Sunday, January 16, 2005

Apple does it again...again!


Image from http://www.apple.com/
I am a long time fan of most things Apple (even though I finally sold my iBook for a Windows XP notebook from Dell) and beleive that if Steve Jobs were to run for president, I would certainly vote for him. One of the most fun things about Apple computer is the anticipation of new products when the MacWorld expos come and when the rumors of new products start flying around. This January was no exception as Apple has released their version of a powerful "budget" computer, the Mac mini. This little thing is beautiful, as are all of Apple's products and very functional as an entry level computer for anyone. It's bound to be a huge hit with students, who are always needing more space, and probably with small businesses too. I would say to look for something similar in a relatively tiny package in the next year from companies like Dell and Gateway.
The one Apple product I will not buy though is the iPod, in any of its incarnations. It's nice looking and all but aside from the ridiculous battery issues that they've had the one thing that really turns me away from them are the file formats that it is compatible with, specifically, no wma. I like the codec that Apple uses for it's purchased songs through iTunes and love the iTunes program itself (even though I really don't use it now on my XP machines), but I have an aftermarket Kenwood stero in my car that is compatible with mp3 and wma so since I listen to a lot of music in my car I like to burn cd's of music and to do my iTunes songs, I have to burn them to an audio cd then rip them into another format, which just serves to be a time waster and to further reduce the quality of the audio (though probably not by too much, but still...). So, I will not be buying an iPod until Apple gives support for wma files and wma files purchased from online stores. I think I will get a Creative Muvo though, because that little thing is pretty sweet. Posted by Hello

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