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ZapMedia Finally Releases ZapStation
veader writes: "ZapMedia seems to have finally released the ZapStation. There is no press release yet but they are taking orders on their website.
It looks to offer much more functionality than the recently released HP de100c. CD, DVD, MP3, MPG, WMA, WMV, etc." I have a model for review coming my way so I'll give a detailed report when I have time to plug it in and give it a beating. Like the HP box, it is quite expensive, but it has many more features. The real question is, at the price point for these boxes, can they compete with X-Box or PS2+Hard Drive devices that will be hitting the market and doing many of the same things, but far less expensively?
Did the marketeers at Zap not realize that any geek that would shell out this much money for a system like this could easily build a box to do all this stuff and more for substantially less cost? Jeez. $700 and maybe I'd think about it.
(Yes, I'll probably get mod'd way down for this but I stand by what I say.)
No press release, no review, nothing but them taking orders. How much did they pay VA/. to post this? I mean, any of us could have found this, gone to their website, and read their marketing literature. Where's the beef?
I'm not trying to imply a conspiracy, but isn't it interesting that Microsoft may have been withholding critical information to give the Xbox a leg up? Something tells me that they are still concerned about the Xbox's success in the marketplace, even when competing with more expensive rivals. I guess that's just one of the risks of letting a single company control so much technology.
-CT
What can it do? The short version:
Play streaming audio/video, MP3, and CDs and DVDs
Store up to 10,000 songs or 20 hours of digital video
Browse the Internet through your television
Record CDs to your ZapStation local hard drive
Create Playlists of your favorite songs
Organize and manage your digital multimedia assets
Download and stream audio and video content from ZapZone
Access and listen to Internet Radio stations
Access news and information from USA TODAY in a madefor TV format.
Enjoy all this from the comfort of your living room with a user- friendly remote control
But I have TV out on my PC's video card, and it's 2 feet away from my TV. So I can do all these things already. (and more - I can burn CD's onto CD-R's!!! Hah!)
OK - so I can't access their "zap zone" - So that's why I have gnutella.
I guess this is a nifty piece of hardware for the great unwashed who have too much money.
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How can a contemporary DVD player ship without some form of 5.1 - either Dolby or DTS?
And you can't play MP3s from your network - only from the box itself...
No Tivo-like functionality either...
And for how much??? I don't think so...
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Q. Can you ship the ZapStation internationally?
A. The ZapStation is currently available and operable only in the US.
Sounds like this company doesn't know about the internet. You know, the thing that lets us Canadians view American content and buy American devices?
And what about all you people from Europe, Asia, etc? Doesn't this irk you a little? How can a company be so shortsighted?
Anything this expensive, so niche, and only marketed to less than a few percent of its potential customers is doomed before it leaves the door.
It's been dead before it even got up.
From the specs page: Graphical interface, wireless keyboard, usb port, ethernet, 800Mhz processor, 128Mb ram, 30Gb HDD, CD/DVD, Stereo Audio, Digital Audio (S/PDIF), Composite Video, S-Video, SVGA, 1/4" Headphone jack...
The only thing different is some hardware controls on the front (an extension of the multimedia keyboards), and a remote.
It's nice and simple, but you don't get the infinite(*) customisability of a real pc.
With some customised linux box I could do all this, burn cds of this media, and play quake3 or gnibbles :)
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Great website.
A bunch of full-screen stock photography urging me to "take control of my digital universe".
Do they use Perl to generate this stuff?
So, let me get this straight...
It's a DVD player that doesn't do component video. Even $100 DVD players have these. Even my PS2 has these - and it's supposed to be a *horrible* DVD player. Serious A/V-philes won't be using this feature. Yeah, it does SVGA, but again, this is a set-top box. I don't see myself connecting this to my PC, much less to a LCD projector.
It's got some vague TV Guide features...but apparentally can't be used as a PVR. It claims you can "navigate ZapStation's channels..." but doesn't explain what this means. Does ZapStation have a tuner in it so you can use it with your existing cable system? What if you have satellite or an external cable box? Meanwhile, you can buy a DVR - which comes with a detailed guide service - from a variety of companies. (My personal favorite is Tivo.)
It's a WebTV-like device, but doesn't support the lowly analog modem, so you either need broadband, or you need to rig your PC to share the modem.
It doesn't (appear to, anyways) support VCDs, MP3 CD(R/RW)s. Again, many $100 DVD players do this already. (to say nothing of PC-based players...)
It only comes with a 30GB drive. Yeah, that's a lot of MP3s...but 30GB is nothing if you want to record video.
I know many are saying "...but I can build a PC to do this for $700..." but that's not what this is supposed to be. It's supposed to be an all-in-one appliance, so you pay for the convience of being able to take this thing out of the box, turn it on, and have it work. This is the same reason people buy toasters, instead of building their own.
Even as an all-in-one integrated appliance, it still fails miserably. You can buy existing products which exceed each function the ZapStation. For around $150, you can get a DVD player that supports component video, digital audio, MP3, VCD, CDR, CDRW. For another $300 you can get a Tivo (even without the extra service fees, this will be more usefull than ZapStation.) For another $300-700 you can get a stereo component MP3 player, which either streams from your existing PC, or stores the tracks locally.
The point of an all-in-one appliance is that you save money due to the integration. However, for $700-1200, you more than replicate the ZapStation's feature set - FOR LESS.