The occasional scrivener

iPod thoughts, plus something about converged devices

Russ slams the iPod nano, and Frank disagrees.

As an iPod owner of just a few days, I can finally buy the hype. The device is cool! I love the storage space — no more fiddling around with 256M when you have 6G. The podcast support rocks. (I’ve started to listen to podcasts too, another thing I’ll have to eat humble pie for…) Having a single device that does one thing well — play audio — is really nice.

Itunes sucks, but that’s another matter…

I’ve been using phones with mp3 players since at least 2001, when I got a Siemens SL45. After that, I’ve used the taco as a music phone. And sure, it works, but it doesn’t work as well as an iPod. And if you factor in the cost of the phone and the likely cost of a memory card that can carry enough songs to be competitive with even a small iPod, you’re looking at serious bucks.

A young person in the EU might have a basic phone for voice and SMS, either one they’ve bought themselves or got as a present. An iPod (or other music player) makes a lot of sense in that it’s something you can wish for as a present or save up to. Asking for a hugely expensive phone is not.

Many people in Sweden get mobiles from work. This is something you need to carry anyway, and often it’s some boring model that doesn’t cost a lot. Getting a dedicated music player for your own money makes a lot of sense then too.

Basically, I see phones and PDAs converging. But there’s still a future for a good music playing device like the iPod.

Posted at 16:58, in the comm » mobile category. Comments [0]
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