Monday, June 20,2005 @ 6:55pm
Silicon.com questions iPod quality, brand
The first signs have started to emerge this week that Apple's must-have iPod music players are "actually not that great," silicon.com says. The article looks at iPod quality a "damaged brand" as factors contributing to this sentiment. The article cites Duke University's iPod program as evidence of the latter. "Only" one third of freshmen used their free iPods for academic purposes. As for build quality, the article points to poor battery life on some test units. "The battery on one unit now lasts for just an hour after a full charge and the click wheel has given up the game, rendering the iPod mini virtually unusable." Brand experts claim "Apple has cheapened the image of the whole iPod range with an average product like the Shuffle. We're betting the mini's dead batteries and broken click wheels didn't help, either [...] Is this the first wave of an iPod backlash?"