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Technology Stocks : Apple Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KeepItSimple who wrote (56159)	8/22/2006 7:54:54 PM
From: Cogito	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 213185

KIS - The reviewer gives one point to Zen because it uses disposable batteries. A questionable call at best. Disposable batteries are more harmful to the environment, and will cause the Zen to cost more over its useable life. Also, the iPod's batteries really last quite a bit longer than the one and a half years he claims for the vast majority of users. If you switch that point to Apple, the nano wins. - Allen

To: KeepItSimple who wrote (56159)	8/22/2006 7:57:35 PM
From: Lizzie Tudor	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 213185

rofl, batteries. Oh yeah. My Lyra player from 1999 used batteries, a 12-pack per week. The cost of the batteries easily overtook the player after a few mos. Any reviewer that thinks college students will willfully choose an MP3 player with batteries is just nuts. Hahha.

To: KeepItSimple who wrote (56159)	8/22/2006 8:53:33 PM
From: gladman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 213185

AAPL has a death grip with I-Tunes. Do you think i'm going to switch equipment when i've spent the past year populating my I-Tunes jukebox with 2000 illegally downloaded songs?

To: KeepItSimple who wrote (56159)	8/23/2006 12:59:12 AM
From: Doren	Respond to of 213185

First off the reviewer doesn't know what he's talking about: The last four file types are Apples own sound files. Incorrect. AIFF files are the type of files audio CDs use. AIFF files take up less space Incorrect. AIFF files may take up less space in some cases but generally are much larger. One tactic I use to avoid burn is to compare negative reviews on Amazon. I click on "more reviews" then "lowest reviews first." This gives a better idea about how usable and reliable the product is. I did this for these two. At this point I haven't peeked. I will now peek and relate: Zen Nano: As I guessed the majority of the complaints are about poor quality hardware, which in many cases did not work period. Secondary complaints are about poor quality firmware and software. Crashes, hard to use, freezes etc. Third area of complaints is lack of support which you'd expect on a product with this many hardware/software problems. They not only haven't got the reliability problem figured out so their help cannot figure it out either. Apple Nano: Negative reviews mostly complain about price. This is a non factor or an idiot's complaint. The price was known before hand. The extra money is due to better quality control which costs Apple very little but is worth quite a bit to a consumer like me or anyone who's time is valuable. Secondary complaints are about battery life. This complaint has validity IMHO. ------------- This is what I mean about quality. I wouldn't touch the Zen with a ten foot pole due to those complaints. My guess is 10 to 20% of them are defective under even careful use. My guess and fear would be that I would get one that would last 2 months then I'd have to find the receipt (somewhere) and hassle with a return and hope the rebuilt was done correctly. No way. Not a chance with me. Lest you think I'm biased. I agree on the battery issue. It's easy and quite thrifty to by high quality rechargables nowadays. In addition for backpacking or traveling lithium batteries are very light and cheap and you can take a few so I'd give the Zen a big advantage here. I also like the radio. But overall I won't buy a product like the Zen period. I'm not in a rush. I'll wait until they make one I know I'm going to ENJOY not one I'll hassle and worry about. If the Zen were more reliable and played more file types, it would be a no brainer, the Zen would win.