Strike Three. Arghhhhh!!!

The God of the Universe apparently doesn’t want me to have a new mp3 player.

I rarely get upset about things, but this is one of those times when I’ve just about reached my limit.  

I’ve been around long enough to see technology replace technology.  Remember floppy disks? From 5-14″ to 3-1/2″ to CDs to DVDs and now to “cloud.”

As the late Paul Harvey used to say, “Not all that we call progress truly is.”

When I first started running a few decades ago, I liked to listen to music while outside, giving me some relief and distraction from the sometimes-boring miles I was putting down.  Believe it or not, I started with a Sony Walkman, a cassette player, strapped around my waist in a neoprene holder, earbud cable poking out of the back. When the cassette gave way to CD-ROM, I tried those, but the bouncing of the running movement made it impossible to track music smoothly. Then came mp3s.

Technically, mp3 is a shortened form of MPEG-3, the Motion Picture Experts Group standard (3) for coding digital audio (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3 ). It has become the ubiquitous format for audio files. Pretty much everywhere (there are other formats, but they aren’t the subject of this post). A whole new industry took off, with pocket-sized devices designed to store and play audio files. “Mp3 players” they were called.

Fast-forward (you can read my previous post if you want more background on my experience). The state of mp3 players is nothing short of an unmitigated disaster, in my opinion.

I am about to return the third — yes, third — mp3 player I bought to replace an iPod that finally gave up the ghost. All three were manufactured by different vendors (although they’re Chinese, so maybe not). This last one, a SanDisk Clip Sport Plus, I thought was going to be the winner. Each device I’ve bought has cost a bit more. The SanDisk tipped the scales at $50. And I didn’t buy it through Amazon. 16GB of storage, Bluetooth, and FM radio. All of the features I wanted in a portable music player. And I’ve been quite satisfied with other SanDisk products I’ve bought!

For the third time, I waited for delivery, then removed it from its shipping container, plugged it in to charge it, and then plugged it into my computer.

Nothing.

Well, even though the box and SanDisk’s web site claim it’s compatible with macOS X 10.3 and higher, I’m always a bit skeptical. However, I have two Macs, and neither would see the device, I decided to take it to work and plug it into a Windows PC.

That’s when it all went south. No device recognized there, either. Sigh.

I’ve sent an email to SanDisk and to Adorama, where I purchased it. SanDisk says they will “get back to me,” and Adorama says they’ll contact me regarding a return. This is where Amazon shines — they’ll take an item back without question. Yes, it’s going back.

And this is really the last time I’m trying this. I have an iPhone, I have an Apple Watch, and I have several iPod Shuffles. Neither the watch nor the Shuffles will hold 16GB, but I’m just going to have to play “swap the files” when I want to update the music on them.

I’m so disappointed in the state of manufacturing these days. I think the time of carrying a portable music player are going the way of the Dodo.

The World of Amazon Crap

Amazon‘s growth has been nothing short of spectacular. From its starting days as an online bookseller to the mega-behemoth it’s become today, Amazon is now everywhere. Trucks sporting the “Prime” logo are everywhere on the streets. Whole Foods is now an Amazon subsidiary, and Prime members supposedly get discounts others don’t (disclaimer: I’m a Prime member and I shop at Whole Foods. Whether I get a discount or not, I haven’t checked). The web site Woot! is now an Amazon subsidiary (so why shop at Woot! anymore?). Everywhere you turn these days, it seems Amazon’s got its fingers (tentacles?) in the pie.

Unfortunately, such unparalleled growth has its darker side, and for me, this comes in the form of “junk” products being sold on the site. It didn’t seem necessary to issue a warning — caveat emptor! — when shopping on Amazon as it did when shopping on eBay. Interestingly enough, eBay has become much more reliable and safe, whereas Amazon has gone the other way.

Several recent experiences are the basis for this post. The last was simply frustrating, disappointing, a waste of time, and a loss of confidence in Amazon’s offerings and policies. (For the record, Amazon is great when it comes to returning products. If it weren’t, I’d be long gone from ever shopping there again!)

My iPod died. Well, one of my iPods died. The one I clip onto the back of my running shorts. When I exercise, I don’t want to be carrying a phone or a device that’s as large as a brick. Just give me my music, and let the technology get out of the way!

Apple now only offers the iPod Touch, an iPhone-sized brick that’s loaded with features, but short on compactness. I have a phone; I don’t need another brick to carry with me.

Well, I don’t HAVE to have an Apple product, right? Any compact mp3 player should do. Or so I thought.

I searched Google. I tried a number of values, including “compact,” “bluetooth,” Every result presented me with Amazon results. Egads, are these two in cahoots? Sigh. Off I went to Amazon.

After searching a bit, I found something made in China by a company called KLANGTOP (seriously? Seriously!). 8GB capacity with clip, FM radio and Bluetooth. $29.99, with 199 customer reviews and a 4/5 star rating. Sounds ideal, right?

Well, not so fast. The product arrived, and when I pulled it from the box, I felt like the packing material was of better quality than the device it held!

I charged it up, and went about setting it up. First, none of my computers would recognize the device. Worse yet, its Bluetooth wouldn’t recognize any of the bluetooth speakers I have.

Back in the box it went, and off to the UPS store to return it.

So, I decided to find a better quality device. I found an “Amazon Choice” Soulcker (pronounced “soul seeker”) D16. Included arm band, earphones, USB cable and a 4.5/5 rating based on 279 customer reviews. It arrived, and I went through the same setup process. This time, with a little coaxing, I managed to get some music on it, and even got it to recognize a Bluetooth receiver. A promising start.

Not so fast there, buck-o! After finding the controls less-than-intuitive, I felt I would grow to learn them. After all, it was (relatively) inexpensive — can’t have everything, y’know?

Except that, when I went to add more music, the soul-killer absolutely refused to detect any computer it was connected to. I changed computers, I changed cables, I changed computers and cables. No joy.

I printed out another return label. I don’t feel I have to “live with” a device whose main purpose in life seems to be wanting to be a target downrange for a .45cal round!

Which brings me to the “Amazon trust” issue. There are reports of massive “fake reviews” appearing on Amazon. The company itself says it polices items and reviews, but now every Tom-Dick-and-Harry can be an Amazon “affiliate,” how can these sellers be monitored?

Say what you will — Apple seems to have mastered the ability to manufacture quality products in China. The rest of the world? Well, it appears on Amazon as crap, it seems.

The Ambient Zone

I first created this site in 1995 as a way to learn the concepts of this new medium called The Internet. What started as a way to self-teach myself HTML quickly became a way to store my favorite hyperlinks for quick and easy access. Of course, those links were to music sites and musicians, primarily. One day, the snowball affect occurred, and I started getting requests to have links added to my site. For a short while, this site was on the Google landing page when “new age music” was the search term. The dormant site still exists at the base URL, but I haven’t updated it in what, twelve years?!

My interest in music has never waned, and neither has my interest in things technological, so I simply transformed this site into a personal journal — a web log, or “blog” as the term has come into being..

Nowadays, there isn’t as much need to keep bookmarks of record companies, radio stations, artists and streaming audio sites, as those can be found by using one of the many search engine sites (Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, etc.). That doesn’t mean I don’t still have interest. I do! And that’s the reason for this post..

Some time in 2005 I came across a new offering. Something called “podcasts” had been introduced by Apple in their iTunes product, which made it possible for Mac users to subscribe to broadcasts, have them downloaded to their computer, and listened to at one’s leisure. One of those podcasts was hosted by a Dutchman who called himself “TC” (or, as I came later to find out: // TC //). The music was an astounding blend of mixes from artists whose names I had never heard before! I was hooked!

Enter Spacemusic.nl

For a number of years, TC podcasted under the title of his domain: spacemusic.nl (a full history of his early days is available through the link). Somewhere, on one of my computers or drives I have most of them still intact! Some of the older podcasts may still be available through iTunes, as well.

The podcasts ended after nine seasons. There was “radio silence” for a number of years, and then TC announced the arrival of “The Ambient Zone.” An extension of spacemusic.nl, the new shows featured all-new content, and offered a subscriber option, that let paid listeners download the programs (in several formats) for independent play.

The first means to do so was through the horrid (my opinion) Patreon site. Despite my reluctance, I signed up to pay TC for his shows. I like them that much! Earlier this year, TC embarked on creating his own member site, and The Ambient Zone was launched. I signed up as a premium member!

TC has moved to Cyprus, quit his job so he can be a full-time podcaster, and continues to present fresh, tonal peace for those like me who love listening. I realize few people come across this blog, but I’d like to support TC and The Ambient Zone by spreading the word. So, give it a try:

In Your Ears, Bud.

As long as I can remember, I’ve cruised through life with radio or music in my ears whenever the time and opportunity allowed it. As a child, I was in the forefront of the “transistor” era, where advances in electronics technology made miniaturization possible. I went from having a radio with a handle on it tucked into the newspaper bag I carried on my delivery route, to a pocket-sized device with a tiny speaker and (usually) a single, wired earpiece. We didn’t call them “buds” back then.

The single earpiece gave way to the stereo earpieces, and that technology has pretty well persisted to today. Equipment, on the other hand, has continued to evolve. The cassette tape made carrying prerecorded music around with you a reality. The compact disc (CD) was a boon to record-scratchers everywhere, but its playback mechanism (a laser light on a movable arm over a spinning platter) made it susceptible to jostling, so it didn’t work well for runners and exercise enthusiasts.

Computer technology brought to life sound files, such as mp3, wav, ogg, FLAC, and so on. This birthed the mp3 player industry. I owned a variety of music players, including the nifty, but confusing Digisette Duo, an mp3 player shaped like to cassette that could be played through tape machines as well as via the now-ubiquitous earphones.

Apple shook up the music industry when it introduced its iPod in 2001. I didn’t buy an original, but when Apple shipped the “2nd generation,” I became one of the converts.

Miniaturization continued, and Apple gave us the iPod Shuffle (in numerous incarnations), the Nano, the Touch, and so on. I particularly liked the Shuffle, even the one that received media brickbats.

Earpiece technology also improved, but not as radically, and not as fast. Only recently has wireless Bluetooth made to earphones, eliminating the need to plug the sound “emitters” into the sound producer. Apple own Airpods are now everywhere, recognizable by the “handles” that jut from the wearer’s ears.

Perhaps I’m out of step. Or perhaps I’m just not “woke” enough to enjoy the current state of the art. By this, I mean that I haven’t yet found a pair of Bluetooth ear buds that suit me. For the record, I have thoroughly enjoyed my wired earphones. The Bose QC (QuietComfort) 20 noise-cancelling earphones have been a boon for air travel.

The YurBuds Ironman earbuds have lived up to their guarantee: they do not fall out, even during the most strenuous exercise

However, I have yet to find a pair of Bluetooth earbuds I like. I bought a pair of crowdfunded “air by crazybaby” in-ear, totally wireless earbuds. Oh, did I want to love these buds! They fit perfectly, and the absence of even a connecting wire was so nice–they fit well, and were all but invisible. The only problem was, they didn’t work. Battery life was pathetic, and the right earbud would simply die a few minutes after heading out the door.

I threw them into the trash last night

I have a pair of Jaybird X3 wireless earbuds, but their quirky design makes them uncomfortable to wear.

Finally, I broke down and purchased a pair of Apple Airpods 2. These are perhaps the best I’ve had so far, but they aren’t perfect. The left Airpod always seems ready to slip out of my ear, even though it doesn’t. They are the easiest to pair with any device, and the sound is good, although not exceptional.

I’m getting closer to getting a pair of Bluetooth earbuds I like, but now the player device is becoming an issue. My iPod Nano just died, and Apple no longer makes a compact mp3 player. It seems the only small, portable clip-on players are cheap products from no-name companies in China that break the moment you remove them from the box.. I shipped such a device back to Amazon yesterday after only 15 minutes of trying to get it to recognize any of my Bluetooth earbuds. Sigh.

The quest goes on.