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Commodore - Back In The Hardware Biz At Last?

Posted by simoniker on from the nobody-beats-the dept.

Aphrika writes "Commodore is back in the hardware business [via current owners Tulip Computers] and this time they're taking on... Apple? Due for release in August are three MP3 players; the eVic, fPet and mPet. The eVic is a 20GB (hence the name) hard drive-based player, while the mPet and fPet are closer to the Muvo/iRiver styled flash players. They'll also be hoping you pay a visit to the Commodore World Music Store once in a while to stock up on tunes..." We also recently mentioned Commodore's 'TV Game' and ROM-store projects over at Slashdot Games.

4 of 400 comments (clear)

  1. Music CARRIER by Aliencow · · Score: 5, Informative

    The fPet is a music CARRIER..
    That reads like "Standard USB thumbdrive" to me, definitely not a player. I'd still get one because of the logo.

  2. Re:Huh? by dosius · · Score: 5, Informative

    One of their computers, the predecessor of the C64, was the "VIC-20".

    Moll.

    --
    What you hear in the ear, preach from the rooftop Matthew 10.27b
  3. commodore's hardware was fantastic by Schlemphfer · · Score: 5, Informative
    because Commodore stuff was never really that good (the Amiga had its moments though).

    Lord forgive me for jumping to the defense of a computer that's been dead nearly 20 years. But somebody's gotta answer this.

    I forget what Apple IIe's cost around 1985, but they were well over a grand; actually I think close to two grand...unreachable if you were a high school student mowing lawns. On the other hand, you could get a Commodore for $200, and a disk drive for another $200, plug it up to a TV and you were set.

    Additionally, the graphics and especially the sound were much better on the C64 than the Apple IIe. The Commodore had a SID chip, which was polyphonic (I think) and offered four different kinds of sound envelopes. You could even tweak the ADSR...all this on a computer that was released in, what, 1983? The Apples and their tinny speaker sure couldn't do that, not without some expensive add on sound card anyway.

    I remember a friend who lived down the block who had an Apple used to always be furious that the same games looked and sounded so much better on my cheap computer than his expensive one.

    I think for the time, Commodore made amazing hardware and practically gave it away relative to what others were charging. Really odd to see them dissed over something like this.

    --
    I'm generally "Interesting," "Insightful," and even "Funny" here. What the hell happens to me at parties?
  4. Re:name by BasilBrush · · Score: 5, Informative

    You missed the point. Napster, Atari and Commodore are all companies that failed and then had their assets bought by other companies who now use the name purely for marketing purposes. They are not the companies they are pretending to be, although they do have the legal right to use the name. Apple doesn't fit that category.