Gateway Portable MP3 Player

dcsmith writes "Gateway has announced the Gateway Digital Audio Player, a 1.5-ounce USB device that also provides portable storage and voice recording. The device is curently available in a 128MB model priced at $129.99, with a 256MB model priced at $169.99 scheduled to debut on 14 August." The Gateway store has a picture. No mention of DRM.

Comments

Trying to figure out

[stinkwinkerton]

Why this is frontpage news? Is it the size or is it the fact that is records voice as well? I'm not trolling, really honestly trying to figure out what the supercool part is.

Re:Trying to figure out

[gantrep]

Also I bet they don't really expect that many people to buy them from them straight out. They will try to sell them as part of a package with a new computer system, etc. You know, "Act now and get a FREE mp3 player! $130 value!"

looks like a repackaged muvo

[utexaspunk]

looks like a repackaged version of creative's muvo, which means it uses its own proprietary USB key that has the controls on it. why can't someone make a little mp3 player that is basically the buttons and headphone jack into which one plugs an ordinary USB-keydrive? that way one could keep a couple keydrives around and swap them.

Re:looks like a repackaged muvo

[FatRatBastard]

I suspect because it would be expensive. If you add all of the controls and headphone jack to the dock you then have to pump data from the drive to the dock. Thus, the dock has to have USB hub hardware for data transfer from the drive to the dock. With all of the controls / jack on the drive all the dock needs to do is provide power to the drive, which I suspect is a much simpler hardware setup (thus cheaper).

Re:Put into perspective

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you clip that portable HDD to your belt and walk around town? Do you go jogging with it? Does a single AAA battery last for 36 hours of playtime? None of the above?

What the appeal is...

[LamerX]

The appeal is the size. Look at it, it's 128mb and 1.5 ounces. It's so super light, it could actually be put into your pocket without a big square lump. I haven't seen a lot of MP3 players, but this looks to be one of the smaller ones out there. And the fact that it can double as your geek-kit-driver-holder is pretty neat.

Re:What the appeal is...

[blamanj]

How about this one. Not only is it same size, weight, and price, but it supports an FM tuner and FM recording as well, which the Gateway does not.

It also supports the Mac, which I don't expect the Gateway to do, either.

Re:Put into perspective

[stratjakt]

For 250 bucks I can get a gig of SDRam for my PDA/Smartphone which can play mp3s.

Whoopity do. This article was only posted so michael could add his "wah wah DRM" comment to the end.

It's not really news or at all thrilling, just another in a sea of "me too" products.

I'll take a look when...

[PeteyG]

I'll take a look at this as soon as it gets to 5 gigs in capacity.

If it gets to 10, then I'll really start paying attention, and start comparing it to the iPod.

But sheesh. If you've experienced a player with capacity measured in gigs, then it's hard to seriously consider devices that are measured in (albiet high) megabytes.

256 megs? I couldn't fit more than 3 albums and a few big audiobooks on that. Which is still a lot, I guess... But still not nearly as wonderfully flexible as my 15 gig iPod.

Helluva lot cheaper though!

your perspective is skewed

[SweetAndSourJesus]

These are Gateway customers we're talking about. Basically, people who have no idea how to buy a computer or computer accessories. When a friendly Gateway sales representative says "would you like to throw in an mp3 player for just $129.99?", lots of people are going to go for it.

Gruvstick

[barjam]

This looks very much like the Cenodyn Gruvstick. Apparently the internals of the Gruvstick are in a ton of products, I wonder if that ist he case here.

The Gruvstick is a great MP3 player, for what it is worth (replace the headphones that come with it though).

Re:Price....

[Life2Short]

Not to mention Creative's crap software. I've never used anything so crash-ridden in my life as the software that came with my Nomad.

Wrong shape/size

[thogard]

This looks like the MP3 player I just got for AU$200 (US$130). Teh only place I listen to MP3s anymore is in the car and for some reason the car has a cassette deck. I've got a cheap walkman to cassette adapters but it makes me wonder why someone hasn't made an mp3 player the right size to fit in a car radio. With the right sensors, you could trun the tape direction control into a skip to the next one, and turn off when the caspin stops spining. That way I could take the MP3 player in to the house, load it full of stuff and when it was in the car, it would work like a smart cassette.

Do the math

[SuperBanana]

The appeal is the size. Look at it, it's 128mb and 1.5 ounces.

Math time, kids!

128/1.5 = 85 MB per oz
10240/5.6 = 1826 MB per oz

Oh, but it's cheaper, you say?

128/129 = ~ 1MB/$1
10240/299 = ~ 34MB/$1

Thanks for playing. The Gateway player is just Yet Another Mp3 Player; the non-hard-drive players are all pretty damn small and light. Some are cheaper than this, too. And no DRM.

I agree with the other posters- it's completely yawn-inspiring, and reminds me of all the other suspcious stories we've been seeing recently...like that Tivo-like unit that randomly got three paragraph's worth on the front page for no apparent reason. When are slashdot editors going to realize they're being taken advantage of?(I'm politely assuming they're not doing product placements).