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Dell Announces New Music Player, Download Service
gotr00t writes "It appears that Dell Computer Corp. has announced that by the end of the year, they will have released their digital audio player, known in short as the 'Dell DJ.' Along with the player, there will also be a digital music download service. Looks like Dell is also joining Apple in the consumer products category."
so now can i get the Dude You're Gettin a Dell song from them for only $1? No way dude! I'm gettin a dell now!
In more serious news, Dell will need to have Apple's marketing savvy to have Apple's success, and I don't think they do.
I am a believer of momentum and curves.
'cause dell didn't make consumer products before...?
This was making the rounds on Fatwallet.com this morning. We'll see if it can compete with the IPod which already has a solid foot in the market.
"You worthless post!"
-Shakespeare, 2 Gentlemen of Verona, 1. 1. 147
What we need is a music service that doesn't impose draconian so-called copy-protection measures on its audio files. We'll just have to wait and see.
will we be able to sell these new Dell DJ songs on ebay?
And something they've been loathe to implement until now. Not only the concept of selling music by a company NOT traditionally involved in the music biz, but expanding that to an integrated system for taking it with you. The old way of buying a CD, taking it with you on a walkman and risking damage, clutter and scratches to the CD is something I don't want to put up with any longer than I have to. I've used a Sony MP3 player for 8 months and while that's a step in the right direction, it hadn't removed the entire concept of HAVING to sell a digital format (CD audio) on a physical medium
Dell, you are brilliant. Running everything from the music downloads, to an integrated portable player for those, skipping the entire idea of reliance on a physical medium. I predict BIG things for this
The question is why not? The demand for downloadable music is high. The RIAA cant sue you and if a pay-service springs up that is actually good and not loaded with DRM and limits, it may succeed. Well see if this becomes a nightmare, or
an "everybody wins" situation.
apple has a history of being "sexy".
dell has a history of being "boxy".
somehow, i see their image working against them here.
I don't know how many times people have seen this, but if it's ANYTHING like other PC companies that have tried to copy apple, they're usually quite terrible (such as www.buymusic.com).
I highly doubt that this will have any effect, if any, on the iPod.
- Sherman
I've never really liked dell at all and still dont.. although i have to say the axim is probably their best product.. for the price its amazing (especially compared to my ipaq 3630)
There's a picture of the new music player, together with the bundled speakers here. Very nice styling :) Looks like they've combined Apple's iPod with Apple's G5 PowerMac in design terms.
You know it was the interns that thought this idea up.
CmdrTaco announced he has a new herpes blister. He expects to begin sharing it by the end of tonight.
Apple's stockholders should be storming Infinite Loop right now with pitchforks and torches -- in excluding Windows users, they went out and squandered the sort of lead (time-to-market wise) that CEOs have wet dreams about. And do you think they sold any more Macs than they would have otherwise? I doubt it...
All in all, I think Dell is in a great position on this one *assuming* that Microsoft doesn't get away with another violation of antitrust law ("You must include a desktop link to our music software or we won't sell you any copies of Windows").
I wonder what Dell will become if they escape from being Just Another Wintel vendor...
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
For PC users, it means we can have an iPod-clone that interfaces with our machines. Yay for copies!
Under capitalism man exploits man. Under communism it's the other way around.
Any details on how the music download service will work? Subscription with free downloads but strict DRM, subscription with paid downloads and no/light DRM, paid downloads with no subscription but strict DRM, paid downloads with no subscription and no/light DRM?
Pricing of the Dell Digital Jukebox? Less than $299? I hope so, considering how cheap it looks (compare cheap buttons and scroll wheel vs touch-sensitive buttons and wheel with no moving parts).
$x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
$x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
ipods can interface with wintels.
In the same way Microsoft decided they would try to be all things to all people, Dell appears to have its heart set on dominating all things electronic. An iPod wannabe, a flat-screen TV, and other home electronics? Microsoft once sold operating systems. Then came an office suite, servers, mice, games, ERP suites, and now a fabulous media center for the whole family.
I'll stick to my iPod...
Of course we torture people, we need the information --Gen. Pinochet
Dell's going to try to cater to a business model rather than what the customers want, just like with their PCs.
If they (or iTunes, better yet) went and put stuff from Gainax, Toei, Viz, and many, many other anime companies, they'd make a bleeding _fortune_ thanks to all the otaku out there.
But if the service is anything like their computers... God help anyone who joins. I know from experience; I'm a technology administrator at a local primary school, and we're locked into Dell. >_
Even worse is that we're stuck paying three grand for their crappy Latitude D600s and that sweet new 17-inch Toshiba's five hundred less - three hundred, counting the upgrade to XP Pro.
Striking fear in the authors of godawful fanfiction, I am here, appearing in darkness, Tuxedo Jack!
this
is
gay
Why can't people steal from Apple properly?
I wonder if secret messages are implanted into each song to make you want to buy another computer. ITunes, "Buy Apple Buy Apple". Dell DJ, "Buy Dell Buy Dell". I can see it now, someone downloads the latest 50cent, song: "Popping caps in your ass all day and night...", person listening: "I want pop a cap in, wait a minute, actually I want a new XPS system with a 19" flat panel."
...like the Archos jukebox (20 gig USB 2.0 Drive) but with iPod's display and jog dial. Looks like dell may be moving in the right direction? Anyone got more details?
Hmm...I wonder if this Dell DJ thingy will be Mac compatible?
Apple squandered an insane amount of positive free press and a killer lead by initially releasing a "Mac Only" service. They could have gotten such a big headstart that people would think "Apple = Music" the same way they think "eBay = Auctions" -- that sort of mindshare is absolute *gold*.
Anyhow, Apple has a history of being "sexy". Unfortunately, they also have a history of being "stupid", at least in regards to capitalizing on their innovative triumphs.
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
Just how do they think they're going to sell this? Apple succeeded because Apple stuff is well-made and looks really cool. What the hell is Dell's angle, "The Dell DJ features levels of ugliness you've never seen before!"? Or, better yet, "Dude, you're getting a tacky iPod ripoff!"
Informative? Sheesh...
In other news, Apple sucks my chocolate salty balls.
How's that for infomative you stupid mods you!!
"Get a Mazda Tribute and recieve a free Dell DJ." That sounds reasonable.
Isn't Micheal Dell who said a while back, before Steve Jobs was called back that Apple should sell their assets and redistribute money to the shareholders?
What a moron. Never liked the guy, crap computers (and I'm certainly not the only one to think that) and annoying commercials.
I'll never buy their stuff.
Actually, it seems they're selling the support that comes with the computer. ..and from working at a University help desk their service is pretty good. (quick RMAs)
$cat
From the article...
"We are expanding our product offerings and enhancing Dell.com, and doing it in time for the holiday buying period so important to consumers."
Who is he trying to kid? I'd venture to say that the holiday shopping season is a lot more important to retailers and manufacturers than it is to 'consumers'.
"A revolution without dancing is... a revolution not worth having"
will release their own music player called the Gateway 2000.
That or a completely clueless person.
;)
I'm hoping it's the former
mp3, itunes, ogg, wma, dell.... Will the best offering please win and soon.
Intelligent reasons why I'd choose a Mac over another machine? I get more done. I don't know how to explain it, but I get so much more done on this than I ever did on my PCs. And you know, there's something to be said for asthetics. I hear people make fun of this reason all the time, but why shouldn't I want to look at something pretty if I am going to be looking at it for long periods of time? What's wrong with wanting to see something asthetically pleasing when I sit down at my computer?
"Only in their dreams can men truly be free 'twas always thus, and always thus will be."
--Tom Schulman
This can pose a real threat to iTunes Music Store if Dell Music Store uses the same format as buymusic.com. That is, music "bought" from both stores can be used/played on one computer, in one portable player, seamlessly. And once the format catches on, here will come a windfall of many many music stores that use the same DRM encumbered format.
Of course Apple has a better, more sensible solution. But it will not be able to take an onslaught of many online stores that use the same format.
It's Mac vs PC all over again. This time it is important for Apple to dominate the online music market. Or licenses its ACC to other online music stores and portable players...
This is a disgusting press release, it's not even a real article. I hunger for real information, not PR babblings.
Has anyone used a Dell PC lately? I've had to fix SO MANY fairly recent (ie shipped with Win XP) Dells that its not even funny. Now, admitadely, a MP3 player isn't as complicated as a space heater... *ahem* I mean, a Pentium 4 3GHz system... but, well, Dell seems to be almost entirley concerned with undercutting competitor's prices and offering slightly better #'s where it's the facts and figures that are a selling point (Basically, I figure that if you take an iPod, add 5GB of space and take $50 off their selling point, you've got what Dell wants to sell their device as). Of course, the catch is, it WON'T be an iPod, it won't have the same sex appeal, it won't have as nice of headphones, etc.
I've been under the impression, however, that Dell was still by enlarge a corporate/business PC manufacturer. I'm wondering what Dell is thinking, trying to do this... even their PDA's can be explained as trying to expand themselves into a 'one stop shop' for corporate computing, like some sort of HP or IBM, but a MP3 player? Weird. And I can't see how they'd expect to get Dell-like margins out of this.... which makes me think they've probably cut quite a few corners.... everywhere.
And my understanding from the Apple iTunes store was that the only way that Apple managed to pull it off was because of their goodstanding with the industry... being Apple and all. Were they a trailblazer making it easy for Dell, or is this just going to be a really inoperable service with none of the music I want?
I guess we'll see.
2) Apple's strategy has long been to survive through innovation. Just as 3M will always have copycats selling Post-It knockoffs, Apple will always be followed by the Dells of the world. Apple knows this; it's happened time after time in the past. But Apple's DNA revolves around being different. You can call it a marketing ploy, but it seems to be a part of the culture there. Dell has become successful because of its distribution model. Apple has become successful because of its continuous innovation. And just because Apple doesn't dominate the industry doesn't mean that it's not a successful company.
3) Dell is in a great position to copy Apple. But Apple has far more experience at this game, in part because of that lead time you were referring to. Apple also has connections to the music industry that Dell can't match. In the end, it comes down to which company can implement their Windows music service in a manner that entices customers. The labels have had online music sites for quite some time now, and it wasn't until the iTunes Music Store came along that suddenly the popular wisdom flipped 180 degrees and everyone started saying, "Duh! This is so easy. Why didn't someone do it before now?" Well, perhaps it wasn't done before because it wasn't really as easy as everyone now supposes.
4) I've been watching Apple get written off for the last two decades. Oddly, most of the reports of Apple's demise usually come right after they've created something new and innovative. The pundits always come out of the woodwork to declare that Apple is totally screwed now, because their competitors will surely copy them and eat their lunch. Damned if you innovate, damned if you don't.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
to make a Dell Jukebox? You have to wonder sometime
Yeah, 'cause that's the secret of Dell's success.
(sigh) I can tell this is going to become a "Dell sux!" and "Dell is just copying Apple!" thread, but the truth is that Dell is moving in a fairly purposeful way to fill an enormous gaping hole that Apple left in the market when they didn't release iTunes for the PC right away. When Apple loses all of that potential for market share to Dell, you gotta just come clean and admit: "Apple screwed up again".
Dell has become an enormously wealthy company because they're good at taking other people's well-concieved-yet-poorly-implemented ideas and improving on them or making them easier to sell. This isn't a small deal -- hugely promising companies full of smart people have suffered from an inability to do this for ages (SGI, anyone)? From selling computers customized on the web to rebranding their own peripherals to packaging the right software, Dell's made one smart business decision after another.
Anyhow, here's the real spin here: Apple fucked up, and now they're going to pay.
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
I don't know how to explain it
its called dillusion
Gah trollmemes are breeding!
:)
I long suspected most slashdot posts were computer generated combinations of a base one hundred original posts from way back in 1997, just constantly remixed and moderated up into survival or nonsurvival. Witness the header of the slashdot page if you're logged in for a hint; A Squadron of uber mummies? It's a hint!
Only problem is someone seems to have slipped the BSD Troll, the Freelance Gig troll and the TiBook Tinsnips troll into the mix.
Fact: We're doomed!
I wonder if this means Apple will get a Windows version of iTunes out sooner. With this announcement, and Dell's already well established consumer base, Apple's hopes of trying to capture the PC market might be thwarted if they don't act fast...
Blake
Dell has a history of undercutting their competition, as I'm sure they'll do here.
I bet they'll come in at about $100 less than the ipod for comparable space/features. If they do that, and this thing is the right size, they've got a winner here, even if it is inferior to the ipod, which it most certainly will be.
-beavis
translation "We are ripping off great ideas from Apple to steal more customers again" "our product of course is much more of a spujunker ( The worst nintendo video game ever made called Spelunker + Junker =- Spelunker) than the competition and our customers are so dumb and cheap they don't care!" -MD
http://www.ohlssonvox.com
I used to support a rather large organization with a contract with a similar supplier. We bought someone, and I had the leeway to try something new. That was whitebox. The result was about $400 per pc less, and about $300 less in support/continuity.
I know it is hard to push through, but god, it will make your life easier.
Dell's announcement causes Apple's stock to drop almost 9% in two days.
So much for being rewarded for real innovation and hard work. Nothing is as important, obviously, as being #1.
Business isn't willing to pay for products, innovation and careers, so we get brands, mortgage commercials and layoffs.
Jesus that's one hell of a stretch there pal. Besides, Microsoft sucks and you zealot fanboy Ballmer-bitch wanna-bes just have to learn to accept it. Now get lost.
Its cool that more of these services exist. But I can't say that any of them serves the use that I had for Napster.
Now I can't speak for everyone but I will speak for myself. I love MP3's. I listen to my MP3's far more often than my CD's. However, I have never wanted to buy MP3's. I like owning CD's, and there are alot of good reasons for this. But the main one, is that is is a high quality, lossless, patent free, universally supported format. What if I don't' want to (or am not able to) use the IP encumbered MP3 or AAC file formats? What if the mp3's that sounded fine on cheap computer speakers, are not up to par with my new system? File formats change, and transcoding sucks. That's why I insist on having CD's, because I want my music to be usable for lifetime.
I don't want to buy mp3's on the internet. I want to discover music on the internet. Five years ago, things would work like this. I would hear about a cool band from a friend in a different town, or find their website, or see them in a cdnow.com "people who bought x, also bought y." message. So I would jump on napster, download some music from them, (oh, and do some lyrics searches to make sure it was labeled propely) and if I liked them I would put them on my cdnow wishlist, which I then bought every couple months (save on shipping).
Now when I find out about some band I go to amazon.com - can't play their crappy samples in linux. Go to their website - no mp3's or just radio songs. Look for fansites with bootlegs - usually none. And with half an hour wasted, I walk away frustrated that I now know nothing more about the band than I did before. I can tell you for certain that I have bought less CD's since napster went down, just because it is harder to find out about new music. I have been temped to sign up with eMusic, as it would make this task far easier and more enjoyable, but cannot justify the cost, as I will end up buying CD's for all the artists I like, anyway.
So here is my suggestion. Create a subscription based mp3 service that also sells CD's and gives credit (say 3 weeks access, or 75 downloads) for each CD that you buy. Then people that buy enough CD's will have free access to download mp3's, and those who don't buy CD's will pay as well. Couple this with "if you like foo, try bar" info, and streaming radio shows which have the entire catalogue of music to legally draw from, and you would have one very enjoyable, and affordable venue for fans to discover new music. And the artist gets paid.
The only part of this that has potential problems at the moment is the radio station. I have seen so much contradictory information about internet streaming that I don't know what the exact legal situation is. However, one would think that if you had express permission of all the artists you were playing you should not have to pay the stupid FCC royalty license. If this is not the case the policy should be changed, and while Joe "I want to stream any music I want over the internet, without permission" Schmoe may not be able to get that change, I guarantee you that if Apple and Dell got together and pushed for this, people would listen. But suppose now that it is legal. Why should the service hire DJ's when they can get people to do it for free? That's right, let anyone who wants to run a simple radio show on your site. The costs shouldn't be high, they just put together a song list (.m3u) every week, (or month, or afternoon, or hour) and people stream the mp3's, like on mp3.com. So, the major cost is the bandwidth, which is dependant on the total number of listeners, not DJ's. If a dj becomes popular, you can offer him perks like being able to run his show like a real studio (ie, talk between songs, etc), you give him credit to support him music finding habit, and you can multicast his show to save money.
Now not only would the artist be paid for use of their music, independent labels would be on equal footing with big labels, since the big labels would not control the similar band links (they are autonomou
Nothing is wrong with that, AS LONG AS YOU'RE A MEMBER OF THE GNAA!! And if you know what the GNAA is then you also know I'm kidding that that you need to get out more. ;-)
How come Apple iTunes and this new Dell service are exempt from DMCA? Live365's rules for humans quotes some of the many ways the DMCA prohibits download on demand, even if the uploader owns all the rights. But their rules for corporations don't mention these DMCA restrictions:
i. You may not include in your Internet Radio Programs specific sound recordings within one hour of a request by a listener or at a time designated by the listener.
ii. In any three-hour period, you should not intentionally program more than three songs (and not more than two songs in a row) from the same recording; you should not intentionally program more than four songs (and not more than three songs in a row) from the same recording artist or anthology/box set.
iii. Continuous looped Internet Radio Programs may not be less than three hours long.
iv. Retransmissions of Internet Radio Programs may be performed at scheduled times as follows:
a. Internet Radio Programs of less than one hour: no more than three times in a two-week period;
b. Internet Radio Programs longer than one hour: no more than four times in any two-week period.
v. You should not publish advance program guides or use other means to pre-announce when particular sound recordings will be played or the order in which they will be played.
vi. You should only include in your Internet Radio Programs sound recordings that are authorized for performance in the United States.
vii. You should pass through (and not disable or remove) identification or technological protection information included in the sound recording (if any).
Why are corporations, like Apple and Dell, allowed to exercise rights inherent in their property and licenses, while the People are prohibited?
--
make install -not war
I hear a lot of people bashing Dell for making "an Apple iPod Rip Off" however i'd like to point out that Apple's iPod was not the first MP3 player on the market, nor will it be the last. Right now if you go into your local computer store or your favorite online shopping center you'll see countless models.
Now whether the Nomad is better than the iPod is definately a matter of opinion, much like if Apple's are better than...Orange's (PC)? Each person has a unique and individual need and desire when it comes to the system they use or the music player and platform they choose.
If Dell wishes to make an MP3 player, than so be it. It could be cool, it could be lame, but its NOT an ipod rip-off. If IBM desides to make one, cool. If Gateway desides to make one, cool. If Microsoft decides to make, we'll bitch. But, I repeat, it's not a rip-off of iPod. Unless it comes out looking exactly the same (which it most likely wont) then you might have a valid argument.
As for me I don't listen to enough music so i'll be at the gym with my zaurus plus a 128mb SD card and my "$10.99" headphones listening to Lords of Acid while I run on the tredmill for an hour. Then i'll put in my wireless card at the Jamba Juice next door and check my email.
Lates.
Ave Molech Setting
A service might be a money spinner, but is a risky gambit here.
I forget what 8 was for.
Fixed link: http://www.businesswire.com/photowire/pw.092503/bb 8a.jpg
CB
free ipod and free gmail!
Dell is an impressive company to be sure, but here they seem to be getting their inspiration by merging the online music strategy of Apple and the consumer goods strategy of Gateway.
Not sure they can pull this off. Can they be as brave as Apple?
...competition. Apple's pricepoint is too high. Hopefully, competition will bring the prices down. How about a rebate if you sign up for the service, to make the hardware cheaper.
Reason, free market capitalism, and individualism
i actually like the design
Must everyone follow a successful Apple product with their own half-assed, 'me too' version of it? This is why Apple now attempts to patent or trademark everything they do, people!
This Dell thing (the "metooPod"?) looks similar enough to the iPod that maybe Apple should seriously kick around the idea of filing another 'trade dress' suit, the way they did to take care of the Future Power e-Power or the eMachines eOne-- I mean, since practically everything else Dell makes is dark in color, it seems mighty suspicious to me that this is white. The screen size and placement looks almost identical. From the photo I've seen it also looks like the GUI is pretty similar. I see they've taken pains to move the battery gauge from the upper right corner (where the iPod has it) to the upper left corner-- reminds me of the difference between the Apple menu and Start menu.
At least the iPod has enough mindshare amongst the target market that no amount of B.S. marketing from Dell will make people think they did it first (I still remember Michael Dell's bullshit claim that Dell was the first company to build wireless networking into their laptops). The only way Dell will move very many of these things is by irrevocably bundling them "free" with their systems. I predict we'll start seeing a lot of them on eBay after a while, and then the product will die a quiet, relatively quick death like Dell's iMac wanna-be, the WebPC.
~Philly
The record labels never would have gone for a Windows service. By limiting it to Mac users they were limiting the scope of the experiment - basically just checking to see if it was a good idea.
RMAs are fast yes, assuming you can coax the support drones to issue you one without hanging on the line for hours and running their pointless Dell Diagnostics (cr) app. I was once instructed by a Dell tech-support rep to run their diags by booting off a floppy in order get the correct error code which would indicate that the floppy was defective. You can't write material that good.
Journey onward.
This poster isn't actually saying anything. He's certainly not bringing anything to the conversation that wasn't there before.
I hereby boldly predict a dismal failure for the dellPOD and their michael-dell-washes-jobs'-nutsack-yet-again-music -service.
But on a slightly different note, it should be said that Dell adds absolutely nothing to the industry except being largely responsible for the price wars. ( which many can be said to have profited from, admittedly ). But they really are a bunch of insipid co-opters, they've done nothing first or better except commoditize the PC into a largely disposable, barely desirable $399-599 piece of shared-memory crap.
All they have that is unique to them are the extremely low end, cheap as hell clown-boxes that everyone in mass media and Wall St. love them for. Within the industry every company struggles to compete with their McDonald's philosophy and has neither time or will to even try and innovate like Apple does. And in every city there are many smaller shops trying to stay alive while also building real configs that are balanced and high-quality. I pity them because the consumer x86 market isn't worth persuing anymore, the type of people who buy at small stores are the type where you lose money answering all their retarded questions on the phone shortly following the sale. MS plays a big part, but DELL is instrumental in making the PC platform suck as much as it does. I for one wish them ill on all their Apple-inspired adventures especially, because it is in these acts that they appear the most repugnant.
Please avoid their service like the plague.
Some friends of mine wrote and delivered their DRM software, which BuyMusic took and then claimed they wrote themselves (in breach of contract), and thus decided not to pay their DRM solution provider. But since BuyMusic was big and has lots of lawyers, and the smaller software developer was relying on BuyMusic to pay up to stay in business, my friends essentially got the shaft.
All this, to my understanding, is currently in litigation, so who knows when it will be resolved. Needless to say, a bunch of them have been forced to find new jobs, since their former company couldn't pay them without BuyMusic honoring their contract and paying what they owed for services rendered.
Posted Anonymously to avoid legal issues for revealing this info.
I can't wait for the preloaded DJ Dell and the Interns single.
Because, dude, Dell rulz. Apple's iPad is overpriced. Dell knows how to sell cheap. Plus, there not faggots.
Kudos to Michael Dell.
This is my digital signature. 10011011001
i had heard dell support was good from people like you, and i bought one. the quality is far less than i expected, and my tech support calls and emails have been fruitless so far. screw dell.
"We are revolutionizing technology for our customers -- again." How is a new digital media player so revolutionary, if Apple already has one?
"Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities." -Albert Einstein
That's what I say about Dells.
I wonder if their Tech Support is in India?
"I was downloading a lovely Hindi song and then it alll went wrong..."
One of the easy ways to stop Dell putting in a tender fro a supply of PCs - "Keyboards must not be black with white lettering!"
i just go to warez sites and get my shit, FUCK PAYING. get it for free from the warez sites
How is that? They opened the iTunes Music Store (iTMS) as soon as they could, which meant just for Macs because that software was an easy write and done first. They have been extremely successful with iTMS for the Mac which has encouraged more artists to sell their songs through the store, building up the music catalog. Now there is news that Apple may have the Windows software finished early. A quote from the article:
Now Dell on the other hand has been lagging in the music field. They only have an announcement of their plans and a promise that it will be out in time for Christmas. From the article:
There are almost no details about all of these things. It doesn't say what artists will be available on the music service. It doesn't say the size of the player, it's features, what formats it supports, how large the hard drive, the price. It doesn't mention much about the multimedia application other than saying it will be an "important tool".
Frankly right now all this amounts to vaporware. Apple has products out for months or years that have proven themselves and made waves. People drool over the iPod and compare any new music service to iTMS. Dell's offerings, even if they come out in time and are amazing, are going to take time to build a user base. In the meantime Apple will have the lead and as long as Apple continues to innovate it should maintain a lead. At the very least the two might split the market down the middle, leaving a very nice chunk for each of them. Considering all this I would say that it is extremely unlikely that "Apple fucked up, and now they're going to pay".
Sapere aude!
"So with this huge market share, what R&D has Dell contributed to the world? Absolutely nothing, except for their one invention: a tech support button [theregister.co.uk] on their machines which never worked properly and they longer support. Every single aspect of Dell's business is copied from other manufacturers. There is absolutely no innovation going on there."
Bull. How many major PC makers did PC advanced PC customization before Dell, where you pick exactly what components you want from Monitor to Video Card to Speakers? Dell also led the way in direct customer sales. And their supply-chain is one of the best of ANY company.
Brian
What would I do if I were Apple right now? Start selling iPods at cost. 'Course, Apple's got its nose too high in the air to ever consider such a thing, and that's what burns them every time.
sigh...
every product comes with their own little gremlin to make very odd things happen for no apparent reason.
If you stare really closely you will actually see the DJ's gremlin staring back at you from the middle of the play/pause button. Just don't stare to hard or you will scare it away."Dell's offerings, even if they come out in time and are amazing, are going to take time to build a user base"
Wrong, Dell's consumer base are lemmings and millions of teens are going to get players made by Dell on christmas morning.
Wait, how many products have come out the awesome dell software labs? I really want to know because last I counted the only software to come out of dell was crappy system management software and it all 'blows.' So until they start producing good, quality software that works I'm going to sit this out.
Maybe they will prove me wrong, but I'm not holding my breath until that happens.
RIAA exec 1: Look! Companies are selling music online. They are giving their customers what they want and making money. Logically this means we should do one thing.
RIAA exec 2: Of course! Continue to sue our customers!
RIAA exec 1: Because only WE know what's right for them!
Outdoor digital photography, mostly in New Engl
While Dell is piddling around with a half-assed music service, now is the time where Gateway could move ahead - all they have to do is partner with Apple to bundle the music store software when it comes out, and offer discounted iPods with systems!
Gateway has shown good sense with digital music before, so it seems like a move they might well make especially when it could show up Dell.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I was hoping Dell was going to enter the wide screen plasma market. Lord knows we could use someone like Dell to drive the prices down in that area.
I think Apple's original strategy with iTMS was to create a cool premium service that you coudld get only by buying a Mac...then later launch it for windows in order to capitalize on the whole market.
Trouble is, the lag time waiting for the PC version of iTMS is so long that a smart competitor (Dell) has decided to step in and try to steal the hype.
I think the lag time is mostly to create a stand-alone version of their current set-up, in particular including the iTunes shop and DRM and everything which is integrated in OS X on Mac. Doing that in a way that'll keep the record companies happy is a lot harder when you don't control the OS.
[Going halfway off-topic...] Actually, I think it might be just as much Dell "testing the waters" for Apple. Personally, I just got a huge distaste of DRM right NOW! Ever tried installing a bigger HDD with WinXP? Use Powerquest's Drive Image, select "Upgrade drive", and you're done. Except that on the next boot, WinXP will make error 0x80090006 with no explaination, not allowing you to get into safe mode or any other recovery mode, and in general give you no idea what's going on.
The reason? Microsoft thinks I'm a pirate. And then I have to reinstall, reauthorize and all that, taking 10x as long as replacing the new HDD, all because I wanted a bigger disk. If that Dell service is relying on some Windows DRM, I wouldn't entrust it with my music files if hell froze below absolute zero. Hell, right now I want to just rip out Windows and install Linux instead like the server in the corner, but some apps keep me back. That, and only that. Maybe I'll have another go at what I can get working in Wine, sigh...
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
The interface is little different from a web browser. I imagine it wouldn't have been too much trouble for Apple to have iTMS work with a web browser in the meantime while they work on iTunes for Windows.
Dell Give me a break, if you really wanted to be like apple name yourself something like 'we rip off apple'.
Stop stealing ideas and get your own.
If apple has a product or service that makes money,THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU HAVE TO COPY IT HALF BAKED!
Dell stop stealing ideas.
I want something that RealOne Rhapsody will work on. I don't really care to copy or download music, I just want to hear it on demand whenever I want to hear it. Rhapsody works great for that, a good price, the selection is pretty large, I can install the program whereever I want but I can't listen to it in the car yet. Put it on a portable with a wireless connection and I'm there.
The truth doesn't care what I think.
Looks a lot like an e.Digital Odyssey 1000, doesn't it?
h tm l
And check e.Digital's announcement:
http://www.edigital.com/news/releases/pr091603.
Not a coincidence I think.
If you've used an Odyssey 1000, you know it was no great shakes. This unit will be smaller though, but probably bigger than an iPod.
I like owning CD's, and there are alot of good reasons for this. But the main one, is that is is a high quality, lossless, patent free, universally supported format.
High quality: Ok
Lossless: Umm 44.1KHz, 16bit isn't lossless compared to the original music, at least according to audiophiles. "Good enough" maybe, but that goes under quality
Patent free: OK
Universally supported: Except the new shiny discs which don't play in the computer (at least not the CD part, usually some heavy encrypted and compressed tracks) or any other device used for reading both CDs and CD-ROMs...
If the CDs were 100% compliant Red Book Audio CD, I'd agree with you. But as long as I'll probably get some crippled, error-full (to kill CD-ROM readers), non-standard disc which noone knows if will be compatible with any player I might choose to buy in the future, I disagree.
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Yet again, Apple leads, everyone else follows.
this is offtopic but i had an idea for a red hat linux based music player. la rhumba - light adaptable red hat ultimate music box a.... isnt i funneh!
For The Best Jazz/Hip-hop fusion > COlD DUCK
If both Dell and Microsoft are going to come up with their own "let's rip off Apple" music service, that means the two of them will be competing with each other. Oddly enough, Microsoft doesn't seem to like it when customers compete with them. And let's face it, a Dell/Microsoft split rift would be an annoyance for Microsoft, but a DISASTER for Dell.
If I weren't so convinced that both of them were going to release DRM-crippled, dead-on-arrival, inelegent and unwieldy abortions in trying to ripoff iTunes, I'd say this has the potential to be interesting. As it is, I suspect both services will be dead (and iTunes still doing very well indeed) by mid-2005 or so...
Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/
http://www.chaosmint.com/macintosh/articles/dell-d j-digital-jukebox-h.shtml
What if Dell's DJ is a repackaged iPod? What if Dell's Music service is iTMS for PC's? It would be a win-win situation (provided Mike and Steve could get over thier fueding). Stranger things have happened in this industry
--- Nothing To See Here ---
Really? The general assumption, even among those who are defending Dell here, appears to be that Dell is reacting to Apple in this case. Apple announced the iTunes Music Store more than four months ago, and have been working on the PC version of iTunes at least since then. They thought they could get it ready by the end of the year when they announced it, which means Apple thinks it takes at least six months.
Since there are less then three months left (you can't finish it right on December 25 to make it to this Christmas shopping season), the Dell PC-side client likely has to be developed in more haste, and yet has to be deliberately somewhat different from iTunes. Dell is not known to have a proven server infrastructure for a music store ready. Dell is not known to have micropayments worked out with credit card companies. Dell hasn't announced the price, size of catalog (or even if any major labels have signed on!), battery life or capacity of the device, and you already think Apple is going to pay?
Let me ask you another question: how will the Dell device connect to the PC? If they use USB1, then it'll be significantly slower than the iPod, and "full sync" will be a real pain. If they use USB2 or Firewire, then they're limiting themselves to a much smaller set of PC customers with recent PCs (like Apple, except Apple has Mac users).
So unless you're a Dell insider and know all these details, how can you possibly pick a winner right now?
... but if it's ANYTHING like other PC companies that have tried to copy apple, they're usually quite terrible
Yeah. Like the Palm Pilot and Apple's (defunct) Newton, or the GUI, or...
From the photo on the Yahoo story, it looks suspiciously like Chicago, the Apple system font of yore. Even Dell wouldn't be that blatant, would they?
Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
Maybe they should have called it... ....Dell Boy.
iDull
check out the cost of the hd that's inside an iPod and they're not making much at all on these things.
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
Anyhow, here's the real spin here: Apple fucked up, and now they're going to pay.
The article states that their online music service will be available in time for the holiday season. However, there are now reports that Apple has moved up their Windows iTunes Music Store release date from the holiday season/end-of-year to mid-October. So, although Dell is going to provide an alternative, it looks like Apple is going to be the first-mover on Windows as well (you can't count BuyMusic.com since it's broken).
Plus, Apple is developing a Windows application, much like how Real wants to leverage their Jukebox. An online store will be less polished, perform worse, and require web-based interaction. We already know how great iTunes is from a user perspective. A stand-alone web site can't match the experience.
BTW it is Dell Inc. now, not Dell Comp. Corp. I actually work at Dell and in my opinion wait for the next generation/iteration of whatever they are offering. Anytime dell releases anything it usually won't have most of the bug worked out on the first attempt. Just a little warning. Oh and yes the consumer tech support does suck nowadays because to keep cost down they transfered most support to India. Have fun and quit calling for stupid stuff.
Apple should have realized that to make any money of their music service, they needed to have a solid pc version of their service soon after the release of the mac service. How many songs have they sold so far, 10 Million was the figure at the beginning on the month. At first that figure sounds impressive but just considering royalties Apple may be left with around $3 million. I don't know how much their music service cost to develop but considering the television advertising barrage, that $3 million probably doesn't even cover the cost of the television ads for opening week.
It's not about making money selling music, it's about changing the way the system works. The ancillary benefits to itms are that Apple gets mindshare which hopefully turns into marketshare.
Dell has a much more powerful opponenet in this field than you might think.
Mike please sell cheap linux desktop with redhat 9 and openoffice for 199 and see it fly.
Same with laptop for 499 and see it fly.
The long wait times are rough, but part of the problem is cultural. Obviously their call centers are overseas now and their people are using nicknames such as "Mark" or "Tom" to try and relate. I've had two problems on my laptop that have required hardware fixes and it has taken no less than three or four calls over a period of time to get to that point.
I don't need to look at your referenced chart. I'm sure that Exxon has some stratospheric numbers, like a lot of oil companies.
What I'm curious about is your idea of 'success'. The idea of 'success' in Dell's culture as well, for that matter.
I hear Michael Dell talk in interviews about the state of the industry and his predictions. What immediately strikes me is the fact that his comments are 100% economic. That is to say, all he talks about is where the money is going, essentially. He never talks about actually doing something good. You know, advancing the state of things? Never. Just money.
So whether you think Apple is successful or not entirely depends on your worldview of success. I would submit that Apple is one of the most successful companies of all time.
I base this not entirely on financial performance, but rather, a combination of fiscal prowess and the quality and impact of the things Apple has brought into the world. At the end of the day, what really matters in this kind of industry is the work you've done, right?
I mean, if you really go back to the list, the list of things they've introduced to the mainstream is just staggering. The first mainstream PC. First mainstream mouse. Laser printer. Desktop GUI. Multimedia, in large part. It goes on. Of course Apple is also the crazy artist of the industry. They produce brilliant things but can be absolutely taciturn and overly sensitive and stubborn and... well you get the point. Apple is to Peter Gabriel what Michael Dell is to Garth Brooks. Or something like that.
Dell doesn't do any meaningful work. They just box 'em up and ship 'em out. That's fine, there's a need for that, and its in a million corporate office farms. For good consumer stuff you can do much better. And when you ask Michael Dell about innovation he thinks that means branching out into areas others have been successful in already. He would, I suspect, look at you blankly if you suggested that he was copying Apple; he'd say it was just 'industry trade winds' he was following.
Success is not just how much money you make - you can't measure it that way. It's a quality thing.
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
when Dell put out some good quality stuff. Over the last few years they have change considerably. Now all they do is assemble parts made some where else, mostly outside of the USA. I also remember hearing Dell say that they support Linux. Where is that support? Will this device be supported or usably under Linux? Will it be a standard mass storage device that can mount under Linux, MS Windows and Mac without dirvers? Or did they make it proprietary? I think they are nothing more then MS's lap dog now, and would not purchase anything from them. Why won't they let me purchase a PC without an OS? They let you choose between different version of MS Windows, so why not let me choose not to have it at all and not have to pay the "MS Tax"? Oh, and I think their prices are too high. Go to their site and configure a PC or laptop, then add an extra 256MB of memory. They want $100 bucks! You can get it over the net for $25 - $45 bucks. Stay away from Dell.
If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land,
it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. -James Madison
Apple waited to introduce it like everyone else. USB didn't come along "years later" in reality.
Apple didn't do the R&D work for the iPod. They were just another "me-too" with nice industrial design and terrible ergonomics. I gave my iPod to a mac user about a week ago and he couldn't figure out how to operate it. Anyone notice how the supplied sleeve scratches the display? I think the iPod is ripe for a slapdown. It's really not very good.
I can assure you that Dell doesn't consider Apple one tiny bit when considering its business moves. Any market where Apple leads is not a mature one by definition.
no matter how much I wish, I will never be able to buy any Wierd Al tracks...
-I guess I'll just Eat It.
He's claimed the title of "revolutionary" enough times that my stigmatism is out of control from rolling my eyes so much....
It only seems that within the last few years have they actually started to earn that title.
I still like eMusic way better than iTunes and it's been around for a lot longer.
m.
I'd agree with you were it not for the fact that the Apple service is weeks, not months, away... and the timeframe will be so close that it's moot from a marketing perspective. So I don't think they've fucked up quite yet.
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
the scroll-bar thing they had to use in place of something actually usable like the (oops, patented) scroll wheel on the iPod?
You would end up with your finger or thumb just flicking wildly at it.. and looking somewhat psycho, stroking your little grey box madly.
It seems like some sort of resistant slider (like the ones on MIDI keyboards) would work for scrolling much better.
Okay we all are probably smart enough to know what we want in a home system and then build it. The average Joe sixpack thinks that companies like Dell are the greatest however. Trust me i know..The Truth is that people just mind paying for songs. The problem are greedy labels, and spoiled stars living lives of decadence and excess...When will people learn????? I know "-4 meanspirited"
and piss off microsoft?
is that, in 2001, Michael Dell told BusinessWeek that Apple should liquidate all of thir assets and close down shop.
Like most of the big name Wintel companies, they love to take their cheap shots at Apple while shamelessly plundering Apple's ideas.
Apple is a nitch player. Dell is joining *Gateway* in consumer electronics.
-- dieman - Scott Dier
Dell has merely announced that they will release a portable music player and an internet music service. I can't find details on them anywhere. Until I see details on the capabilities and standards for both of them, I'm reserving judgement.
Plus, if Apple gets the iTunes for Windows stuff out in October as rumored, then Dell may still appear behind the times once they actually ship product.
Dell has no history at creating new categories of hardware products or innovative, smart software.
Apple is an R&D lab that also makes hardware. Lately they've gotten all high fashion with their packaging and fit and finish. The new Powerbooks and the G5 are as high-end looking, feeling and functioning as any ultra high end electronics brand or luxury car.
Dell just handles the assembly and marketing of Walmart grade Windows PCs. They half-assedly slapped somebody else's Linux on a few boxes for a while. They pooped out a WinCE device as exciting as Gateway's. Big Whoop!
I've purchased and supported over a 100 Dell laptops. They are serviceable but nothing special. And after a year they fall apart.
Dell trying to brand themselves as a Brand (in TVs, handhelds and now music players) is laughable. I'm a geek but I'd be embarrased to have the Dell name on anything I owned that wasn't a bland (IT department issued) PC or laptop.
Imagine Ford introducing a supersport motorbike. Yawn.
Actually, I believe it was a combination of the two. I saw a few recording industry quotes where they made it fairly clear that the only reason they gave Apple the go-ahead to sell their music online was because the limited market-share of Apple Mac users made a perfect trial audience. If something went horribly wrong and the public hated it, they could save face by knowing 95% of the public never used the service to begin with. It could easily be brushed aside as a failure only because PC/Windows users didn't get a chance to be a part of the program.
Once it was proven to work (and sell well), Apple was free to go ahead with developing a PC version of the music store without record company backlash.
Where's the on-off button? Where's the back button? Why do I have to spin my finger in such a big circle just to scroll up and down? Why is scrolling so erratic? The iPod's controls are a POS.
...so you can thank Dell for the memory you find in machine available today. Dell introduced the first small form factor PC ISA PC's. It pioneered riser cards that enabled the lower profiles you have today. It was the first to introduce a 12MHz 286, the first 16MHz 286, and the first 20MHz 286. It was the first to make the transition to an all-386 product line, then the first to and all-486 line, and the first to an all-Pentium line. Dell drove the industry consistently torwards higher performance and lower prices.
At one time Dell had the industries most compatible SVR4 and bankrolled the early x86 port of X11 that eventually became XFree86. Dell employed one of the maintainers of the x86 gcc port who made valuable contributions to that compiler. Dell also provides funds for Linux development efforts.
Dell's patent portfolio is surprisingly large as well. What do you know about Dell's R&D or anything else for that matter? Dell didn't achieve its success by pure luck. In the early days Dell employed some of the industry's brightest people. Ask Compaq how formidable a competitor Dell is if you can still find them.
The buttons may look "cheap", but I'm sure they still "just work".
He could care less about 5% marketshare.
Apple didn't pioneer mp3 players or online music stores. If Dell copied anybody it wasn't Apple.
Dell R&D developed a very quiet processor cooling system using a ducted low-RPM fan, dedicated to the processor. The sound is very close to silent. They developed the first heat pipe cooling solution for laptop processors as well.
Personally, I had the very worst expectations for this announcement. I pictured a rejected and bulky Archos unit that Dell would slap their name on. Compared to what I was thinking, this isn't too bad. 15GB player, has voice recording, scroll wheel for navigation. I can live with that.
However, I could really care less about what you think of the player. Whether you think the iPod is better or whether you plan to get this, I don't care to hear the debate.
What I'm more interested in is the fact that Dell is behind the player. They have a proven record of releasing products at prices that undercut those currently on the market (see Axim). If anything, the new Dell player will be released at a price much lower than current players, which will cause all other makers to drop their prices and match.
And that will be a good thing for everyone, whether a Dell or Apple fan.
If you get so much done, why are you at it for such large periods of time?
I've never watched a mac user demonstrate that he could do anything faster on his mac.
You'd think that, perhaps, seeing how the entire PC world simply copies Apple's every move, Apple itself may as well just hop into the PC world and destroy the competition. But there's that whole pesky thing about not controlling the hardware....
Try creating a new folder on the desktop. And do it with the left button.
T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
Can I have your job?
I have to write and debug code all day. I want the "making folders on desktop with left mouse button" job. I'm sure you're very productive, I bet you got a billion folders there by now!
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
I never would have guessed Dell to do this, but it makes so much sense to me. They're the success story in the PC world, and when I read this announcement I was just like "ah ha! brilliant!"
Not to say I think they'll succeed, the product will be perfect, etc., but just thinking about it, Dell seems like the company with the greatest chance of pulling this off to me, and perhaps could be a stepping stone toward more apple-like PC products in the future (Linux R&D to get things working on the newest hardware, anyone?)
Consider though, there are plenty of very small things in windows that take one extra step to do that you don't have to do in a mac. Those extra steps add up over time, so while an individual task like writing a paper may not be any faster, the inbetween steps are.
T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
...
Anyhow, here's the real spin here: Apple fucked up, and now they're going to pay."
The iPod and iTMS are the most well-conceived and PROPERLY implemented ideas I've seen coming out of a computer company.
The mods screwed up rating you insightful. You last line shows that you are really a troll using a true (usually--just not in this case) statement to get Macheads enraged.
Go ahead and try to use the Dell DJ and DMS. I'm sure they will be anything but easy to use compared to the iPod and iTMS.
They adapted the direct sell model to the national market - in the old days, and even now, there are stores where you can walk in, configure a PC, and pick it up a couple of days later. Dell adapted this idea (which had existed since the dawn of the computer) to a wider audience
From As The Apple Turns:
"The two devices are targeted at different markets: whereas the iPod is obviously meant to appeal to consumers with an appreciation for engineering, design, and style, the Digital Jukebox is for sewer-dwelling CHUDs with a taste for human flesh."
Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/
Um, whether you call from small business, large business, premier, etc, does not matter! We buy Dells on the order of a couple hundred PER YEAR and we still get people in india when we call tech support!
It's been so bad that we recently opened a dialog with our "specialist" to get them to shape up...
And which of the SIMM architectures would you be talking about?...fast page mode (FPM) DRAM, Extended Data Out DRAM (EDO), Burst EDO (BEDO), Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), GRAM (synchronous graphics RAM), EDRAM (enhanced DRAM), CDRAM (cache DRAM), MDRAM (multibank DRAM) and RAMBus?
Ok, so they wre the first to package the latest and greatest from Intel. BFD.
Computers, mp3 players.... all they need now is a BSD based OS to ship on their machines.
All you need is a bidding system, offered by eBay or PayPal or the like. Artist the supplies a few samples of his new production and offers a full, free release if a certain sum of compensations is raised, say 10 million.
The bid organiser then takes binding bid-offers from the audience, say at 10 dollars each. Once the 10 million total is reached, the production gets released free for all. If the 10 million total is not reached, all bids are canseled and no-one loses a dime.
How many major PC makers did PC advanced PC customization before Dell, where you pick exactly what components you want from Monitor to Video Card to Speakers?
The irony, of course, is that folks from NeXT (now Apple) built the web application that allowed Dell to offer online customization to its customers. Eventually, Microsoft talked them out of using WebObjects for political reasons.
But I believe the point was that Dell hasn't contributed much in terms of advancing the idea of what a computer is. They're just putting it together in different ways. Apple is a creator, Dell is an assembler. That's not necessarily good or bad, unless Dell gets undue credit for being a creator.
- Scott
Scott Stevenson
Tree House Ideas
Inoperable is a word, I think that's what he meant.
but, yes I have to agree, wouldn't it be nice if people took a few seconds to re-read their posts. Loose is another commonly abused word round here.
Maybe the problem is that the Mac doesn't have the right mouse button, so you're inept with a proper mouse?
As in, bringing the expoitive pricing of the iPod down. Sorry, their pricing has remained too high for too long.
With competition they will hopefully be forced to reduce pricing (I already have one, its friends I am trying to convince to buy one who would benefit)
"Who Invented FireWire"
From the book "FireWire Filmmaking" by Scott Smith.
"Although technically Apple is the legal guardian of this closely protected property, six of the eight key patents issued for FireWire technology cite Michael D. Jonas Teener as the chief architect responsible for their advancements. In fact, when Teener left National Semiconductor in 1986 to join Apple Computer, he had already begun early efforts on a low-cost technology to connect hard drives to one another."
"Working nights and weekends on his pet project, Teener became the founding chair and editor of the international standard (IEEE-1394), a blueprint for the exchange of high-bandwidth digital audio. He was also instrumental in recruiting ideas from other innovators and in expanding the ambitions of the multimedia technology to include video streaming."
"As the technical lead during the years when Apple was suffering through layoffs and dozens of threatened cancellations, Teener had to fight to keep the FireWire project alive for nearly a decade. When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1996, Teener urged him to implement the technology on all Macintosh computers, essentially kick-starting the desktop video revolution."
3000+ comments meta-modded. 0 mod points awarded.
Lesson for other meta-suckers: Don't believe the hype!
but that didn't amount to squat in terms of the company's long-term viability and market share, did it?
Compaq had to get bought out by HP just to survive, and I wouldn't be surprised if Dell completely forces them out of the desktop market in the next couple of years.
3000+ comments meta-modded. 0 mod points awarded.
Lesson for other meta-suckers: Don't believe the hype!
what you paid for your precious iPod. Get over it, dork.
the biggest pussy I've seen on Slashdot in the past 2 weeks.
Are you even out of elementary school?
...prior to that firewire was dead in the water.
It took Sony intergrating 1394 into its camcorders to establish 1394 and justify it use in PC's. Doesn't say much for Apple innovation.
And no, it was a friend and mac user who couldn't figure out how to use the iPod, not me. I also explained the problems. Non-obvious ways of navigating the menus and lack of an off button. The new touch-sensitive suck, btw, as does the huge, barely functional "scroll wheel".
What about the Dell Digital Audio Reciever I bought years ago? They forgot that product like bad date. Now I'm stuck with a product that has buttons on the remote for features they never delivered!
I think I'll get my next DAR from someone who will support the product. Sure, the product is nicely made, and the open source community has rallied behind it, but it would be nice if the company that made it would at least deliver the things they promised about it. now they want us to buy into another one?
-Tom
-Tom
Firewire cards have been available for PC's as long as they've been available, and Apple is a relative newcomer to the market with FCP, a product they bought through acquisition. Prior to the acquisition, that technology was Windows NT-based.
Before DV and firewire, video editing products were distributed among SGI, mac, amiga, and PC. While mac had a healthy share, the products were low volume and expensive. By the time DV and firewire were on the scene, development had shifted heavily over to NT. If Apple hadn't began its program of acquisitions it would have been excluded entirely from the "desktop video revolution". Make no mistake, it was Sony that gave us firewire, only they called it iLink and 1394.
HArdly limiting.
Doesn't say much for Apple's famed ease-of-use when you have to read the manual to learn how to turn it off.
Toggle switches offer the same capabilities as the wheel---variable speed and the (wow) ability to double as a volume control.
The point isn't that it can't be operated but that the user is burdened with figuring it out. This was done simply for style which is, in reality, all Apple's about. They aren't really about ease-of-use, they just say they are.
Dell invented the first 8-bit and parity DRAM modules and donated them to the industry so that all machines would have convenient, interoperable memory. It then worked to establish a consortium and codeveloped the 32-bit DIMM with IBM. Dell's work with memory modules grandfathers all DIMM's today and Dell in actively involved in memory technology, including RAMBUS, like it or not.
As Intel's number one customer, Dell has great influence of Intel motherboards and chipsets and provides a critical service to Intel in helping with their specification, development and testing. Many of the systems you kids run have Dell engineering in them where the name is on it or not.
A company the size of Dell cannot get by without an engineering team. They'd be killed by their competitors, screwed by their suppliers and litigated to death by patent holders. I'd venture to say Dell's engineering staff is easily the size of Apple's. The fact that Dell desires to offer conservative products is a reflection of their size, business sense, and customer base. You all too easily confuse flash with substance.
Sure, Apple may have superior hardware and software, but Dell sells the PC's to the general public. Similar to the browser battle...Netscape faded away, Mozilla is IMHO the best browser available, but because IE is right there on the desktop when Joe User buys the computer, it instantly holds a dominant market share.
As much as I would like to see iTMS dominate the PC market as well, it will be an uphill battle to get onto the average users' desktop.
By the way, and if Dell online music store will be OS neutral (buy it from the browser, not from any propriteray player!) that will be even better. I'd like to buy music from Linux and for Linux :)
Less is more !
working together on the master plan!
http://www.ohlssonvox.com
See subject header.
Actually, in certain areas, media being one of them, competition can be a bad thing for consumers. In particular, it matters in the standards ring. DVD-A and SACD haven't caught on at all because they're still fighting with each other - if the industry ever stabilizes on one, they could take off. Sirius and XM are killing each other, again because a consumer has to choose when they buy a receiver which one they want to receive... and thus, which one will be around in 5 years. HDTV suffered from that for quite a while, too. So did VHS vs Beta. Once standards are finalized, competition is great, but only after those standards are set.
-T
[cough] Avid?
Avid MediaExpress, Media100, etc. were Mac-based long before they were ported to PC environments.
Also, Sony called Firewire iLink because Apple hadn't released the name. Now they have, and now it's known as Firewire.
Incidentally, Sony, Apple, and Yahama, and a whole bunch of others, are now on the 1394ta board, pushing, among other things, Firewire 800 and new standards for audio and video over Firewire in the isochronous section of the data bursts. Very sweet technology.
-T
Henry Ford didn't invent the automobile.
Heute die Welt, morgen das Sonnensystem!