Saturday, April 11, 2009

Goodbye iPod Shuffle, hello Nokia 3120 Classic phone

Today my iPod Shuffle 1GB model finally died with a "write error", meaning that the crappy flash memory has failed at a critical location, so the iPod software won't work. I doubt very much whether it can be fixed, but it may be worth a try.
I bought the 1GB model as a backup for the 512kb model that I use with my OtterBox, a waterproof device that cost twice as much as the iPod itself, but which allows me to listen to music when I'm swimming. It cuts down on the boredom of swimming training and makes it fun to swim lengths, particularly to dance music classics.
I have stopped using the iPod for listening to podcasts or audio books, because my cell phone can do that. It's a basic model Nokia 3120 Classic, but with the extra USB cable attached and a 2GB MicroSD memory card, it works better than the iPod Shuffle, and pauses the audio book when I receive a call.
Now I don't have to have two sets of earphones, nor do I have to pay Apple any more money for their overpriced products. They have never allowed South African customers to buy music from the iTunes store, which has always annoyed me. I would rather pay Nokia for some accessories that make my phone more usable.
The phone is better in other ways too: it doesn't lose its place when pausing audio books (Apple refused to fix that bug), it has a speaker so I don't have to use earphones, it includes a radio and camera, and it is included with my basic phone contract, so I can keep my phone costs down. Less clutter in my pockets and round my neck too.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Donn

I have had my iPod Shuffle pack up a few times already. There is a free download that seems to fix it. I have had to do it about 3 times already. It seems it was a fault on an early version.

Regards
Andrew

pepoluan said...

Hi Donn!

Glad to know that there are *still* people who recognize that there's a wide world of non-Apple out there.

I personally own a Nokia 5320 XpressMusic, complete with its own powerful speaker, and sounds good enough to make iPod owners in my office cry.

Not to mention I can easily replace songs on the MicroSD card by merely plugging it into the MicroSD card reader I have and copy the songs I want to have with me. And the cries graduated to bawls.

And the built-in radio. And the phone capability (with 3.5G connection capability).

Now I have been branded an Apple-hater -- and I love every minute of it! 8-)