I'm pretty much a "wait & see" type. I'm skeptical, and don't really like to take everything at face value. Lord knows that I've bought enough software at face value only to get burned...
So I've wanted an MP3 player for a long time, but haven't been satisfied with anything on the market. They either were too big, or had too little storage, or just plain had something that I didn't like.
But finally, the iPod Nano looked like something that I might like. And so far, so good.
The earbuds are horrendous. But that's just because I don't like my sound to become painful after a couple hours. I never planned on using them anyways as I've got a pair of headphones that outclass the earbuds by miles, with big honking 5" ear cups that completely engulf my ears. I tried listening to them for a bit, then switched to my headphones and there was just no comparison. But then that should be obvious. And I don't mind walking around looking like a wierdo as long as my sound is better than yours :)
The display has that typical Apple feel to it, which is a nice change from the hard, cold look that you get on Windows. It's smooth and fluid, making it very easy to look at. The fonts are natural. I somehow got it into Greek when I first bought it as I wasn't paying attention when talking to someone. Even Greek looks good! It wasn't too hard to get back into English, though it would have been nicer if I had have put it in Korean instead because then I'd at least be able to read it.
But it's multi-lingual out of the box, which is very nice. That's what all software should be, especially operating systems. (Bill, you listening?)
So far I haven't had a hard time with iTunes and it let me sync the music off of my dev box onto the iPod Nano very easily. We'll see what happens once I try in on my other work box with some different music. Ideally I'd like to see it not overwrite everything like it did before... Hopefully Apple has come to understand that some people need more than one computer... Jury's out on that one...
It doesn't support WMA files, which I wish it would because WMA audio compression is really good. But iTunes does offer the opportunity to convert them to AAC.
During the sync process, it did a fantastic job of getting the names of artists and songs right. I expect that was mostly from tags, but didn't look into it very far. It even list composers, so I'm impressed there.
The documentation was poor. Very poor. Abysmal. Worse than that even. It is soooo bad... that it makes the GDT documentation look good! Just in case you don't know, the GDT help menu has 2 help choices:
- The buttons do what they say they do :-)
- Real Help
And the real help basically tells you what the buttons do... It has a few tips, but it's pretty weak. I've written manuals hundreds of pages long, and the GDT help is not my best work.
So yeah, the iPod docs are pretty bad.
I also bought a new mouse today - incidentally, a Microsoft mouse. Documentation is in 8 languages and goes to page 157. It has some meat in it. For a mouse! Apple really dropped the ball with the documentation for the iPod.
But, enough of that - time for reasons to finally get it...
Truth be told, I don't need it, but I've got a good excuse to get it anyways!
I've received requests to include support for iPod / iTunes music in GDT. Now, it's going to cost me a very pretty penny just to sign the license agreement for AAC (the type of audio compression that the iPod and iTunes use) before I even pay a penny of royalties for it. So I'd better get used to it, right? And I'll need something to rip to that format to test, right? Well, there's no better way than to simply get an iPod then, right?
Ok. It's weak. But it works for me anyways. I just keep telling myself, "Your GDT users will love you when you finally support iPod / iTunes AAC/MP4 files."
Anyways, so far, so good. Let's hope it doesn't disappoint... And let's hope that I don't disappoint with AAC support for GDT =)
Cheers,
Renegade