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Monday August 30, 2004
iPod Nation
My wife just bought me an iPod -- the icon of modern times, in many respects. This little box is a beautiful piece of engineering, and seems nearly ubiquitous around San Francisco. My 500 or so CDs are looking increasingly dated (much as my iPod will, no doubt, look one day) -- and are listened to with less and less frequency (though our road trip this summer put me back in touch with many of my CDs). But, all has not been right with my entry into the iPod masses. You see, there was some kind of funky reverb whenever I listened to the music. Almost like it was out of phase. After testing it with 3 different headphones I decided it must be a hardware problem. Given that I live 3 blocks from an Apple store, I figured that was the place to go (especially since that's where my wife bought it). For those who have never been to an Apple store, they have what's called the "Genius Bar" -- literally a bar where a group of knowledgeable Apple geeks hang out and answer questions. If you just walk into an Apple store (well, at least the one in San Francisco) you will likely wait 30 minutes to talk to a Genius. Thankfully, Apple has put together an online reservation system that lets you get a spot in line from anywhere. I was able to make an appointment from home, then wander down there about 20 minutes later and waited only 5 minutes. Turns out it was a software issue, which I must say surprised me. The fix was reinstalling the software on the iPod (since it has a harddrive, it's not like upgrading firmware -- you basically reinstall the operating system on the thing), which the Genius who helped me did for me at no charge. All in all, what seemed like it was going to be a very negative experience (nasty distortion of my music) turned into an experience that deepens my loyalty to Apple. Since I've recently made my PowerBook my primary computer, I guess I'm now an "Apple person" -- something I have not been for many years. [Back to ChangeMedia.org] COMMENTS ARE DISABLED DUE TO EVER-INCREASING COMMENT SPAM Comments:
August 31, 2004 19:01 GMT
Question--is an ipod a single flash drive or does it have moving parts? i'd always thought that the reason to get an ipod is its memory and the reason to get one of the smaller mp3 players is that they're one piece internally, which means that you can shake them up and they won't break, but i was told differently the other night by a proud ipod owner. what's the deal?
BTW--It's cool that you just started at Berkley. It's very likely that Tracy will join you in the Fall, albeit in a different program. by Paul S Hayes (phayes@sullcrom.com)
August 31, 2004 19:19 GMT
Question--is an ipod a single flash drive or does it have moving parts? i'd always thought that the reason to get an ipod is its memory and the reason to get one of the smaller mp3 players is that they're one piece internally, which means that you can shake them up and they won't break, but i was told differently the other night by a proud ipod owner. what's the deal?
BTW--It's cool that you just started at Berkley. It's very likely that Tracy will join you in the Fall, albeit in a different program. by Paul S Hayes (phayes@sullcrom.com)
August 31, 2004 20:51 GMT
iPod has moving parts -- and actual hard-drive. You can hear it spin up when you turn it on.
I can't really speak to other players -- I bet the ones with only a few MB of storage are just flash cards (and many now have removable storage, like Sony). I think the Dell has a harddrive in it, but I don't even know why I think that. by Nathan Dintenfass (nathan@NOSPAMchangemedia.com)
September 26, 2004 17:43 GMT
I have to second the service at Apple. My iPod died and I went into an Apple store and they gave me a new one. The whole process took about 10 min.
by Gary (gary@arndt.com)
July 12, 2005 10:00 GMT
i-d3e53077eaf6a37c79b4ea6e2d3ba651-i Very good work, nice webpage.
by Iverson Graham (jasondiedericks509@bellnet.ca) ChangeMedia is run by Nathan Dintenfass and Ben Archibald Contributors include Kieran Ringgenberg and Christina Sabee. |