No more Granny Smiths for you! Say no to apples!
Midnight Son is on fire. Or high on pixy sticks.
Sure, but as some Ephraim notes, it’s somewhat different in the computer space versus entertainment.
Also, a computer is considerably more expensive than an iPod, particularly back when the Macintosh was unveiled. Even today, when you’re considering $1500 machine, cool will only get you so far. But for $100-$400, it probably gets you somewhere.
If someone makes a better MP3 player than Apple, I’m going to consider buying it, especially when the darn thing basically looks identical to an iPod to begin with!
Depending on your personal criteria, there are probably a bunch of MP3 players better than iPods. But no is even close to the market share of Apple. Why? Because to most people, MP3 players = iPod.
I somehow doubt you have enough bullets.
I think that, much like with PDAs, Microsoft is re-trenching into a market that is just about ready to shift away from the device they’ve targetted. It’s also likely that Apple will be doing the shifting.
Phone companies: “Who cares about Apple’s iPod shipments? Our market is so much larger!”
Jobs: “Hey, you’re right! Thanks!”
Phone companies: “…”
Has anyone ever seen anyone really using their phone like they would an iPod? As long as the current crop of wireless companies are in charge of how music gets put onto the phone, that won’t change.
Microsoft knows this. This is why the Microsoft brand is near invisible on the Xbox 360 and entirely invisible on all the marketing associated with it. I expect you will see the same with Zune. I’m surprised they don’t launch a sub-brand for these kind of products - like GM did with Saturn - in an attempt to hoodwink people who would otherwise be turned off by the Microsoft brand.
If Microsoft does go for sub-brand, hoodwinking branding, I’d suggest: Abble.
It’s a shame Snapple isn’t available, becuase it could be short for “Isn’t Apple”. Say it fast, it totally works.
I have done it, but it wasn’t very fun. And that’s a big part of the point: seeing what Apple does with the space. It’ll be an MNVO play, on their own hardware. I know people working for (large, wireless) companies (plural) trying to ready their response to this product. They seem worried.
So are Apple really going to come out with an iPod phone?
I have and am. I have a Treo 650 which is loaded with Pocket Tunes. It allows me to do more than an iPod would. I can create playlists on the fly, add tracks from Napster, bookmark on tracks themselves (INCREDIBLY useful for long audio tracks, such as books or speeches).
Downsides:
#1 with a bullet - sound quality. It’s just not as crisp as my dedicated MP3 player.
#2 the headphones I use double as an earpiece, but they don’t do that well.
#3 space - I’m limited to 2 gigs, which frustrates me greatly.
Upsides:
#1 with a bullet - I prefer the convenience of carrying one device so much more that I’m increasingly just leaving my mp3 player at home.
#2 if a call comes in, the player automatically pauses the track and switches over to phone mode. If I chose to answer the call, the second I hang up, the music automatically resumes. Incredibly nice feature.
#3 far more robust feature set than an iPod (playlists on the go; add songs to playlists at any time, audio bookmarking, etc)
On the whole, it’s not a bad experience at all.
Erm?! I stick the USB wire into my phone and drag MP3s from a playlist into the phones MP3 folder (Sony Ericsson W800i) I even do it from iTunes since it’s my musicplayer of choice.
It’s not as good as the iPOd - but transfering songs isn’t the problem.
I have a 1GB Memorystick, depending on how much I use the excellent 2 megapixels camera, that gives me about 950 megs of music. Sound is better than the iPod, navigation definately isn’t - but I mostly play music on random anyway. Batterylife? Hard to say, I use the phone also and uses a Bluetooth stereo headset, so that drains it faster… but on par with the iPod for sure.
Since the headset can handle two sources and still switch off the music when the phone rings, I’d rather use an iPod and the phone. Since I don’t own an iPod I use the phone and like that I only carry one slim lightweight device with fm-radio, 950 MB MP3’s, webbrowser, phone and a decent camera… especially in these days of wearing shorts.
Zune… rumored to be launching November 14th, right in time for PS3’s launch. Coincidence? Probably.
Zune… apparently the wi-fi feature only allows you to loan a song to a friend and further, you can’t download directly from the music store with it.
See link.
Less interested, but still interested.
The new LG Chocolate isn’t a bad media player phone, though a big part of its appeal comes from the new ability to use wireless stereo headsets (nextlink makes an excellent one called the Spider). A2DP rocks.
Cingular’s LG CU500 is even better (same wireless capabilities, faster data than any other phone on the market if you’re in one of the right cities, but without the numerous interface and control shortcomings of the Chocolate).
After experiencing the good (great sound, convenience) and the bad (bulk) of the current bluetooth stereo headsets, I’d like to see a nice lanyard-style approach with more standard in-ear phones. I think LG might make a lanyard that you can plug headphones into though… hard to tell from their marketing material.
Strangely enough though, even though I have both of those phones sitting on my desk, the device that I’m using is my SLVR (with iTunes modified to remove the 100 song limit and hacked for better sound and call performance on Cingular’s ridiculously over-compressed network, and using a USB 2 card reader for speedy loading). It’s still the best all-around form factor and build quality / feel of any phone I’ve used, and despite its lackluster technology I just keep going back to it.
I bought the LG Chocolate last week and am returning it today. The phone is horrible.
As far as I’m concerned, my Motorola SLVR V7 from Cingular is that. I plug it into a USB port (standard mini-USB connector) and iTunes recognizes it. Sure, it’s got a 100 song limit (512MB micro-SD card in there right now), but it’s easy as pie to transfer songs onto it.
And the phone came with a handy-dandy mini-USB to headphone adapter.
Same interface as an iPod (without click wheel, tho).
Did you try a bluetooth stereo headset with it? As I mentioned, it’s the primary redeeming feature of the phone. Since the headphones have controls mounted on them, you can basically leave the phone in your pocket and do most of what you need from the headphones (navigate tunes, place and answer calls, voice dialing, etc), sparing you from the craptacular interface and goofy controls with all of their “protect the user from the controls constantly misfiring” anti-usability hacks.
The CU500 is a much better example of a modern music phone, though. Not as “pretty” as the Chocolate, but far more usable.