Holiday Competition For iPod Dollars 300
An anonymous reader writes "MP3newswire.net is running a two part article on 15 new digital music portables or "iPod Killers" as the digerati have dubbed them. iPod Killers for Christmas Part I includes what I think is the coolest new player, the Olympus MR 500i with touch-screen technology and and sharp black-on-white color scheme. iPod Killers for Christmas Part II's most interesting portables are the new Epson MPEG-4/MP3 media jukebox and the SoniqCast Aireo 2 Wi Fi. Lots of photos and size specs. Also, Ogg Vorbis is picking up steam as more new players are adding it."
is this the new "apple's going out of business"? (Score:5, Interesting)
From the recent Apple conference call:
"In the US, Apple's iPod retains 65% market share of digital music players and over 90% market share of players based on a hard drive."
Shucks. 90% of the hard drive player market, and more than half of the market overall.
The Apple Product Cycle (I wish I came up with it, I didn't), which I've linked to in my sig for a month or two because it's hysterical- talks about this "stage" of the game.
Isn't it funny how people have been proclaiming the death of the iPod for...uh...years? iPod is on its FOURTH generation.
About the size of the Epson P2000 (Score:3, Interesting)
It's the software stupid! (Score:2, Interesting)
Most of all, most of their bundled software sucks very much. iTunes (+ Shop) makes the iPod rock - and it's a very cool application!
So unless someone releases a convincing competitor to iTunes all those iPod-Killers will hardly make any impact.
User-replacable batteries (Score:5, Interesting)
With so many manufacturers, I'm sure that more than 50% of them will be bought or out of business in 2-3 years. Many of them use proprietary Li-polymer batteries (they are wonderfully small) that can only be replaced by the factory. Since the lifespan of these batteries are maybe two years, you better hope that someone still manufactures those proprietary batteries and is willing to change them for you. At what price? Did you choose the right model?
When I put my tinfoil hat on I can see it clearly; built-in batteries is a godsend for manufacturers since it allows them to create product that don't last for more than 3-4 years which will create more future buyers. You don't own your MP3 player. You just rent it on a 2-3 year basis.
Re:iPod Killer? (Score:3, Interesting)
Exactly. As an owner of an iPod, I find this extremely annoying. I have a powerbook to match my at-home linux box and the most annoying thing is having to re-rip my sizable cd collection into mp3 just so I can play it on my iPod.
Maybe somebody can help answer a question here: It would be very easy (my assumption) to add ogg support to iTunes and the iPod. Why exactly hasn't apple done this? Is it because they want to get people behind their weird compression format, or is it some kind of licensing issue? Something else I haven't thought of?
To the average consumer, more is *confusing* (Score:2, Interesting)
A lot of the iPod competition seems to think that the killer app is more features, more formats, and more choices in general. Do these companies have any clue what it's like for the average consumer to walk into a Best Buy and make this decision? Not only does brand, which Apple has in spades, make this decision a lot easier, but choosing one from two (iPod or iPod Mini, or, in other words, big or small), is a heck of a lot easier than choosing one from Archos GMini XS200, Olympus MR500i and MR100 and a Creative Muvo Micro N200. And what the hell is an MPIO FL300 with "Ogg Vorbis"?
"Just give me the iPod. My son's friend has one of those and he seems to like it."
Re:iPod Killer? (Score:0, Interesting)
More portable players support Ogg Vorbis than AAC.
I guess that's why you spread FUD about Ogg Vorbis.
Feeling threatened, are we?
ipod killer == next ipod (Score:5, Interesting)
It will be hard and likely take years to break the stranglehold Apple has on the industry. A great music store built in to a free best-in-class music player/ripper/burner/organizer and coupled with the ipod family of players. The fad hasnt turned on Apple in the slightest and most likely it hasnt even _peaked_.
the only ipod killer (Score:2, Interesting)
And frankly, hundreds of dollars for just a portable tiny media player is a stretch for a lot of people. I guess some folks can afford them but really, it's too expensive, and I am just too old to get sucked into consumer "fad" hype anymore. If you can get a right decent desktop for 400$, there's no rational reason some small media thingamajig should cost the same, none, other than there's a sucker born every minute and people seem to love to be exploited. It's a collection of asian electronic parts, which are today *cheap*, to the point of throw away cheap.
I know they sell a lot of them at that gross inflated price, I won't dispute that or argue marketing,that stuff is what it is, it's reality, but that just proves (to me anyway) a lot of people have more money (now) than common sense, and a pretty skewed sense of priorities. I might get one once they have been out long enough so that they are in the used market at like 20 dollars or something, same with a PDA. Or, like I said, wait until a cell phone at a reasonable price has a lot more features to it.
Guess I am just getting cranky and cynical, but to me enoughs enough on this OMG GOTTAHAVEIT deal with over priced gadgets. I'm a geek and I like gadgets, I have just cut way down past few years because it's gotten out of control. I have a box full of cxellphones, all of them work, it costs more money to rerplace the battery than it does to get a new phone. Sucks. Same with a few laptops I got. sucks. I have some portable radio/cassette thingees, they still work fine and take cheap batteries, and paid for them years ago, done. I am NOT going to listen to 10,000 songs in one day, and it's just not that hard to have a few tapes handy. I dfon't go to work to watch some media movie or to play games, so don't need those sorts of features. OTA radio still has tunes and talk, if you have a decent one and can actually learn to tune in channels better.
I used to be a serious mac fanboy, but really, they got enough of my loot, time to move on. I used to be able to justify their high prices when the only rational competition was having to run early windows,so I paid it, but now, nope,they switched to a unixy system and kept the same high prices on their boxes, refuse to drop prices down to any entry level that is comparable with anyone else, their computers are way too expensive and no way would I pay that 400 buck price for some teeny music player, I got real adult grownup things that need to be paid for first.
Not trying to flame anyone for their selections, but just think on it, that much money for THAT? If people got that sort of spare change, then I'd like to see less whining about the economy, they must be better off than 95% of the humans I know, who wouldn't even consider owning something like an ipod at that pricing level.
To each their own I guess, just this thread needed a contrarian viewpoint on the whole phenomenon.
Blah the photo iPods (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:iPod Killer? (Score:1, Interesting)
Right on. (Score:3, Interesting)
Ogg is a lot like PNG was four years ago- fine in concept, but good luck getting the Great Unwashed to give a shit.
Difference is, it's 2004 and png is everwhere (albeit still shittily supported on everything, but support in some capacity is there), and ogg is... well, it isn't.
I've been using iTunes since 1.0- I'll be damned if I'm going to be bothered with a format it doesn't support out of the box!