Thinking of buying an iPod, either as a first time purchase or to replace that older superseded model? Well, don?t jump in just yet. Alex Kidman explains why you may be better served looking elsewhere.
There?s little doubt that Apple?s iPod currently owns the portable music space, so much so that it?s in danger of becoming yet another technology noun, in the same vein as ?googling? for searching. Quite how popular it is in Australia is debatable ? Apple doesn?t break out its sales figures locally, either because they prefer to present a global picture of how the little player is doing, or because they?re all too busy playing in all the big piles of money that they?ve already got, Scrooge McDuck style. iPods are still cool, but before you head off to make the Apple folks even richer, consider the alternatives.
Aside from clever marketing campaigns, arguably the reasons why Apple has succeeded have to do with functions that haven?t changed since the release of the original iPod. They?re the functions that practically define the iPod ? things like the scroll wheel interface, shiny white headphones and the seamless iTunes integration. All of them are good selling points for the iPod, but at the same time, Apple?s been practically glacial in making changes to the basic iPod model.
While Apple?s own designs and size formats have been somewhat slavishly mimicked by other portable music companies, there are plenty of innovations that Apple has forgone. While some of these can be addressed by third-party add-on modules, why pay extra money for features that you can get built-in to a different player for the same price?
Watch Bring bling to your iPod on GadgetGuy TV
Want some ideas on how to extend the capability of, or protect, your MP3 player? Bring bling to your iPod will give you an idea of the myriad of accessories available.
