OnlinePCTips.com

MP3 Players – Why the Apple iPod is King
By Daniel Russell

The first mp3 Player was introduced in 1998 by Eiger Labs and was called the MPMan. It had a storage capacity of 32MB (about 10-20 songs) and sold for $69. Now it is not uncommon to find an mp3 player with 120GB of storage capacity (up to 30,000 songs) for $249. However, long gone are the days of using an mp3 player as, well, an mp3 player. Most mp3 players now serve as the “swiss-army knife” of electronics. They can play music, show photos, play videos and movies, connect to the internet, check email, and serve as a personal arcade.

When the words “mp3 player” are uttered, the first thought that comes into people’s mind is “iPod”. Why is this the case when there are several mp3 player manufacturers out there (Sony, Samsung and Creative Technologies to name a few)? Is it the creative television ads that seem to bombard us at least twice during a 30-minute episode of “The Office”? Is it the fact that these players come in several different colors to fit our mood? Is it the slick navigation and the ease of use? Or is it due to the fact that inside each of us, we are rooting for Apple, the underdog, who has pitted itself against the mighty Microsoft Corporation?

Whatever the reason, the fact is Apple has creative geniuses behind the marketing and development of these ever-changing devices. Each ad we see on TV gives us a sense that we have to have one of these devices… to be hip, to be cool, to actually have fun in life. Then you take a look at the actual devices themselves. They come in ultra small (iPod shuffle), ultra colorful (iPod nano) and ultra slick (iPod touch). The varying types of iPods makes it easy to please anyone from the occasional music listener with small pockets, to the frequent flyer who needs a device that can keep them occupied with music, movies and games during a three hour flight. There is literally an iPod for every lifestyle.

Don’t forget the ease of use, the simple iTunes integration and the continual updates and new applications that ensure you are getting the most from your iPod. The realization is that Apple is leading the way in mp3 player development while all the other mp3 player manufacturers just seem to be a step behind. With prices ranging from $79 to $229, every budget is considered.

Not only are consumers jumping on the iPod bandwagon. Many companies have focused on developing iPod accessories for each model ranging from plug-and-play stereo systems, to sports bands, to iPod sleeves. These iPod accessories are becoming as hot a commodity as the iPod itself. Now the question isn’t “which brand of mp3 player should I get?” but “what accessory can I get for my iPod?”

With the iPod being such a hot commodity, iPods and iPod accessories are readily available for purchase with more online stores showing up every day and with the iPods and iPod accessories being sold at “big box” stores like Walmart and Target.

As more people invest in iPods, there is an increasing demand for iPod repair services. For a few of the inexpensive iPod models (iPod shuffle for example), it doesn’t make much sense to pay for iPod repair service. However, for the more expensive models, iPod repair can be a substantially cheaper alternative to buying a new iPod altogether.

Every computer that I have ever owned has gradually gotten slower over time, often to the point where it becomes barely usable. This has frustrated me for years, so I thought I’d share a solution to one of the major causes of this drop in performance – windows registry problems.

The windows registry is a database on your computer that contains information on how your software and hardware should work. Each time you install a program it puts entries in your registry that contain the options and settings which help your computer run the program. For example, take a program that starts up immediately when you turn on your computer, like an anti-virus program. When you install a program like this, it puts an entry in your registry that tells your computer to start this program every time you turn on your computer.

Often, when you uninstall a program, its registry entries are not all correctly removed. This means that over time, the longer you use your computer, and the more programs you install and uninstall, the size of your registry gets bigger and bigger. This can cause your computer to slow down. Because your registry is so big, it takes windows longer to find the required entries each time you start a program.

Another problem that occurs when registry entries aren’t correctly removed is when you uninstall programs that run on startup, but the entry in the registry telling your computer to start the program each time you turn on your computer is left behind. This means every time you start your computer, it tries to run a program that no longer exists. This can cause large delays and sluggishness when you first start your computer.

There are hundreds of other more complex errors that stem from your registry, these can cause anything from slow startups and program load times to major crashes. If your computer is running slow, or is giving mysterious error messages, try getting a registry scan and clean.

Welcome to our blog.  Please check back soon for a ton of new content.