gumptyThe first iPod mini (4GB) arrived in 2004 @ ~$250; by then the standard iPod was 15GB and was ~$300.

But anyway, yes apple gear is generally overpriced - but that is part of their business brand strategy I imagine....

Think of it this way. If you made a product that was FAR superior to any other competitor (like the iPod's were when they first launched), why on earth would you sell it for a low grade price? First off, I'm more than sure it cost plenty of money to develop the product. Second, there is no competitor offering anything similar that is of high quality and very functional. The iPod absolutely DOMINATED and still DOMINATES the MP3 portable device market. The iPad is the same as the iPod was in my opinion. For $499, it is a bargain of a price. No other tablet or netbook is as fast or capable as the iPad is. WiFi, games, email, web, etc. Thats all tablet/netbook users want, $499 gets you all that, with a ton of speed to back it up. Not to mention business productivity with the included apps. How can you Apple bashers not see the huge potential the iPad is capable of? It is a wonderful product, sit back and think about what it is and what it can do before you go completely bashing it. Hell, just think of the iPhone when it launched and where its at today.

It's because of the iPhone that manu's began making competitive phones like the G1, Pre, Droid, etc. Apple is a game changer and thinks outside the box that most manu's focus within. Yeah, Apple charges a lot, but who else is making brilliant products like Apple is? No other company is making quality products like Apple does outside of the desktop and mobile computer market. First iPod's, then iPhone's, and now the iPad, they are brilliant.

Personally i would'nt touch an apple product with a barge pole,they look nice but too many downs than ups.

n-sterI don't know how you guys do it... I only have 3-5gb of music

how do you have 10x that?

My girlfriend came with a rather extensive (and excellent) music collection. But also I don't download music anymore; I buy the CDs and rip them lossless which has high bit-rate - about ~1000kbps. This means an album will take up 200-500MB. It's pretty much impossible to tell the difference between lossless and, say, 320kbps without top-grade speakers and processors, but I do it just in case - terabyte storage is so cheap now I see no reason not to. iTunes now sell their songs at a 'high quality' 190kbps (used to be 128), which is one of the reasons I don't like it.

johnnyfiiveThink of it this way. If you made a product that was FAR superior to any other competitor (like the iPod's were when they first launched), why on earth would you sell it for a low grade price? First off, I'm more than sure it cost plenty of money to develop the product. Second, there is no competitor offering anything similar that is of high quality and very functional. The iPod absolutely DOMINATED and still DOMINATES the MP3 portable device market. The iPad is the same as the iPod was in my opinion. For $499, it is a bargain of a price. No other tablet or netbook is as fast or capable as the iPad is. WiFi, games, email, web, etc. Thats all tablet/netbook users want, $499 gets you all that, with a ton of speed to back it up. Not to mention business productivity with the included apps. How can you Apple bashers not see the huge potential the iPad is capable of? It is a wonderful product, sit back and think about what it is and what it can do before you go completely bashing it. Hell, just think of the iPhone when it launched and where its at today.

It's because of the iPhone that manu's began making competitive phones like the G1, Pre, Droid, etc. Apple is a game changer and thinks outside the box that most manu's focus within. Yeah, Apple charges a lot, but who else is making brilliant products like Apple is? No other company is making quality products like Apple does outside of the desktop and mobile computer market. First iPod's, then iPhone's, and now the iPad, they are brilliant.

Don't get me wrong, I like the iPad just like you. In fact I think you and I are the only people here that do. I think I meant that Apple's products are overpriced from a hardware & features standpoint, but not necessarily bad value when it comes to design, UI and software being added into the equation. Their products are [generally] great, and often are game-changers, as you say - but they are nearly always too expensive for 90% of the market.
I don't like the company because of some of the ways they do business and lock people into things - but in most cases it is those practices that have led to the success of the company's products. The thing that pissed me the most, and why I have sworn myself off iTunes, is their 5-computer activation limit on music bought from iTunes. I have a bunch of albums that I bought from them that I can't use now because I have changed pieces of hardware in my PC. :mad:

johnnyfiiveThink of it this way. If you made a product that was FAR superior to any other competitor (like the iPod's were when they first launched), why on earth would you sell it for a low grade price? First off, I'm more than sure it cost plenty of money to develop the product. Second, there is no competitor offering anything similar that is of high quality and very functional. The iPod absolutely DOMINATED and still DOMINATES the MP3 portable device market. The iPad is the same as the iPod was in my opinion. For $499, it is a bargain of a price. No other tablet or netbook is as fast or capable as the iPad is. WiFi, games, email, web, etc. Thats all tablet/netbook users want, $499 gets you all that, with a ton of speed to back it up. Not to mention business productivity with the included apps. How can you Apple bashers not see the huge potential the iPad is capable of? It is a wonderful product, sit back and think about what it is and what it can do before you go completely bashing it. Hell, just think of the iPhone when it launched and where its at today.

It's because of the iPhone that manu's began making competitive phones like the G1, Pre, Droid, etc. Apple is a game changer and thinks outside the box that most manu's focus within. Yeah, Apple charges a lot, but who else is making brilliant products like Apple is? No other company is making quality products like Apple does outside of the desktop and mobile computer market. First iPod's, then iPhone's, and now the iPad, they are brilliant.

If Apple cleaned up their act and opened the software up for developers, then maybe. Until then, I will stick with an open platform. Oh and stopped using slaves to build these things.. (yes, being forced to work without pay is slavery)...

tiggerNo flash support is a bit daft.

Adobe dropped OSX and Iphone OS from the FLASH Development Team's agenda because Apple decided Flash wasn't worth the small concessions Adobe asked for in the software... AKA- Apple is a PITA to work with.

FlyordieIf Apple cleaned up their act and opened the software up for developers, then maybe. Until then, I will stick with an open platform.

Why should they have to open up their software to others?

FlyordieApple is a PITA to work with.

No doubt.

EDIT: It was inevitable.

gumptyMy girlfriend came with a rather extensive (and excellent) music collection. But also I don't download music anymore; I buy the CDs and rip them lossless which has high bit-rate - about ~1000kbps. This means an album will take up 200-500MB. It's pretty much impossible to tell the difference between lossless and, say, 320kbps without top-grade speakers and processors, but I do it just in case - terabyte storage is so cheap now I see no reason not to. iTunes now sell their songs at a 'high quality' 190kbps (used to be 128), which is one of the reasons I don't like it.

Oh I'm not the only one then :rolleyes: I just convert it to 320kbps (I think) for my ipod, and keep it higher ones in my external harddrive :) And I understand you not liking iTunes.... I could go on and on about it :(

I guess 800 songs isn't enough for you on-the-go then xD I usually keep all the songs I like to listen to on-the-go or in the car in my iTouch, but the rest stay in my harddrive, since I listen to them not so often... :p But I usually listen to ~5 ish new songs of the month and ~10 ish that are 2-3 months old, and another 5 that are older :laugh: Aside from those 20 songs that keep on repeating themselves in my playlist, I listen to the others when I have the craving to listen to that particular song

gumpty. How many songs you got in total bru?

n-sterOh I'm not the only one then :rolleyes: I just convert it to 320kbps (I think) for my ipod, and keep it higher ones in my external harddrive :) And I understand you not liking iTunes.... I could go on and on about it :(

I guess 800 songs isn't enough for you on-the-go then xD I usually keep all the songs I like to listen to on-the-go or in the car in my iTouch, but the rest stay in my harddrive, since I listen to them not so often... :p But I usually listen to ~5 ish new songs of the month and ~10 ish that are 2-3 months old, and another 5 that are older :laugh: Aside from those 20 songs that keep on repeating themselves in my playlist, I listen to the others when I have the craving to listen to that particular song

I found for a while that if I pick the songs I listen too, I only end up listening to the same stuff over and over. So I have it on random 90% of the time to get things I would not normally listen too. Obviously there are some songs on their that I don't like, so I just skip over them.

If I had a car, I'm not sure I'd need an iPod as much - as I'd listen to the radio more.

mdsx1950gumpty. How many songs you got in total bru?

On my iPod I have 4,117.

Yea, I do the random thing a couple types a day to change things up, but since I change my songs alot, I don't get sick of them much :rolleyes:

I like having some songs at full blast with the Bass maxed out in the car with my friends though :D