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+--- Thread: Is Apple tuning out audiophiles? or is Michael Hiltzik an idiot? (/showthread.php?tid=103744)
Is Apple tuning out audiophiles? or is Michael Hiltzik an idiot? - Mike Johnson - 09-22-2010
You decide.
Hiltzik wrote:
It seems to be a law of nature that, just like toothpaste and government tax codes, great consumer technologies eventually become so overgrown with options or "improvements" that the original versions are indiscernible.
Microsoft has Word, its flagship word-processing program, which is so encrusted today with tools and features of less-than-universal utility that figuring out how to type a simple paragraph can take hours of consultation with the Help feature.
Apple has the iPod.
Read more at LA Times
In a nutshell, the three newest models suck because they're all whiz bang and not about the music. And Apple sucks because the iPod Classic is exactly what audiophiles want, and it wasn't updated last month. Whuh?
I can't... I mean, even... ah, eff it all. Seriously.
Re: Is Apple tuning out audiophiles? or is Michael Hiltzik an idiot? - N-OS X-tasy! - 09-22-2010
Beleaguered!
Re: Is Apple tuning out audiophiles? or is Michael Hiltzik an idiot? - M A V I C - 09-22-2010
The fact they named it the iPod and not the iMusic or anything like that, should have been an indicator to most that Apple was going to morph it into something else.
Real audiophiles never liked the iPod anyway because of its crappy DAC (so I've been told, anyway.)
But Apple is continually adjusting their hardware and software to be non-pro friendly.
Re: Is Apple tuning out audiophiles? or is Michael Hiltzik an idiot? - davester - 09-22-2010
I think that's silly. The iPod classic is obviously skirting obsolescence and on its way out because there's not a big enough market for it in the light of all the flash memory players, and the flash players will soon be up to the 160 gb level anyway given the inexorable downward march of flash prices. Apple has never been about catering to all users. They pick their markets for profitability.
Re: Is Apple tuning out audiophiles? or is Michael Hiltzik an idiot? - silvarios - 09-22-2010
Mike Johnson wrote:
In a nutshell, the three newest models suck because they're all whiz bang and not about the music. And Apple sucks because the iPod Classic is exactly what audiophiles want, and it wasn't updated last month. Whuh?
Wait, the new nano, which took out nearly every non audio feature (slight exaggeration of course) to focus solely on audio, but, somehow that doesn't count? All the shuffle is capable of is audio. So two of the three new iPods are audio focused…I don't get it. Yeah, the guy is crazy.
Re: Is Apple tuning out audiophiles? or is Michael Hiltzik an idiot? - DRR - 09-22-2010
Hiltzik is right, but he's missing the point. The iPod is and always was a convenience device. It's not an audiophile machine. The DAC is a good one (again, for a portable device) but once you start compressing the signal you're going to lose quality. Still, 320kbps AAC preserves probably 95%+ of lossless quality, and to even get close to achieving that you're going to need studio monitor headphones anyway.
Regardless, his point is moot. By the time the 160GB classic is no longer available on the market ("[audiophiles are] afraid the time is not too distant when the Classic will be discontinued, with the result that they'll be back to the bad old days of choosing what music to load onto their Touches (and inevitably choosing wrong). ") flash memory will have caught up. The iPod touch is at 64GB right now and started at 16GB three years ago. The gap is rapidly closing, and will only close faster with iPad and the app store. Those two things mean that iOS storage capacity is used not only for music but for profit rich applications which are Apple's license to print money. In another year I would not be surprised to see a 128GB iPod Touch. In two more years I bet it'll crack 200Gb.
Re: Is Apple tuning out audiophiles? or is Michael Hiltzik an idiot? - deckeda - 09-22-2010
Dumb article. His beef with the Classic is that it's not big enough or about to be EOL'd. But audiophiles don't try to put everything on their iPods---never could. They tend to be music lovers with larger libraries than most.
And Apple Lossless is as good as CD. It can hold a bit for bit copy.
There are solutions that bypass or interface with iTunes to overcome it's cluelessness about hires files. But the iPod is no worse today than it's been.
Re: Is Apple tuning out audiophiles? or is Michael Hiltzik an idiot? - 3d - 09-22-2010
Ughhh.. the article is so whiney. I got 1/3 of the way through before i started just skimming it.. then I closed out of it entirely about halfway through.
To make "audiophiles" happy you have to re-introduce the original hard drive scroll wheel iPod because the sound is so obviously "warmer" to them when compared to (bleh) flash memory. Adhere little rubber cone feet on the back to protect it against the vibration of the earth crust when placed on the table. And charge $899 for the privilege of owning it
Audiophiles will wet their pants.
Re: Is Apple tuning out audiophiles? or is Michael Hiltzik an idiot? - what4 - 09-22-2010
I wish the iPod was more open, so it might be more useful to people who do something other than buy "tunes" from the iTunes store.
It seems to have been designed by young people around the idea that music comes in small units that can be shuffled like cards (after buying them from Apple).
For people who primarily listen to extended audio -- books or classical -- and who rip most of their own audio, the iPod contains some irritating limitations and omissions.
It is especially awkward not to be able to copy folders of audio from the computer to the iPod. Any competing music player can do this. It's so much more convenient.
Re: Is Apple tuning out audiophiles? or is Michael Hiltzik an idiot? - blooz - 09-22-2010
I knew a guy years ago who had a basement room with classical music albums on packed shelves which went across a long wall. he had big speakers placed strategically for him to get the best sound where he sat and an audio equalizer built into the wall by his sofa.
That was an audiophile.