'Bout time.

March 21, 2002 11:14 AM

'Bout time. For those of us holding out on the iPod, waiting for more storage space, the time to buy is finally here. One caveat: instead of dropping the price of the 5gb iPod to $299 and debuting the 10gb model at $399, they've kept the same price for the five gig and raised it a hundred bucks for the ten! Not quite what I was expecting...
posted by andnbsp (31 comments total)

It's all over the news today that apple's raising prices across the board... new imac is $100 more as well. Just fyi.
posted by krewson at 11:16 AM on March 21, 2002

They've had to because component costs are rebounding from last year's trough.
posted by donkeyschlong at 11:27 AM on March 21, 2002

And raising the price of three iMac models by $100 is hardly "across the board." Just fyi.
posted by donkeyschlong at 11:29 AM on March 21, 2002

Sorry, should have said 'apparently across the board.' Apologies.
posted by krewson at 11:34 AM on March 21, 2002

Oooh. Bluetooth.
posted by Marquis at 11:37 AM on March 21, 2002

It's across the board for their consumer models, right?
posted by NortonDC at 11:39 AM on March 21, 2002

It's "across the board" for 1 model that's been released (the high end iMac) and 2 models that will be released in the coming months. No biggie.

As for the 10 gig drive, it's hard to argue that Apple's been holding out. The iPod came out under 6 months ago (I think) and now there's a bump to the size. Didn't seem like too long.

When dealing with something so tiny, the price is going to be higher. There are plenty of cheaper (bulkier, uglier, harder to use) versions available if 400/500 bucks isn't your thing.

Personally, I was most interested in the added address book. I tried it out and it works like a charm. It'll be interesting to see the iPod take baby steps into PDA-type territory via software updates.
posted by jragon at 11:44 AM on March 21, 2002

It's not even "across the board" for their consumer models, as the iBook and CRT "legacy" iMac are unaffected.
posted by donkeyschlong at 11:50 AM on March 21, 2002

Five gigs extra for $100 more? Not a bad deal. As for them not lowering the price of the smaller... well, component prices have really skyrocketed from last year. My own company has been rushing to adjust prices; quotes we relied on to do many of our contracts are now no longer even in the ballpark.
posted by silusGROK at 12:30 PM on March 21, 2002

Another caveat... this time caveat emptor, especially for buyers in the UK.

APPLE's quality control and customer service level in Europe is very low, even more so on the iPod; in the UK Apple do not allow you to buy an extended warranty. If this device fails (as mine has three times in the three months I've had it) you have to wait 1-2 weeks for Apple to send you a box, then wait for it to be returned. Once your 90 days warranty expires, you have no recourse whatsoever. Any further repairs cost a minimum of £300- the same price as the iPod itself.

FireWire's nice but the iPod is fragile as a Ming vase. Save your money until other manufacturers - such as Creative Labs, who have much better customer service.
posted by skylar at 12:35 PM on March 21, 2002

In fine e-bay Meta-Bay tradition, I'll gladly sell you my five gig iPod for $299 so I can get the 10 gig version for $499. If that's the deal you're looking for.

Actually, I've heard the price of those drives has come down some. Does anybody know what just the 10 gig drives are going for these days - might make more sense just to hack the thing.

And, while I love Apple, what's with buying into the spin? Even if component prices for the iMacs went down we'd still be seeing a price hike. Demand at the old price was out of control and that's just the way the market works.

What do you want to bet that people who had reserved models at the old price will have their orders cancelled so they'll be forced to up it to the new price?
posted by willnot at 1:06 PM on March 21, 2002

What do you want to bet that people who had reserved models at the old price will have their orders cancelled so they'll be forced to up it to the new price?

Dude, at least pretend to check your facts:

"Apple will honor all existing reseller orders and Apple online store orders as of today at the original pricing...."

What was that about a bet?
posted by donkeyschlong at 1:13 PM on March 21, 2002

Has anyone heard anything more about iPod for windows? iPod is the only mp3 player I am really considering, everything else makes you use proprietary crap, or small hard drives or flash.

I know about Mediafour, but I'm not sure if it's ready for prime-time.
posted by patrickje at 1:22 PM on March 21, 2002

I've got the Archos jukebox for my Windows... Its is 20 GB for about $239 and doesn't use any propietary software -- it mounts like a HD. Drag & drop right from the desktop. In fact, it IS a usb-connected HD, so I can back up my PC on the ample space along with storing all my tunes...

The downside is that the Archos Jukebox is pretty clunky and has a prehistoric interface. It's an awesome value, but I envy the software of the iPod and Riot... Still, for just over $200, it's a great portable mp3 player/backup HD, with a ton of storage space...
posted by mattpusateri at 1:38 PM on March 21, 2002

Mattpusateri, you touch on one of the big benefits of the iPod -- USB is designed for mice and keyboards, not media delivery. It's slooooow, so if you want to move 20gig of files to/from your computer, you're liable to be there for hours. On my iPod, I can move the 5gig in a matter of minutes.
posted by jragon at 1:46 PM on March 21, 2002

FireWire's nice but the iPod is fragile as a Ming vase.

This hasn't been my experience nor that of my friends. In fact I've heard many stories of iPods surviving great falls onto hard surfaces. With a 90-day warranty you're taking your chances, but the iPod certainly isn't "fragile."
posted by sudama at 1:54 PM on March 21, 2002

Yes, my iPod was dropped onto the marble floor of Grand Central Station once, and had no problems at all. I'm notoriously rough on personal appliances, and my iPod is just fine. The fragile part of the iPod is its cosmetic side; it scratches/gets dinged very easily. But, hey, why try to keep such a useful device pristine? I consider the small scratches to be battle scars.

Damn Apple though! Every time I buy something from them, they go and release a better one soon after. At least this time the better one isn't cheaper than the one I bought, as was the case with my G4. You can get 933 mhz with the superdrive for what I paid for my 532 mhz, cdrw drive G4, purchased not even a year ago. It was 2 weeks after my purchase that they dropped all the prices. I wrote an angry letter to Steve Jobs and he never responded (surprise!). Oh well, that's the way of technology.
posted by evanizer at 2:14 PM on March 21, 2002

you touch on one of the big benefits of the iPod -- USB is designed for mice and keyboards, not media delivery. It's slooooow.

Is USB2 that slow? I thought it was supposed to be faster than most hard drives.

The problem I see with USB is the power thing- can you do the charge-and-data-on-one-cable thing with USB?
posted by dogwelder at 2:24 PM on March 21, 2002

USB 2.0 is in the same ballpark as FireWire, speed-wise, but the computer's USB controller, any intervening hub, and the target device all have to support it to get the extra speed.

It is feasible for USB cables to carry power (they do, after all, carry enough to power keyboards and mice). FireWire is spec'd to carry more, though.
posted by kindall at 2:35 PM on March 21, 2002

Damn Apple though! Every time I buy something from them, they go and release a better one soon after.

I suppose, but are you really ever going to fill an iPod with 10gigs of music? I've only got about 2gigs on mine. I guess if you're backing up your computer on it, that's another matter, but 5gigs is going to be plenty for me for quite awhile.
posted by me3dia at 2:49 PM on March 21, 2002

Wow... you guys are rapidly approaching the power of my Creative Nomad 20 gig jukebox. 'Course, I only paid $250 for it.
posted by ph00dz at 3:05 PM on March 21, 2002

me3dia: i have ~ 80 gigs of mp3s, if that answers your question
posted by sawks at 3:07 PM on March 21, 2002

you guys are rapidly approaching the power of my Creative Nomad 20 gig jukebox

But can you play Breakout on your Nomad?
posted by gluechunk at 3:15 PM on March 21, 2002

5gigs is going to be plenty for me for quite awhile.

My 5GB is already full, and I'm only about two thirds of the way through my CD collection (and I'm only ripping the tunes I like from each CD, not the entire disc).
posted by kindall at 3:19 PM on March 21, 2002

I'll gladly sell you my five gig iPod for $299 so I can get the 10 gig version for $499. If that's the deal you're looking for.

Dude, I'd take it if you're willing to sell (and it's in good shape, of course).
posted by inviolable at 3:31 PM on March 21, 2002

I wonder if the iPod team is unhappy about being forced to add the completely-unrelated address book "feature" to their product: the name listed in the iPod contact screenshot is Alan Smithee. A little bit of civil disobedience on the part of some Apple engineers? (self link: more)
posted by dsandl at 3:44 PM on March 21, 2002

I'll have a 5GB iPod for sale soon, as well, although money is a bit tight at the moment.
posted by kindall at 3:53 PM on March 21, 2002

Wow... you guys are rapidly approaching the power of my Creative Nomad 20 gig jukebox. 'Course, I only paid $250 for it.

I'm not sure why I'm even bothering, but here I go. So "power" is now simply how much a drive can hold? What about being able to charge while connected to the computer? How about a 10-15 hour rechargable battery? How about the best UI? How about superior sound quality? The smallest size? The fastest speed?

Hmmph. More space would be nice, but not at the expense of becoming a Nomad.
posted by jragon at 4:29 PM on March 21, 2002

Yeah, comparing the iPod with the Creative Nomad is like comparing a BMW with a KIA ... no comparison.
posted by donkeyschlong at 4:31 PM on March 21, 2002

But there aren't any girls around whom I can impress by flashing an iPod logo at them, so the additional cost is a total waste! (Ha ha.) But seriously, it depends entirely what you do with your MP3 device. Different strokes for different folks.

Me, I rarely need to move on colossal amounts of new music - since the initial multi-gig onslaught, I smurf on tunes half-a-dozen at a time - so speed isn't much of an issue. I listen primarily while in my car or going to bed, so I'm almost always plugged into an A/C adapter; battery life isn't much of an issue. I just want a big dumb repository of music I can lug from point to point, with the ability to store additional non-MP3 data as a nice plus. 'Swhy I went with the 20GB Archos, and am still more than pleased with my decision.
posted by youhas at 4:40 PM on March 21, 2002

My 5GB is already full, and I'm only about two thirds of the way through my CD collection (and I'm only ripping the tunes I like from each CD, not the entire disc).

I guess where I differ is that I have no interest in having my entire collection of music on my iPod. There's no point at which I'll actually listen to all of it in one sitting, and chances are nearly as slim that I'll kick myself for not uploading some particular song. I'm not saying it wouldn't be nice to have 10gigs instead of 5, but I feel no need to completely replicate my CD collection (or even my favs from each disc) just so I have it with me at all times. My time is too valuable to bother with such a task.

jragon, I'm psyched about the address book, too. However, until Apple improves the iPod's screen (mine is all streaky when backlit), I don't see it becoming a functional PDA anytime soon.
posted by me3dia at 6:50 PM on March 21, 2002