Apple IPOD bites! Save $$$ and NEVER BUY ONE!!!

[cicy33]

Not ejecting any USB storage device can potentially damage the data, so that would happen with any mp3 player that transferred songs via USB.

But yes, I've always been against iPods since they're overpriced and trendy.

Could you explain this to me please? I don't have a clue what you are talking about. I use many usb items and some are storage items and have "pulled" the cord from the usb port to disconnect the devices. Was I supposed to do something different?

[disneysteve]

Could you explain this to me please? I don't have a clue what you are talking about. I use many usb items and some are storage items and have "pulled" the cord from the usb port to disconnect the devices. Was I supposed to do something different?

You shouldn't disconnect a USB storage device by just pulling it out. You should use the "eject" command on a PC or drag the device icon to the trash on a Mac.

[Broken Arrow]

Could you explain this to me please? I don't have a clue what you are talking about. I use many usb items and some are storage items and have "pulled" the cord from the usb port to disconnect the devices. Was I supposed to do something different?

If I may, the reason why you should eject your flash drive on your desktop first before you physically pull it out is because, even if the operating system system says that it's done, it may still be in the process of reading and writing. This technical lag is most apparent when working with large amounts of data.

Even if you do nothing but stick it in, some operating systems will automatically index the flash drive files in the background, again, causing read/write operations.

The most telling sign of this is with flash drives that have their own LED light that blinks when it reads and writes. With those, it can literally give you a hint as to how much it lags behind.

Naturally, pulling out a flash drive before the actual file transer is complete will ultimately cause damage to your data.

On the other hand, if you try to eject the drive before the file operations are done, the operation system won't do so until the transfer operations are truly complete. Ejecting also halts indexing, so it's the ideal way for the computer to let you know for sure when it's safe to pull your flash drive out.

If you're on Linux, ejecting can become even more important as not properly doing so could cause the operating system itself to freeze up sometimes.

Of course, this kind of issue mostly lies in flash drives only. It wouldn't be a problem, for example, to pull out a USB mouse or keyboard as there are no data file integrity issues to worry about there.

Technically, it's also fine to pull out flash drives so long as there are no read/write operations taking place. USB is designed to be hot-swappable (part of the legacy of Plug-N-Play from way back when). That's probably why it confuses some users why ejecting is such a big deal, since they've been able to "dodge the bullet" so many times in the past.

But hopefully with this long, boring response, you'll see why it's better safe than sorry to just get used to ejecting first. And yes, I've learned this lesson the hard way before.

[jasanderson]

That was a great explanation. I just wish they would have some type of lock to prevent the cord from being pulled out

[neguy11]

I love my iPod. I have a 30G video one and it's one of the best purchases I've made. I listen to just about every day and I love the iTunes store. I got it with my student discount.

However I will say that I was shocked the new iPods don't have Bluetooth! The cord is a hassle and it would be so nice to wirelessly sync w/ iTunes.

That's really what I've been hoping for.

[Broken Arrow]

Apple is famous for not being "feature rich" or "feature bloated" depending on your point of view.

Bluetooth is a huge battery hog.

Bluetooth is also notoriously easy to hack. (A word to the wise for all you tin foil hat people. I've seen video demonstrations of a blue tooth headset being hacked from afar, without being physically tampered with, and the hacker being able to listen in on your phone conversation.) As such, it probably would not have made the music industry and Apple happy if it was somehow hacked to transfer DRMed music. It's essentially the same reason why WiFi is not available on iPods.

Perhaps the biggest thing is that Bluetooth has a very slow transfer rate. WiFi would be better, but wired is ideal.

Add it all together, and chances are good that we will continue to not see a bluetooth iPod anytime soon.