# Its a walkman for christ sakes **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 26, 2005, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-walkman-for-christ-sakes/296341 "2005-03-26T09:31:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f19dbf/32.png) [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Only_Mostly_Dead)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-walkman-for-christ-sakes/296341/41 "2005-03-30T14:50:54Z")
> [@InvisibleWombat](#): > > If a good product becomes trendy, that doesn’t make it a bad product. > > I had my iPod in my car the other day (I have an FM transmitter on it), and made a stop. I forgot that it was the iPod and not the radio, and didn’t turn it off. I got back in and continued on my way. The iPod was still playing through the radio. I thought, “Hey, this is one of my favorite songs!” The next song came on, and it was an old favorite I don’t hear very often. The next one was a song I really like. I was just thinking how much I loved this radio station when I remembered it was my iPod. I have 1,200 songs on it, and the list I was playing was called “Old Favorites,” which has about 150 songs. > > **That** is why I love the iPod. The fact that I use the part of the hard drive not occupied by music as a backup for my computer is just gravy. And this is something that can be done with virtually any other hard drive mp3 player. I can leave my Zen running while I hop into 7-11 for a slurpee and have the music right back once I get into my car (like you, with my FM transmitter). At best, the advantage of iPod over other players is the “smart playlist” as opposed to manually creating your playlists, but manual creation’s not a difficult thing. And it’s not that iPod is a bad product. It’s that there are many other brands that are also good products (for less money and/or with more features) that are completely overlooked by an average consumer because of iPod’s oversaturization. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-walkman-for-christ-sakes/296341/42 "2005-03-30T20:31:52Z")
Do you also get annoyed when people buy a Honda Accord instead of a Kia Optima or a Hyundai Sonata? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-walkman-for-christ-sakes/296341/43 "2005-03-30T22:45:56Z")
> [@Only Mostly Dead](#): > > And it’s not that iPod is a bad product. It’s that there are many other brands that are also good products… I guess I stopped writing before I made my actual point. When I bought the iPod, there were only a few choices. I looked them over, and picked the iPod because it was cross-platform (you could run it from Windows or Macintosh), and it had some other features that I really liked (smart playlists being one of them). Since then, a bunch of other MP3 players have been released. Some aren’t as good as the iPod. Some are probably better (I haven’t looked that closely). My iPod is still a good product, even though it’s trendy and other companies have good products, too. ---
**Author:** ![Idlewild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8491ac/32.png) [@Idlewild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idlewild)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-walkman-for-christ-sakes/296341/44 "2005-03-30T22:54:39Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > [For you,](http://www.decalgirl.com/browse.cfm/2,197.htm) **Idlewild.** 😉 Oooh! Nice link! Thanks 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-walkman-for-christ-sakes/296341/45 "2005-03-30T23:54:45Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > Well first, before we do that, we need to know what it is. 🙂 But, see, that’s the beauty of it. You can use it however you want, since it has no real meaning! ---
**Author:** ![Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f19dbf/32.png) [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Only_Mostly_Dead)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-walkman-for-christ-sakes/296341/46 "2005-03-31T04:46:39Z")
> [@InvisibleWombat](#): > > I guess I stopped writing before I made my actual point. When I bought the iPod, there were only a few choices. I looked them over, and picked the iPod because it was cross-platform (you could run it from Windows or Macintosh), and it had some other features that I really liked (smart playlists being one of them). > > Since then, a bunch of other MP3 players have been released. Some aren’t as good as the iPod. Some are probably better (I haven’t looked that closely). My iPod is still a good product, even though it’s trendy and other companies have good products, too. Good, fair deal. And I meant no offense. (how little like the pit this post feels) And I bought mine in the same situation. Two years ago, it was the iPod, Creative Zen, or Archos jukebox. Ruled out Archos (and good thing, considering how much they’ve done since), and as to iPod vs Zen, it was just different criteria: 1. Cost 2. to a significantly lesser degree, the brushed metal casing instead of glaring white. 3. Hi Opal! Perhaps I came across too glibly, which is par for the course here. If somebody researches well, and chooses the iPod over any other player based on features, usability, Mac compatibility, etc, more power to them. If they choose it because it’s cool, I’m giving them the same sideways look as ricers and girls in Ug boots. Yeah, I’m a jerk and will never accept “it’s cool” as a valid reason. Sue me. ---
**Author:** ![Quint](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/76d3ee/32.png) [@Quint](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quint)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-walkman-for-christ-sakes/296341/47 "2005-03-31T17:43:35Z")
> [@RobuSensei](#): > > I have an iPod, and when I don’t just have the whole thing set on shuffle, I pick and choose from 4.9 days worth of music, and I rarely set the thing on repeat one song/album. It’s a hell of a lot more convenient to carry my iPod around, instead of the 90-100 tapes or CDs it would take for the same amount of music. Wow. Those are some good fuckin’ batteries you got with that thing. Mine I have to recharge after about 3 hours, which is the equivalent of 2 cassettes. The iPod is a slick little device, but it ain’t the second coming. Hell, even the Segway is a more original and revolutionary product. Essentially is is just a Walkman, despite what the drooling fan-boys would have you think. The sound isn’t even that good. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-walkman-for-christ-sakes/296341/48 "2005-03-31T21:39:06Z")
> [@alaska56](#): > > In my mind most people with an Ipod problaly listen to only 10-20 songs on it with any frequency. About the quantity of a couple tapes or Cd’s Um, not sure where you’re getting this. My iPod (thank you, ebay) holds several days worth of music AND about 20 full length audiobooks and is just the niftiest thing since sliced bread. I have a cassette adaptor for using it in the van, and I just set it to shuffle or put on one of my playlists and poof–as others have said, I have an instant, custom radio station. Or I can listen to a book. Great for road trips. Why would I want to lug around a case of hundreds of CDs and then sort through them and constantly switch them out when I can just use an mp3 player? (I’m sure others do just as good a job as the iPod, btw.) ---
**Author:** ![RobuSensei](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/919ad9/32.png) [@RobuSensei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobuSensei)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-walkman-for-christ-sakes/296341/49 "2005-04-01T02:40:35Z")
> [@Quint](#): > > Wow. Those are some good fuckin’ batteries you got with that thing. Mine I have to recharge after about 3 hours, which is the equivalent of 2 cassettes. The iPod is a slick little device, but it ain’t the second coming. Hell, even the Segway is a more original and revolutionary product. Essentially is is just a Walkman, despite what the drooling fan-boys would have you think. The sound isn’t even that good. Interesting. You’ve taken what I’ve written and made some odd assumptions. Here, let me clarify for you: First, my iPod currently has 119 hours, 59 minutes, 34 seconds of music and audiobooks on it, but I never claimed that it could play all of that on one battery charge. My iPod (a 2nd gen. 10 gig model) still gives me about eight or nine hours of operation on one charge. I note in passing that you seem to have edited out the line where I referred to the iPod (or any other HD or Flash-based MP3 player). Hardly the line of a “drooling fan-boy.” Okay, so you say it’s essentially just a Walkman. I’ve heard many people say this, and my response is always the same: So what? Is that a bad thing? And finally, as for the sound quality, I rip my CDs at 128 kbps, and first thing I did when I got my iPod was ditch the Apple earbuds for better headphones. Sounds fine to me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-walkman-for-christ-sakes/296341.md?page=2)