Slashdot Mirror
Commodore - Back In The Hardware Biz At Last?
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.
I was a C=64 owner and fan back in their day which was my youth. Ironically today I'm a Linux zealot and Mac lover and go no where without my iPod.
I'm torn. I feel ashamed because of it. Bastards.
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.
this is of course a marketing ploy to draw on the vintage name of commodore, and might i say a damn good one; if i didnt have an ipod i'd buy from them right away!
But will it have 64 kilobytes of RAM?
It's not Commodore, it's just the name.
It's like if I started calling my garage Digital Equipment Corporation and started selling pet rocks, it doesn't have anything to do with a VAX.
there server is hosted on one of their mp3 players....
This makes about as much sense to me as using the GE brand name to sell fresh carrots.
And how in the world does the name eVic imply 20GB of storage? Is it something in another language (like vic means 20), or was the poster meaning that the eVic was supposed to compete with the iPod based on similarities in the way they are capitalized and the lengths of the name?
None of this makes any sense. They should sell C64s today for hobbiesests and nostalgia. They could be very tiny, still use a TV, be tons of fun. Or make another hobbiest platform. But... MP3 players? Like the market needs more MP3 players.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
I wonder if the server is also a Commodore 64, slashdotted after 3 comments!
I find this really sad. Those products look terrible, and re-using the old commodore brands (Vic, PET) just makes it that much more sad. Though, it's not *that* sad, because Commodore stuff was never really that good (the Amiga had its moments though).
They need to fire their copywriter ASAP, that's for sure:
With this USB 2.0 data&music carrier you can easily extend your pc, notebook or mac with an extra storage harddisk.
PC, notebook, or Mac? What if I have a Mac Notebook do I have to order two? Is it really a hard disk?
The stick can be used for copying, store and move data...
The English can be used for speak and write words!
Exclusive Commodore design!
Yes, we used both red *and* blue plastic on this bad boy! Ka-ching!
you can enjoy listening hours and hours to all your favorite songs with just one battery!
Wow, just one battery! Folks, portable music doesn't get any better than this. Hell, even my car works with just one battery!
The player is including a neck cord,
It's including a neck cord with what? Its tax forms?
Just connect the camera to the docking, drag the made photos to the storage device and you can make new photos again!
Hey, I hope nobody finds my maid photos.. my wife will kill me. I better not connect the camera to the docking as they suggest. And besides, when my memory card fills up, I do what any smart person does! I buy a new camera to hold more pictures!
Beware the docking..
Will it be able to play old C64 games as a bonus, and if not who is going to hack it so it can.
An Education is the Font of All Liberty
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?
I feel it necessary to say this: the way Commodore ran the Amiga into the ground made open source make a hell of a lot of sense. Amiga users, zealous as they were, were helpless to prevent the actual demise of their favorite platform.
Linux gained a convert in me for its immunity to just this kind of thing. At least the open source community cares about its products.
Commodore may sell a few music players to techies, but taking on Apple, it is not. I still get a chuckle out of the almost weekly reports of the next "iPod killer". This sort of press alone demonstrates the leadership of the iPod.
There ain't no rules here; we're trying to accomplish something.