Grinds My Gears!! - Issue 5

Today's (...or rather this week's) issue of GMG is all about something which is a topic close to my Gear Grinding mechanism. I was also encouraged to write this after discovering that I was in fact not on my own on this matter. I am of course talking about Apple Inc., their iPods and their Mac computers!

The iPod Franchise

I'm not too sure where exactly to begin on this topic. Yes, the iPod was the first of its kind, offering a compact, handy yet not too robust experience of listening to music. The arrival of the iPod took the world by storm, with everyone (most people not including me) buying one. It didn't take very long for other companies to produce similar devices which in my opinion FAR surpass the iPod.

One such company which I stand by is Creative. By far the most durable music devices on the market. I have dropped, stepped on, crunched and God knows what else and it still works. Can you do that with an iPod...hell no. Also, Creative stayed through to the word of a music player. That's what it is. A device that plays music! So why do we need an iPod at almost double the price for some models that stores videos and photos. I use my Creative for listening to music while I'm walking somewhere or on the bus or whatever. I don't suddenly feel the urge to want to watch a film while I'm walking or decide that I would like to look again at the pics from the party I was at last week. Honestly, these devices should only play music. That is what I don't like about the i-pod. It doesn't play songs any better than any other mp3. In fact I found that the speakers provided are pretty crap. (My Dad has an iPod, hence how I know).

The other thing that annoys the hell out of me is iTunes. Quite possibly the most awkward music handling software I have ever been forced to use. Windows Media Player 10 wipes the floor with iTunes. Now many people are attracted to the idea that you can buy songs cheaply from iTunes. One: the songs you buy can currently only be played on an iPod. And two: you can get songs free that work on ANY device from Bearshare, AND it's legal. Also sticking with Apple software, Quicktime video is simply atrocious. I just cannot describe it. Any other video player is better. Full stop.

Back to the iPod itself, I just don't trust a machine that looks like I could snap it in two with my hands. Also, whats the deal with all this extra gadgets that you can buy for the iPod, like a shuffler, as if the machine couldn't do it for itself, or for some models a radio adapter, where these are standard features on other superior brands. Why are there so many accesories? An iPod Dj Deck, a surround sound system...come on like!

Now, ladies and gentlemen, we are entering an era of another abomination to swarm the globe. The iPhone. Yes, just in case you hadn't heard, Apple are releasing a phone. It is both an iPod (surprise surprise!!), a phone (no really, I'd never have expected that!) and an internet device.

All the information can be found here: http://www.apple.com/iphone/

I'll leave it up to you, as if we need our phones to be a music player, and IF I feel the need to suddenly browse the net walking down the street...whatever bobs Apple's apples.

Mac Computers
The slogan goes: "Go beyond Vista, It's time to get a Mac". As bad as Vista is, I still wouldn't get a Mac. "Why?” you say. Well, whilst Mac pc's do look very fancy, keeping in style with the iPod, Mac computers are quite possibly...no wait...ARE the most incompatible systems on the market. They don't use the standard connections for printers, projectors, scanners, etc. They can't use the same software as Windows systems, they can't use the same discs as Windows...in fact everything is just fucked up. It's all well and good that they use a fancy user interface a different name for Internet Explorer, but the actual functionality of a Mac is no better than Windows, its worse.

Similarly to the iPod, the Mac comes with features that aren't exactly necessary for the computer; the laptops come with an inbuilt camera and very fancy photo booth type software. That's all well and good, if only they'd spent more time making their systems more compatible with everything else! Even certain files that are saved on a Mac can't be transferred to a Windows system. I had to do a class presentation for Structures, and one person had certain images saved on the Mac, and the finished slide show had to be put on a Windows because the Mac couldn' plug into the port, and all the images that had originally been on the Mac wouldn't show up on the Windows.

Just imagine having to use iTunes as your default music player and Quicktime as your default video player if you had a Mac......awful is too light a word.

That's it from me, Cass stole my next Grinds My Gears idea, so I'll see what comes up over the next few days.

Hugs and Kisses.....no....wait...strike that.

There's no time for pussy footing around, there's metal to burn and sparks to fly, cause the next Monster Garage challenge is just..around..the bend!!!!!

~Mr. Kelly, Technical Drawing Teacher Extraordinaire