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TGIO, Apple sucks

Listening to:	my silent house
Reading:	The D'oh of Homer Simpson
Weather:	31, snowing madly

Not to be grinchy, but bah freakin humbug, xmas blows. Don't get me wrong, I got some stellar gifts, I got to play with cute little cousins and whatnot, I'm off work, there's goodness in it. However, at a pretty hefty cost, if ya know what I mean, plus snowy wicked drive to get back home today. I'm just tickled shitless that it's the 26th, let's leave it at that.

I'm a slightly nerdly geek wannabe. I likes my tech toys. I've been just about exclusively PC-flavored since the days I first played with a computer, which was a Mac. So that's the preface to my first-taste-of-Apple-in-years-and-they-suck rant, which goes a little like this (and-a one and-a two, bubble machine please):

Liv, cool american teen that she is, got a 30G iPod from my mom for xmas. This is the first pod in the family. (I have had one iPaq or another for at least 4 years, and can jam more than plenty of audio and video on my 1G SD card.) My first impression, as she opens the tiny little box is dang, that box is tiny. I know the gizmo is known for tinyness, but how much other stuff can they fit in that little box? Uh, not much. NOT EVEN AN A/C CHARGER. I was a bit dumbfounded, and since there's virtually no accompanying documentation, it took me a while to actually believe it. Cheap bastards, they make you BUY a charger for $30 and that doesn't even come with a cord, so make damn sure you don't lose the cord in that little box. yeah, I know, it'll charge via USB, but how much does it suck that you have to be plugged into a computer to charge? What if you're visiting grandpa who doesn't have a computer at home? Lame, people, very lame, that you pay $300 or more for one of these toys and they soak you for another $30 for a charger that comes free and standard with every PDA, even the cheap ones.

Also, there's no accurate battery meter on the thing. There's a little icon, but I can tell you from a day's usage, that thing is no where near accurate, and doesn't give a percentage or any other indication of battery life left other than a full, empty, or half full icon. Also exceptionally lame, especially when combined with lack of a/c charger. And the whole non-consumer-replaceable battery thing, don't get me started, that's just 100% bullshit.

Now we get to the more sophisticated lamenesses. I am not a fan of navigating a vertical menu by moving my thumb in a circle. It's just counter-intuitive. Now all you early adopters don't even remember that feeling, I'm sure, you're so used to the wheel thing, but it's just dorky, if you ask me.

Now I'm clumsily scrolling through the menus, and I find some games. Sweet, who knew? A classic pong game, solitaire, some shoot stuff game, and something else. Nifty. But since it's not a touch screen, the solitaire is pretty clunky to actually play. The pong game was kinda fun, especially for an old schooler (and pretty weak gamer) like myself. Well, I have some great games on my iPaq, I bet there are better games for the iPod, too. WRONG. You can't add any games to the thing. No, I'm not joking, what you got is what you get. Another strike against this overpriced thingy.

OK, though I have other minor bitches about it, I must say, the second thought that passed through my mind as I opened said tiny box was, dang, this is one sexy little beast. Totally sweet design. Clean smooth lines, so stark and lovely. Amazingly small and slim, nice shiny chrome back and white chocolate white front. Perfect weight and balance in the hand. No bumps or hiccups, just stunningly beautiful to behold and hold.

Well, my kitty is walking around my feet, rubbing against my leg here in the computer room, reminding me to snuggle with her a bit since she missed me for 3 days and 3 nights. So cat's off to hang with cat. Let it snow. Let it snow. Let it snow.

permalink posted by cat 5:04 PM

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