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Discover New Music

  • Spanks for the Memories

    • 8 out of 10
    • Asylum Street Spankers
    • The Asylum Street Spankers are...well...The Spankers. Hailing from Austin, where I saw them live dozens of times, the band played entirely acousti

  • War of the Worlds

    • 10 out of 10
    • Jeff Wayne
    • With the new movie adaptation of H.G Wells' classic Sci Fi invasion tale, War of the Worlds, currently on theater screens everywhere, there's new interest in Jeff Wayne's rock opera version, and it is
  • The Last 5 Years (2002 Off-Broadway Cast)

    • 10 out of 10
    • Jason Robert Brown
    • The soundtrack to this moving off-broadway musical is heart moving. The lyrics follow a couple in a relationship for five years, one point of view going forward in time, and the other tracing time fr
  • Velocifero

    • 6 out of 10
    • Ladytron
    • "Back to the future" isn't the right turn of phrase for Ladytron's newest album,

  • Rift

    • 8 out of 10
    • Phish
    • This quasi-concept album (the only of its kind) from these Vermonters finally showcased their ability to convey a message with a studio album, whereas previously they only succeeded in doing so live.

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News

Washington Post Editorial: iPod is Flash-in-the-Pan Bling, a Fad

iPod FUD appears to be headed higher, even after Apple turned in another record year of sales of the digital media device. The most recent example is an editorial -- "Van Halen Fell Silent On Top of the World" -- that was published by The Washington Post on Sunday, October 22nd, 2006. In it, mountaineer Neal Mueller slams the iPod as being high-maintenance, a fad, bling, conspicuous gadget consumption, and the digital media device equivalent of Paris Hilton.

At the heart of Mr. Mueller's criticism is his experience with a hard drive based 30GB iPod on Mount Everest , where he said the device failed. Instead, he prefers the Flash memory-based MuVo series from Creative, which he said cranked out Van Halen on the top of Mount Everest just fine. Mr. Mueller did not note in his editorial -- violating standard full-disclosure practices -- however, that Creative is listed as a "supporter" of his expeditions, having given his team Creative-branded digital media devices (as noted in the comments at the Post).

"The MuVo is an open system and can accept music from a variety of sources," wrote Mr. Mueller. "By comparison, iPods live in their own little world. They only work with custom cords and other special accessories. They only work with their own music format. Basically, the iPod perpetuates its own exclusive clique."

As most iPod owners know, of course, Apple's digital media device supports AAC (an open standard), Protected AAC (AAC encumbered by Apple's DRM), MP3 (an open standard), MP3 VBR (an open standard), Audible (owned by Audible.com), Apple Lossless (Apple's proprietary lossless format), AIFF (an open standard) and WAV (an open standard).

The MuVo, on the other hand, supports only, "MPEG Audio Layer 3 (MP3) and Windows Media Audio (WMA) with DRM [(Microsoft's proprietary format)]", according to Creative's Web site.


Apple's iPod

Creative's MuVo

Starting from this incorrect stance, Mr. Mueller said, "I'd go as far as to say I think Paris Hilton is to Hollywood what the iPod is to portable music players. Both are radiant, glossy and coveted, and like any flash-in-the-pan they are overpriced and cantankerous."

He added, "When a device is priced at a considerable premium and derives the majority of its sales from chic mystique or verve, I say it's a fad. My climbing friends agree, making our team 100 percent anti-iPod. Buying an iPod for its musical value is like buying a BMW for its high-speed cornering. The iPod is conspicuous gadget consumption. It's bling."

Mr. Mueller didn't support his contention that the iPod's popularity is due only to its hype (our characterization of the above quote) with any facts, but he did note that the iPod was both beautiful and easy to use.

The most insidious of Mr. Mueller's comments uses a clever bit of misdirection by comparing the cost of contemporary iPod (he quoted it as US$230) to the cost of the original Sony Walkman in the early 1980s (he quoted that as $80). While he didn't offer a specific analysis of that comparison, he suggested that iPod customers are perhaps too obsessed with portable music.

We call that comparison misdirection because of its absurdity.

  1. The Walkman played cassette tapes, while the iPod is a handheld computer -- complete with a hard drive and display. The iPod can carry thousands of tunes, and also has substantially higher sound fidelity, due in part to its digital vs. cassette source and improvements in everything from ampliefier technology to headphone/earphone technology. Comparing the two is not reasonable due to the technology limitations of the Walkman's era, but if one insists on doing so, the iPod and any other modern device wins in a landslide.
  2. Comparing a modern price to an historical price without adjusting for inflation is either an act of remarkable ignorance or intended misdirection. For those keeping score at home, the Minneapolis Federal Bank's inflation calculator said that $80 in 1980 terms -- the year the Walkman was introduced -- is the equivalent to $196.60 in 2006. If you want to compare the $196.60 price tag of the Walkman to that of a 30 GB iPod, note the issues we pointed out in point number 1.

The points that Mr. Mueller might have relied more heavily on are those relating to his activity, mountain climbing. Creative's MuVo uses disposable batteries, making recharging his music player on a mountain an issue of hauling around batteries. Of course, there are external battery packs for iPod, making this issue moot.

In addition, the smaller size and Flash memory aspects of the MuVo appear to be a better fit for mountain climbing than the full sized, 30 GB iPod, but then that applies to Apple's iPod shuffle and nano product lines. The same could be said for the metal case of the current nano, which resists scratching like Creative's device.

In other words, none of Mr. Mueller's criticisms hold any water, except for the subjective opinions he espoused characterizing iPod as bling, etc. Users of Apple's other iconic product line, the Macintosh personal computer, have long been used to such ignorant and unfounded criticisms being lobbed at their preferred choice, and we find it interesting that iPod is beginning to attract the same kinds of attention.

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