiba is touting its support for Microsoft's Windows Media Player 9 format, which presumably means its DRM'd to the hilt."

[cstaylor]

In another two words: crappy software. iTunes is awesome... MMP isn't bad, but it's not as easy to use.

[Steve Bildermann]

Joey Ito's view on DRM and Itunes

The sucking sound of DRM - iTunes 4

Also I thought somebody told me Itunes was not available from Japan or something like that.

[Caustic Saint]

Joey Ito's view on DRM and Itunes

The sucking sound of DRM - iTunes 4.

Part of the trick with iTunes 4 is not to upgrade to 4.01. The update from 4.0 to 4.01 removes the ability to stream your collection over the net. I've stuck with 4.0 and haven't had any problems with it. I'm not using the store though, so I'm not sure if there are any other issues I'm not aware of.

[Taro Toporific]

Joey Ito's view on DRM and Itunes

The sucking sound of DRM - iTunes 4.

Sometimes I feel like removing iTunes 4 and go back to iTunes 3.x. It is not that iTunes 4 does not work, I just hate any DRM (digital rights management) issues with my files.

Right now, every morning I use Wiretap freeware to record NPR or BBC radio off the Internet and load it into my iPod to listen on the train. The darn DRM prevents recording directly in MP3...so first I record into digital .aiff format and then convert to MP3. Arrrrrg.

Also I thought somebody told me Itunes was not available from Japan or something like that.

There's no problem with ripped MP3s; it's iTunes downloads for 99 cent a song have weak DRM. The main problem is a billing issue. With an American-issued credit card it's possible. At the moment Apple Japan is not offering the legal song download service until the Windows version comes out in late Sept.

[Caustic Saint]

That Wiretap program looks pretty cool. Of course, it requires 10.2. I never upgraded, and have been waiting for 10.3 to come out. Taro, do you know if OS versions purchased overseas can install in English? I'll be back in Korea by the time Panther finally ships, and would much rather buy it locally than deal with getting it sent from the US.

[cstaylor]

Yes, they can install in English. You have the choice at the beginning of the install to choose your primary language.

[AssKissinger]

Caustic Saint,

That thing is such a steal for 40 bucks. Next time I'm back in America I'll have to look into getting something like that (even though I already have three walkmans). The ad you gave the link to says:

This RioVolt portable player lets you play up to 24 hours of your favorite tunes on a single CD.

What kind of cd is that? Do you have to buy special cds to get that music on one?

[vvx]

Assuming it's like the cd-mp3 player I have, it just plays a regular cd-r with mp3 files burned to it. So, standard cdr. 24 hours? That would be fairly low bitrate.. 700mb is enough for a good deal of audio anyway (just look at those crappy 32 and 64mb mp3 players that you can still find in stores for $99!)

[Taro Toporific]

[Steve Bildermann]

People are paying for songs on the iTunes Music Store because they think it's a good way to support musicians. But by giving musicians just a few cents from each sale, iTunes destroys a huge opportunity. Instead of creating a system that gets 100% of fans' money directly to artists-- finally possible with the internet-- iTunes takes a big step backwards. Apple calls iTunes "revolutionary" but really they're just letting record companies force the same exploitive and unfair business model onto a new medium.

iTunes. Pretty outside, ugly inside.

Steve Jobs says the Music Store is "revolutionizing music." What an impoverished imagination he has. An expensive jukebox and a long-playing walkman aren't revolutionary. A revolution in music will be when people stop buying music and start living it: when 25 cent donations support more musicians than CDs ever did, when payola's dead and radio is commercial-free all day long, when every American highschool has a recording studio just cause they're that cheap to set up. This can all happen right now.

[Caustic Saint]

The Rio was actually a lucky find. I'd checked out MP3/CDs all over town this past Saturday, but didn't find any I wanted to get right then. Circuit City had the Rio for $60 in the store. A check online Sunday morning showed the $40 deal. It's an online-only deal, but you can order online and pick it up in the store. How could I not take advantage of that?

AssKissinger, you just burn a reguar CD with whatever MP3s or WMAs you want. To get 24 hours on one disc, they'd have to be lower bitrate (like vvx said), and you'd lose some audio quality. Most of mine are 160 or 192kbps MP3s, and I got 151 songs on a 700MB CDR (with a little space leftover). That got me about 11-12 hours of tunes.

Taro, I checked some of the Apple Korea sites. OSX 10.2 goes for about $145, so I expect 10.3 will be comparable. Thankfully, they don't have the variety of versions Japan does - just OSX and X Server. I've bene to 3 different Apple stores in Seoul, but they were just smaller booth-style ones at the electronics markets. I'll have to check out the one at COEX, since that's the über-upscale mall in Seoul. It's smart for them to put one in Gangnam too, as that's the richest neighborhood in Seoul.

[Alcazar]

[Caustic Saint]

Wow, those Macs in Japan are cheaper than what they cost in Australia! I'll have to get one to use when I'm in Japan so I can stay connected. How could I be in Japan and then be cut off from email and FG for info when I need it the most?!

Ummm. Those prices are for the operating system alone, not a whole computer.

[Alcazar]

Ummm. Those prices are for the operating system alone, not a whole computer.

Well yes I know that, I do know that new computers would not cost just 22,800yen. From that link I went to the apple store Japan where I had never seen how cheap macs were in Japan compared to Australia.
http://store.apple.com/0120-APPLE-1/WebObjects/japanstore.woa/80401/wo/Io56PKyU0J783gTyl562oNunSsK/1.0.7.1.0.5.19.1.1.19.3.1.1.0?47,9

That is about A$1,600. In Australia the same computer costs A$300 more at A$1,899.

http://store.apple.com/133-622/WebObjects/australiastore.woa/80505/wo/qt57uBCrDilH2iNM7Q42PSVYSyQ/1.0.7.1.0.5.19.1.1.19.3.1.1.0?48,8

Alcazar

[Big Booger]

DRM defeat is a simple cable connection from line out to line in, and then a nice recording software.. hehehehe

There will be slight quality degredation, but nothing too overt.