iPod too hard to use?
Some music fans complain they have to upgrade their computer to get the iPod to work. Others report spending hours or even weeks transferring just a few tracks from their CD collection to the new player.
Apparently there’s a whole industry developing to help people fill their ipods with music.
Ever since i first laid my hands on an ipod i considered its dependence on a personal computer its greatest weakness. Of course it doesn’t bother me, i’ve abandoned hardcopies of my music a long time ago, but most people don’t enjoy using their computers, some are even afraid of it. Making a portable audio player depending on a computer fits right into apples “digital hub” strategy, but considering the heritage of portable audio players it’s a novelty. The question is, will people adjust to this novelty?
Something comparable happened in the world of digital cameras: in the beginning you needed access to a pc to get to your photos. Perhaps my memory deceives me, but i think a few years back when digital cameras were still a novelty, it wasn’t trivial to find a camera shop developing photos from digital sources. Nowadays there are plenty of photo printers available that cut out the middleman (i.e. the pc) with integrated memory card readers and lcd displays. Heck, there are even photo printers with bluetooth to allow direct printing from your camphone. Sure, you don’t get the advantages of easy online image sharing or organizing your huge picture collection with something as neat as iphoto, but some people don’t want that anyway.
The same goes for the ipod and itunes. The two are a match made in heaven, both excellent all by themselves, but even better when paired. But lots of people don’t like their computers and aren’t willing to pass control over their music collection to these vile machines. Just as the mc walkman and the md walkman, the ipod should be capable of music recording, at least line in, but something more efficient would be even better and shouldn’t be impossible. Let those who are comfortable with their pcs make them their digital hub, but also make life easier for those who don’t wanna adjust to the new way of consuming music.
P.s.
“The irony is the people who can use it - the tecchies - are not in themselves very fashionable. [...]“
Somewhat offending, isn’t it?