iPod takes one small step for PMPs, one giant leap for consumer electronics
By Darren Murph 
posted Mar 15th 2008 12:48PM
posted Mar 15th 2008 12:48PM
posted Mar 15th 2008 12:48PM
"Satisfied" iPhone 3GS owners
Of 200 iPhone 3GS users polled in August, 2009, 99 percent termed themselves "satisfied," with 82 percent saying they were "very satisfied."
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OH MY GOD HOLY SHIT SPACE
Astronauts have ipod's you think that NASA would be able to come up with something better...
I'm personally kind of glad NASA didn't waste ANOTHER billion $ developing something better. The iPod is good enough.
So what?
They use IBM Thinkpads on the Space Shuttle all the time - an average of 3 Thinkpads per mission.
For those of you who don't know, Thinkpads are NOT made by Apple. Ooo, scary... good technology that doesn't come from Apple (though calling Apple technology "good" is somewhat of a dramatic overstatement)
zomg it's a fourth gen iPod
Nope. That's a knock-off iPoop.
What? prove me wrong then...
Exactly! With the type of salary astronauts make youd think they could afford to upgrade to atleast the latest ipod classic. Wait, "latest ipod classic" thats like an oxymoron.
this is news?
Shh....
It's really help Apple stock holder.
Since when is Engadget restricted to news-only posts? Sheesh.
what i wouldn't do to be an ipod right now
Wonder how much Apple paid the astronaut to place it there. You'd think astronauts would have the intelligence to buy something better. Maybe it's a hint to NASA to fix the damn stereo.
Name a hard drive MP3 player that's better at just playing music and at accessing that music through an easy interface.
Ya, it plays music; but its sound quality is far from satisfactory, and its format support sucks balls.
@ Derek: Your dumb. If you can tell (and i mean REAAALLLYYY tell the difference) between your obscure 320kb .ogg file or whatever the fuck "awesome better format" you may think you have, then my hats off to you. for the other 99.9% of all people out there, iPod just works. It's good, its fast, its simple, and for the money, the quality is just unbeatable. Not to mention the design is good. Fill us in when your oggPlayer5000 takes a trip to space. Douche.
@MacBandit
Microsoft Zune 80GB. Not only is it just as easy to listen to music, but the zune software runs EXPONENTIALLY better than iTunes on Windows. Having tried both the Zune 80GB and the latest iPod generation, I liked both players, but in the end the larger screen of the Zune coupled with the fact that not a SINGLE day went by when my iTunes didn't lock up and force me to kill it via task manager on 3 different computers (1 vista and 2 XP's) at some point made me choose the Zune hands down. Just for comparison, my Zune software hasn't locked up or made my computer unresponsive for minutes at a time while accessing something a single time. It's been like heaven, especially now that I have Zune Pass.
Of course if you have a Mac then the iPod is def for you. iTunes runs very well on macs I hear, and its the shitty implementation of iTunes on Windows that drove me to the Zune in the first place.
@brian: haha well put
Zune
@Macbandit - Personally I prefer a DAP that you can just plug in to any PC without needing to install some crappy software that you don't actually want.
@ Mark: Any astronaut so stupid to buy a zune doesn't even deserve to go into space. Astronauts deserve the best and that's the iPod. You can wiggle all you want but people want iPods not Zunes. And contrary to Microsoft Apple didn't force people in buying their products.
@Carbonize: you can with the iPod....it's called Winamp. has a built in iPod plugin that allows you to transfer files to AND from the iPod (something iTunes can't do). I don't use iTunes at all with my iPod.
@DerekB: not sure what you are talking about, but 99% of the songs on my iPod are all in 192 VBR .mp3 format, which sounds pretty damn good to me. I use EAC and the LAME encoder to rip all my CD's
Let me know if you see a Flash-based MP3 player that's highly resistant to cosmic rays and other outer space radiation hazards.
Oh I like my DivX movies, yes I does. That's why I don't have an ipod.
@The Angry Intern - Yes you can also use MediaMonkey but the thing is, unless I am mistaken, both these companies had to reverse engineer how the iPod communicates with the PC to make their programs work with it because Apple has never published documentation on how to do this.
On a different note am I the only one who thinks it's weird that you can make out features on the ground? Surely the bay doors only get opened in orbit and I'm damn sure you can't make out individual fields from up there.
so what exactly did you see the last time you were in earth orbit?
You sure can make out individual fields. Your not talking about small fields your looking at fields and lakes that are probably at a minimum of approximately 36 square miles. It also depends on the contrast with the surrounding area. Lakes are easy to pick up because the contrast of the blue on the surrounding green or brown. In eastern Oregon and in the great plains states there are farms that are 1000's of square miles that are very easy to locate from space.
@tf - Lots of bright colours and swirling clouds. Man that was some good shit.
@Carbonize
Hahahaha, I concur.
Open the pod bay door, Steve.
Those are tiles, moron.
Uh...course if I had followed the link, I would have seen what you were actually talking about. Guess for today I'm the moron. :S
7th generation IPOD SHUTTLE!
Hahaha!.. Haha. ha..ha..
:P
I like to call it the iShuttle.
Let's hope it never crashes.
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle/sts-123/hires/s123e005105.jpg
OMG ANOTHER IPOD! (just above the dude's on the left arm )
i will not follow our nasa buddy and put a labal sticker on my ipod
Suck it Zune !
Dang it even an iPod makes it to space before I do.
Hope it doesn't blow up in flight.
Anyway, my Zune survived a 55mph car crash after hitting and shattering the windshield. Needless to say it doesn't have a scratch and works perfectly. I can hardly an iPod would be more durable in space.
Does it matter? If whatever thingy inside the Shuttle gets hit by something going at 55mph, I'd imagine the whole shuttle would be in danger.
And it looks like it's handling pretty well in space.
Thats cause the zunes a frggin brick.
Are all your purchasing decisions for expensive electronics based on how well an they surviving hitting a hard surface at high speed? I mean, might make more sense than if it blends or plays Doom, but still, I don't really see it as the deciding factor in my purchasing decisions.
Also, the internet poorly conveys sarcasm.
How can a zune be more durable than an iPod as a zune is very poorly designed product. Tests with iPods have shown that they would survive your crash even when when it would have been catapulted out of your car. You really think NASA would allow astronauts to take zune's on a shuttle? Nasa made some mistakes but such obvious one you can't expect from Nasa.
Were you the cause of the accident? Because that comment makes me think you were.
Do hard drives work reliably in space? I mean, the loss of gravity and everything.
Ahem. My HP-41 C was in the shuttle AND COULD LAND IT, way before your puny entertainment device.
You forgot the "Now get off my lawn!" so I'll add it for you.
FThorn: "Now get off my lawn!"
Thanks. Must have been a senior moment.
Now, get off my post! ;)
Of course, what the article didnt say was the astronaut threw his ipod into space after purchasing a zune and finding out how much better it was.....
for realz