Treo vs iPod

A major project was due today, first thing in the morning too, to make it more exciting for me. Fortunately, it went quite smoothly and there were many lessons to be learnt from it. Of course, no details will be mentioned (hey its got nothing to do with mobiles right), BUT its all over now. I can now breathe a huge sigh of relief.

Anyway, today would have been another usual routine Friday afternoon, but by about 4.00pm, my department (there's only 7 of us) decided to go for high tea to kick back and relax at the Empire Hotel & Country Club, after the long morning. After all the eating, talking and laughing (we get along well together) and towards the end of our "tea time", my boss whips out a gift. (Apparently, it was to celebrate my birthday which is coming next week. An occasion, honestly, I'd rather not remember. Age is catching up with me you understand..). It was the new Apple iPod Shuffle!

Ok, what's this got to do with my mobile blog? When I reached home, I examined this tiny little box and slowly took out the Shuffle. I have to admit, its a real cool product though. I admire the build quality, the clip system (best invention added to an already awesome product in my opinion) and the sheer size! Its unbelieveable! You HAVE to hold it in your hands to know what I mean. Not bad though, I thought, for my 1st Apple product ever.

Now, I started thinking, what am I going to do with this Shuffle???? I'm definitely NOT the typical music hermit with earphones stuck in my ear all day long. This will be... strange.

In one of my earlier posts about using my 750v as an mp3 player, lately I've been storing all my mp3 collections on my 1Gb mini-SD card. I only occasionally listen to them at whim... in the office, at home, in the car. The 750V utilises its built-in Windows Media player to play all formats of songs. Just recently too, I've also installed another 3rd party app called PocketPlayer which is an even more user-friendlier program that I can use to search, and play, my entire collection of mp3's in my device. I'm quite satisfied as it is. Even with my previous Treo 650 and the (now) new Treo 680, the bundled PocketTunes software would easily satisfy any music junkie out there. This was the sole reason why I never invested in ANY of my own Apple iPod product before. Why would I right? My Treo plays all mp3s and wav files, just like an iPod. My Treo can store as many songs as I want depending on the size of my memory card, just like an iPod. My Treo can watch any format of video I want it to, NOT like an iPod with its limited video formats. My Treo can view AND edit all photos stored in it, NOT like an iPod. My Treo has an even more versatile calendar or alarm clock, even BETTER than an iPod. My Treo has better color and it can make calls too, which an iPod can't even do! (for now of course).

So really, why WOULD I ever want an iPod right? Other than it just being cool to have! And now, with the availability of the Arctic Treo 680 soon, it'll look JUST like an iPod!

Well, you get the picture.

Of course, there was ONE thing which I NEVER used my Treo for, which iPods are widely being used for these days. Exercising. I have never gone jogging, or trekking anywhere with my treo I have to admit. C'mon, what if it dropped! Although, having said that, reading other Treo sites, there are products out there that allow you to strap your Treo to your arm for this sole purpose. So you see, even then, this proves my point, you still wouldn't need an iPod if push came to shove.

Now, it leaves me with what would I do with my new iPod Shuffle then.

I decided.... I think I'll try use it for my jogging and gym sessions then. Yup, I'm going to fall into that category of gym rat that sports a white earphone plugged into his ear during workouts. Sad I know, but I rather not risk my Treo flying out of my arm band while I'm jogging you know.

Anyway, wanna know what am I doing now while posting this? Charging the Shuffle. Yup, here I am dissing it and comparing it to my Treo, but I'm still gonna try it out at least. (Update) I've just tried transferring some mp3s into it, to test it out. (No cd-rom with iTunes bundled in unfortunately. Gotta download it myself). So far, all I see is a blinking light. I've read and re-read the instructions about charging and transferring songs, but it still doesn't work. I don't get it. Well, back to charging it goes.

HMPH! My Treo never gives me problems like this. Another point for the Treo.