A couple of friends treated my wife and I to dinner at The Cheesecake Factory this past Saturday ((Excellent food. Excellent cheesecake.)), and afterwards we walked around The Fashion Mall for a bit to work off a bit of the meal. We ended up stepping into the Apple store there, which may have been a big mistake – I think I’ve become an even bigger fan of Apple products.
I’ve been drooling over iPod for a little while now, and previously I’d mentioned that I was interested in acquiring an 8GB iPod Nano in the black flavor. However, after having actually handled a couple of these devices in-store, I’ve been wooed and won by the iPod itself. ((It seems that iPod and iPod Video have now become one and the same. iPod Nano seems to have taken the place of the regular iPod with iPod Video becoming the standard for the larger variety.)) The 8GB iPod Nano runs the same prices as the 30GB iPod, the only difference, of course, being the physical sizes of the two devices. Being the practical man that I am, I have repented of my desire for the smaller iPod Nano and have changed my allegiances to the larger, more powerful iPod. And for just $100 more, I could nab the larger 80GB iPod, leaving me plenty of room to further expand my music library.
Apple has also done very well in product design. All the Apple products now look sharp, sleek, and sexy. They actually look like the electronic devices of the future and are built in such a way as to be immensely functional and practical while also being easy on the eyes. The graphics displays are all exceptionally crisp and clean and almost make my mouth water. Plus, Apple products are work-horses – they’re built for power and durability and are designed to last a long, long time. My wife has wanted a G4 or G5 for quite some time now, and after having seen them up close and personal myself, I think now _I_ want one, too. Another marketing device that Apple has done right – opening up a store to let people come in and play with all the ‘toys.’
Does that make me a mindless automaton?
the G5’s suck compared to the new dual-cores! We have a dual proc + dual core at work.. it’s sick really.
But typing this on my work macbook, i gotta admit, there’s something nice about simplicity- having a white.. everything. Not the 3-tones of grey with white and black and a little orange all over a creaky, poorly snapped together frame (read: my v2310 i’m willing to sell for $500- any takers? :) )
Just remember Apple Lust leads to spending. Spending leads to bankruptcy
Bankruptcy leads to the dark side.
SINNER!!! :)
Actually, from a business perspective, Apple has often been on the cutting edge of technology… In fact MUCH of what the PC world has done, Apple did first. Example: The Apple Newton, which was basically a Palm Pilot (fully functioning) that came out in the early nineties, but because it was “ahead of its time” (Cell Phones were still very new and only owned by the very rich. Doctors still carried pagers.) and because Apple didn’t have a good marketing department, it flopped.
All Apple has needed for a very long time is a marketing department, and it’s looked like they’ve finally found one in the last few years. And yes, marketing is a 3/4 of an iceberg bigger than the ads one sees in TV.
A few years ago I didn’t care about Apple. Then the 4th gen iPod came out and my friend had a 3rd gen one. The 4th gen was the first one they included a fully functioning clickwheel, a 12 hour battery, and it was just before iPod Photo and iPod Video.
That was around 2 years ago and I am still using my iPod all of the time, such as right now. It’s a great thing to indulge in all of my media without having to carry anything burdensome. The long battery life for just listening to music is great and is perfect for travel. I hear the video playback drains the battery, but I don’t plan on watching Lord of the Rings on my iPod.
Then in May, I bought a MacBook Pro and it’s the best computer I’ve had to date. It helps fuel the creative fire inside of me and instead of having to find the right kind of software to do something, it has most of it right there and I sit there and dream of ways I could use the different media software.
My next Desktop is going to be a Mac Pro and I’m really hoping to get one sooner rather than later.
I am a full fledged Apple fanatic now and while it is expensive, I haven’t had any issues with my Apple products that I’ve had on my Windows PC’s and I consider it a great buy.
Yeah, well, now I’m looking at my wallet and repeating to myself, “Xbox 360 or iPod? Xbox 360 or iPod?” It’s disgusting…
Jim,
I can send you a first gen iPod 2G, but the bottom half of the screen is hosed (hubby found it on the streets of Chicago, what can I say?). I’ve since upgraded to the NextGen iPod 8G you were lusting after earlier. It’s wonderful. Sleek, sexy, lightweight…need I go on?
A few years ago I bought the 4th Gen iPod 40G mentioned above. I was traveling to Europe a lot. I put my entire CD collection on it (more than 250 CDs) as well as my Audible books. Listening to books was great on a trans Atlantic flight. I also deployed to Bahrain with it and a small set of speakers. With the wall charger, I used it as a stereo and alarm clock for 4 months. What other way could I have handily transported my entire CD collection plus a few books with me?
As for the mac books and desktops? I’m still leery of them. I could never figure out how to open a file on the original Macs, so I dread the thought of trying to figure that out on the new ones.
Yet, I really want an alternative to Microsoft. I use a Palm for that reason, but I’ve struggled and failed (so far) to get Linux to work, and there’s that aforementioned Mac Anxiety. What else can I do? I don’t want to move to Vista, and my present PC and laptop should be good for two to three more years, but eventually, I’ll have to figure out a way ahead.
Jean, I’d certainly be interested. I tried emailing you the other day about it but the email got bounced as undeliverable.