Our trip home was great. We had lots of fun riding in the car and enjoying hours and hours of podcasts. I’m so glad that I was behind on listening to them, as it gave us lots of good content to enjoy on the trip.
I have to say that Apple really came through for me on this trip. Many of you know I’m kind of a computer geek and I have a particular affinity for Apple’s stuff. That said, I try not to be a blind follower, and I try not to be annoyingly vocal about it either. So, disclaimers aside, I sure enjoyed using Apple’s stuff on this trip.
First of all, the iPod was a real trooper. We have one of the 30 GB ones that we got about a year ago. I use the thing every day walking to and from work, listening to tunes and podcasts. We listened to it on the way down, off and on. Coming back though, we listened to podcasts nearly the entire time. It gave out around 13 hours of use. Of course we just plugged it into the computer to let it charge up some more while playing more tunes. Pay attention there, that’s 13+ hours of playtime, skipping around, fast-forwarding, rewinding, stopping, starting and using the backlight. I guess the iPod got a lot of bad press about a year ago w/ battery life issues. We’ve had none of that.
Second, on the way to Little Rock, I got the idea to make a DVD for the family. Just something simple, based on slideshows that I could put together with iPhoto. So, in the car, I pulled out my powerbook and started to put together some slideshows with some music. Then I clicked the iDVD button in iPhoto and (I’m doing this for the first time here) shazaam I’m put in iDVD with a DVD project and a slideshow all set up. I put together a couple more slideshows, linked them to iDVD, picked a template for the DVD (the sample templates are really cool), and in the car, I had created a DVD. I took a turn driving, and Anna did some tweaks with the DVD herself. When we pulled into Little Rock, I did a couple more tweaks and burned it there while talking with the family. It was so easy, and the DVD played fine in their DVD player.
And of course there are the other smaller things, like iPhoto effortlessly snagging the hundreds of pictures I shot (no need of drivers to install, of course). I also burned those photos on a cd for my father-in-law, again a piece-of-cake. And naturally, right when i got there, I could connect to his wireless network with no configuring requried.
I hope you can understand how enthusiastic I am about the fun use of technology during this vacation. I get most excited when the technology works with me and fits into my lifestyle. I guess that’s why I’m an Apple user in the first place.
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Be Good Not Bad is all about really good web design, based on the utmost respect for web standards, accessibility and respect for the user. Based in Denver, Colorado, Be Good Not Bad is run by Brian Warren, freelance designer, blogger, homebrewer and coffee nut.
I second Brian’s praises of the Apple products that we own.
Our iPod DID perform remarkably well, and we marveled at how much easier it is to stay alert while listening to Podcasts than simply your average music CD. Nothing against them – music is just easier to tune out. The point is, we were able to take much longer shifts of driving than usual.
As much as I enjoyed our iPod, I must say that I was especially impressed with the effortless functionality and elegance of iDVD. It made me want to have a computer with a DVD burner like Brian’s so that I could play in that program.
§ By anna at 3:42am on December 27 2004 ★ Are you sure? Delete // // Cancel
I am a very happy Apple user, and without going to far into all the reasons (Brian has covered them pretty well already), I thought I would tell a family story.
My mom and dad just got another PC. A HP or Gateway. Ended up spending as much as they would have on the eMac I tried to sell them on, but that isn’t really the point here. While I was home for Thanksgiving, I downloaded a couple of programs for them. I didn’t ask permission, I just started. (I installed Firefox for them. Why even the hardiest of Windows users persist in using Internet Explorer is beyond me.) When they found out I was halfway through downloading a program from the big scary “out there” of the internet, they nearly hit the fan. They have had so much trouble with random things screwing up their PCs, that they are completely paranoid about using the web. While I am sure that saavy Windows user can use the internet with confinence, I think for the user who doesn’t want to fool with constant security updates, the web is much less scary for the Mac user. That has to factor into the value equation somehow.
§ By Casey at 3:42am on December 27 2004 ★ Are you sure? Delete // // Cancel
How could I resist that one! Offered as bait, as it were…..
Still to each his own – I’ll let you rest easy in the elitism of the Mac and its rabid fans…
My three year old Dull is still pulling its weight, it has proven its quality – if not its originality… I dream of a replacement, but not in lilly white or titanium grey….
§ By mykidisgollum at 3:42am on December 27 2004 ★ Are you sure? Delete // // Cancel
Ha ha, I was wondering if you would come out of the woodwork Dave.
§ By Brian Warren at 3:42am on December 27 2004
Let the flames begin! LOL.
Intelligent PC design – what a concept – its what happens when a company can execute around single platform, rather than needing to be compatible with everybody and their brother. Is it any wonder that Apple offers a more unified interface?
Of course I maintain that I have an equal or better experience on my Dell but I’m a geek and I’ve configured everything to the hilt – including purchasing third party utilities etc. – but I’m not paying the apple tax
Blind follower indeed!
Still – cool that you did all that in the car.
§ By mykidisgollum at 3:42am on December 27 2004 ★ Are you sure? Delete // // Cancel
The only difference in price is that Apple doesn’t sell bargain basement PC’s, and places like Dell do. Feature-for-feature however, Apple’s computers are not more expensive. Or the difference is marginal (50 bucks or so). Mix that with excellent support and the incredible lack of viruses or spyware and the difference is clear.
The closest Apple sells to bargain-basement is their extremely full-featured and quite powerful eMac for $799. See this article for more info:
Mac vs. PC, a small cost comparison experiment
Time and time again research groups do total cost of ownership studies and always the mac comes out cheaper.
§ By Brian Warren at 3:42am on December 27 2004
Yes Apple is nice,
But you have to pay the price…
§ By John Mark at 3:42am on December 27 2004 ★ Are you sure? Delete // // Cancel
Word. I totally agree with how wonderful and easy to use Apples are. I bought my first over three years ago and recently sold it to one of my formerly PC-only buddies and he loves it.
The way everything is so seamlessly connected is sweet (like when I went to audio chat in iChat last night it automatically paused iTunes for me). And software updates … why anybody would intentionally do that on a PC blows my mind (and lots of their time). I click the “Software Update….” button and if there are updates it is literally a three-click affair from start to finish!
Thanks to you and Casey for turning me on to Apple in the first place.
§ By Aaron at 3:42am on December 27 2004 ★ Are you sure? Delete // // Cancel
And it is very wonderful to be home.
§ By anna at 3:42am on December 27 2004 ★ Are you sure? Delete // // Cancel
Alas for your experience – all to common I fear. I agree that IE is a shame to the community of computing…...... Microsoft should have fixed it ages ago.
§ By mykidisgollum at 3:42am on December 27 2004 ★ Are you sure? Delete // // Cancel