I Could Only Listen to my iPod For About 20 Minutes Before I Called It Quits

Using my iPod with earbuds to take naps is fine, but as a stereo system it really falls short. A while ago I made an inquiry into how compromised iPod sound was and I received a lot of valuable info. In short, the answer is, yes, the iPod does indeed compromise your sound.

This was evident this afternoon in my college office. Usually enjoying a jazz radio station through my iTunes, which plays through my M-Audio AV 40 speakers, I decided to play my iPod through my Altec Lansing iM600 dock. While still compromised, the iPod sound on my JBL Radial, which I use in my kitchen sounds a bit better. I notice the Radial is going for $400 today. A year ago I bought mine on Amazon for $99. Whoa. 

Back to my college office: After twenty minutes I had to shut down the iPod on my iM600. The sound was terrible. Muddy and muddled. No way. Only earbuds are going through my iPod from now on. Or occasional listening in the kitchen on the JBL Radial. 

Comments

[Angelo]

Back in high school, college and my 20's, I was a music collector----a record junkie. I made tapes for my friends and bought 100s of albums (my collection peaked at over 700 albums and probably 400 or more singles). I removed factory radios from my cars and replaced them with upgrades. Nowadays, friends and family assume I'm into I-pods and online music services. No, and no. It simply ain't the same. I want suitcase radios with powerhouse speakers (1970's or late 60's please). I want ALBUMS still, with artwork, lyrics and such----I wasn't merely collecting MUSIC, I was collecting little time capsules. The liner notes/photos, even the record sleeves that promoted other artists of the time---this is what made record collecting fun. Finally, I'll put my entry level Technics components from the early 1980's up against any I-pod for sound satisfaction. No, I can't take the system with me. But from what I've seen, people are generally in offices, stationary, when using the new gadgets. I understand the point is that you can download music from the internet. Again, no thanks. At least for now, I'll use radio and the surviving brick and mortar music stores, along with my own collection. On a related note, the 20-something guys I've worked with generally listen to music that my OLDER brother listened to. These young guys skipped back before my 1980's stuff. They prefer the Beatles, Stones, Who, Led Zepplin, Beach Boys----and they'll cruise into the 70's too----Supertramp, Clapton, Cars, etc. I asked them why the aren't listening to new music. I explained to them how I rejected my older brother's great music because I wanted to listen to music made by people my age---not someone else's leftovers. One of the guys said he'd love to have current bands/artists he could get behind---but as he put it, the new music is "bullshit." These guys (and their friends) feel that the mediocrity from yesteryear (i.e. REO Speedwagon) runs rings around anything being made today. In a way I felt vindicated because it was a tribute to "my music" like Elvis Costello, Parliament-Funkadelic-George Clinton, Talking Heads and countless others. In another way, it was very sad. Tragic that young guys from 2009 have to go back 35 years to identify with rock and roll.

[Jeffrey McMahon]

Rock music does not possess today's generation the way it did in the past. Now people "create" their own playlists. They're not taken over by Led Zeppelin or Boy Dylan or whatever.

[Moogbass]

I recently stunned a 22yr old by playing a record on a Technics 1200 thru a tube amplifer. The speakers were (still are) Hafler M5 mini-monitors. The kid was absolutely transfixed. Said it sounded "so much better" than his iPod.

Well, of course...!