Well, whip out your violins and prepare for a snivel-fest.
The line of
Lo and behold: Public libraries have entered the digital age, offering audiobooks in mp3 and other formats for checkout/download. High speed, sez I, and jumped on the bandwagon. I'm sure iPod and iPhone owners have no trouble taking advantage of this advancement, but my experience has fallen somewhat short of the technological potential in theory.
I installed MP3 Overdrive and some other apps on my Blackberry. After more hair-pulling and teeth-gnashing than I care to detail, the only mp3 Overdrive/Blackberry allows me to download/play is Overdrive's "Welcome to Our Wonderful App" message. Big surprise, but listening to this welcome-to-this-app-that-only-plays-this-one-single-friggin'-file 400 times doesn't really hold a candle to a Wilbur Smith historical adventure...or the pulpnificent periodical I checked out but can't friggin' download. I tried to outflank the cyberkilljoys by downloading to my PC, then transferring the file to my
Sigh.
Not all is lost, sez I. Critical Press Media is podcasting an indie novel. I'll listen to that. But when I get to the point I reached before (it never fails) somebody friggin' calls me. Then nothing but error messages until I yank the stinking battery out and power cycle the furshluggoner
I'll have the Overdrive welcome message memorized verbatim after another 400 listens or so.
Time to ditch the CrapBerry and get yourself an Android or iPhone, amigo. They are great for businesses, but IMHO lousy for the private owner who has a large selection of other phones to choose from.
ReplyDeleteIn the next couple of months I'll be ditching my not-so-smart flip-phone for an Android phone. If you can't get another phone soon, I'd advise just biting the bullet and buying an iPod.
You are right, of course. Don't know quite when my teeth will be strong enough to bite THAT bullet, though.
ReplyDeleteI have a pay-as-you-go forty dollar cell phone. That pretty much sums up what I think of cell phones. I thought the ipod was a pretty good product except for that fact that itunes is absolutely horrible. I've heard of another third party program you can use in its place, but my ipod has been collecting dust because their service is so ridicules.
ReplyDeleteAh. See, now I'm afraid to even check how much I'd have to pay to use an iPod.
ReplyDeleteForget iTunes. You're talking about downloading music and paying for it. It costs nothing to use an iPod. If you buy your music THROUGH iTunes, then yes, it kinda sucks, but you can import MP3s just fine. I've had an iPod Touch for two years now, and I love it. Although it can't go online except when I'm attached to a wi-fi hotspot, I pretty much always have it with me to fire off an IM, check wikipedia or somesuch, weather, CNN, e-mail...you name it.
ReplyDeleteiTunes might be a pain in the butt, but iTunes is also the least useful aspect of an iPod, IMO. The new iPod Touch can also take photos and even shoot video, which can be handy now and then if your cell phone camera isn't that good or you don't have a good way of getting the pictures / video off of it.
What do you use as a replacement for itunes?
ReplyDeleteI use iTunes on the computer end to manage music, but I just impmort off of CDs I buy. I don't have a huge music collection, but there's a few hundred songs on there. I just build playlists, put 'em on the iPod, and I'm good to go. The Touch has a basic music app, while my Nanos, they just play whatever I put on there.
ReplyDelete