iPod or iFake?
I took the family shopping in Iloilo City the other day and while I was waiting for the store to release the DVD Player I just bought, I looked around their stalls. Looky what I found… iFakes: Fake iPod Nanos and iPod Shuffles on sale. I think the “Nano” sold for around Php 2,000. I took a quick snapshot with my camera phone, you never know if the store you’re in has a “no photos” policy. Good thing this camera takes really large pictures. You can see that they copied everything except the logos and the iPod name. They call it “MP4″. Wow! That’s one heck of a lot better than MP3!
Earlier I was contemplating on whether or not I should buy a new iPod Nano for myself. I found some stores selling real ones for about Php 10,000. I have seen fake iPod Shuffles that are indistinguishable from the real ones. In fact, the top shelf in the photo I took… those are fake iPod Shuffles. They look like the real thing, even up close (well the fake ones have the buttons rotated 90°). They sell for about Php 1,000, more than half less than the price of the real ones from the Apple Store.
I don’t know whether I want to be irritated or amused. The bargain hunter in me tells me that the “MP4″ is a better deal. Case in point with the iPod Shuffle:
iPod Shuffle:
- Made in China, for Apple.
- Expensive, at the time I bought it, I ended up paying $25 more than what I would have paid for it if I bought from the Apple Store.
- Plays MP3, MP3 VBR, AAC, protected AAC, WAV, AIFF, and Audible formats.
- Has the Apple logo on the clip.
- Comes in 1GB and 2GB models. I have the 1GB model.
“MP4″ iPod Shuffle clone:
- Made in China.
- Inexpensive, only costs around Php 1000 ($25).
- Plays MP1、MP2、MP3、WMA、ASF、WAV formats.
- No Apple logo.
- Comes in 4GB model.
But wait, there’s more…
- Has a tiny LCD screen squeezed into the thing that displays ID3 Song Title and Lyrics among other things.
- 7 Equalizer (EQ) Modes: Natural, Rock, Pop, Classic, Soft, Jazz and DBB
- Flash read rate at 8MB/s
- And get this: the damn thing has FM radio built-in!
Not convinced? I found a product page here.
It’s irritating because I paid a premium for a MP3 player that sports a logo on its clip, and that’s about all it has going for it. It’s amusing because the fake one has more features packed into its silly little package than the real one. The fake one is slightly larger and has a different button layout but it’s still roughly the same size and if you don’t see the “screen” on the thing, you’d think it was the real thing.