I recently purchased a Pimsleur Spanish language course on audio bookchip. I figured, hey, rather than buying CDs and then ripping them to my hard disk through iTunes and then putting them on my iPod or phone’s MP3 player, I’d save some time by getting it all on a chip and copying what I need. Big mistake.
Everything on the chip is saved in a proprietary DRM format. If I want to listen to the stuff on the chip, I have to use the proprietary player that comes on it. If I want to copy the stuff to iPod, it comes with a converter that automatically puts it onto there through iTunes – converting it all first. The process takes ages! Then, to add insult to injury – when I next plug my iPod in, the stuff I copied will be deleted! Umm, did no one think that maybe, just maybe, I might want to put more mp3s on there while I’m going through ALL 16 HOURS of a language course!?
Want to learn a language on your snazzy mp3 mobile. No can do. There’s no way to get the stuff on there.
Want to use it with your girlfriend? One person at a time. If you had the CDs, you could at least break it down by sharing a CD at a time. On this bookchip, you get 16 hours and no granularity.
I am kicking myself that I bought this rubbish! Buying it on a CD would have given me far more flexibility with how I consume it. I hope that the decision of some of the biggest record companies to release DRM free songs heralds a change in how they treat their customers. This sort of stuff does nothing but tick honest consumers like me off.