Seriously, Apple really has me under its thumb. I was doing just fine and dandy and then they come along and mess with my reality, leaving me completely flustered with my options. I'm writing this because Dave evidently counts on me to give him the Apple scoop. I'm sure he's caught the news too, but for those who could care less, here's my lowdown on the Apple updates.
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So I'm actually happy that the Nano has video capability, making it one of the first portable and affordable video players. It's not the first, and not the cheapest personal media player out there, but anyone who has an iPod knows iPod is really just half of the equation - iTunes is the other half. It makes getting music, organizing it, transferring it, and getting media for it a cinch. And unlike most other digital jukeboxes, it evolves over time.
The Classic iPod is now at an obscene 160 Gigs, which is something monstrous. I have hard drives that are smaller than that. My music collection alone is only about 15 gigs, and even when all my podcasts are decked out, it's only about 6 Gigs. What the hell would someone do with all that space? I suppose a buttload of movies could fit on that. Who knows.
And of course, the iPod Touch. When the iPhone came out, I thought that if they had that without the phone part, I would be sold on it. And for a while, when the rumors started swirling about a touch iPod, I was pretty tempted, but I was sure that it would just be an iPod, nothing fancy. And then I watched yesterday's presentation. 8 Gigs, Wi-Fi, keyboard, Safari, Youtube. And then today, ironically while searching for the PSP Bundle, I wandered into the Apple Store and played with the iPhone. And I was Smitten.
But anyway, it's all very confusing in my head. I told my wife about it and she's resistant due to the cost, which I don't blame her. It's $299, which is a far cry from the $169 I had tried to sell her on. I told her that with the PSP, with the $169 core, the $25 game, the $40 memory card, possibly the $20 case and some more games, it's easily the same price. I think that amused her even less. But there's my breakdown.
PSP Pros:
Actual Gaming portable, with big boy games.
Cheaper. Kinda.
Multimedia goodness.
PSP Cons:
Data entry for web surfing is phone-like, which is goofy.
Browser is supposedly iffy.
Doesn't do flash video or 640x480, which means a lot of video conversion.
Arguement:
How much web surfing will I do on the PSP?
Will future firmware fix the 640 x 480 problem?
Will I rely on Wi-Fi that much?
iPod Touch Pros:
Seamless integration with iTunes, less conversion
Freakin' touch interface, can download apps for iPod since it's running an OS.
Safari, QWERTY text entry... That's cool.
Youtube integration.
iPod Touch Cons:
No Games! Will Video wear off?
Two iPods is gadget redundancy.
Basically getting it mostly for the video playback and touch novelty.
Youtube is not the complete library, since Youtube is only starting to encode H.264 compatible videos that iPhones and Touch iPods can read. Only 2 of my videos were searchable.
iPod Argument:
How often am I around Wi-Fi and if I'm mostly at home, aren't I already on my laptop anyway? Touch keypad and all, will I even use it?
iPod clickwheel I can navigate without looking, but the touch will need to be flicked - so skipping a song or anything might be too much trouble.
I might get jacked - they are pricey little gadgets.
Well, this actually helped. I think I'll stick with the PSP. Even though the Touch is fancier and has slightly more convenient video options, the fact that I'm not always around Wi-Fi, and the video only benefits of the touch iPod (as opposed to the video plus gaming benefits of the PSP) make the PSP the logical choice. I have to do a bit more maintenance for the PSP, but I think I'll get more mileage out of it. It's like the practical and the pretty. The practical PSP wins out.
But the Touch is sooooo pretty.
1 comment:
I think I am going to get a Touch. It is just too cool not to get. And it has iCal on it, so I could use it like a PDA which I actually really want to have anyway. I am always trying to write down dates on my hand and then losing them by washing my hands before getting a chance to write them somewhere more permanent. It would be cool if it had stickies too, or at least some sort of notepad. Maybe it does, I didn't look too closely at the stuff other than the wifi and youtube. But that is enough for me.
There is free wifi everywhere nowadays, springing up in more spots every day. And there are entire cities that have free wifi, with more coming. Sure I don't live in one, but I may visit Minneapolis someday without my laptop.
The hard drive is small, but I guess I will still use my 60gb iPod for music, and just put some favorites on the Touch along with video.
It is on my short list of sort of expensive things I want to buy before the end of the year. And really that list is pretty short, just the Touch and a new Oppo DVD player. And I guess a new cheap miniDV camera, but I will just pick that up at a pawn shop for around $100.
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