“Neal Mueller has a problem with his iPod: it doesn’t work at the highest point on Earth. Mueller, a first year graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Business School, complains that the iPod he brought with him to climb Mt. Everest crapped out, though his Creative MuVo kept on pumping the Van Halen,” Dan Moren reports for MacUser.
Moren reports, “According to the Apple tech specs for the iPod 5G (I’m going to assume that’s what he was using, since he references a hard drive), the operating temperatures are 32°-95°F (or 0°-35°C); they’re even nice enough to provide the maximum operating altitude, 10,000 feet. Mt. Everest’s summit averages -2°F (or -19°C) in its warmest month, July; its altitude is around 29,028 feet. Now, Neal, I’m sorry that your iPod didn’t survive the trip to the top, but complaining that it doesn’t work 34 degrees below the low threshold of its operating temperature and almost 20,000 feet above its maximum altitude is like being upset because your car doesn’t work underwater.”
Moren reports, “Instead of sticking with his experience of climbing Mt. Everest, Mueller decides to fall back upon fallacious iPod myths:”
The MuVo is an open system and can accept music from a variety of sources. By comparison, iPods live in their own little world. They only work with custom cords and other special accessories. They only work with their own music format. Basically, the iPod perpetuates its own exclusive clique. It’s no team player. – Neal Mueller
Moren writes, “I don’t even know where to start. Yes, I suppose the iPod does only work with ‘special accessories,’ of which there are only over 3000… Then there’s the good old “iPod only plays its own music format.” I’m assuming he’s referring to AAC. One: Apple doesn’t own AAC; it’s an open format. Apple owns the FairPlay DRM scheme which it uses to encrypt AAC files sold through iTunes. Two: The iPod can, of course, also play MP3s, which are still far and away the most prevalent digital music format in existence. Either way, you’re hardly limited to music bought from the iTunes Store.”
Watching my fellow climbers lug their broken iPods up and down Mount Everest gave me some strong opinions. I’d go as far as to say I think Paris Hilton is to Hollywood what the iPod is to portable music players. Both are radiant, glossy and coveted, and like any flash-in-the-pan they are overpriced and cantankerous. When a device is priced at a considerable premium and derives the majority of its sales from chic mystique or verve, I say it’s a fad. My climbing friends agree, making our team 100 percent anti-iPod. Buying an iPod for its musical value is like buying a BMW for its high-speed cornering. The iPod is conspicuous gadget consumption. It’s bling. – Neal Mueller
Moren responds in his full article here.
Moren did some digging and found something not that surprising, “It seems that under the list of sponsor companies that have provided him with gear on his climbs, you’ll find Creative Labs… If you click on the link to Creative on Mueller’s sponsor page, it take you to the product page for the MuVo, meaning, I presume, that the player was given to him by Creative.
Moren writes, “I’m not suggesting that the story of the iPod dying and the MuVo surviving are in anyway untrue. Nor am I accusing Mueller of being some sort of shill. I do, however, think it’s irresponsible of him to not disclose his relationship with Creative, if in fact the player was given to him. Despite the fact that Mueller isn’t a journalist, this piece appeared in a major national newspaper. It seems to me a move of questionable integrity.”
Full article here.
Follow the money.
Let me ask a basic question:
Why, when climbing to the top of Everest, would one choose to bring TWO MP3 players to the top?…
Yah, there you go. This is a completely staged deal.
Time to dig up the deal dirt on this guy. First of all, it is time to call the Creative PR and ask them if he is a sponsor, and if so, in what way?
Secondly, dig up his friends, and you will find out quickly enough this two MP3 player to the top of Everst gig was a completely paid for setup.
~Steven
I test drove a BMW M6 on the F1 parcour in Belgium Franchorchamps, it has 507 bhp
If this ideot is telling me that people who buy this BMW it’s not for the speed then maybe he must learn how to not piss in his pants, then he can talk, fucking moron u are a looser
you know you are ugly and your mom dresses you funny ? i do not need to climb mountains to get laid, i drive BMW’s
That has got to be the most opinionated piece of pro-creative bias I have ever read! And the writer has balls given that creative was one of his sponsers!.
I guess that since the Washington Post is used to spewing forth liberal bias in the name of objectivity, they completly missed the creative bias in this objective piece…
Mark
Yup, looks like Apple just lost the “Everest climbers” demographic.
C’mon. Cut him some slack. He goes to Wharton which only proves that he was born a douche bag. He can’t help being a shill.
I love how he compares a hard drive based system to a solid state flash system. The MuVo’s are all flash based and of course they are going to perform better in less than optimal conditions than something with moving parts. Had he compared it to a Nano or shuffle and still had the same issues he MIGHT have some credi… never mind, You can’t expect jerks like this to have ANY credibility
The Washington post has a smear Apple agenda:
First Black hat:
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2006/08/hijacking_a_macbook_in_60_seco_1.html
now this.
cranky, impotent, little bastards
take some Viagra and cheer up
Mark,
Washington Post liberal bias? Have you read it lately? The Post has supported George Bush from the gitgo, including editorial after editorial expressing support for the war with Iraq. The Post was one of the primary media cheerleaders in the run-up to the war and includes regular opinion pieces by neo-con lapdogs such as Charles Krauthammer and James Hoagland.
The Post is not what it once was, and it is now bought and paid for by the highest bidder.
Oh, and the article about the iPod dying on Everest is total BS.
And another thing, the Post has purchased “Slate” from MS, so there’s that angle to consider too.
Yes obviously someone with a brain fuzzed by oxygen depravation. Can someone ask this bozo which saloon car actually corners better than a BMW? I am no lover of them but one thing that they are renowned for is (apart from the sub 3 series) their handling ability. Its why they have a reputation for being a ‘drivers car’ doh!
I don’t get this article, it’s so full of inaccuracies. Actually, I’m right now sitting here on Mt.Everest and my iPod 5G works perfectly. I even took the liberty to bring a Zen, A Zune and an old Rio player. BTW, the Zune comes in really handy with its squirting up here…like, we used it yesterday to melt out a frozen sherpa. The Rio makes odd noises, the Zen can’t play my AAC’s and well…the Zune plays at half speed – but squirts at double. What really surprises me is that I have a hotspot up here. Might be a side effect of global warming. As expected, my HP A1 plotter doesn’t work at all – the installer seems corrupted. The Segway, however, is by far the biggest disappointment. It just didn’t perform at all as I’d hoped on the way up.
I wish there were more Mac related stories
What a fricking tard. The guy has just officially created about 69 million enemies.. What have Creative sold again? Oh yeah about 3 million players total.
I’ve watched a couple of documentaries about climbing Everest. Every group seems to leave a bunch of crap up at the summit so they don’t have to haul it back down (oxygen tanks, etc.). How much junk did he and his bigot buddies leave? Presumably, he left his non-functional iPod.
Sounds like a hard drive limitation. An 8GB iPod nano (with flash instead of a hard drive) would probably work fine. I would have thought that someone climbing Everest would be smart enough to enough to get the appropriate equipment for the occasion… Maybe the guy doesn’t know about hard drives, just Van Halen song lyrics.
I was gonna read the directions
But then I got high
I was gonna get a flash Nano
But then I got high
I was gonna tell tell the folks about Creative
And then I thought “Why”
Because I got high
Because I got high
Because I got high
MW:closed, as in “case closed”
He’s being sponsored by Creative. He’s being paid to say whatever they want.. He’s a puppet.
Creatives hard drive players (Zen Vision) have the same limitations as the full sized hard drive iPods. As mentioned above, a flash based nano or shuffle iPod would work just fine “in thin air.”
I’ve never heard of this guy before, but I promise to boycott any products he endorses in the future.
You may wish to point out to the Washington Post that the author should have revealed his commercial relationship to Creative.
letters@washpost.com
Snagged this from his home page…
Blog from Neal
October 22 – I loves me some good music. So when the Washington Post asked me to write an opinion piece on portable music players I jumped at it. Over the last 5 years I’ve tried many different portable music players, and found the Creative Labs players to be the best fit for my outdoor lifestyle. I hasn’t had luck with the fragile iPod. After more then 3 years of reliable experiences with his store-bought Creative MuVo, I wrote Creative Labs and thanked them. To my surprise they wrote back and offered to outfit my expeditions with devices in exchange for scenic photography. We tested their devices on Everest and they performed better than almost every other device up there. Anyway, my Washington Post article has become quite popular on the internet. The Apple fan-boys are pretty frothy that I poked fun at their beloved iPod.
Neal is in love with himself, I’d say, judging from his personal website.
From Wikipedia…
Altitude sickness
Altitude sickness, also known as acute mountain sickness (AMS) or altitude illness is a pathological condition that is caused by acute exposure to high altitudes. It commonly occurs above 2,500 metres (approximately 8,000 feet)…
Different people have different susceptibilities to altitude sickness… Altitude sickness usually occurs following a rapid ascent, and can usually be prevented by ascending slowly. In most of these cases, the symptoms are only temporary and usually abate with time as altitude acclimatisation occurs.
Signs and symptoms
Headache is a primary symptom used to diagnose altitude sickness. A headache occurring at an altitude above 8000 feet (2,400 metres), combined with any one of the following symptoms, indicates probable altitude sickness.
The early symptoms of altitude sickness include drowsiness, general malaise, and weakness, especially during physical exertion. More severe symptoms are headache, insomnia, persistent rapid pulse, nausea and sometimes vomiting, especially in children. Extreme symptoms include confusion, psychosis, hallucination, symptoms resulting from pulmonary edema (fluid in the lungs) such as persistent coughing, and finally seizures, coma and death.
His response to my E-mail and my response to his:
Thanks for writing me today.
Take a look at my blog (http://www.nealmueller.com) for commentary on my situation
with Creative. The fact of the matter is that Creative couldn’t buy me if
they wanted to. I use stuff that’s the best because I like it. As a
mountaineer my life depends on my gear.
I respect where you’re coming from, and I bet our device preferences are
pretty different.
And yes, I hope you have some Apple stock because their sales have been
amazing lately.
Neal
___________________________________________________
Neal,
I have no stock in Apple. Your article is full of inaccurate information and is very misleading. You have not awakened anyone to a flaw in the iPod and I am pretty sure that at 20,000 feet, your life is not dependent on a music player.
The MuVo is flash based and the iPod is hard drive based. Next time you hike take an iPod nano along. Try comparing like for like. The nano is Flash based and holds a single charge for 24 hours vs the MuVo’s 18 hours. An iPod nano will do just fine.
There is no reliability problem with the iPod. The only reliability problems found are with the facts in your article. If you are going to write an article that bashes the iPod, that’s fine, but do more research and be fair. Mac users and iPod users are perfectly willing to point blame at Apple when they do something wrong or put on the market an inferior product. The iPod does not fall in this category and your lame attempt to do so is going to open you up to criticism.
The truth hurts.
Jay
I expected more from someone from Wharton. Much, much more. Perhaps the intellectual gap between wharton and my third tier toilet is not that wide…
PLEASE WRITE TO THE WASHINGTON POST ABOUT MUELLER BEING SPONSORED BY CREATIVE!
Go ahead, Flood their inbox! It is our responsibility to correct journalists (or non-jounalists in Muellers case.) Opinion piece or not, the newspaper is OBLIGATED BY LAWto report if the author of one of its articles is affiliated with a company they are endorsing or slandering.
LETS STOP THIS FUD IN IT”S TRACKS!
letters@washpost.com
Mueller says “My iPod crapped out, but my MuVo did just fine.”
That’s like saying my Mikasa china coffee mug cracked in the cold, but my styrofoam Dixie cup did just fine.
Apple iPod and Creative Zen Vision = Hard Drive Players
Apple Nano and Creative MuVo = Flash based players