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In article ,
(Bennett Haselton) wrote:

- the software for transfering files to the player, displays the total
length of songs currently copied to the player

iTunes does this with any mp3 player it recognizes. I don't have much
experience with iTunes for Windows, though, and I don't know whether it
supports as many mp3 players as iTunes for MacOS (or whether iTunes for
Windows only supports the iPod). I don't see anything like the old list
of supported devices on Apple's site now.

- the file transfer software also lets you browse MP3s on your machine
sorted based on the filename, rather than the title in the ID3 tag
(this can be really annoying when you can't find a file in the list
displayed by the MP3 file transfer software!)

Eh? What if the mp3 player and the transfer software simply display
everything consistently, i.e. both displaying the filename or both
displaying the ID3 tag? I ask because iTunes and the iPod take the
approach that you should never need to see the filename; it doesn't work
all the time (untagged files are problematic, although I can't remember
how they're dealt with since all my files are tagged), but if it works
at all it works great.

- the file transfer software crashes less often than, say, Glen
Campbell carpooling with Billy Joel and Diana Ross

iTunes for MacOS has crashed on me in only very rare circumstances. I
used an early version of iTunes for Windows and it seemed to have
problems... I don't know about the current version. iTunes for Windows
is a free download, though, so you can try it for yourself before
plunking down cash.

- the LCD interface on the player actually lets you scroll through the
list of songs without stopping the current song

The iPod definitely lets you do this. You can be playing one
song/playlist while browsing for what it is you really want to be
playing, you can also maintain an "on-the-go" playlist to queue up songs
without stopping what is currently playing.

That doesn't sound like a list of diva demands, does it? But of
the three players I've tried, one of them passed two of these tests
and the other two failed them all.

It seems like 128M MP3 players all cost about the same and are all
lightweight enough that the weight doesn't matter, so no company
having more than a razor-thin advantage over anyone else, you'd think
they'd all be desperate for an idea to lure customers from one company
to another.

Profit margins are thin enough, however, that they can't devote many
man-hours to finding that advantage. The iPod mini is the main device
in the 'small, light, exercise-safe' category that goes for that
advantage, and it can afford to do so by jacking up the price.

--
Matthew Weigel
the email address is real
the contents of the post are not

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