so, slashdot has run yet another storyabout itunes and the ipod, and it's indicative of the overall moronic tone things take over there about such things. worse, in this case, they were egged on by cnet, whom someone hilariously pegged as the 'fox news of tech journalism'. 'five reasons not to buy an ipod' my ass. it's not every day that you find something, gadget or otherwise that you can't imagine how you did without, and the fact that the line to nit-pick it has grown so long merely underscores its popularity. hell, at this point, it's very nearly become a generic term for some, like kleenex or xerox. no issue of rolling stone fails to mention it. me? i've had one for six months, and it has made me exercise more often and be more productive at work, among other things. naturally, i've beaten the hell out of mine, because i do that to everything i own, and it's held up fine, and i don't even know where half these criticisms come from (and the /. crowd's pleas for .ogg support have gone straight to self-parody). if the ipod ever is supplanted as the king of mp3 players, and these pale imitations take over, it will be a damn shame, but in the meantime, i'm content with my underworld/they might be giants/joy division/teletubbies running playlists.
I'll second that comment on iPod durability. Mine has chunks taken out of the lucite on the edges because of how often I drop mine (sorry, it must be the popcorn), but plays just fine. Pocket Rocket has just come home this evening from his second battery reconditioning at the XGates Apple Store. I use my iPod nearly every weekday, and sometimes over the weekend, and it gets battery memory after a while. And if the battery stops charging, I can always replace it myself with a kit I found online.
C|Net are notorious pro-MS fundies. The only time /. ever runs something from C|Net is when it trashes a toy that they can't afford.
Thurgood says hi, btw.