Is an IPOD hi-fi?

Albert - Pandora is great, but does have limitations. Nevertheless it does fill a gaping chasm that radio has left largely unfilled (with the possible exception of Public Radio and some College stations). Sampling music over the Internet is all well and good if you can discipline yourself to dedicate time and effort to the task. Pandora will only give you one song at a time and you have very limited control over what gets played (I think you can only make a few rejections over a period of time). With Pandora you cannot sample an entire CD, you can hear one or two cuts perhaps. As Seantaylor99 points out, one or two hits does not necessarily make for a great CD, and with retail prices of a CD at around $13-18 finding those one-hit wonders is not much fun. I end up buying most of the music I actually take a liking to anyway, and tend to buy more CD's by the same artist unheard at that point. Sometimes that is a disappointment, but most of the time it is not. Interesting point you make about the RIAA and CD's Seantaylor99. I don't know if it makes that much sense to me, since by the same logic you should be able to get your money back if you didn't like a movie you paid $10 to go see at the theatre. What if the entire world operated on the same money-back guarantee that seems to be more and more expected here in the U.S.? So if your employer wasn't completely happy with your day of work you don't get paid. If you don't like the taste of the donut you chose, return it. If the doctor didn't cure you demand a refund. At some point, and we may be there, this stuff gets way out of hand - the expectations of a overly litigious, capitalist society where the finger of blame always seems to need to point elsewhere.

As far as Steve jobs, and the cost of developing a popular gadget and the software that makes it whirr - I too doubt very much the expenses to make those things are $25. According to this article from PC World from 2/05, at that point it was estimated Apple was making around 40% profit on it's iPod Shuffle. I agree, if Apple can make its customers happy, and make a profit, all the power to them. It is a luxury item used in a leisurely pursuit of enjoyment. Purchasing it is a matter of choice. If you want to talk about abuse of an industry that is out of control, take a look at the pharmaceutical industry. In that case the product is not a luxury item, but a necessity for many, sometime making the difference between life and death. If you want to make references to masses of victims of a capitalist society fostering corporate greed and misplaced priorities, you can talk about our medical care system, our education system, and care for our elderly population. An iPod seems like a pretty silly thing to be making such a fuss over in that perspective, especially with the kind of moral outrage that would prompt references to Hitler.

Marco

I dare say a fire storm has been ignited over the reference to the Hitler quote. I only offered that quote because in light of the so called global economy we have now. However in 1938 Time Magazine gave its man of the year award to Adolph Hitler and the following year Joseph Stalin won the award and of more recent times in 1979 the award went to Ayatullah Khomeini. History has now shown the results. No this is not to disparage Steve Jobs or Apple, the jury remains out on that one.

However I do have concerns that this is purported to be the Holy Grail of portable music delivery systems, after what I heard, but will give it another chance.

Also this product is made off shore in questionable facilities. See below.

Worker exploitation:

On 11 June 2006, a British newspaper Mail on Sunday reported that iPods are mainly manufactured by workers who earn no more than US$50 per month and work 15-hour shifts.[37]

Apple investigated the case with independent auditors and found that, while some of the plant's labor practices met Apple's Code of Conduct, others did not: employees worked over 60 hours a week 35% of the time, and employees worked more than six consecutive days about 25% of the time.[38] Apple's supplier—which initially denied the abuses—[39]has promised to disallow workers from working more hours than allowed under the Code. Apple has hired a workplace standards auditing company, Verité, and joined the Electronic Industry Code of Conduct Implementation Group to oversee these measures.

On December 31, 2006, workers at the Taiwanese factory (owned by Foxconn Technology Group) in question formed a union. The union is affiliated with the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, which is controlled by the Chinese government.[40]

First of all this should not have been allowed to happen and Apple only after the fact took some action. In my opinion this is shear profiteering at the expense of others to make yourself rich. The robber baron mentality is alive and well.

For many years now,I thorougly research individuals and the the companies they run, before I buy their product. I believe if we all did due diligence before the purchase, we as consumers would have a greater impact on the market place than we do. But instead we run out and can't wait to get the latest gizmo and fork over the funds for it, totally believing in the hype. Remember the hype is their for one reason and one reason only, and that is to sell you the product. Perhaps it was my years at CBS, that has always prompted me to do research before acting and to ask the hard questions.

As far as the piracy issues go, it is by far more prevelant in todays digital age than in the 70s and early 80s and far harder to catch and remedy.

The music business was a guaranteed sale item. If the sale did not take place it could be returned for full credit, the risk was assumed by the label. Well when you get back more of a title, than you pressed, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that piracy is at hand. Just ask Boston on their first release, that was pirated to death. I could go on and on, but you get the idea and the aftermath of the piracy on the label and artist. I would be more apt to download music, if the assurance was there that royalties were being paid. For I have seen first hand the results of piracy. Countless jazz musicians died in near poverty and some worked till they dropped to support themselves. I am long removed from the battlefield of the music industry so I do not have a first hand account on sales practices today. But sales tracking at the retail level with the UPC code, was something we only dreamed of at the time.

I for one applaud everyone that continues to support the retail chain in the music business. It is my hope that in the future downloaded music will totally support the industry and artist. I firmly believe that the music industry can be killed. If there is not an incentive to create all will be lost. This hobby which we all enjoy, to me is much more about the music than the gear that is used to reproduce it. Music is the critical element, without the music, the gear means nothing.

Ferrari, you are making good progress.

Ferrari,

I don't understand your hatred for Steve Jobs and Apple. I use their system and love it. How about you compare Apple to Bill Gates monstrous money making machine, and realize Apple is the bit player.

Did you stop to consider that many products we take for granted fall into the same category of being built by abused labor, the same as you accuse Apple of?

This stressed out, overworked Asian labor force has taken manufacturing away from Americans simply because of cost. They have a lower standard of living and massive population AND they don't pay the taxes nor do they have OSHA, FEMA, a labor Union or other forces raising their cost of production.

Consider the line up at CompUSA, including all the Windows computer machines built in those factories.

Next, take a look at the cell phone manufacturers, other brands of MP3 players, accessories, computer monitors, mouse and keyboards, desktop lights, CD cases, battery chargers and on and on. There are precious few items in persistent everyday use that don't fall into this category, even our paper shredders, Blackberry's, wireless household phones, ink jet printers and fax machines.

Stop and tally up the items that DON'T source some or all of its labor from the same place and in the same way that Apple does. Even worse are some of the other industries we worship, such as clothing manufacturers. Designer items that we pay hundreds of millions of dollars for, born from some of the crudest sweat shops on the planet.

Not all that long ago, those same work conditions existed right here in America. Some involving child labor with long hours and very low pay. So, do we continue to trade with these countries passing though a stage of evolution that we have already gone through?

Perhaps it's better if we trade with them, continue to press for change as we become more dependant on one another and work toward rights for their people, the same as we have (mostly) accomplished here.

Or Is it preferable that we live in isolation, hoping things will improve by accident? Should we just hope and pray that other governments and power brokers will accomplish a better life for them, hoping they are less "corrupt" than our own capitalist motives?

I'm not happy with things either, but Steve Jobs is not the anti Christ nor is he the problem here.

If you hate Steve Jobs for the way he runs his company, you're certainly entitled to your opinion. For me, he represents one of the few rare creative marketing forces in computers today. Certainly not as gracious as those supporting open source and free internet, at least he does not purposefully build flawed software with source code built in to spy on the buyer.

If you doubt this code exists, download a copy of PeerGuardian and put it on your Windows machine. You cannot even launch a copy of Word without it spitting out data to Microsoft to let them know who you. Same for PowerPoint, Internet Explorer and other popular software.

Apple does NOT do this and their software does not keep count of how many Apple computers you install your operating system on. Combine that with the fact Apple sells their operating system for a fraction of what Windows commands and perhaps you will have a bit gentler idea about what kind of company Apple is.

Are they perfect, hardly. Guilty of making money the Capitalist way? Yes. But considering the conduct of the other players, Apple is a very fair and balanced operation and one that had earned my deepest respect.

I started a response earlier this morning, but just don't have enough time to spit out all that comes to mind. Here's what my initial response was:

For many years now,I thorougly research individuals and the the companies they run, before I buy their product. I believe if we all did due diligence before the purchase, we as consumers would have a greater impact on the market place than we do.

Just a further note on the same topic; I'd bet if most of us did the same due diligence on their wardrobes they'd be walking around in the Emperor's New Clothes. Do you do the same kind of research on everything you buy? What about the chips in the computer you're typing on? Who wrapped the transformers in your audio gear? Yes, I agree, if more people did that, the world might start to change. But it seems to me like a daunting task to actually consistently follow through with. Again, of more urgent concern to me are the more national issues I mentioned in my previous post, simply because they are more about our immediate fundamental needs, and the future of our youth and our planet. Our country consumes on the order of five times more of the natural resources of the world, than the world average, and is so far behind on regulations that would curb our horrendous contribution to poking a hole in our atmosphere. Not to say a world-view should not be ignored, but it seems we need to take care of things at home before we tackle those much more broad-reaching issues. What any of this has to do with the quality of an iPods output is beyond me.

As far as Apple and Steve Jobs is concerned; I agree with Albert, they make brilliant products that actually function as they should, are easy to use, and look good as far as working with those materials are concerned. My understanding is that Bill Gates' benevolance is more far-reaching and profound than Jobs. I still find no reason to condem either of them for running a successful company.

Marco