I won’t buy one
September 12, 2006Apple just updated its whole iPod+iTunes line. Still a bunch of crap, if you ask me, and I will stick with HiMD (but ignore me, us 3.5 MD fans are weirdos stuck in the ’90s).
The interesting bit, however, is the code-name iTV. It’s a settop box to which you can stream content via iTunes. Really cool, love the idea, looks great, and I’m not kidding, I want one (despite the USD 299 pricetag, which I find ridicoulous for a glorified receiver).
However, industry standards, anyone? HiFi components… Aren’t they all supposed to be 43cm wide? Why does Apple, as always, feel the need to disregard decades of industry standards, making a device that looks really good, but won’t actually fit into any HiFi component set-up? And I’m not even talking about the the industry standard colours (black and silver) they refuse to use! I’ve got hundreds of Euros worth of equipment here– the iTV won’t fit, however.
You’d think they’d learn. Now, I won’t buy one, since I can’t put it anyhwere.
Music, Apple & Mac | 
You know what keeps me from buying an iPod? Ogg Vorbis support. The problem with Apple is they are only one step away from being a Sony.
Comment by trans — September 12, 2006 @ 8:50 pm
You whining dork. “I like it but I don’t like it ‘cause it isn’t X or Y size.”
Dry your eyes Princess.
Comment by birdseed — September 13, 2006 @ 12:00 am
It’s meant to be a set top box, not a component in a HiFi. If it followed the standard HiFi component style then it would look out of place sitting on (or under) someone’s TV. It’s such a small thing that it should be easy enough to hide away out of sight if the looks really bother you that much.
Whatever you think about the iTV, you have to admit that gapless playback is a very welcome (but long overdue) enhancement to the iPod. Surely that was the last real advantage that fragile and inferior sounding ATRAC Minidiscs had over most MP3 players? Personally I’m still happy with my 20Gb Rio Karma, that provided gapless playback and Ogg Vorbis/FLAC support years ago.
Comment by Dave — September 13, 2006 @ 12:29 am
Why wont it fit?
How about putting it… um… i dunno… on top of all the bigger stuff?
Just a thought. Although there must be something that my simplistic assumption has over looked. :/
Comment by beta.services — September 13, 2006 @ 2:30 am
“43cm = industry standard” WHAT?
You are right, most of them are 43cm wide.. but thats not a valid for all. And maybe most home audio devices have that size, nearly all of them vary in depth.
Recently I bought my father a new DVD-Player. When I was comparing players I noticed, that all of them have a different size especially in depth.
IIRC the Sony was the shortest of them. So, guess what.. yes, we could place it under some other audio components… sooooo what to do… in a pretty smart move, we put it on top…. and hey.. it worked..
And you may also note, that apple is selling this as “settop box” .. and those are mostly supposed to be on-top or at lease underneath the TV.
Comment by MatzeLoCal — September 13, 2006 @ 7:10 am
“And I’m not even talking about the the industry standard colours (black and silver) they refuse to use!”
Uh. It looked pretty silver to me. So does a lot of Apple’s lineup.
http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.engadget.com/media/2006/09/dsc_0994.jpg
Comment by James — September 13, 2006 @ 7:56 am
How about putting it… um… i dunno… on top of all the bigger stuff?
That defeats the point of having industry standards. That’s like trying to stick a 3.5″ drive in a 5.25″ bay; sure, it will work, but without brackets amd a specially shaped bezel it’s fcuking ugly.
It looked pretty silver to me.
There are more than ten ways to skin a cat. There are two standard colours used by HiFi components: the traditional (and preferable if you ask me) black, and the more modern silver. Apple’s colours do not match EITHER of these two.
No matter how you spin it, the damn thing will not fit in. Hence, I won’t buy it.
Comment by Thom Holwerda — September 13, 2006 @ 11:09 am
If you worried about aesthetics, you wouldn’t be the owner of a hifi rig in the first place. Seriously, there is nothing Apple could do to make it 43 cm wide that would still adhere to their strictly stylish image.
- Simon
Comment by Simon Ask Ulsnes — September 13, 2006 @ 11:43 am
there is nothing Apple could do to make it 43 cm wide that would still adhere to their strictly stylish image.
They should’ve used an Xserve-like enclosure. Wide enough, still aesthetically pleasing.
Comment by Thom Holwerda — September 13, 2006 @ 12:19 pm
Ik heb ook n minidisc. HiMD ook, hoe kan je nou tevreden zijn met die lage up en download snelheid en vooral,… met die ver-schrik-ke-le-lij-ke SonicStage?!
Als ipods konden opnemen (met kwaliteit!) dan zou ik 10x liever ipod hebben.
Comment by nutela — September 13, 2006 @ 1:03 pm
I would agree with you if Apple was marketing the device to hifi people, but they aren’t. I bet most hifi nerds wouldn’t buy it just because it wont be over priced and huge.
Comment by Keith — September 13, 2006 @ 2:32 pm
Sometimes, Thom, you’re hopeless!!
‘There are two standard colours used by HiFi components: the traditional (and preferable if you ask me) black, and the more modern silver.’
The black colour you’re talking about didn’t truly make it to the market before circa 1980 and onwards… In the ’70s, nearly everything you remember as black was…silver!
Oooops, yeah… I forgot you’re not old enough to remember this, which just makes me think you shouldn’t ‘brag’ about what you don’t know of…
Like Wittgenstein said: ‘What can be said at all can be said clearly; and what we cannot talk about we must pass over in silence.’
Comment by Søren Grønning — September 13, 2006 @ 2:44 pm
The black colour you’re talking about didn’t truly make it to the market before circa 1980 and onwards… In the ’70s, nearly everything you remember as black was…silver!
And that is contradictory with what I said how, exactly?
I would agree with you if Apple was marketing the device to hifi people, but they aren’t.
Did you see the special event? There they CLEARLY put the device atop a stack of HiFi components.
HiMD ook, hoe kan je nou tevreden zijn met die lage up en download snelheid en vooral,… met die ver-schrik-ke-le-lij-ke SonicStage?!
SonicStage is inderdaad een grote hoop schijt, maar ik gebruik dat dan ook niet. Sony heeft een utilty dat heet “SimpleBurner”, gewoon CD erin, liedjes aanvinken, en klaar. Werkt perfect.
En tsjah, ik heb een stuk of 50 MDtjes; als ik een nieuw album koop zet ik deze over en wis ‘m ook nooit meer. MDtjes zijn zo goedkoop dat ik nooit hoef te hergebruiken (en dus ook bijna nooit iets hoeft om te zetten).
Comment by Administrator — September 13, 2006 @ 3:08 pm
“That’s like trying to stick a 3.5″ drive in a 5.25″ bay”
I suppose you would prefer your home entertainment system components to all be rack mounted?
Tell me, are all your shirts the same size? Do you only have one sized coffee mug in your house?
Not like I care you wont buy one, its just that seems like an argument for arguments sake.
Comment by beta.services — September 14, 2006 @ 12:47 pm