Digital Music Player Overview 228
An anonymous reader writes "MP3 Newswire just posted its fifth article of its 'iPod Killers' for the holidays list. Most interesting are a bluetooth unit from Aiwa, Sony's Vaio U, and an Ogg/photo/FM broadcast record, flash unit from SAFA." See also I, II, III, and IV.
What is the future of standalone MP3 players? (Score:4, Insightful)
Seems that ipod has the total "mental" superiority, as every MP3 seems to be compared to it.
One thing that I wonder about is the digital convergence, will iPod surve with so many the new Mobile phones containing MP3 player functionality. It used to be that MP3 player phones were far between, but seems that all 3rd generation phones will contain it as standard feature.
X2 MegaView (Score:3, Insightful)
Design, (Score:5, Insightful)
C'mon guys, give us something that's at worthy of competing with an iPod. I'll give you the first killer idea for free: make it just like the iPod but without the stupid glossy, scratch-prone plastic and polished metal.
It's been done (Score:5, Insightful)
It's called the iPod mini.
It's not the iPod companies have to better! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Design, (Score:5, Insightful)
Geek toys - design unimportant, need 100 impossible to use functions that are cool
Upmarket - Stylish design, ease of use are the important functions.
Massmarket - Massproduced and designed things that have price as most importnt factor.
Ofcourse there are other types too, but most designs can be fitted into one of the three.
OGG? (Score:1, Insightful)
Mentality (Score:5, Insightful)
Inevitably, something that wants to be just a "product A killer" lacks the originality that made "product A" popular to begin with.
Creativity can't be mimicked. I for one welcome any products that aren't easily defined by other products. The next batch of iPod-mimicking underlords, on the other hand, aren't so well-met.
Re:Why so few iTunes compatible MP3 players? (Score:2, Insightful)
Not that big of a problem (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Mentality (Score:3, Insightful)
iPods are currently the most popular mp3 player (by far), so it's easy to characterize any mp3 player in terms of an iPod. I could just as easily characterize everything as a Nomad killer, or an iRiver killer, but less people would know what I'm talking about, and it wouldn't make sense since they're not the most popular mp3 player.
Or are you saying that you only buy the most popular of any given product space? Will you not drink RC Cola because I could say, "It's like Pepsi." Do you only buy Kleenex brand facial tissues? Would you have never bought a portable cassette player that's not a Sony Walkman?
Maybe I'll miss the whole iPod thing (Score:5, Insightful)
Though I doubt that's a reasonable alternative for a lot of people out there, I figured it was worth mentioning. I'm really attracted to the idea of having a little 'store all my interesting media' device.
We gots some cool stuff coming around the corner.
x2 megaview? (Score:3, Insightful)
This device looks like it's got a lot of potential to be an nice portable linux tool. I like the ability to record audio, and the fact that it has a hard disk. This'd alieviate some of the irritation of having to use an SD card for storage, as on a Zaurus. Now, if only it had a host USB hub, or maybe even an infrared port, I'd be set. USB host/client hub would be ideal, though (and, of course, a keyboard that would work with it).
I wonder if I could run opie (or if it already has opie - doubt it, but that'd be cool) on it. I suspect it's quite capable of the task - and that too would be cool.
Would it kill them... (Score:5, Insightful)
And actually, I'm having my doubts that that's a comprehensive comparison/listing they've got on there in the first place.
Rio Carbon (Score:2, Insightful)
That's a fifth installment and we yet to see Rio Carbon - the best player in the iPod mini market segment. I wonder how much Apple hands over so the authors don't mention the player that beats mini in pretty much everything beginning with style, size (both 3d and hdd-wise) and battery life.
And, yes, I know there is a rebranded Carbon in the list, but it doesn't have the original's style and battery life.
Re:Mentality (Score:3, Insightful)
Maybe they're not marketed as iPod killers, but I suspect they are conceived as such. From a business perspective, winning the MP3 player market quite naturally involves killing the iPod, its current holder. However, more vulnerable than the position of the iPod as the most popular "MP3 player" is Apple's position as the manufacturer of the most popular "portable media player." (Or possibly, "most fashionable gadget.") My point is that no "iPod killer" will end up killing the iPod, but what might succeed is something that deliberately plans to be as suddenly unique to the world as the iPod was originally, something that people will buy instead of the iPod, but not something that does the same thing. Something consumers didn't realize they wanted, but as soon as it was presented to them, know that they do - and that they want it more than the iPod.
Please don't ask me to be more specific. If I knew how to create the circumstances I detailed, I wouldn't be posting on Slashdot, thinking about sleep. (I would be counting money, thinking about sleep. Maybe I'm not missing all that much.)
I could just as easily characterize everything as a Nomad killer, or an iRiver killer
There wouldn't be too much point in killing the Nomad or the iRiver because their market shares are so small, so no, I don't think it comes as naturally to characterize MP3 players as potential killers of minor rivals as it does to compare them to the iPod.
Or are you saying that you only buy the most popular of any given product space? Will you not drink RC Cola because I could say, "It's like Pepsi." Do you only buy Kleenex brand facial tissues? Would you have never bought a portable cassette player that's not a Sony Walkman?
Personally, I'll buy what I think is the best product for my needs, for the best price. In my case, that was an iRiver H340. However, what I would buy is rarely the same as what sells well. More people drink Pepsi than RC Cola, regardless of my preferences.
Re:iPod problems on PCs (Score:4, Insightful)
Not sure what's so informative about that. I, too, have an iPod that I connect over Firewire to my PC and it works flawlessly, and has for a year without a single problem. Perhaps you should increase your sample size before making assumptions about the PC version of iTunes?
Re:iPod problems on PCs (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Prices will drop. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Digital Music Players? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Mentality (Score:2, Insightful)
What Apple have grasped and no-one else in the computer field has is what can be called "product love". That is, the complete opposite of product checklists. It's about real design, design orientated around the user, from both a usability pov, but also from it being something that they enjoy holding and keeping. Apple owners are like Morgan, Mini and Beetle owners. People don't love those cars because of their fuel economy, ride, handling or luggage space. It's something more than that.
SPAM (Score:2, Insightful)
To kill you must first catch up. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Rio Carbon (Score:1, Insightful)
You seem to have forgot about the rest of the parents statement:
the authors don't mention the player that beats mini in pretty much everything.
You choose to defend the one that you claim yourself is up to the individual preference. Nice..
No one wants their music player tied into a store. (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't think a lot of people would drop $200-$400 on a player to only turn around and go pay another $100 to fill it up with songs.
Comment removed (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Maybe I'll miss the whole iPod thing (Score:3, Insightful)
None of those compete with iTunes. (Score:3, Insightful)
iTunes is merely the interface through which the iPod shines. Nothing about the situation negates the strengths of iTunes->iPod. Or if you want an analogy here, iTunes is to DC, BT, Kazaa, and eMule as a phonebook is to a service directory. iTunes just makes all 200gb of music easily accessible, and the fact that you can synch all this music to the iPod makes the music on an iPod also easily accessible.