One more thing I think I might have left out of my essay, that was yesterday's post: With the help of a gift certificate from Lisa's parents, I went to Fry's on Thursday night and I got myself a Chirstmas/ Birthday present.
(NOTE: Fry's is on the 405, not the I-5. By the time I realized this however I was further from Seattle than I was from Tacoma. (doh) To top that off as well there had been a truck fire between me and the next exit ramp after I discovered I was going the wrong way, it took me 40 minutes to go 2 miles. (Kind of funny though, the firemen put out the fire and then the water froze accross the freeway and closed more lanes than the fire had.) However I spent a record amount of time in and out of Fry's. A true first. It's just on the 405...)
~B.
Just curious: why did you pick that MP3 player?
ReplyDeleteI picked That player because I did a BUNCH of research on current MP3 players. I instantly rulled out the Ipod because it's way too trendy AND it only plays songs formatted for the apple. (Which means I would have to convert my entire music collection from WMA and MP3s, which takes YEARS to do.) This fancy little thing was 5gb (a gb more than the ipod mini) and it has a radio tuner on it as well (very handy) and a voice recorder too. (Which none of the others had) Creative makes some (some) good stuff and I liked the design of it far better than the runner up (the Rio Carbon) so I bought this one. I didn't just go out and grab the first thing I found on the shelf. A lot of work went into finding something non-apple and very quality.
ReplyDeleteAny further questions?
~B.
Yeah, another question: do you think it's good enough to compete with the iPod mini - or even outcompete it? (the radio tuner thing is pretty cool)
ReplyDeleteOk, Ben, I have to say, I know you're originally from California, but you haven't lived there in years and I think I remember you saying you prefer to think of yourself as a Washingtonian. If that's so, they why on earth are you refering to freeways like those crasy Californians? It's not THE 405 or THE I-5. It's 405 and I-5. I don't know what's happened to you. Lisa's not a Californian. My only guess is that you've spent too much time talking w/ Jane and Dan and that they have tainted you. Please, Ben, come back to Washington!
ReplyDeleteI would say yes, for 2 main reasons: 1. This little device will do everything an iPod mini will do (minus play only AAC formatted songs) and the iPod has had some issues with their batteries. a. They aren't replaceable (it'll cost you 50 bucks to replace it, and you have to send it back into them) b. the OS starts to freak out if the batteries get too low. The Creative Zen Micro however have everything the mini can do, plus an FM radio tuner, removeable batteries (you can change yourself! (12 hours of life per battery, also comes with a free 2nd battery!)) and it syncs up with Windows Media Player 10 for a really quite seemless transfer. (Did I mention it has a gb more space than the Mini?)
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, and I got mine for $237, If I'm not mistaken the mini is $250. And you can get the Micro in more colors. =) Overall I would say stick it to apple and spread the market share around!
~B.
Yeah, I forgot about the iPod's battery issue. I believe the first ones you had to pay like $200 to replace the battery and that involved sending it back to the factory and stuff. If there's one dumb, dumb design flaw in the iPod - and there are those cool features, like the scroll wheel - hard & expensive to replace batteries are possibly the worst.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately no media player has had the hype and resulting popularity to rival the iPod/mini. What you miss out with anything but an iPod is the fashion statement you're making: you can't be chic with anything else. So all those non-technical people think "iPod mini = cool" and buy one without realizing that there are other ones out there with way better features.
What's wrong with "THE 405"? the freeway known as 405 is a deffinate article. There is a specific freeway I am refering to when I say THE 405. It's not A 405 and I don't see how it can just be 405. I think I have always said it, I don't know why it would change...
ReplyDelete~B.
I don't say that THE Ben and THE Lisa are coming tonight for a murder mystery party. And I don't say A Ben and A Lisa either. I just say Ben and Lisa. Like I just say 405. To me the freeways around here are friends that help me get me where I want to go.
ReplyDeleteDon't you think calling freeways "friends" might be stretching it? I mean, half the time it seems like they're trying to keep you from getting anywhere at any speed greater than 5 mph.
ReplyDeleteThank you Ian! At least someone is on my side. I don't know about the freeways as friends, but I don't think they're quite as bad as Katie makes them out to be (just certian spots and certian times of day). But back on the friends thing, at least it gave me a smile, so thanks Ian. : )
ReplyDelete