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Badri 'BAD JAG' Narayan

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Posted on 30-07-2010

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Let's begin by setting the record straight. This is not an article prejudiced against Apple products, or one that indulges in the sport of Apple-bashing (admittedly a favourite pastime of several tech bloggers). There are some facts that no one can deny...such as the fact that Apple Inc single-handedly brought about the MP3 player revolution.

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Portable MP3 players were very much in existence long before the Cupertino, California-based tech giant entered the scene back in 2001 with a curiously named device called the iPod. Incidentally, at the time, Apple was just about struggling to make ends meet, and was nowhere near being seen as a “technology powerhouse”.

What made the iPod so successful was that Apple took the best features of the players then available in the market, put them inside a case that had its trademark design touches of simplicity and sophistication (and rounded corners), then finally added the most user-friendly interface that anyone had seen on an MP3 player. The result was a killer product that left the competition in the dust.

Over the years, as processing power and storage capacities grew rapidly with advancements in portable technology, Apple continued to evolve its design, adding video playback, WiFi capabilities, and a touchscreen, culminating in the current peak of its design, the iPod Touch. Currently in its third generation, this device too has all the hallmarks of an Apple product — great looks and an even better interface. Riding on the phenomenal success of its PMP (Portable Media Player) and flagship iPhone, Apple recently achieved the amazing feat of overtaking its old rival Microsoft to become the biggest technology company in the world, based on market cap. Oh, did I mention its Apps Store, which reportedly rakes in a cool $2.5 billion a year?

The third-generation iPod Touch has such advanced technology that when you take into account its superior internet browser and a vast library of 15,0000+ applications that you can download (several of them for free), it becomes less a PMP and more a pocket computer. And therein lies the problem. In its drive to make the iPod Touch the jack-of-all-trades, Apple seems to have forgotten that for many people, a portable music player is mostly about the music. This is illustrated by the omission of certain features that most would consider as integral to the music experience…such as the lack of an FM radio. Even though users might have thousands of songs in their collection, a significant number would also like to listen to their local channels from time to time. But no, Apple wants you to pay an extra Rs. 3,500 for its FM radio accessory. This is clearly a deliberate act by the corporate giant to steer you away from the latest music available on FM stations and instead buy them off its cash cow, the iTunes Store.

Then there's the lack of expandable storage options to accommodate your ever-expanding music collection — in layman terms, the lack of an SD card slot. You're limited to the storage that comes with the player, and what do you do when some years later, you run out of space? Why, buy the latest generation iPod with extended storage space, of course! In the meantime, all your songs have to enter and exit the player through its software, the iTunes Player. Meaning, you're not given the freedom to simply drag-and-drop files from your computer via Windows Explorer, like most other PMPs allow. Nor can you use the player to store other files, say your office documents, which would have made for a handy backup device since most people always carry around their PMP. In effect, any PC you plug the iPod Touch into must have iTunes installed for it to work — an unnecessary software restriction. Buy the iPod, and you're immediately placed in a gilded cage.

While some would dismiss these as minor drawbacks in an otherwise excellent product, some other flaws cannot be so easily overlooked, since they form the core of the music experience. I'm talking about the lack of high-quality FLAC audio support, which as any audiophile will tell you, is an absolute sacrilege. Even if you couldn't care less about FLAC, it is a well-known fact that the audio quality of the iPod is well below that of rival players, which even go to the extent of including audio enhancements to make up for what MP3 takes away. Not only does the iPod Touch not have these enhancements, its earphones, to put it mildly, suck. If you think that flashing your iPod and sporting those distinctive white earphones on a flight makes you look “cool”, think again. There are a whole bunch of people who know their music and are giving you pitying glances. Upgrading to a decent set of earphones will cost you an extra Rs. 2,000 or so.

Which brings us to the biggest flaw in the iPod Touch — its price. All those marketing dollars have to go somewhere, right? Not only are you paying extra for a product that places style above substance, you're going to have to spend even more if you want FM radio and good sound quality. Meanwhile, Apple's contenders have been busy over the last few years, coming up with products that combine killer looks and performance to boot in an effort to combat its absolute dominance. We've picked the best five of these that give the iPod a run for its money, if not beat it soundly. If you're the kind of person who does not base his purchasing decisions solely on marketing hype and good looks, you'll find there's a whole other world of portable audio excellence awaiting you through the looking glass.

Read on to get the scoop on the best PMPs in the market, with our comparison test