Why do people buy iPods?

I use songbird with my iPod. Keeps apple software away from me, it’s free, open source, an there are extensions just like firefox.

I’ve only had iTunes on my computer once, to register my iPod.

What’s so bad about iTunes? It’s free, and its interface is the best I’ve used for managing large music collections.

BTW, iPods can easily load music from multiple computers or multiple accounts on the same computer: just check “Manually manage music.”

From what I know, people buy iPods for their ease of use, elegant design, peerless GUI, and simplicity.

It takes like two seconds to download iTunes, and then just do manually manage music. iTunes is really good at organization; I love it. I have songs from everyone I know’s notebooks. It doesn’t get any easier for me. Everyone at my school shares their iTunes library over the wireless network and that’s a sick feature for finding new music to buy.

If someone didn’t have an iPod, you could probably take the mp3 files from the iTunes Music folder and put it on their mp3 player too.

Download iTunes; it’s free, and awesome.

Is this a troll?

I bought my iPod for $50 from johnpowell. I would have downloaded iTunes if it wasn’t already loaded onto my computer because it’s flawlessly designed, well-integrated into my OS, and does everything I need it to do without giving me any hassle. I use Senuti to unlock my library/iPod when I need to share music.

I like using iTunes…it works well with my music collection and organizes it well. Some of my friends use other 3rd party programs to manage their iPod and that works well too.

I use 2 different computers to manage my music collection on my iPod and it works fine.

I was actually an “early adopter” iPod-wise, so I got one LONG before my friends got one. I like them because they are versatile, durable, song quality is good, and I like the design.

Every argument I’ve ever heard knocking the iPod is, one way or another, based on the assumption that everyone who buys one is a lemming with no personality who just wants to be hip like everyone else.

I’m assuming you’ve used one, but if you haven’t, then you’ll understand shortly after trying it out. People buy iPods because they are a very sound product. As everyone has been saying, the drawbacks people bring up when they want to attack the iPod (or the iPhone, or Macs, or basically anything Apple makes) aren’t even drawbacks.

Apple has just built a better mousetrap. Again.

^^I Fundamentally disagree with you, but I do not wish to thread jack.

My iPod allows up to 5 computers to sync with it. I got music and video fo days yo! iTunes let’s me sample new music and it suggests new music to me! iTunes also syncs my playlist to my iPhone no matter where I am at. iTunes also pays the artist money when things get downloaded. I know, I have music and video on there. What’s not to love?

Because iPods are awesome!!!

Lots of things require you to have particular software on your computer. Heck, even my computer itself requires drivers. If you want to use Quicken, you need Quicken software. If you want to use an iPod, you get iTunes. How is this evil?

-since ipods come with a disc to download itunes, i really never had a problem with having to use it.
-it organizes my music to my liking. i wasn’t looking for an ipod for the ~stylish~ element, i wanted an mp3 player that i knew had a decent reputation. i don’t know a lot about technology, and most people i know were happy with their purchase. not everyone buys an ipod just because of how trendy they are.
-they hold music. they do a fine job.
-also i don’t really feel the need to be able to play around with my music anywhere i go. i got my mp3 player because i wanted to be able to listen to music everywhere, not add music everywhere…

most people can’t try every mp3 player out there, so it’s not like they’re trying out the zen or whatever and then thinking, ‘well, this is cool and all, but it’s not NEARLY as stylish as the ipod…’

Sounds like you hit a nerve with these people. They are offended like they invented the iPod or something! I’m with you man, what a pain in the ass iTunes is. I have a Creative Zen Vision M and it is awesome. I love just going into explorer and dragging and dropping stuff onto my player or using the sync feature on Windows media player. If I did have an iPod, I would use software like the one Eambos mentioned.

I don’t even own an ipod.

@sooner: actually, he specifically asked for our opinions on this question. And we gave them without offense.

yeah I wasn’t offended either, I was just answering the question. I had two other mp3 players before my iPod, and drag and drop was cool I guess, but iTunes (and iPod) is better in my opinion. Everyone wouldn’t be getting them if they were difficult to use and hindered your music experience; technology is too expensive to do it simply because all the other kids are.

If the stuff @link said was true, then yeah iPods and iTunes would suck. But if you manually manage your music, you can get music from anywhere you want. It does require you to have iTunes, but like I said before you can download it in a minute.

Some would say none of us should really be going to our friends houses and putting their music that we didn’t buy on our mp3 players in the first place lol, which means drag and drop wouldn’t be that important anyways because you could just drag and drop into iTunes (then sync) and we’d all be in the same boat. But there have already been tons of Fluther questions about piracy so we don’t need to argue it here.

It works. Haven’t had much experience on Windows, but on the Mac, flawless.

I’ll tell you why I’ve bought a dozen in my life and given several, they’re popular. Not are they just popular, they work. Terrific sound quality, organization, UI design. If you question it, it’s probably not for you.

I bought my first iPod a few years ago, let me tell you, I was astonished. This led me to join the “Apple Cult”. Since then I’ve purchased several Macbook Pro’s and a few desktops.

Hey guys thanks for keeping it civil. A few of you said some interesting things, and if you don’t mind I’ll respond to some of them. Before I get to that though, let me just say that I am not attacking iPods, their stylish design, or their sound quality. I’m attacking the stipulation that comes with buying them.

PUPN TACO said that you can easily manage music from several different computers as long as you check “manually manage music” (meaning when iTunes asks you what to do). My question is, why isn’t this a given? If I want to manage my music however I want, why should I have to download iTunes, update it, and then pick this option, when other players just let you do w.e. you want from the beginning? Although these steps require very little work, other players don’t require you to take these steps.

NIKIPEDIA said “I use Senuti to unlock my library/iPod when I need to share music.” But why should you have to use anything to unlock your library, when other players let you share your music from the get-go? If you pay $200—$300 for something, shouldn’t you do w.e. you want with the music you put on it?

Anyway, sorry for ranting. Today’s portable players are basically a hard drive, an LCD screen and a headphone jack. Why should any company put a stipulation on how you use these components?

Oh and by the way, a few of you brought up the issue of sound quality. Let me just say that sound quality often depends on the kind of headphones you have, as well as the player. Apple’s stock headphones—well, never mind. LOL

-Link

Link- the reason iTunes does not allow you to sync or share with more than 5 computers is because people would not buy music. They would get it from a friend and that is stealing music. The artist does not make any money that way.

Because of shitty DRM.

@ link: if I wanted to use a screwdriver to hammer in a 10p nail, would it make sense to complain the nail doesn’t work the way I want it to?

The right tool for the right job. :)

“PUPN TACO said that you can easily manage music from several different computers as long as you check “manually manage music” (meaning when iTunes asks you what to do). My question is, why isn’t this a given?”

It’s not a given for the simple fact that most people are managing their library on one computer and they want their iPod to sync automatically. Therefore, automatic syncing is the default behavior. If that weren’t the default, then there would be millions of computer-illiterates asking the rest of us how to turn on automatic syncing.

Every time someone critises an Apple product a wave of people defend it like you insulted them. It’s like Apple has people brainwashed. And yet when Apple brings out it’s next gen product it critises it’s last model with the same things ppl were getting flammed for saying before. Eg. iPhone was heavily critised for using Edge instead of 3G and Apple fan-boys flamed about battery life etc. and that it wasn’t much slower. Then iPhone 3G came out and Steve Jobs showed how aweful and slow edge is in comparison to 3G and all the same fan-boys agree edge was junk and 3G is king!?

I agree with the poster – there are some issues with the ipods around the way it tries to stop piracy. It is geared towards protecting Apples digital music sales more than user needs. So it tries to force you to use iTunes so it can push the iTunes store on you. It also restricts you from syncing files with multiple computers so I can’t add 10 albums I have on my desktop, 10 albums from my work computer, a few tracks from a friend and then the bulk of my collection from my desktop at home as it only allows 1 computer/library at a time. There are ways of hacking this but with the iPhone it’s not as simple as there are regular firmware updates. With Creative not having a music store to protect they making as simple as plug in, drag and drop and don’t restrict you.

@kullervo: much of what you stated simply isn’t true. For the sake of accuracy:

• Links to the iTunes Store can be turned off

• You can add music from an infinite number of computers simply by checking “manually manage music”

• You’re never forced to buy music from the iTunes Store

@ PUPN TACO

You’re never forced to buy music from the iTunes store, but you’re forced to use iTunes to manage your music. This is simply not a good thing. If you buy any MP3 like product, you should use whatever software solution you want, or drag and drop you music. For a company to say “here buy our product, and oh, by the way you have to use our software too” is not cool, and people shouldn’t be okay with it. Consumers should demand better, especially with all the other options out there.

Was it Bill Gates that said consumers don’t want options, they want to be told what to do? I forget.

If you could drag & drop mp3s onto the iPod, then would it be a good product in your opinion?

@Link and kullervo
You don’t have to use iTunes to use an iPod. There are plenty of other options.

@PupnTaco and Aidje
I never said there was no alternative to iTunes but the average user would have no idea there is any other choice and with the new genius feature you have targetted advertising for Apple iTunes music store products right along with the songs you are playing. It’s worse than Internet Explorer being bundled with windows in that rather than having it work without iTunes but iTunes being used on the strength of it being a good piece of software it is a requirement to activate and then manage your music (although there are alterntives I am not sure if they can activate my iPhone and so I’d still need to at least start with iTunes)

I will try the “manage music manually” but I doubt it gives me the freedom of other mp3 players. I’ve do know how I’d be able to copy my music off my mp3 player onto my work computer or from my desktop to my mp3 player then on to my laptop, but I’m guessing some 3rd party software or hack might be able to do it. Again another MP3 player would make this simple right out of the box with drag and drop and not requiring special software.

I’m not saying iTunes isn’t a good piece of software or that the iPod isn’t a nice mp3 player but the quality/features of the product in now way matches it’s success. The success is more marketing than anything else. You could release a 3 year old mp3 player from creative labs and stick an apple logo on it get Steve jobs to do a keynote on it, put out a bunch of ads with cool music that don’t really show the product it would sell 10x more than the latest generation creative player.

Anyway I have and use iTunes and an iPhone so it’s not like I don’t use it but I probably will be moving to an Nvidia phone next and then I am not sure if I’ll keep iTunes.

Despite the fact that Apple forces iTunes on the user (remarkably people don’t see the wrong in this) I think apple products are good products; but they just aren’t the best products out there. What they do is advertise the best. By far. So kudos to Apple for that.

Anyway, let’s end this thread now. We had a good discussion. Now let’s discuss Apple’s crummy laptops. Just kidding, just kidding.

-Link

A non removable battery!?! Are you kidding me!

@kullervo
If you’re just talking about the average user, the fact of the matter is that most people don’t want the best product. There is a very large number of people who simply want something that works and something that is ubiquitous. Power users will know that they can use alternatives—and they will also know how to get more out of the default software.

I’m not really sure what you’re talking about concerning activation (for the iPod), since I’ve never felt compelled to use alternative software (since switching to Mac and subsequently obtaining my first [and, so far, only] iPod as a gift). As for the iPhone, I wouldn’t expect there to be alternative ways to activate it, since it’s tied to a network (which isn’t unusual for a phone). Unless you want to jailbreak it and whatnot, but I don’t know much about that.

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@Link
Again: Apple does not force iTunes on the user. What you’re saying is simply not true.

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My only real gripe with iTunes/iPod is the lack of support for more varied codecs. I eventually overcame that and embraced the product for what it is: a relatively simple, self-contained solution that can do most of what I want and integrates well with the rest of my system.

I bought my iPod because I had already uploaded my CD collection onto iTunes, as my friends bragged about its friendly interface. After browsing reviews on the best MP3 players, I discovered that none of them were compatible with iTunes. As I’m not terribly tech-smart, I bought an iPod.

It is nice to see this post, I have had a Creative Zen, a phillips, a Zune and an Archos. Everyone of them was much more user friendly than the Ipod. And with the exception of the Zen all offered much more in versatility and quality when it came to creating quick playlists and shuffle options. Any mp3/video player for $100.00 will smoke an Ipod in ease of use and versatility anyday. I just fought with an issue of not being able to download anything on the touch because it would not let me accept the new terms and conditions and searching on the internet gave me no help. It turned out that the Ipod had the wrong date set in it. Having the wrong date rendered it useless. What does the date have to do with an mp3 player. Anyway, I continue to hate the Ipod and have never been given a reason to change my mind!

I don’t hate iPods, but I don’t think it’s a superior product. iTunes in my experience is easy, but not easier than just plugging in, say, a Zen player dragging the music from a folder on your computer into the player, and moving on with your life. No nonsense. Also, a user here said there are iTunes does not force iTunes on the user, which I guess is true, though I haven’t figured out what else I can use, but Apple definitely wants you using iTunes and doesn’t make it easy to use alternative software.

Where Apple wins is in their marketing. In my opninion they market their products better than other companies. The interesting thing to me is that they market basic features—features that are also offered on competing products. You can’t blame ‘em for that though. You have to imagine that other companies have the money to market their products just as well, but they don’t. If these other companies are incapable of putting together a good marketting compaign for their products, then they deserve to be behind Apple.

Also, I’m glad this post has been going on for as long as it has. Let’s keep it going.