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MSFTs "iPod Killer" Readied for Europe
rocketjam writes "Reuters reports that the first hardware to run Microsoft's "iPod Killer" software will be available in Europe in the second half of 2004. MS has been working with several manufacturers, and is expected to introduce a device which will play movies and songs as well as store digital photos through Microsoft's yet-to-be-unveiled Portable Media Center software. A spokesman said 'We think this is going to be one of the hot devices for Christmas 2004,' The players are expected to sell for between about $700 to $800. They will play MP3s as well as audio and video recorded in Microsoft's digital format. The player will be significantly larger than the iPod in order to accomodate a video screen. A Jupiter Research analyst, Mark Milligan said 'By definition, (the devices) just don't have widespread appeal', and he doubts the devices would change the consumer electronics landscape in any way."
Apple Computer: (n) A primary source of ideas for Microsoft's research & development groups. See also: Muse
Trolling is a art,
I'm not sure with that high of a price (about $670-$810 US) and the additional size (3X as thick, twice as long!) that this thing qualifies as an "iPod killer" in any real sense; they're playing for an entirely different market segment. It seems like a very small niche to me.
Give 'em a couple of versions, maybe they'll get it right and the market will materialize. I wouldn't bet on it though. "More TV, more often" isn't a big hole in my life, anyway...
There's a typo in the article. "N-Gage Killer" is misspelled.
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
It's an expensive low end laptop with few features? Wow, look out world!
I don't think the ipod needs to worry about any competition from this. People buying an ipod aren't going to pay a lot more for a device that is alot heavier, bigger, and plays movies in microsoft's proprietary format. Not to mention I have yet to see microsoft come out with anything that is elegant and easy to use.
//m
an ipod killer would have to be cheaper than an ipod.
It seems that MS is using the same tactics that failed for all the gameboy competitors. Try and add a billion features, and price yourself right out of the market.
I like my iPod because it packs a lot of storage in a small package and I don't want to watch video on a stinkin' handheld, that is why I tote my powerbook around. This idea seems plain old dumb to me, but I guess if it is competition it is good for consumers but just strikes me as a dumb idea that I'm not going to consider buying, especially at twice the price of an iPod.
Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree. -Martin Luther
Who gives a $700-$800 Christmas gift? I know a few people might get their spouse or children somethign like that, but the vast majority give gifts far smaller than that.
And besides, for that price you could get a laptop.
At 2X the price and 6X the volume the only way it'll be an iPod killer is if you use it like a brick to smash an iPod. This sounds like the Saturday Night Live skit where the hipper you were the bigger your cellphone was.
Chris Kuivenhoven is a thief, beware
Portable video, music and pictures for $700 to $800 dollars? Why not just buy a friggin laptop! Or am I missing something here?
Left 4 Dead Gaming Group - http://www.l4dgg.com
At $700 to $800, I do not think that this will be a Ipod killer. I am also willing to bet that this will not have crap for battery life, and not be near as portable.
Anyone remember this thing? It was fairly large but you could get a TV tuner for it. Sounds kinda like the next step up.
Moo!
People always complain about Apple, but does Microsoft make anything that's not overpriced? Hardware, software, it doesn't matter. It all costs too much for what it is. $700 for one of these things? Even those little portable DVD players are down in the $300 range now.
it's already been done in a smaller package. the Archos av320 is already available and works pretty well.
Why read the article when I can just make up a snap judgement?
Totally different beast to the iPod, and I very much doubt that it's an Archos killer.
They will play MP3s as well as audio and video recorded in Microsoft's digital format.
What Microsoft apparently doesn't realize is that customers aren't going to spend $7-800 on a device only to have to convert every divx and xvid movie they have over to microsoft's proprietary format. Time really is money in this case, and it's just not worth it to have to spend days/weeks converting movie files.
I would expect such blatant racism on Fark, but on Slashdot? Mods please ban this asshole.
Is it me or is M$ forever obsessed with trying to 1-up Apple.
It's like Apple can't dominate any market for any lengthy period of time.
As an underdog Apple should learn to "Make their products affordable until they dominate the market".
Probably not. Jobs himself said that video on a handheld device like the iPod is not what the majority of people are looking for. And at 7-800 $. Too high.
Might make a nice christmas gift for the 2005 Christmas though.
It's not quite in the same target market, as it plays movies, stores photos, and most importantly it is FATTER than iPod (roughly three times as thick as an iPod and roughly twice as long ).
It's like callling an elephant a pet killer because it can carry luggages, push start your car etc, which your normal domestic pets like dogs, cats cannot do.
Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
Microsoft decided to sell funky form factor PC running windows at a price slightly above the market price, is it a killer ? Don't think so
The "Ipod Killer" is just a Microsoft employee named Ted who steals people Ipods.
Then stomps on them.
Any sufficiently well-organized Government is indistinguishable from bullshit.
Please, just please, I beg you to really call it "iPod Killer" when it hits the market.
That would just flat out rule, I don't care who the backing company is... Microsoft, SCO for that matter. Sure, you would be taken to court, rightfully so, but the press surrounding it would be amazing for your business!
Maybe this will turn out like the Netpliance i-Opener, and we'll get a nifty little machine we can hack to do whatever we like. If it's going to play movies, it'll probably have a decent (4") screen, and it should have a competent processor in it, even if the video decompression is all hardware.
At the least it could be used as a remote mp3 player/picture frame/clock/bedside movie machine.
Apple makes the iPod smaller at a cost of features (HDD space), and Microsoft makes a MUCH larger "killer" with more features? Seems the two products are headed in different directions...
Big is the new Small
I think for that price I'll buy a decent used laptop, get a larger screen, dvd playback, cd-rw, networking/internet access, and a whole lot more functionability in general.
ipod killer? i think not....this idea though does sound dead at the door.
The players are expected to sell for between about $700 to $800.
If I can't stick this thing in my pocket, I'll keep my laptop. If I can stick it in my pocket, the screen's too small. For that money, I'll get an iPod and a used iBook.
by beating the iPod with the MS device.
twice as long, 3x thicker? Doesn't exactly sound like a device I can put in my pocket and go.... and I don't do hip pouches....
Last I saw a hardware prototype running it, the thing was the size of a brick. SMASH SMASH.
Archos has been doing this for some time, at half the cost with open formats compatible with multiple platforms. I personally have one of their first video capable models, the Jukebox Multimedia 20gb, and use it on Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows - same files for audio and video, no DRM other than common sense and respect.
Any spoon would be too big.
What's the difference between this and a Tablet PC?
I know a guy who knows a guy, and I managed to get one leaked photo.
The idea itself isn't a totally bad one - at a lower price, I could consider getting one for my kids for long drives or some such. (Then again, by the time they're old enough for me to do that, an iBook at nearly the same price will have the same effect.)
But my questions are these:
1. It plays movies in WMV and audio in WMA. So where am I going to get the WMV movies? WIll I be able to stick a DVD into my computer (assuming I want to get a Windows box, of course) and have it ripped to a format that the device can use? Or am I relying on having some other system (like a Tivo) to record TV shows and let me get that video on my device that way?
And if I have to rip the movies myself with an unofficial DVD, will I still go to jail/get fined?
2. Battery power? I'm seeing 3 hours - seriously? iPod killer with 3 hours of battery power? That's like the Sega handheld devices that were going to kill the Gameboy with 3 hours battery power.
3. TV out? Suppose I do pick it up and put movies on it so when I'm at a friend's house we can watch something. Can I have a TV-out so we don't have to scrunch around a tiny little screen?
Just a few thoughts. I'm sure there are more. Again, I'm not saying this is a bad idea, but I have serious reservations before spending $500 - $800 of my cash. I already spent $300 on an iPod....
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
I'd like to have a portable video-playing thingie as much as the next guy, but they are trying to squeeze into an incredibly small niche here: people who are willing to spend $800 on something larger than an iPod, but who don't want to spend the same amount of money on a DVD-playing laptop. Any larger than an iPod and you're quickly getting out of the fits-in-the-pocket category. What are they aiming for, the fits-in-a-glovebox market?
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
"Microsoft, Microsoft, Microsoft !" Enough already Microsoft, you're really starting to get on my nerves.
This is different from a Microsoft Pocket PC how? Oh yeah, cause they're charging more for less features. Lose the productivity features, and add a few hundred. Sounds like a fantastic plan to me!
Ha ha, yeah, right. Just like how IE was going to be "the Netscape Killer"... feh...
Why would I spend $700 for something that is bigger and heavier than my $300 Sony Clie?? It plays MP3s and videos. (I love showing people Golem accepting the MTV award.)
I can get several CDs on an 128MB memory stick and play them in my car using an RF adapter. The MS product does provides more disk space for video, but with the recent advances in micro drives, it's only a matter of time until they start becoming more common in PDAs.
I thought MS was supposed to be better at creating loss leaders <cough> XBox </cough >
I rarely read replies, it's my opinion and if you thought about your opinion a little more, I'm OK with that.
Slashdot "libertarians": Small government for me, big government for those I disagree with. -1, I disagree with you
... or does "Portable Media Center" software just not roll off the tongue like "iPod"? Actually I'm wondering why I even care; I do OK either way on Linux.
C|N>K
They see a hot product. They take it and build a more expensive version of it with their own proprietary software in order to hook you & reel you in. They've never been innovaters. When will they come out with something new & unique? Windows is based on X, MSN is based on AOL, Active Directory is based on Netware, now this is is based on iPod.
I'd suggest starting a pool for when M$ comes out with a truely innovative product and not just a copycat of an existing product, but I want to be alive to see somebody win the pool!
Apple was NOT the first company to have an MP3 player. I do not know who was, but Creative is one of the ones that comes to mind that was around long before Apple.
Apple simply took the idea and added a bunch of really great things to it (iTunes, etc) to make it take off.
Microsoft sees the success Apple has and wants to replicate it. But by no means is Apple one who came up with all these ideas, they simple took existing ideas and packaged them together.
For the price of this thing, why not spend a little extra money and buy a laptop with a Centrino or equivilant processor??
It's not like the "iPod Killer" will fit nicely in your pocket anyway, so why not splurge and have all the features of a ultra-mobile laptop.
My 2 cents
I'd buy it if I could flash it and make it non propietary. Then again, I might have more fun/usability with a low budget laptop for movies on the go and my trusty Neuros for mp3/ogg.
I also reply below your current threshold.
Not to mention I have yet to see microsoft come out with anything that is elegant and easy to use.
Check out MS's hardware department sometime, specifically their mice.
There's a reason why the only real players in hardware anymore are Logitech and Microsoft.
I'm more interested in Microsoft's upcoming Slashdot-killer. Once they get a bunch of ravenous, myopic Windows programmers, enthusiasts, and users together, they can be the yin to Slashdot's yang.
The players are expected to sell for between about $700 to $800. They will play MP3s as well as audio and video recorded in Microsoft's digital format. The player will be significantly larger than the iPod in order to accomodate a video screen.
These things appeal to a different market (entirely!). Apple decided to make the iPod mini to take aim at the market that wanted a player even smaller than the iPod. They want an mp3 player--not something that will slice bread. This thing is huge and expensive when compared to other mp3 players--which is the only market that the iPod attempts to compete in.
Call this a "portable movie player" that's "aiming to repeat the iPod's success in a different market," but calling it an "iPod Killer" is a horrible misnomer. I seriously doubt that anyone would consider one of these things in lieu of an iPod.
Integrate Keynote and LaTeX
Just another in the long line of money losing products from M$. Look for it to be steeply discounted after Christmas.
not with a 40gb hard drive, which my $569.00 archos av340 has....
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
When will these guys get it through their thick skulls that people don't want to watch pre-recorded news programs on TV. They have to stop trying to get it to be a "TV newspaper".
If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
um, slashdot has always linked to other people's stories. this is nothing new, and i recognize your username as being one that's been around awhile, and you have a karma bonus. did someone steal your password?
Ok, lets get real. Nothing that comes out of Microsoft oozes style and coolness. I'll believe they can produce an "iPod killer" when everyone throws away their iPod and buys the MS thing. More likely than not, it will be like "indigo", which MS has been pitching the last year as the "J2EE killer". I've tried to find out as much as I can about Indigo and from the public details, I would say it is still only 1/3 of what J2EE provides today. for Portable media center to be an "iPod killer" MS would have to really think different and new, instead of copying. For Indigo to be a "J2EE killer" it would have to scale to a global scale with 5 9's reliability as in 99.999% uptime.
Size.
If it doesn't fit comfortably in a pocket, sit nicely in my hand or it weighs too much, it isn't going to be bought at pretty much any price. I don't care if I can watch DVDs projected onto the wall from it and it only cost $100 - if it doesn't fit in my pocket, it's not going to be carried around with me on my person. If I need something more capable than my existing small gadgets, it'll probably be my laptop (carried around in a backpack) which sports considerably more function than any standalone piece of consumer electronics and costs a similar amount to the proposed "iPod killer".
Cheers,
Toby Haynes
Anything I post is strictly my own thoughts and doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the opinions of IBM.
Yet another story ripped from Yahoo!
Yahoo! buys its contents from Reuters, not the other way around. Notice in the Yahoo! version the "LONDON (Reuters) -" at the beginning and the "Technology (Reuters)" in the section header.
Jeesh, I thought that this was "News" here.
The timestamps of both versions are the same: Thu Mar 18, 2004 04:30 AM ET. Which is logical, since it is the same news article.
The only iPod killer the boys from Redmond could come up with would be a Microsoft-branded claw hammer (retailing for $149.95 most likely).
Slashdot is more a point-of-view than a news gathering organization. This story originated at Reuters, which is a news gathering organization.
Slashdot is more like your local newspaper: it takes stories from a variety of locations (often wire services) which are relevant to you (determined by geography in the case of your local newspaper, or technical interest in the case of Slashdot). Yahoo does the same, but it's pretty catholic in its tastes. Slashdot gets its stories from a variety of sources: wire reports (often via other media), journals, blogs, press releases, and sometimes just people finding out interesting web sites (though that hardly counts as nes most of the time)
In all likelihood, the story originated as a press release from Microsoft, rewritten by Reuters into a news article, and then rewritten again as a Slashdot story. Slashdot adds very little: a bit of commentary, and sub-categorizations (Microsoft, Music, Business, Media).
The commentary is biased, but you wanted it biased: you came here for the Slashdot-esque view of things. You could read the Reuters feed yourself, but you'll probably read a lot of stuff you don't care about. You could even subscribe to get the press releases directly, but you'd really hate that.
I think the comments on this news item get the award for most repeated points. How many ways can we say "too big, too pricy" and get away with it? Looks like 92 times as of right now (well 93 now).
Sorry, but I don't see how being more expensive and bigger a great way to beat out an iPod. Hey, maybe people want to watch half a movie in their palm, but all I want is to listen to all the music i have. The only thing that is going to kill the iPod is a cheaper iPod.
In other news... 256MB flash mp3 players still cost $200+. Who the hell would be dumb enough to buy one of those?
Why are there only 19 people folding@home for slashdot?
No wireless. Larger and more expensive than an ipod. Lame.
Just wondering.. is the EU gonna force them to include an ipod with it due to their unfair competitive behavior?
This is because it has remained on top of the market for a long time, and sales are actually increasing even as I speak. Take, for example, the iRiver iHP-140. It is a very nice player with many more features and a lower price tag than the iPod, but marketwise, its a loser. Jobs was right in saying that the rest of the industry dosn't "get it", because there is just that *something* the iPod has that no other player does.
PocketPC was supposed to be a Palm killer, but Palm still has dominance in the PDA market. Xbox was supposed to be a competetor to Sony, but the PS/PS2 still has a much larger market share. The only market that Microsoft has cornered successfully is that in which they started: computer operating system(windows) and productivity software(office).
At $800 and larger than the ipod, who would want it? I've seen dvd players with LCD screens that also play cd's for less. So maybe thats the reason you don't see an apple media center that plays video in MS's proprietary format. No market! But I can store 2 dvd's worth of movies in most formats in my ipod and connect it to my ibook and play them with mplayer for OSX anytime, anywhere I choose, plus play my 500+ songs I've ripped from my CD collection.
I won't be, for $700, though... I'll wait until they flop and can be found on ebay for 50 bucks. :)
philcrissman.com.
So, it only costs twice as much as the Archos players that are already out and that already have the same capabilities! I can't wait!
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
I wonder how long before someone figures out how to put Linux on it... would be nice to play any media on it if you are going to shell out 800 bones for it.
... whatever. Big fat whatever.
... thus hastening the death of PocketPC forever. (Amen.)
Apple need only respond to the 'death' of their cult-item iProduct, with the release of another one:
The Apple PDA(*).
(*- When Apple make a PDA - again - its going to fucking rock... **-Why will PPC fail? Fuck, who cares? Its Windows, for crying out loud. Who wants Windows in a palmtop any more? What do you think PalmOS was?)
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
for the $700 - $800 price tag, you could buy:
a portable dvd player price = $200
a gba sp platinum and games price = $150
an i-pod price = $300
and still have enough cash left to buy some new shoes and a crapload of quesadillas . . . if you're into that sort of thing.
** Chigusaaa!!! You're the coolest girl in the WORLD!!! **
Sometimes, when I see stories like this, I think that Bill Gates has careened down the slick claustrophobic portal into his own head so that everybody he sees has his face and every word they say is Microsoft. Microsoft? Microsoft! MICROSOFT!!!
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
Once again it sounds like MS is trying to create another product that does everything for everyone. Unlike the typical Apple approach of limiting the features of product, but ensuring that the features it does have work easily and intuitively.
Beat that, Bill!
Someday a real rain is gonna come...
George Carlin once said that if you nail any two items together that have never been nailed together before (say, a 2x4 and a toilet seat), somebody will actually buy it.
This sig no verb.
i bought the first archos jukebox that could play movies. it wasnt much bigger than an ipod, but it was heavier. and that was over a year ago when it was $200. theres a new one http://www.archos.com/ its no ipod, as in the engineering of the interface isnt as nice, but hell it was $200 for 20GB. immediately after i bought it, the novelty of watching a lotr-rip on a small screen went away, and it just became an mp3 player for me. so my point is, what is so special about this M$ product. it already exists, and im willing to bet their version wont be as good as the ones already on market
Seems to me this is not of the too-little-too-late, but rather the too-much-wrong-purpose category.
What do most of us use our iPods for? I can only speak for myself and the other 100 quintillion urban elite 20 somethings who wear it and listen to whatever while walking to work, walking to the market, jogging, working out at the gym.
What I do *not* do is sit down and stare at my iPod for 2 hours. I do something else, whatever it may be, and the iPod provides musical accompaniment.
And, for a little rant:
What I do not need in my life is more time in front of the tube. I allow myself one hour for simpsons and maybe seinfeld... that's enough slack-jawed passive absorption of mass culture & advertising for me. If I need something to keep me fully occupied on the metro or on a sunny afternoon, I read a f*cking book.
lorem ipsum, dolor sit amet
Apple Computer : "Proudly going out of business for twenty-seven years"!
only if MS intends to kill the iPod by causing its designers/implementors to die laughing...
People seem to want small multiuse devices, not bulky ones with a proprietary format, short battery life, and a high price (you could buy a laptop for nearly as much with a slight increase in size and a large increase in functionality). The iPods work because they are small convenient single use devices with multiple ways to use them - this device doesn't seem to have any of those advantages. While it's foolish to underestimate Microsoft's muscle, I don't see the point in this.
I think we have this already and it goes by the name of the archos. It does all this does and doesn't lock you down to MS formats. Shit, it does MORE than this does for half the cost or less! Get REAL MS.
The MS device has more features, to be sure, but making it a portable video player seems like deja vu. How many people do you see carrying around Watchmans today? Or even when they first came out?
http://www.rootstrikers.org/
How do you figure these are relatively inexpensive? I mean Apple is not really well known for cheap hardware. Ok...it's not AT ALL. Don't get me wrong their products are beautifully designed and work great but they're hardly low cost.
___ Shout Central - Crushes your nuts!
Anything in Windows-land is always larger than anything from Apple-land. ;P
Un-news
... will it play ogg/vorbis files?
In fairness, I see nothing in the article to indicate that Microsoft itself is the source of the term "iPod Killer." Yes, the phrase appears in quotation marks, but only in the reporter's text. It does not appear in the verbatim quotes from the Microsoft representative. The term may be be the reporter's own invention. Microsoft's marketing department is usually more sophisticated than this, since the term obviously sets them up for a fall.
Microsoft pushed for the tablet thinking it would overtake the world by storm. Result... Not much change in the landscape of notebook PCs.
It would have to be smaller, have more storage space, have better battery life, be cheaper AND more sexy.
I cannot imagine anything bearing the Microsoft logo as being sexy, hip, innovative or cool. But that's just me ofcourse (ahum...)
The Bigger The Headache The Bigger the Pill
...for them to think this is a "iPod Killer".
It's too big, too heavy, and is in a format that sucks. If anyone buys one of these, they should be beaten about the head with old Win95 floppy install discs.
For the price they are wanting for this device, I would just get a striped down laptop. Or for more money, get a tablet PC. At least then, I can see the video better, and do more than just watch movies or listen to music.
Plus, I wonder what it is going to look like. Anything that big should be painted brick red, becuase, that is how much it is prolly going to weigh. MS needs to just stop, their brains have finally become completely filled with bullcrap, malted hops and bong resin.
eh, this sucks, I am going back to bed....
Heh. I just found an open share on their R&D system!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Steve Jobs has been asked many times if Apple will get into the downloadable movie market. Never, he answers over and over again, this is all about instant gratification.
Even with an OC12 you won't get the movie before dinner.
Another klutzy move by Redmond.
Microsoft's Digital Video and Music Brick, Ms DVMB.
I suppose iPod killer sounds better than My Music Brick...
for that price and size, you'd get a portable DVD player. Some may play mp3s on CDs, too! so what the hell is this?
Not at $700-$800. I can buy a smallish laptop that does the same thing for less. Heck - I could go hit eBay for a Toshiba Libretto and probably fare better than that.
While the economics probably aren't in their favor on this, if they wanted to make it an "iPod killer", the price would have to be significantly less than the iPod just to make up the difference from Apple's name recognition, and the size of this beast.
Sell the exact same piece of hardware for $150, and we'll talk about iPod slaying.
That green slime had it coming.
The obvious answer is that you won't pay $700 to get something that big for that much money.
Microsoft will eventually realize this and cut the price to the $400-$500 range (or possibly further). Just like they cut XBox prices from $300 (about breaking even) to $200 (lose $100 per unit). Of course, they may not continue producing them after that, as I don't know that they get the same benefit from this that they do from the XBox (the unit loses money, but the games for it are profitable; do they sell any content for these fake iPods? I don't think that they make enough from their DRM licenses to support this).
Let's see - like a walkman, you can walk around with an iPod and aside from seeming antisocial to some, you can actually walk | jog | drive etc... while your ears are busy.
This is different. You'll have to watch this thing, it's as big as a portable dvd player (which no one is walking around with - they're barely buying the things as it is)
This is 8x the cost of a dvd player proper, and 3x the cost of a portable one.
Maybe for the lids in the back of the car - but why not just bring a handful of dvds - you're in the car with lots of places to hold stuff. And if you're in the car for 8 hours with kids you're going to have more problems than what to watch.
It's as expensive as a laptop, it's too big to fit in your pocket. Would I use one? No - I'm trading in my Garmin eMap for an eTrek and my iPod 5 for a mini, just like I traded my old audiovox phone for a t226... I want a more smaller things and one big one. Not another big one in between.
But I've been wrong before. And people lost their shirt on zeppelins and missed the whole laser thing.
I could see Apple testing the market with something like this, they always have the iPod to sell lots of and this could be another Pippin.
It makes sense for MS to try it - they own the format and they have money to burn.
Hell, they must figure if the London Eye can be a hit and Eurodisney and marmite, what the hell...
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
Well, it seems MS just took an Ipod and fed it that herbal enhancement supplement I keep getting all the e-mails about.
They can give one away with each Segway sold. Should kill the iPod in no time.
Two "hot devices" at the same time.
According to an Apple Insider article, Apple is already ahead of this game. They will deliver sooner, at a lower cost, and very likely a better product. Guesses (aren't they always with Apple?) include an intro around April 28 for the first anniversary of the iTMS.
Sources: Apple readying 4th-generation iPod
(snip) While sources could not pin-point a specific day or month of introduction, they said the soon to be released player would boast a 50GB hard disk capable of holding 12,500 songs and carry an approximate cost of $499.
Unlike the recent capacity-centric revisions to the iPod line, the 4th-generation iPod will host a number of architectural advancements and new features. Most apparent, sources say, is the presence of a 2-inch color screen for displaying photos stored on the pod, from the palm of your hand.
The player will reportedly also adopt a video output jack that will allow users to connect their iPods to television sets, sources said. Meanwhile, no mention was made in regards to an output jack capable of relaying audio to a home entertainment center. (/snip)
This monstrosity is an overpriced piece of garbage that only true pron addicts will appreciate. It's great if you want to wank in the bathroom at work but otherwise why pay $600 for anything less than a feature-complete computer? The iPod is almost more a status symbol than a practical piece of equipment. I mean, the battery wears out after a 1 or 2 and then you get to pay another $100 (subscriptions anyone?) to get the thing fixed. So while it's a nice piece of gear, I gotta believe there's more than a few people who are buying these for the prestige value. Is Microsoft completely unaware? Probably not, they're just employing the "throw stuff at wall and see what sticks".
(obviously THAT's not it,) is something like a ring with a holographic memory, optical processor, projection video display and audio and a projected keyboard that just hangs there.
The whole thing should be invisible except when you want it.
Jonathan Ives design any jewelry?
I can see what M$ would make of this. A seven pound wrist cuff in ugly colors.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
Forgive my ignorance, but how are you supposed to copy video onto this device if all DVD's have copy protections anyways? And if it's not a commercial movie you want to download onto it, why would you want to download, say, your home movies which would interest no one except yourself? And if your home movies DO interest other people (maybe you are the porn star next door), how exactly do you go about adding Microsoft DRM so you can play them on your "iPod Killer". Methinks Microsoft spends alot of time talking up lip service to a new device under the assumption that ANY press is better than NO press. Tablet PC anyone?
blue
I think this has about as much chance killing the iPod (and other portable audio players) as portable DVD players have in killing portable CD players.
There's a market for it, but it's only a niche. "iPod killer" is just a bit of sensationalism to get you to read the article.
So this will be big, heavy, can only play MS formats (with the exception of mp3) and can't run other software? Yes, it's obviously better than a laptop...
Sigs are for the weak.
Like their PDAs, MS keeps bloating their products with every feature so that they can sell it as the swiss army knife of technology. The only difference is that the knife is useful.
I love showing people Golem accepting the MTV award.
Your geek and/or nerd licence has been officially revoked, effective immidiately. Anyone that doesn't know how to spell Gollum doesn't qualify.
A Golem is an artificially created human supernaturally endowed with life from Jewish folklore.
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Another "iPod killer". I'm getting really bored of these. So far, no one has come close to killing the iPod in sales. Come on guys, give it up. The iPod ain't dying anytime soon.
This reflects the flawed conventional thinking that consumers want a convergence device. That somehow combining the ability to play both video and MP3s will appeal to both market segments. What actaully happens that the device appeals to neither market segment.
You see this time and time again. Marketing people assume that if you give someone a "new improved digital media center" everyone will buy it. No one buys it because the product is a "Jack of All trades, master of none." People buy component stereos for the same reason. They want the best reciver coupled with the best amplifier and the best DVD player. They want the flexibility of adding components. They tend not to buy a single component that does a mediocre job on all three elements. Simply piling on features that are unrelated but don't bring additional value to each other is silly. Camera phones work because you can send pictures to your friends. In this case adding a digital camera enhances the phone experience. Adding a video player, and jacking the price point to an entry level laptop adds nothing to the experience. I predict big fucking failure for MS. I don't get why people still insist media convergence is the wave of the future. Media really hasn't converged before. I mean how many of us use Radio/Television combo devices? No one because who wants a machine that does a crappy job at two things instead of a good job at one.
Thalasar
How in the world is this an iPod killer? It's twice the price as an iPod but more importantly, it isn't even the same kind of product. It's like saying Air Force One is a Cessna killer. They're completely different things. When I first saw the headline, I expected to see a small, well designed mp3 player, not a mini-video player that's capable of playing mp3s. I seriously doubt that this product is going to dig into Apple's share of the mp3 player market.
"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lampposts...for support rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang
I think that it's way too much.
My personal gadget favorite this year (if things will be good for them) is that beuty from OQO that's supposed to get in the $1k mark.
No way for the MS device.
If AppleInsider is anything to go by, then Apple also seems to be developing an iPod with these sort of features. See story: Apple readying 4th-generation iPod. Apple already learnt their lesson, circa 1990, whereby standing proud, simply give the competition time to catch up - in that case it was MS catching up, and bypassing, with MS-Windows. If Apple is smart, they will keep one step ahead of the game.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
The N-Gage was a stillborn. Its mother Nokia is in therapy, mourning the loss of the child that wasn't to be.
A few months from now Nokia will feel that maternal instinct return and proceed to get knocked up again. Hopefully the next one won't come into the world with Down's Syndrome or some other genetic defect.
...for about $350.00 and a much smaller footprint?
Why does Microsoft feel like it needs to talk about a new product for a year before it's released?
Why does anyone think that a $700-800 geek toy that isn't "cool" is going to be a "hot product" around Christmas?
Why would anyone want to carry around something significantly larger than the iPod when the iPod mini is becoming a big hit because of it's smaller size?
At least Mark Milligan seems to be on the right track...
will it run linux?
Japan didn't invent the motorcycle (I could be wrong), or the television set, or the cassette player - what they did do was innovate, making way 'better' what was already in existance. Look at the walkman - way better than those reel-to-reel tapes machines.
What Microsoft are doing is taking a marketing concept and improving on Apples iTunes store, which has every liklihood to become more successful. You can use this to download tunes to your 10 gramme portable audio library, download all sorts of media to your computer (or more likely TiVo like XBox2 home entertainment unit). Also Apple don't sell outside of the States - they are missing a very big market.
Stop trashing Microsoft: sometimes they miss the mark - but they are a very successful company, with a very big industrial influence.
Oh... almost forgot: competition is good.
What kind of DRM does this player have? I don't
want any bullshit preventing me from copying, or
doing anything else that I should expect from a
player/recorder. If my $29 radio/casette player
can do it, this device better can!
The i-Pod is a machine, an unanimated, non-living object! How do you think you will kill something like this, you insensitive clod!
Get em now!
Personally, I'd like a portable music player that'll handle my 2.5GB collection of music. Consisting of MODs, XMs, ITs and a few other module formats.
There's tons of that stuff out there you can download for free, in bulk, off of FTP and archive sites around the world. I've got enough music in those formats for continuous play for 160 hours without hearing the same song twice. (Well, there's the odd duplicated file, but other than that...)
tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
They showed movies on the bus to New York - was I unknowingly ON the iPod Killer?
Larger, more expensive, and totally having nothing to do with being an iPod. Microsoft corners the market on Microsoft once again.
kulakovich
That's the benefit of being Microsoft. You can sell a brick to see if a market can be created or competition squashed and not worry about the money that will be lost. The only potential "Ipod Killer" on the market is the Rio Karma (marvelous player), but rio doesn't have the enough cool points to actually deliver the killing blow. Dave
7-800 range? Hmm lets add the costs up. cheapassed mini portable dvd player approx 200 along with ipod mini 250. You get your storage and screen in a portable format thats 450ish figure the extra cost of a all in one unit push it to 500.
My Pocket PC already plays MP3s and MPEGs and I have it for over a year plus does all the stuff that a pocket pc does. It uses crappy yet sometimes functional Windows Media Player (I guess I could download something else but I am lazy). And with Beyond TV I can watch TV shows and movies on it on the train. Oh and it only cost me about $100 when I bought it. With SD cards getting more and more capacity I see no market for the "IPOD Killer" at all.
The problem with Microsoft's engineers is that they assume more features == more better. Implementing those features in an elegant way is entirely secondary, and there appears to be little (or at least, very bad) research to determine how much people want those features.
The classic example of this (apart from all of the products people here love to hate) is Bill Gates' attitude in "The Road Ahead." He focuses *entirely* on features, and not at all on usability or design. In the case of the "iPod Killer," it's pretty evident that Microsoft hasn't changed much since that book. People aren't interested in a clunky, unfashionable device -- Apple succeeds not only because their products are (fairly) simple to use, but because they're elegant and, in the case of the iPod, *fashionable*. Never underestimate the power of popularity. Microsoft- well, they need some good design engineers, and a general attitude that encourages quality over just-one-more-feature-itis.
This
We call them PocketPC...
Correct me if I am wrong, but Windows probably has never used the middle mouse button for anything.
The Linux drivers support the device just fine, but the touch is too sensitive on the Microsoft mice pushing on the wheel to produce the third mouse button click.
So it makes the wheel much more difficult to use, because you can hardly rub on it hard enough to cause a scrolling action without also inadvertantly pasting the current / most recent selection, which makes it impractical to use the wheel much at all.
I have not had a similar problem on wheel mice purchased from other companites, which have a stiffer touch for pressing the wheel to produce the middle mouse button click.
Once again another rather expensive and non-groundbreaking idea from Microsoft. With portable DVD players costing a fraction and iPod already being established this product needs to be amazing yet it lacks in many ways.
They should leave the innovating to everyone else and stick to reinventing the ideas of others since they seem to be best at that.
so a $700-$800 device is going to kill the sales of the Ipods? How exactly will that work out? Personally, I'd rather spend the least amount of money on the most effective device. Portable video is pretty useless right now considering all you get is a small screen that would only kill your eyesight. Considering what kind of battery life you'd get from this thing, I think this will flop. (I sure as hell won't lug around any "portable" media player that weights 10x more than my phone)
.smell my feet.
'Portable Media Center' is indeed a lot more difficult to roll off the tongue than the relatively simple 'iPod'. It needs a shorter name, obviously. PMC?
For a second there, I thought this device would be abbreviated the 'Microsoft PMS'. Coincidence?
Men believe what they want. - Caesar
$700 - $800?!? That's overpriced even by Apple standards!
These things are right up there with the Tablet PC.
--- What?
I agree. After seeing how happy my girlfriend was with an Archos for the past 18 months, I decided to get one.
On Amazon you can get a 20GB Archos Recorder for $67 (!) after rebates, coupons, and stuff. That's an amazingly sweet deal.
Da Blog
"A spokesman said 'We think this is going to be one of the hot devices for Christmas 2004,' The players are expected to sell for between about $700 to $800."
And that's honestly going to sell? Bullshit. With that price, you can buy an entire computer -- possibly a laptop. Why spend that much on something 1/100 of a full computer? Because it plays music and fits in your pocket? Psh. The reason the iPod is doing so great is because of the awesome price, and of course, the software -- iTunes.
Microsoft may be just trying to jump into yet another race... but if they keep stupid ideas like that up, they will get burned. It probably won't hurt them at all, but it sure as hell won't benefit them either.
"Instant gratification takes too long." - Carrie Fisher
media overload - can I really do anything else when I watch a movie.
When I want to watch a movie I will make some popcorn and sit down with my daughter and wife and watch it on my TV. Why do I want to watch it as I walk down the street.
I don't even play movies on my windows pc - just don't see the reason too. wouldn't get any work done if I did.
Ipod has nothing to worry about here. If I want a movie player I can carry around I would buy a portable dvd player.
They only reason for this is so people like Mike Ander and sco execs can sell comercials and feed them to you via the internet.
this won't last if it even gets off the ground
I think it flops.
There are so many things wrong with this device I can't name them all. Sorry, it's not an iPod killer.
I agree with the assesment (iPod would win collison) but only because I have accidentally caused my iPod to fling at a number of hard surfaces at very high velocity, all without apparent harm.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
where the WebTV and tablet PC are collecting dust. Move on.
there's no place like ~
Correct me if I am wrong, but Windows probably has never used the middle mouse button for anything.
You're wrong, but not by much. Windows has a use for middle button mice--'autoscroll', or any other "click the mouse wheel" function.
You're either (1) conditioned to using a toughter wheel or (2) a victim of a crappy hardware run.
I personally use Logitech (and so I'm probably #1)--but MS's whole hardware division belies a claim that "they can't make anything good."
Clippy, "Hi, it looks like you are trying to carry this device. Do you want to 1. lift some weights, 2. buy a backpack, or 3. sell this thing on ebay?"
If you drop one of these things out of the window of your 30th-floor office, and a guy by the name of Fred J. Ipod is on the sidewalk below..
--- The American Way of Life is not a birthright. Hell, it's not even sustainable.
For some months now I have been contemplating purchasing either a Creative Labs MuVO or an Apple iPod
I've now decided, definitely the iPod. I don't want to contribute to yet another Microsoft monopoly. I can't imagine the horror of being forced to use WMP to access my mobile device and being locked to a single platform.
I have been a user for about 10 years. This ends Feb 2014. The site's been ruined. I'm off. Dice, FU
So, when will Linux run on it?
This is a test. This is a test of the emergency sig system. This has been only a test.
What about this little fellow? The form factor and screen may not be perfect, but it seems do be the iPod killer of today. And at $350-$400 is a heck of a lot cheaper that the M$ BS...
But will it play Org Vorbis?
- Kill Yourself, spare us all! -
"Look, someone's trying to make money again."
"Do they use, manufacture or make products for computers?"
"Yes."
"Stop them. I don't care what it costs."
Business isn't willing to pay for products, innovation and careers, so we get brands, mortgage commercials and layoffs.
The players are expected to sell for between about $700 to $800. For that type of money, I could get a used laptop which would run Linux and be twice as useful. Bah, I knew M$ were penny pintcher but this is nuts ...
This signature was left intentionally blank.
They know this will bomb. The point is not even try to compete with iPod. That is only the pretense. This is a first bluff at a new MS set top box. This is really a Tivo killer prototype. But if they say that Tivo will be forced to answer back. In the end they want to own the VOD space where there is WAY more money to be made than on music downloads.
Redmond, WA - Microsoft's new Pr0nMaster gives you pr0n on demand. Bring your pr0n with you - on the train, on the bus, at 12.000 meters - everwhere. It's large capacity drive means you won't have to explain what you're doing with "all those DVDs" when you pass through customs. The big screen means you won't have to squint while you watch. And it's small enough for you to bring it to the restroom or other enclosed space so you can "do your business."
The Pr0nMaster also comes in a sport enclosure, because "accidents happen" when things get exciting on-screen! Plus its handy video out lets you plug into the A/V equipment at your destination - so you can share the wealth!
The Microsoft Pr0nMaster - a peepshow in your pocket!
Seriously - hot item should be at most $300.
This thing's going to be three times as heavy as an ipod and twice as long - for 700-800 bucks you can just buy a cheap notebook instead.
What makes the ipod rock is that it's really small and offers more than enough storage. Who wants to lug around something twice as big three times as heavy?
this thing is the size of a small country, can't be carried in a pocket let alone jog with. and will sell for the same price as a low end laptop. Besides just where are you going to get "legal" video content that you would actually WANT to watch? When will microsoft learn that more is not always better? Sounds like the usual bloat and hype to me!
THIS is an iPod Killer.
Norman Cook's Ode to Sl
I think adding a screen + large disk + video & audio playing codecs is real value. The cost is too high, but if the hard drive is over 60 GB, it might be worth it for some people to just have all their data with them all the time.
:)
This, combined with a cell/PDA could make a nice setup: your storage and media hub would be a "hip-top", with detachable satellite devices for audio/phone/screen interfaces.
For those who hate MS, just remember competition is always good, even if the products are worse.
Robo-Blogs of the world: UNITE!
the new (v2) model does NOT have digital out
That's sadly true, but... $67!
I already use a HTPC with J River Media Center and a 7.1 Envy chipset to pump out audio to the amp over TOSLINK anyway at home, so no SPDIF out for me on a portable device was not a deal breaker.
Da Blog
"I just don't see a market for this... unless the price goes down to iPod levels.... "
I like microcars
A portable video device just doesn't sound too good when you can buy a laptop with almost the same price! ;-)
Only people interested in this would be porn enthusiasts who don't care about MS bugs with 40-50gb of porn with them to tag along! heh
Lord of the Binges.
does it support Ogg????!?!
;-)
i'm not gettin'n one unless it does!
and why would i pay $250 for an iPod mini when for a mere $450-$550 more i can get so much more disk space?
Crystal meth much?
Overpriced in this case has the connotation of part of the price is based on value returned, and part is based on it's place as a status symbol. A lot of that subjectiveness you mention is how much is "cool" worth. Which to be fair, is a poor investment. Cool is a moving target. It will move. It might move in Apple's brand, or even the iPod line, but it doesn't stay put for very long.
Once you realize how stupid the iPOD is anyhow,
you begin to realize how stupid the consumers are as a result. I mean there are already DVD players about the size fo a DVD that can play lots of mp3 files, more than anyone would listen to and play movies. What is ruining america as a whole is this constant desire for more (than you will ever need). I means how long would it take for you to listen to all mp3 content on a 20 gig drive, much less a 4 gig drive. And thus expands the range of available content and hence shortens the attention span of the average American. PS you might read the articles in "Fat Company" about WalMart and how they have essentially ruined the economy by forcing companies out of business by decreasing their profit margins. Walmart is just exploiting their customer's greed. And Microsoft, they are just seeing how far this greed reaches..
You think America can continue like this, when the economy is reduced to nothing in about ten years, we will look like the mexicans and the Chinese will look like the americans, financially..
BTW - the local laboratory is eliminating all forms of weapons testing, but that is not saying anything about what China is doing now, which is expanding their weapons testing facility.. All in the name of stupid liberal/democrats who are defined more by not being replublicans and christians than by being free thinkers. Lets see how far the stupidity will go. Can you say housemade to a chinese aristocrat?
Just say no to license servers!!
Go buy a refurb Pocket PC for under $150 and it can do all this and more. Spend under $50 bucks more for the software to get all the functionality in an easy to use format, hey, plus its a remote control for your AV :D
And yes it will be fatter, slower, and less stylish than an iPod, but it's from MS, what did you expect?
I suppose if I were going to buy one of these, I'd probably want to toss the TiVo out the window and replace it with a bright, shiny Media Center PC. A little microsoft sync program between the two to easily transfer the content. It seems more like a wedge into the TiVo market than IPod. Dave
Faster than the iPod (Dual P3s vs. Arm7) Higher res screen than iPod (1280x1024 vs 160x128) More skip protection (512 MB vs 32 MB) More storage (129.1 GB vs 40 gb) It is a freaken workstation. So are the WinCE devices. The point of the ipod is that it is small and simple, that is why I have one.
No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame. (oh crap! did I just ensure its success?)
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
Maybe Bill is compensating for something?
After all, he called his company "microsoft"..
(Yeah, yeah, old joke, I know!!)
Important info:
http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net
http://dieoff.org/synopsis.htm
http://www.peakoil.net
"and he doubts the devices would change the consumer electronics landscape in any way."
Assuming there will ever be a way to buy or rent movies online someday, this device could be big with travelers. You rent a couple of movies upload them to the device, and go hop on a plane and watch what you want. Or you can watch movies to and from work if you use mass transit. What would be even better is a link to digital satellite tv, so you can watch the news or somethin during your commute. Calling it an iPod kill is silly, though, because it isn't designed to compete with iPod. Ultimately iPod and this device will become obsolete when you can get wireless access in a device for ~$500, play video, play audio, surf web, check e-mail, make phone calls. etc. That's the ultimate PDA, that devices such as iPod only perform a subset of functions.
Vote for Pedro
I think the EU is about to speak sanctions.
Get a free ipod.
Are they limiting the product at first to see if there is a market at all? Is that why it goes to sweden and the UK forst? to see if any one will want this monstrosity? ... I'm ruined! ~Herb Powell
The zoo was fun but
Comment removed based on user account deletion
The article calls it an "iPod Killer", but nowhere does MS even consider calling it that. Just because the market likes to name things silly names, doesn't mean MS is smoking anything or outright announcing that their product will kill another one.
it's called a portable dvd player! albeit without the built in hard drive, but how long until someone decides to add a tiny hard drive to the portable dvd players? i would also imagine that some portable dvd players have mp3 decompression, if not, how much harder would it be to add that?
i went in to pep boys and they were selling 7" lcd portable dvd players for 250$ add 100$ for a portable 40 gig hd (oem price), another 150$ for R&D into adding mp3 decompression, a basic ui, and physical design. for 500$ there is something that equals this "ipod killer" AND has a built in DVD drive AND is cheaper.
"Tread softly because you tread on my dreams"
iPod Used In Domestic Homicide.
I heard a company called Implicit (www.implicitnetworks.com) is coming out with a software stack that will compete with MSFT. Apparently the support both Linux and WinCE - saw their demo at CES and the device works in both networked and non-networked modes. Their site claims they support a number of interestig video and audio formats and from what I heard at CES they can add support for others based on OEM requirements.
Good to see someone is willing to butt heads with MSFT.
And what about that ????
in order to play an m4p song on an ipod, you must have physical access to it.
Microsoft rarely gets things right the first time. DOS 5 was good (3.3 wasn't bad either). Windows really took off at version 4 (i.e. Win95). It's the old see-how-it-flops-then-have-the-users-tell-you-how- to-fix-it ploy.
Of course, Microsoft is one of the few companies that can afford to innovate in this manner.
here's my ipod killer
And this is an 'iPod killer' how, again?
You must think in Russian.
... you'd almost forget that a certain MS exec is bankrolling the private race for space.
y /rutan_flight_040318.html
http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technolog
Where the hell are they going to find room for ctrl-alt-del on something that small?!
They don't really expect it would work without occassionally needing a three-finger-salute, do they?
Hmm... come to think of it maybe they've designed it so the batteries can be unplugged quickly for a reset. (Just think: they can even market it that as a "feature"!)
Microsoft doesn't make mice and keyboards, they outsource that. I doubt that microsoft employees even design them.
"I forgot my mantra."
I've got M$ mice at both home and at work and have never had a problem with the wheel. As for the button, several apps are configured so that wheel with no button press means scroll up/down and wheen with middle button pressed means zoom in/out. When working with big diagrams/documents, this is unbelievably useful.
I wouldn't call the iPod Mini "ridiculously overpriced".
/dare/ to charge more than cost price for their hardware!" is an old argument. If you want it for cost price, build one yourself.
The rumours of a sub-$100 iPod started off the 'shock' of the real price of $250.
Building a device that small is difficult, and you pay for miniaturisation - the price of the components for the regular iPod and the Mini are probably similar.
The iPod Mini competes with flash based players, and stacks up very well against them.
And yes, Apple does make a profit on them. Using the "Apple is so overpriced, they
www.archos.com
:)
buy it @ buy.com rather than their company site
Plays video (Xvid and DivX 5.0), Records off TV into Mpeg4 (which you then convert into divx with a PC). And plays onto your TV!
You can record TV shows with it! And it doesn't have the Blue Screen of Death!
This is ridiculous. Compare: 40 gigabyte iPod = $499. 40 gigabyte "iPod Killer" + color screen = $800. The only difference between Microsoft's iPod killer and the iPod is 1) A fancier screen 2) A gigantic "wallet killer" price tag It's basicly a color iPod that can play WMV as well as music. Oh yes, and who wants WMV? DVD's are encoded in MPEG, not WMV. To get WMV you have to own a Windows Media Center edition PC (which cost way more than a normal PC) with a TV tuner, and record TV shows, to get the WMV format. So I need a Media Center PC AND need to spend $800 to use this device? Right. I'll just take my education discount and buy an iBook G4 complete with a 40 gig HD, much bigger screen, much faster processor, CD-RW AND DVD drive, honking powerful Radeon 9200, and way better OS for $200 more...
Monopoly Laws Be Damned!
Full speed ahead ! ! !
What the hell do these bastards think they're doing? Not only are they never going to run apple out of any market because their products suck. Now they're trying to push apple out of the mp3 player market, and with what? A piece of crap running windows...well fantastic. Microsofts impression seems to be that the average consumer (in a comical fashion) would say "I think i'd rather the shitty McShitShit Windows CE based CrashMaster 2004 just so I can have the same reliability or lack thereof as my home based winbox".
I'm going to destroy something beautiful...
Apple's new Operating System 10.3 "Windows Killer" has been for sale for a couple of months.
Can anyone tell me how to set my sig on Slashdot?
What's that the definition of? I'd like to see his dictionary.
Device Something that doesn't have widespread appeal Widespread A range over which these devices don't have appeal Appeal What these devices don't have (not much, anyway)Why is anything anything?
I think the iPod killer won't be softwarre, but hardware. Specifically, i think it will be a windows update that "accidently" makes ipods no longer work on that system. This update will also be bundled with all the security updates so you have to chose between secure and iPod.
And as far as that goes. Apple has done a great job on spotting trends in advance and catching the wave. They due on high margine, as opposed to huge scale sometimes, but damn with iPods and iTunes they've really tore it up. It's not often one can do both.
The engineer in me laments the lost capital that could have gone to things that are way cool, but might not look it, or might be 6 or seven waves off, but as an Apple shareholder, I can't say I'm upset.
So for $150 more, I could get me a refurbished iBook G4 800MHz/256MB/30GB/Combo/E/56K/12"TFT from the Apple Online Store? Cool.
Get over the OGG thing. It's not going to get adapted. It's like BETA and VHS. It might be a little better, but people don't care. I personally use 160bit AACs for most everything. AAC? I encode my CDs in OGG format and I can bring it everywhere. I use Winamp on Winblows, Macamp on OSX, and XMMS on Solaris + Linux. (My school has all those types of machines). One time I encoded a new album into AAC, and the XMMS on Linux(SuSE) boxes refused to play it. Putting OGG support in hardware does not hurt those player manufacturers.
This item was mentioned a few weeks ago on Slashdot. I would say at the price, compatibility, and use of standard media cards and batteries, this is a killer for MS's device... ;-)
a) Archos HAS offered a portable video type device for some time - it's a 20GB for about $500 I think. b) The market for a music player is much larger than a portable video player. This is because an athlete is looking for something to make the workout go by, the student is trying to get accross campus, and "in the zone" and we already have stupid portable dvd players which don't sell well. c) the iPlay (released by Apple in June 2005) will incorporate 3rd gen iPods as the storage medium, but will include a nice bright screen and kickin' interface for playing videos which you will download from the "iMovie Video Store" for $9.99 or less.
Am I sole person to be struck as to how similar MS's attempts to mimic Apple's accomplishments (past and present) are to the old Soviet Union's embarrassing attempts to ape/emulate Western technology? I am immediately reminded of those Saturday Night Live sketches from the 1980s featuring Dan Ackroyd and Steve Martin (those two laughable, undersexed Eastern bloc expatriates) where the two "wild and crazy guys" used to clean their "bachelor pad" with their prized Old Country-manufactured vacuum cleaner the size of an oversized oil barrel.
You can get a 12" g3 800mhz iBook new for $700. That's either the same price, or 13% less! So, you're not only right, you're really really right.
c-hack.com |
Why did they bother adding the larger screen for video?
;-(
This would be infinitely better if it was the same size as an iPod but had a video out signal, to connect to any TV, projector, Monitor(?), etc...
That would be awesome, shame they didn't/couldn't do it
I've noticed that most mice these days have very sensitive buttons, not just for the wheel. For a long time, I used an original serial Logitech MouseMan, from when they first started making them. Almost two years ago, I finally upgraded to a Logitech optical wheel mouse. While the wheel was very helpful with modern software, and the optical tracking was far superior to the old mouse ball, I didn't really like the ultra-sensitive buttons (compared to my old MouseMan). I was frequently accidentally clicking on things when I merely intended to rest my fingers on the buttons.
So, I took apart the old mouse, desoldered the microswitches, and installed them into the new mouse. Now the buttons require much more force than before, which is the way I like it.
I doubt that watching movies on the go is an issue for everyone. They should just come out with a better cost effective MP3 player.
Here's a story about the REAL ipod killer
Talk about marketing genius... release a video player that uses WMV right as the EU is forcing them to unbundle WMV from Windows.
...MickeySoft is getting on my nerves.
Instead of trying to improve their ptoducts they would rather try to get rid of other businesses.
I don't use, own or love the iPod, but from what I understand it does a great job.
MickeySoft reacts just like a redneck when it comes to other products, if they seem the be the least bit successful they just try to kill 'em. Then they steal the idea and claim the invented it.
The are so trigger happy that they just might shoot themselves in teh foot someday. just my 2 cents...
If you RTFA, you will notice that more specifically, Microsoft is working along with Creative and iRiver, who will both be releasing these products for Microsoft. Don't you find it interesting that Microsoft has teamed up with two of the three biggest DAP designers (the third probably being Rio or Archos) on the market right now, outside of Apple, just to compete?
This is MS we're talking about here. Why would they not subsidize the cost of the device undercutting the competition's price point until device componets become inexpensive enough to reap a profit. Or is that illeagal?
A set of stars, and an angry girlfriend.
Poor iPod.
Wow, I should not post when knackered.
They had to include a screen--how else could it run Windows?
-L
Don't Panic.
...Microsoft just doesn't get it. Their poor understanding of what makes the iPod a seller just illustrates their ever-increasing detachment from the pulse of "cool". Apple looked at what people wanted and made something ingenious _and focused_ to fit the bill. Microsoft, true to style, looked at the sales figures and area of penetration, formed a committee and... totally missed the point.
Sticking a gear shift on a camel doesn't make the camel cool or more useful. In fact, if the placement of the gear shift isn't a factor of the design, you get a camel that's a pain in the ass.
So MS doesn't make the hardware or do the design. Which means some toaster manufacturer with a factory full of cheap labour will get a good deal on some boring enclosure, slap together the cheapest version of this 'killer' app and flood the market with mediocrity. So we'll get clunky beige box MP3 players to go with our clunky beige boxes* running the most insecure commercial OS on the planet.
Go Bill...
* - Yes, even with the neon tubes and plexi-covered hole and the 'wizard riding a unicorn on a rainbow in space' applique.
- I am made of meat.
Why would anyone pay $700 for a fat locked down device when they can get a new iBook or similar for ~1000$ or a second hand one even cheaper. Also, if i remember correctly, the iBook also has a video out port which you can easily link with a TV. Or, you can just get an iPod, which is significantly cheaper if you only want music. Heh, good luck Microsoft.
The big difference is that you can already buy music online in Europe from Microsoft, whereas you can't from Apple. Unless this changes later this year, Microsoft will have an advantage.
Drop it on an iPod. A height of 3ft should be sufficient. Looking at the specs, it will kill the iPod instantly and effectively.
"Honey, I feel a certain distance between us..." "Really? A 31ms ping ain't that bad..."
In January, Bryan Peebler, market development manager in the emerging platforms lab at Intel, stated in a News.com story entitled, "Intel, Microsoft push portable video":
Some manufacturers are tinkering with machines (PVP) that will include small screens and could cost $199, while others are considering $399 boxes that tout larger screens and hard drives and more memory."
At CES, I conducted video interviews with reps from both Microsoft and Intel. When they were pressed on PVP retail price points the amounts were between $399-$599.
New Digital Reporter
NDR LiveJournal (Jan. 04)
I also recorded several audio interviews with Pacific Rim PVP manufacturers. Reps said that OEM FOB Hong Kong pricing was between $260-$399.
Portable Media Centers are scheduled to be lanuched in the US around May (E3).
We don't have to long a wait before all this "talk becomes a walk".
Sigma Designs said in thier Q1 conference call Windows Media 9 Silicon is Shiping this is the chip with an arm9 or 10 and instructions hardwired both for speed and longer battery life,they also support HDTV,and used in DVD players.I think the third person talking definately says the "windows media 9 now shiping in silicon" If you have patients to listen, http://biz.yahoo.com/cc/2/40122.html stock symbol sigm at yahoo finance.