Classicamiga Forum Retro Edition
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Thread: Random Rants
Harrison 16:06 31st December 2007
True. I've not yet seen anything from Apple that could be considered practical.

This is the rants thread so I do need to rant a bit about the iPod for a moment.

All the clueless youth of today are buying into the iPod like it is the greatest thing since sliced bread and the "must have" device of the moment. These people are just dicks in my view. Buying something to look like they are in with everyone else. Pointless and completely pretentious!

People are also raving about the iPod and comparing it to the Sony Walkman, and how it changed the way we listened to music in the 80's.

Except... Sony designed something that revolutionised and did change the way we listen to music. Sony invented the universal control icon system now used worldwide. And Sony invented the portable tape player.

In contrast Apple didn't invent the mp3 format or the first portable mp3 player! They just jumped on the idea and repackaged it. Just as they have for everything they have ever produced. The Mac OS was stolen from Xerox and repackaged, then Apple had the audacity to start suing any other OS maker who tried to use a WIMP like system. And as the Mac progressed, it's unique hardware designs slowly evolved to use more and more PC hardware, until today we now just have a PC running Mac OSX and locked into the hard to expand or upgrade nature of the Apple product design.

And the iPod has huge flaws. Fixed rechargeable battery, so when the battery goes wrong in an iPod you have to junk it or pay a lot for it to be sent back for a new one. And another big flaw is called iTunes. Why should people have to access a device through a proprietary piece of software? Every other manufacturer of mp3 players is, or has, moved to plug and play, drag and drop file management. You connect the device and it appears as a drive, you drag the files to it and can then access and play them on the player. What is wrong with that way of working?

And has anyone actually tried to use iTunes??? It has to be one of the least intuitive pieces of software I've ever tried to use. Simple tasks like renaming a song or album are impossible to work out. Moving or changing song/album ID tags is a mystery, and maintaining a music library is made as difficult as possible. And this coming from Apple, a company that it's iFanatics rave about how usability and intuitiveness are key factors. All I have to say to that is CRAP!
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Buleste 16:13 31st December 2007
Goes to show what is popular is not necessarily the best and good design is subjective. Something may look good but be totally useless. Many exaples can be found under the WAG catagory (although most of them don't look good).
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Stephen Coates 17:41 31st December 2007
So there is nothing wrong with me continuing to use my tape Walkman then? Excelent.

I do by the way, have a Sony CD Walkman now as well. My mum gave it to me after she got her iPod nano.

There isn't really anything wrong with having these odd ways of doing things, like MacOS and iTunes. They are just different and some people prefer them. Alternatives exist for those that don't like it.

I know Apple weren't the first ones to make MP3s, but as far as I'm aware, it was one of the first popular MP3 players.

I have used iTunes version 1, and have also used versions 3, and also some newer ones. I can't say I like the latest one much.

Fo organising all my music and photos which are on the computer, I just seperate them into folders in Windows Explorer (and Finder, for files which are on the Macintosh).

It is quite possible that some people arn't all that bothered about how the device that they have works, as long as it does what they want it to do, which several devices might do.

Now to change the topic slightly, my rant for today is music.

Why do some idiots have to play music out of their mobiles telephone/MP3 player's loudspeaker on the back of the bus? I got on the 287 to go to Meadowhall the other day and on the top deck where I sat there were some poeple at the back playing loud music. (Meadowhall shopping centre was very busy BTW. I must never go there again at this time of year). I then went on the Supertram going to Sheffield from Meadowhall, which was quiet, excpet that someone sat opposite me was talking on his mobile phone in a foriegn language.

I then got on the 287 to come home. The journey from Sheffield to Meadowhall was nice and peaceful, until it got to meadowhall. Some people got on and started playing loud music. I then had a noisy journey all the way home.

This isn't the first time I have had problems with loud music. It tends to happen quite a lot on the bus, and sometimes in the corridor at college/school, and in the street. These people really should get headphones. They can have it even louder then, but without it annoying the rest of us.

And people really need to stop using music tracks as their telephone's ringtone.
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Harrison 17:47 31st December 2007
A good argument to learn to drive!
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Stephen Coates 17:53 31st December 2007
It is, but I still don't want to.

BTW, regarding walkmans, I do have a really old one from the 1980s/ early 90s. It is big and a goldy colour. Still works fine.
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Harrison 18:04 31st December 2007
I've still got a Sanyo one from 1985, which I remember getting for Christmas and that also still works perfectly, although I don't use it. Very big and chunky and heavy. And also minimal controls. Play, Stop, Rewind, Fast Forward and volume control. It's when they start adding lots of functions to such things that they break easily.
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Buleste 18:07 31st December 2007
I use the Imperial March from Star Wars as my ringtone for Family.

What winds me up is that all th ein ear headphones that many people have are supposed to be quieter to everyone else as the volume doesn't need to be high for someone too hear the sound as they're in ear yet people still have them at full volume.
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Harrison 23:50 1st January 2008
Oh well. It will end up with you winning as they will all go deaf, then you can live in peace, while they all live in silence.
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TiredOfLife 02:14 2nd January 2008
Originally Posted by Buleste:
I use the Imperial March from Star Wars as my ringtone for Family.

What winds me up is that all th ein ear headphones that many people have are supposed to be quieter to everyone else as the volume doesn't need to be high for someone too hear the sound as they're in ear yet people still have them at full volume.
That's to drown out the noise of all the gits Ste was talking about.
Why do these people always have no taste in music?

It's either that or empty headed school girls talking at top note into their mobile phone to someone on the same bloody bus.

If they absolutely have to do it, could they at least use their brains when speaking to each other.
Might have something interesting to say then.
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Submeg 02:31 2nd January 2008
"We interrupt your regular program with a news bulletin. In southern England, a group of 15 year old girls with brains have been discovered. It is the biggest breakthough since the invention of the wheel. Who knows what kind of useful information they may have to share with us."

Somehow, I think not
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