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Music Media Hardware

Public Hardware Beta Tests 131

Posted by CowboyNeal from the first-one-is-free dept.
orangerobot writes "Commercial software companies have performed public beta tests of their products for quite some time but more recently Philips Electronics has started holding public betas of new consumer hardware gadgets. A few months ago it was the Streamium MC-i250, and now it's their iPod clone the HDD-100. Public hardware betas seem like a great way to do a bit of marketing and user testing at the same time maybe more companies will pick up the same idea." This seems like a great idea for a company wanting to collect usability data on their interfaces, so that the release version can be tweaked.
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Public Hardware Beta Tests More

Public Hardware Beta Tests

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  • Yeah... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Junior J. Junior III ( 192702 ) on Thursday April 10, 2003 @09:05PM (#5707251) Homepage
    And when I get killed "beta-testing" a not-ready-for-prime-time automobile or something, that'll be really great!

    Whatever happened to releasing a product when it's ready?

    • Re:Yeah... (Score:5, Funny)

      by Drishmung ( 458368 ) on Thursday April 10, 2003 @09:16PM (#5707319)
      Hey, Alfa Romeo hasn't even made it as far as Beta yet, and it's a pretty fair car...
    • And exactly how do you expect them to get it ready without testing it? Magic Pixies?

      (I think this is a good idea... get some real average users who can contribute real life experience in using the product... rather than shipping something out and finding out people hate it, it doesn't work, and it just sucks)
      • >>And exactly how do you expect them to get it
        >>ready without testing it?

        I've signed up for the Phillips ones in the past, there are 4 pages of questions that I'm sure is worth more then it's weight in gold to them. Imagine get 100000 people to sign up for a free iPod clone and each fill out a 4 page marketing survey?

        I'm not saying I didn't fill it out, but giving away 100 pre-release products compared to the value of the information obtained in those quizes? My first thought after completin

    • Re:Yeah... (Score:3, Insightful)

      by anthroboy ( 663415 )
      The sad part is that it's been common practice to beta-test far more dangerous products than not-ready-for-prime-time cars... I mean, if FDA mandated "clinical-trials" aren't the pharmacological equivalent of beta-tests, what is?

    • Whatever happened to releasing a product when it's ready?

      Some issues, like usability, do benefit from a beta. The more morons you expose a product to, the more likely one of them will report a usability problem. Remember the "butterfly ballot" problem [interface-design.net] in Florida? A well conducted beta would have changed history.

      Beta users volunteering to test a product that isn't dangerous is a good thing.

    • And when I get killed "beta-testing" a not-ready-for-prime-time automobile or something, that'll be really great!

      This has already happened. If there were any Ford Pinto drivers still alive, you could ask them what it was like to be chared alive.

    • Re:Yeah... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Evil Adrian ( 253301 ) on Thursday April 10, 2003 @11:31PM (#5708108) Homepage
      Whatever happened to releasing a product when it's ready?

      It's a good idea to give a product to the public to test; the geeks get their new toy early, and will use it and abuse it in new and creative ways that the engineers wouldn't have dreamed up.

      It is impossible to know, with 100% accuracy, in which situations a new piece of hardware or software will fail. Extensive testing, no matter how careful, still will not catch all of the problems. So, they test and tune, and release it when they believe it is ready.

      Subsequent usage of the product always yields problems -- which is why we get things like recall notices, software patches, etc.

      Many (not all, but many) companies really do try their hardest to release a good product. Good products mean a good image, more profits, and not having to deal with irate customers.

      Time spent fixing a broken product is time taken away from working on a new product -- companies want to minimize the former and maximize the latter.

  • Let me test.. (Score:1, Funny)

    by MasTRE ( 588396 )
    ..a BMW M5 and I'll tell them my opinion via postal mail ;)

  • This isn't new (Score:3, Interesting)

    by wwwgregcom ( 313240 ) on Thursday April 10, 2003 @09:07PM (#5707268) Journal
    I once got a free internal DSL modem from Efficient Networks because they were beta testing the drivers on their new internal card on linux. Very nice of them, I hear the card was expensive.
    • I hope it stays free. I remember the days when Microsoft actually charged people like 25$ to beta Windows 95.
      • I remember the days when RealAudio charges a few hundred or thousand to beta test RealProducer/RealEncoder products. It was around that time that we stopped doing business with them.

  • This is a great idea... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by alwsn ( 593349 ) on Thursday April 10, 2003 @09:08PM (#5707270)
    Having just filled out the form, this is a win win for Philips. Only 50 people will get the hardware, which costs them next to nothing.

    But when they get out of the deal is thousdands of people filling out pretty detailed information that they normally wouldn't fill out in the hopes of getting something for free.

    Good idea.
    • It's not really a problem. Anyone who doesn't have a personality or three, me, myself and Ralph, lying around must truly enjoy all the benefits of the internet.

      I still see that after four years of inactivity databaseamerica still has all of mine except me, I love filling out forms.
      • So you don't vote? They claim to add all US voter registry info to their database...

        Funny what you can find out about even the most secretive of people. Actually, I really only know that you either don't vote, or that you're a liar.

  • There go my chances. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Lenbok ( 22992 ) on Thursday April 10, 2003 @09:08PM (#5707272)
    Gee thanks! I had signed up for the beta test and
    now I've got the entire slashdot crowd applying --
    there go my odds of getting one...

  • Damn You Slashdot! (Score:2, Insightful)

    by birdman666 ( 144812 )
    Now I'll never get into that HDD-100 beta test.
    • Since they have opted to disqualify anyone they wish, they may disqualify all applicants from when the story hit Slashdot to it's expiring from the most recent days. (two, three days?)

      You may get your chance yet...

      -Rusty

  • Beta Testing is good (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 10, 2003 @09:14PM (#5707306)
    I've been developing computers (laptops and now tablets) for a while, and I love the idea of beta testing.

    For the most part, I find that beta testing allows us to get extended product use cycles in a short amount of time, allows people to find problems that we wouldn't otherwise find right away, etc etc...

    By allowing people to beta test, it is like hiring a X number of person QA department for free. And usually, those beta testers are more energetic in finding problems cause it makes them feel important and they approach the product unlike my engineers do who have been looking at it for months. Personally, I get (sometimes get) sick of staring at my product after I leave work since I've been staring at it, and its problems all day long. But beta testers find beta testing a challenge to themselves to try all possible combinations and procedures in hopes of finding a bug.

    So, as far as I am concerned, from a eningeering manager stand point, the beta testers for the most part are extremely helpful, so long as they return useable data.

  • Let me know (Score:4, Interesting)

    by tmark ( 230091 ) on Thursday April 10, 2003 @09:15PM (#5707317)
    Let me know when you all finish filling out the application. I quit when I saw that the 3rd page had what looked like at least 20-30 additional questions. Forget the beta-test, what Phillips is really looking for is a lot of data points on a a huge market research study - I'm sure they could care less about the actual beta-test itself.
    • Probably true, but it would still be cool to get one of these.

    • Re:Let me know (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Naikrovek ( 667 ) <jjohnson&psg,com> on Thursday April 10, 2003 @09:19PM (#5707337)
      right, and it was that page that let you express your love for the OGG format, which is the only reason i filled out the page. i don't give a poo if i get to trial it, i just want them to know that i dig OGG and it is important to me.

    • Re:Let me know (Score:2, Interesting)

      by OMEGA Power ( 651936 )
      True that the main purpose is market research but the questions are not invasive from a privacy standpoint and I for one would like companies that make mp3 players to know things like I want them to support OGG, or I perfer firewire to USB.
    • I just finished filling it out, that 3rd page was the last one.

      Yes, it's a great way for them to get market research - they can probably figure on getting quality results too, because people are filling it out in hopes of getting to beta test the device, so they'll actually take their time and answer thoughtfully.

      I agree that the market research info they get will probably be more valuable than the beta testing...

  • Good work (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Mattygfunk1 ( 596840 )
    While already there are the usual "let me test a bmw" posts, I think it is great to see companies ready to challenge established conventions within the computer industry.

    Full credit to Philips Electronics for trying something new. I hope they get some valuable promotion and some excellent feedback from these tests.

    __
    cheap web site hosting [cheap-web-...ing.com.au]

  • argh (Score:2, Insightful)

    by ziplux ( 261840 )
    Why can't these companies support formats that don't suck? MP3 and WMA are great if you're short on space, but with 15 gigs i'd be hard pressed to fill that up. They either need to support a lossless format like FLAC or even Shorten, or even better release an SDK so the users can code the support in. Hard drive mp3 players should not be marred by low quality music!
    • Just out of curiousity what do you use to listen to your mp3 player. I have a creative jukebox 3 that I listen to with good (but not audiophile quality) headphones and in my car (through a tape adapter) and honestly can't tell the difference between a good mp3 and a cd played through the same speakers/headphones
      • Also, I have a 20gb iPod loaded with mp3's and I only have about 3gb left. Not only do I not notice a difference in sound quality, I'm using more than 15 gigs of space as well ;)

        I guess it is kind of sad that I was drooling about rumors of a 40gb iPod. :(
    • I hate buying electronics because they never have some feature I want while having a bunch that I don't. If manufacturers would release stuff that's programmable, this wouldn't be a problem.

      For example, my watch is a plain Timex thing with a timer and chronometer I never use but 3 alarms that can't ring depending on the date. If I could buy a good watch that let me fiddle with it and fix the things I don't like, I would pay extra. Timex does have watches that can download from your computer but they see
    • I managed to fill up my 20 GB ipod the day I bought it. And there's lots more stuff on my hard drive that I'd love to take around on it -- too bad. I gotta get one of those Jack Osbourne 40 GB players.

      Seriously, though -- if you listen to a lot of high quality MP3's, (r3mix encoded VBR), it's not too hard. I like the fact that I can throw it on random and not hear the same song for a week...

    • But how good do you think your ears are? Have you got 20-20000Hz hearing? I must say I think most audiophiles over estimate their ears. I got a mate that says it's about feeling the sound.. I think he is bsing.

      Encoding mp3s on 256kbps or more I must say is impossible to hear the difference on on my Hifi (which is supposed to sound really good). But .. there are some aspects that count when making the mp3s (you must do it right!):

      The encoders are not equal in quality and you must encode using the right set
    • MP3 is hardly a low quality format. If you've got a good encoder (I use lame --alt-preset extreme, on advice I got from the Slashdot crowd) it's absolutely top-notch, even on good ($100+) headphones. Heck, the shitty audio environment in an average PC is a hell of a bigger bottleneck than the codec. As for filling up all that space, 15GB is about the size of 150 albums at 256kbps. My mom's collection is bigger than that!

  • iPod clone? (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Yeah, like Winamp, the iTunes clone, Geocities, the dotMac clone, or IE, the Safari Clone?

    Sheep.
  • Screw helping out the company, I want free stuff!
  • Go to Akihabara (Electric Town) in Tokyo most any day of the week, and you'll see shelves loaded with 'beta' hardware. The shear amount of goods that never see the light of day, otherwise, is nothing less than amazing.

    This latest action, by Philips, is simply a marketing ploy for the uneducated consumer. ...and if you're one of the fan boys getting a woody over it, then that's you. Like shooting fish in a barrel.

  • Huh? (Score:1)

    by Cyno01 ( 573917 )
    Something new, dual icons? Anywhoo... Looks like an interesting test, i took the time to fill out the long survey, which is probably more imortant to them than the actual beta test. This looks a lot nicer than me Archos jukebox, but my main selling point on an HD based mp3 player is capacity, is it more than 20GB?
  • Remeber when Gates demonstrated how easy it was to install a USB scanner on Windows 98 at a presentation, and promptly Blue Screened it?

    He remarked, "That is why it hasn't been released yet."
  • I think H{ and others need to do this with PDA's, The Toshiba e740 was the beta for the e750....and that sucks. At least that is the way it worked for me.

  • How is this an iPod clone? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Thag ( 8436 ) on Thursday April 10, 2003 @09:25PM (#5707373) Homepage
    It doesn't look like an iPod, and Apple wasn't remotely the first to put out an audio player with a hard drive. Plus, this thing can apparently record from audio in, which might be very cool for some applications if the quality is there.

    Jon Acheson
  • Damn it...I had signed up a while ago for a similar beta test, so about a week ago I got an e-mail for this one. I figured I'd sign up as I probably would have a descent chance at getting some free hardware to play with. Lets see what the chances are a after a good slashdotting. >:(

  • OGG (Score:2, Interesting)

    by tomcio.s ( 455520 )
    Wow. They said OGG... That would be nice. Open souce codec, and they are willing to build in support. Wow. I am just speachless. Maybe we are making more headway than we have previously thought.
  • Now my chances of getting a free player are non-existant! (I got the email from being on their beta tester list like a week ago, but now I have almost no chance)

  • Beta testing is the side effect (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Planck0 ( 554268 ) on Thursday April 10, 2003 @09:29PM (#5707392)

    I actually got an e-mail a few days ago about this "beta test". While I'm all for it and realize that it does provide Phillips useful feedback on their product, I just wanted to point out that the beta test portion of it is really a beneficial side-effect of what they're after.

    The actual reason Phillips is doing this is to get people to fill out the very detailed survey regarding what you look for in a portable storage device like the one they're beta testing. They ask what features are important to you, what price you're willing to pay, and other information that's much more valuable to them than the manufacturing cost of 50 or 100 units.

    Don't get me wrong, I'm all for this (after all, I filled the survey out), but let's realize that they're not trying to give 50 or 100 units away to geeks, they're really just trying to decide where to invest research and development.

    • Don't get me wrong, I'm all for this (after all, I filled the survey out), but let's realize that they're not trying to give 50 or 100 units away to geeks, they're really just trying to decide where to invest research and development.

      Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty sure we're on the same page, butI'd like to point out that I think that this is really cool. Really cool. Somebody, who makes cool shit, wants to know what kind of cool I want to see. not just what I want to see butstuff I'd like and have a h

    • they're not trying to give 50 or 100 units away to geeks, they're really just trying to decide where to invest research and development.

      So what if it IS a marketing survey? The result is the same; the company gets feedback from the public and uses it to build devices which better meet our needs.

  • Practically every first-generation product I've ever purchased has been a beta test. It's to the point where I'll hardly buy anything if it's "Rev. 1.0" or "Rev. A."

    They just cut out their QA budget, let the customers rack up the losses and complaints, and feed it back into R&D.
  • Companies have been doing this for years. My physics teacher in high school ten years ago tested beta and concept appliances for IBM.
  • Too bad they didn't do a "public hardware test" on the Ford Pinto before it was released en masse.

    Many people's lives would have been spared had Ford not rushed this product to market.

  • OGG (Score:5, Insightful)

    by The Ape With No Name ( 213531 ) on Thursday April 10, 2003 @09:33PM (#5707409) Homepage
    Look, even if it is just a shot in the dark to get a beta slot on this program, go ahead and fill out the form anyway and be sure to ask for OGG Vorbis support. Maybe they will look at it the stats and say "hmmm" there's something to that and support the open source format!

  • Things you DONT want to beta test (Score:5, Funny)

    by chunkwhite86 ( 593696 ) on Thursday April 10, 2003 @09:54PM (#5707501)
    Top things that you DONT want to beta test.

    1. Parachutes.

    2. Invasive surgical procedures.

    3. Seat Belts.

    4. Condoms. (Whoops, it broke. Now was that a Yes or a No to my "Do you have herpes" question?)

    5. Pot Holders (So, on a scale of 1 to 5, how badly would you say you were scalded?)

    • Add to that (or make that): any contraceptives

      My gf works at a bio research lab. she was recently asked if she wanted to "beta test" a new contraceptive pill. instead of 1 pill a day, you take less, but you don't get a period for 3 months (!). how do you know if you could be pregnant? well, they will pay for the pregnancy tests!

      2. ...
      3. profit!
  • Seriously, I am getting sick of buying something like a Mp3 player and having to flash it's rom a few times with newer firmware before the damn thing works right. Really, overall flashrom is a good thing, but it sure seems to make some developers lazy when it comes to releasing working products.

  • iPod clone??? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by harlows_monkeys ( 106428 ) on Thursday April 10, 2003 @10:06PM (#5707566) Homepage
    How come everyone seems to call any new hard disk MP3 player an iPod clone now? It's not like Apple was first. Might as well call them Archos clones, especially since the Philips unit is a recorder, like most Archos models, and unlike iPod.

    As far as I can see, the only innovation Apple did was pick a 1.8" hard disk instead of a 2.5" hard disk to save size (and greatly increase cost), and eventually add some rudimentary PDA functions.

    • You're forgetting the incredibly slick design. I tested all of the other HD mp3 players and found them (especially the Archos) to be lacking quite a bit. The ipod was easily my first and only choice...pulling together the $500 for it was the only problem.
    • The iPod absolutely rules the roost with respect to HDD players. It has something like 30% market share. It's incredibly slick, really small, and get's rave reviews in every single mag. Apple's innovation was to make something tiny, easy to use, that didn't look like a toy (like the Archos and eDig players do). Even though the Pod was released in 2001, you still can't get anything remotely the same size. A cm on each side doesn't sound like much, but the iPod fits comfortably in a shirt pocket, while even t

  • Why this works (Score:4, Interesting)

    by 3ryon ( 415000 ) on Thursday April 10, 2003 @10:06PM (#5707567)
    After filling out their lengthy survey (slim chance of being 1 of the 50 now that it's posted on /.) I can tell you why they do this. The "application" is basically a marketing survey. They'll get tens of thousands of these surveys completed, and it only cost them 50 devices.
  • Try applying to centercode http://www.centercode.com.
  • Pretty neat way of collecting emails for mailing lists.

    Props to Phillips on this one.

  • Your application form has been submitted successfully.

    We will inform you of the application result by e-mail on or before 28 May 2003.

    Thank you for your interest in joining the Philips HDD100 Recording Audio Jukebox beta-test.

    Looks like its a bit late. But get your "Ogg" requests in...

  • very suspicious survey (Score:2, Interesting)

    by heff ( 24452 )
    as someone who studies marketing and org. comm. i found the "eligability survey" philips required very suspicious.

    The questions they asked were more or less market research questions and I found it difficult to see the relevance that those questions might have in determining a persons ability to test a product.

    I could be wrong, but I suspect they use these signups as a way to whore people into providing marketing information such as demographics etc.

    I speculate the actual hardware test itself is a front

  • Read the Fine Print First and Shudder (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward

    6. Privacy
    Beta-test participants grant the right to use and publish their name and state online and in print, or any other media, in connection with the beta-test. Acceptance of a Philips HDD100 Recording Audio Jukebox constitutes permission for Philips and their advertising and promotional agencies to use beta-test applicants' names and likeness for advertising and promotional purposes without additional compensation. You further agree that Philips can use your personal information as described in

  • Ogg support! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by GreenKiwi ( 221281 ) on Friday April 11, 2003 @12:52AM (#5708397)
    Everyone should go onto their site and fill out the survey and say that Ogg support is important... let them know that we want it!
  • The commercial amusement industry has done this for years. They develop a game/large machine, put it on location, and they use the simple "how much money's in the box" to determine how to price the machine, what needs to be fixed, or even whether to put it into production. It helps because you get a fresh perspective outside of your internal testers. Glad to see the hardware market starting to embrace this technique, as it could save them a lot of money on not producing a shitty product.
  • From the 'beta questions' - yeah *right*, Mr RIAA

    4. How many MP3/compressed audio files do you have on your following devices/
    media format?

    PC (More than 5000)
    Portable Hard Disk based MP3 Jukebox (1000)
    MP3-CDs (200)

    __________

    Gotta go, doorbell ringi-

  • Philips has been doing this for well over a year and a half. I still get their emails every few months about their new product that they're beta testing, and happily ignore it.

    Don't let some marketroid take your personal data. Don't become a statistical probability of purchasing.
  • I agree that hardware like this needs beta testers, but this is not a beta test. This is a marketing survey. By the time these people get the units, they will have already been designed and have entered manufacture. Based on the folks feedback, they will change the way they market the units and their target audience to make the most sales. The will; however, not change the product to better suit users unless it's a simple matter of software or other firmware related problem.

    The beta test, if it ever happen
  • Are there any /.ers who actually *recieved* something from the Philips beta test, or do you know anyone who did? It would be helpful to know whether or not this is for real, or if it's just a scam to fill up demographic charts.

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