Originally Posted by
PTravel
With all due respect, this is the Apple attitude personified.
I don't listen to tracks, I listen to albums. I don't know what I want to listen to until I want to listen to it. That is exactly why I bought a device -- the only device -- that can store my entire music collection in a single, portable form. When I fly I . . . um . . . "self medicate" . . . with whatever the vodka the airline has chosen to make available, and keep myself in a nicely buzzed state while I listen to whatever music strikes my fancy at the moment. The last thing I want to do is shuffle tiny micro SD cards, trying to figure out what album is on what card, and THEN open up my phone, remove the battery, take out the card that's in there (careful not to remove the SIM card by mistake), insert the new card in the tiny slot, close everything up and then wait for my phone (I have a Droid Bionic) to boot up.
What is not a deal-breaker for you because of the way you listen to your music is absolutely a deal-breaker because of the way I listen to mine. Like Apple, you assume everyone listens to music the same way.
Not at all. I am also an album person and I don't listen to individual tracks, only whole albums.
Depending on the bit depth of your music, you can fit a lot of albums onto a 64gb card and a 32gb phone. Together they equal 96gb, minus a few gb for the OS and apps, giving you 2/3 of the storage of your 160gb iPod.
I never know what I'll be in the mood to listen to, either, but I load up my phone with 20 or 30 of my favorite albums and pick from them while I'm traveling. If I were doing a long-haul and would be traveling for 30 hours, I might run out of music toward the end of the trip and repeat, or if I had additional albums on a spare 64gb MicroSC card I might swap the card once during the trip.
This is only an issue for long-haul flights. On short-haul flights, you won't have to swap cards at all, because 20-30 hours of music will be more than enough to get you through a 2-6 hour flight with plenty of album variety and choice.
In time, MicroSD cards will be available in 128 or 256gb capacity and eliminate the need for swapping to equal your 160gb iPod. But even at 64gb, you only need 3 cards at the absolute max to equal the 160gb iPod, and only 2 if you count the internal storage of a 32gb or 64gb phone.
I understand not wanting to go through the 2-minute odyssey of swapping cards and rebooting while you're "in a nicely buzzed state", but you've got to come out of your stupor at some point during a long-haul, if only to eat without spilling your food all over your lap.
This isn't impossible, PT, it simply requires a little advance planning and the right equipment to get what you want - freedom from iTunes.