[Big Mac]

Was anyone watching the Apple bashing that just occurred on CNBC's "On the Money" over alleged inefficacy of the iPod's skip protection? Hank Greenberg hosted the segment and had four seniors editors from different media sources on to discuss why he can't jog with his iPod without it freezing. Most of the editors were supportive of Apple. However, the parting shot came from the senior editor from Forbes who said something along the following lines:

"This is a company that has had a lot of product recalls. They had that Cube thing. They can barely make anything right."

I'd love to know the name of this wanker, if anyone can recall. . .

[Kevin]

Someone is getting scared of Apple.

Oh and, I've never had my iPod skip on me, and I run up and down the stairs at work frequently.

[rozwado1]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Oh and, I've never had my iPod skip on me, and I run up and down the stairs at work frequently.

That's because on the Moon you don't have to worry about gravity as much.

[Fred_Cokebottle]

He must be doing too much of this:

[Weyland-Yutani]

I've had a 3rd gen 20 GB iPod and a 4 GB iPod mini both with physical hard drives. Never once did they skip. I jogged with them and twice I accidentally dropped one on the floor but never once did either of them skip. Worked just fine all the time.

Now I have a 4 GB nano and well. Obviously that one doen't skip. Ever.

cheers

W-Y

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by Fred_Cokebottle

He must be doing too much of this:

It's a cross between hackensack and badminton. It's pretty crazy.

[FulcrumPilot]

Yeah same here, I still use the 1st generation 5 gb ipod that I bought a long time ago, it has been through rain, snow, sandstorm, hailstorm, thunder+lightiningstorm, hurricane, mini-tsunami (when I once went to the beach and went to sleep on the shore), and what else have you! it still works like a trooper! Oh yes, I have also dropped it many times, run with it wearing army boots, climbed stairs 3 steps at a time mostly, and jumped down the stairs sometimes 4 steps in one go, collided with others in the hallway when I am in a rush to go someplace and I don't check my twelve too well, hmm what else, oh yes I have done "that" a lot when I had the 5pod straped to my bulging triceps/biceps area. So to cut the chase, yeah that dude in "money" it seems is full of it!

[Mastrap]

My ancient 2nd generation 10GB still works perfectly. No skips at all. This guy is obviously an idiot.

[JoshuaZ]

Same with my 2nd Gen iPod. No skip problems there.

Yeah, some people are probably getting afraid of the Apple turning into a media distrubitive empire. Or something like that.

That or this guy is just an idiot. Really. And the Cube? How logn ago was that? How many car companies recall cars every year.... good gravy.

[Salty]

Holy frick. I have NEVER had my mini skip. I did recently have it jump to an entirely different song which didn't make sense to me I imagine it was just a software glitch. But frick you'd have to be doing running and skipping like 20 songs ahead to get the thing to skip. I mean really it uses a freaking flash buffer! And if that HD skips odds are you're gona end up with a pretty dead HD very soon. How the heck is this guy running. I use my mini constantly at the gym on the eliptical granted I put it on the book tray because I dont' want it bouncing around in my pocket for fear of the HD getting damaged but it's still knocked around regularly.

[OldManMac]

I have a 20GB iPod that I got a year ago Feb., and it has been in 23 states, in the ash tray of a semi truck, which certainly doesn't ride like a Cadillac, and it has performed flawlessly! This kind of crap is to be expected from jealous people.

[tooki]

It's easy to make a hard disk based iPod skip: go on a run with it in your pocket. (It won't skip if you are holding it in your hand.) I take my dinky Rio 600 on the treadmill now instead of my 3G iPod.

tooki

[production_coordinator]

Price alone killed the cube. It was an amazing bit of technology. Anyone that says otherwise either doesn't understand Apple, or is too young to have remembered living during that time.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by production_coordinator

Price alone killed the cube. It was an amazing bit of technology. Anyone that says otherwise either doesn't understand Apple, or is too young to have remembered living during that time.

Yes it was.. I wanted one at the time, but wasn't stupid enough to pay the price for one.

That has to be my fav Mac enclosure. Right up there with the ElCap case.

[Weyland-Yutani]

Originally Posted by tooki

It's easy to make a hard disk based iPod skip: go on a run with it in your pocket. (It won't skip if you are holding it in your hand.) I take my dinky Rio 600 on the treadmill now instead of my 3G iPod.

tooki

I never hold the iPod in my hand when running. I have it in my pocket. No skips. Of course running is all about maintaining a smooth rythm because you don't want to ruin your knees and when one does that the iPod doesn't skip. I have had 2 years of experience with this. YMMV apparently.

cheers

W-Y

[tooki]

I'm sure it also has to do with the clothing you are wearing. My jogging pants are loose nylon, and the iPod flops around a lot. If I had something tighter, it might not be as bad. (I run on a treadmill.)

tooki

[residentEvil]

tooki + tight pants + iPod in said tight pants = thanks for THAT image

[xi_hyperon]

Originally Posted by tooki

I'm sure it also has to do with the clothing you are wearing. My jogging pants are loose nylon, and the iPod flops around a lot. If I had something tighter, it might not be as bad. (I run on a treadmill.)

tooki

I run on a treadmill 3 times a week, with the iPod (3rd gen) in my pocket (loose clothing also). No skips. Ever.

[residentEvil]

Originally Posted by xi_hyperon

I run on a treadmill 3 times a week, with the iPod (3rd gen) in my pocket (loose clothing also). No skips. Ever.

maybe he runs like Phoebe does on Friends? hahaha!

[Paco500]

Originally Posted by production_coordinator

Price alone killed the cube. It was an amazing bit of technology. Anyone that says otherwise either doesn't understand Apple, or is too young to have remembered living during that time.

Completely off topic, but I disagree with you. I would say price was the major factor, but don't forget:

1) The famous "cracks" in the case that got so much press. As I recall, most of these were attributable to mold lines, but it got a lot of attention and turned people off.

2) Digital only audio. This bugged a lot of people. It seemed arbitrary and complicated, and there were reports of skipping audio that made people uneasy.

3) The problematic power switch. Again got lots of press and contributed to the impression this was a buggy system.

4) Lack of expandability. You and I and lots of right thinking people can say "so what," but it hit a nerve with folks. It could be argued that if it was priced less, people would not have cared as much, so it really was a price thing, but it was the subject of more negative press.

Cost was a big deal, but there was a lot of bad press around the cube. There is a long history of people "over-paying" for items if they see the value in them, but a lot of the world saw this as a sub-standard, unreliable computer that also cost a lot.

Personally, I loved it and would still like to have one some day.

[olePigeon]

Part of it was a misinterpretation about what the machine really was. A lot of people thought it was another iMac. Why should they pay $2500 for an iMac when they can get one for $699?

It was a full fledged Power Mac G4 in a 4" case. The engineering behind it at the time was incredible. I think people just couldn't get past the small formfactor and actually believe it was just as powerful as the big huge monsters next to it.

It is perhaps why it was really popular in the Geek sector and even stuck in the Smithsonian as an icon of computer innovation and engineering, but the marketing (what little they had) couldn't break through the mental barrier with the average consumer.

The Cube was way ahead of its time, much as the Newton and the eMate were. Now small computers, palmtop devices, and ultralight sub-notebooks are the norm.

[teney7]

Originally Posted by Mastrap

My ancient 2nd generation 10GB still works perfectly. No skips at all. This guy is obviously an idiot.

Ditto for me.

[IceEnclosure]

I had a 10 gig iPod back in the day, never ever skipped.

Oh, and I'd love to have a Cube still, some day.

[cjrivera]

Originally Posted by olePigeon

Part of it was a misinterpretation about what the machine really was. A lot of people thought it was another iMac. Why should they pay $2500 for an iMac when they can get one for $699?

It was a full fledged Power Mac G4 in a 4" case. The engineering behind it at the time was incredible. I think people just couldn't get past the small formfactor and actually believe it was just as powerful as the big huge monsters next to it.

My wife was at home a few years ago when the local ISP came to install wireless DSL. I wasn't home at the time, but figured that she knew enough to answer any basic questions that the guy had about Mac hardware. He saw the Cube on the desk with the 17"LCD flat panel and Soundsticks and asked her "Where's the CPU?" She pointed to the Cube and said, "Right there." He said, "Uh, no, that's the subwoofer, where's the COMPUTER?" (In a real slow voice like she didn't understand.) She said, "Right there!" and proceeded to eject a DVD from the drive to show him. His jaw hit the ground. She showed him where the Ethernet/USB/Firewire ports were. He was just in shock. She said he looked over that Cube for like 15 minutes, before he finally got to the DSL install, which took 5 minutes. When he left, he said,"I was never did like Apples or Macs, but that thing is the most awesome thing I've ever seen."

[dav]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Yes it was.. I wanted one at the time, but wasn't stupid enough to pay the price for one.

i was made my first imovie on it, and it's still in use.

have a first gen ipod which still runs great but doesn't get much use after i got the fourth gen.

[Weyland-Yutani]

Originally Posted by tooki

I'm sure it also has to do with the clothing you are wearing. My jogging pants are loose nylon, and the iPod flops around a lot. If I had something tighter, it might not be as bad. (I run on a treadmill.)

tooki

Absoloutly, not that I wear anything *tight* but the iPod wasn't jumping up and down in my pocket. Happy jogging!

cheers

W-Y

[gururafiki]

My 40 gig never skipped wether I was running (with loose clothing) or riding my bike (without suspension). I'm just sad I dropped it so many times because now it will not work anymore...

But back to the CNBC thing, people are going to knock anything that will get them publicity. Considering the iPod is so popular, and Apple is now a high profile company, TV hosts are going to do whatever to boost their ratings. Even if their opinion is not that of the majority.

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by cjrivera

My wife was at home a few years ago when the local ISP came to install wireless DSL. I wasn't home at the time, but figured that she knew enough to answer any basic questions that the guy had about Mac hardware. He saw the Cube on the desk with the 17"LCD flat panel and Soundsticks and asked her "Where's the CPU?" She pointed to the Cube and said, "Right there." He said, "Uh, no, that's the subwoofer, where's the COMPUTER?" (In a real slow voice like she didn't understand.) She said, "Right there!" and proceeded to eject a DVD from the drive to show him. His jaw hit the ground. She showed him where the Ethernet/USB/Firewire ports were. He was just in shock. She said he looked over that Cube for like 15 minutes, before he finally got to the DSL install, which took 5 minutes. When he left, he said,"I was never did like Apples or Macs, but that thing is the most awesome thing I've ever seen."

Sniff. I miss my Cube. I bought it second hand, 500MHz version with the 32MB Radeon. That, along with my TAM, I had to sell when I was having a money crisis. Now that I'm getting some dough back in, I've been keepin' my eyes out for a good deal on a 500MHz Cube and/or a TAM. TAMs are still going for $1000 on eBay. It's insane. Don't think I'll ever get one again. I payed $400 for mine about 5 years ago from a coworker who never used it and it sat in the corner of his office (he got it as a promotion gift from his boss years ago.)

[mathew_m]

Hmm, hard drive based iPods can skip. My 2nd gen pod would skip when I hit a bump bike riding. That was one of the reasons the Nano was introduced as it is skip free and perfect for exercising.

[Weyland-Yutani]

Originally Posted by mathew_m

Hmm, hard drive based iPods can skip. My 2nd gen pod would skip when I hit a bump bike riding. That was one of the reasons the Nano was introduced as it is skip free and perfect for exercising.

IIRC HD based iPods had skip protection (15 mins) meaning that the next 15 mins were loaded into RAM => would not skip when hitting a bump no matter what. Unless you managed to kill the iPod or something.

cheers

W-Y

[mathew_m]

Originally Posted by Weyland-Yutani

IIRC HD based iPods had skip protection (15 mins) meaning that the next 15 mins were loaded into RAM => would not skip when hitting a bump no matter what. Unless you managed to kill the iPod or something.

cheers

W-Y

The skips I experienced were often delayed after hitting a bump. And no I never dropped it as it rode in a bike pack. Regardless skips happened and outside of the RDF Zones (like here on MacNN) many users have experienced them under normal circumstances.

Apple itself even advertises the Nano as being skip-free. You don't think they would of mentioned this if there were not a problem otherwise.

Up to 4GB(2) of skip-free storage on a featherweight iPod means you can wear almost three days’ worth of music around your neck. Or jog with 1,000 songs on your arm. Now that you can take your music everywhere, there’s no limit to where it will take you.

[Big Mac]

I have to assume Hank Greenberg and most others who have had skip issues with their HD based iPods have been jostling them while going forward or reverse in their playlists, thus not allowing the iPod to fill its memory. Nonetheless, it's really not a great idea to be shaking anything with an HD.

[Weyland-Yutani]

Originally Posted by mathew_m

The skips I experienced were often delayed after hitting a bump.

That's different. The delay should have been about 15 minutes. No RDF, just ample experience. I've had a lot af bad experince with the HD iPods, I'm not defending them as such, but I've never had one skip. Maybe I've been lucky?

cheers

W-Y

[TheJoshu]

In my pocket, my 40gb 4th-gen iPod photo skips when I'm walking down the street at a brisk pace.

[IceEnclosure]

You people with skipping iPods, I'd never heard of it.

I never experienced one skip EVAR with my 10 gig. Had it for about 2 years.

[Kevin]

Nor my 30g 4g