Slashdot Mirror
Digital Music Eyewear From Oakley
Mecha-A writes "Am I the only one that finds this insanely awesome? Oakley is marketing a new line of digital music eyewear in time for the holidays. $400-$500 is an obscene lot for a small USB MP3 player, but the coolness factor is way up there. Questions: Is a brand name like Oakley going to get this idea off the ground? Who's going to be first to market this same thing except with a 'now playing' HUD on the sunglasses?"
I'm holding off until they come out with a hat that's got a built in subwoofer
The geek factor will go way up after you break your brand new Oakley MP3 player shades and tape them together across the bridge...
Yes, you are.
Notice how both guys in the pictures have false teeth?
Maybe they got their heads kicked in for wearing rather geeky mp3 players.
Mouse powered Chips, Open source Processors and Lego
This is very similar or the same as the eyewear that Lance Armstrong wore this year in the tour de France. His was only 128MB though.
Is this news? These things have been heavily promoted by Oakley all summer. For example, if you watched any of the tour de france coverage you would have seen cyclists wearing them. Putting the story here is just one more way to get free publicity.
Then again, I'm just pissed that Oakley hasnt given me a free pair yet...
Notice how both guys in the pictures have false teeth? Maybe they got their heads kicked in for wearing rather geeky mp3 players.
Mouse powered Chips, Open source Processors and Lego
I thought Oakley was all about thermonuclear protection stickers for cars?
Here is a link with a picture of Lance's MP3 sunglasses.
m l
http://www.tdfblog.com/2004/07/armstrongs_othe.ht
I guess I am not in the target market (then again, I'm 36 and French): the very large face shots that illustrate the product actually repulse me.
Why don't they just sell a product instead of a lifestyle ?
Apart from the fact that I find the sades both ugly and flashy, I find the idea quite good... 1 item less to carry. Oh wait, my bluetooth phone already does MP3 and FM.
The Cloud - because you don't care if your apps and data are up in the air.
I think both of those guys modeling should have spent the $400 on a dentist instead.
I listen to music at work on headphones; it would be great if I could come back to my desk, put them back on and have the same song playing that I interrupted when I left. I'm a bit surprised that Apple hasn't figured out how to do this yet....Hey Apple and Oakley -- you listening?
Carousel is a lie!
Now if my glasses break, I lose my MP3 layer. And if my MP3 player breaks, I get a bulky pair of glasses. Convergence is Awesome!
what if you want to listen to music at night?
Only if you're listening to Corey Hart.
I am Sartre of the Borg. Existence is futile.
You're right, to an extent.
These are a bit more than a normal pair of Oakleys. I have a pair of matte black polarized Oakleys, very understated, and I paid maybe $210 for them. Best eyewear I've ever owned, quality-wise. Some other styles do come near the $300 mark, I believe.
That being said, I'd still prefer to just have a pair of sunglasses and my Rio Nitrus. I don't see the need for this combination, at least not until the get it a bit more compact.
I find it ironic that people on Slashdot are bashing this. Maybe it isn't geeky enough.
Oakley doesn't target the slashdot crowd. They target skiiers, snowboarders, skateboarders, cyclists, etc.
The people doing these sports would really like the idea of not having the wires for headphones to get caught up in, and the extra weight of a player flopping around. I've pulled my headphones out a lot while riding a bunch of times.
The placement of the headphones looks really nice since they don't need to fully block your ears. They've even got good operating temperatures for the player and support both windows and mac. Since they don't specifically require software, thet might even be compatible with everything else.
Most people aren't going to spend that kind of money, but having the music in the glasses will be something that a lot of people go for. But you can bet that Oakley will find people who will definitely want to buy 'em.
And bad jokes about the teeth of the models aside, Oakley knows who they're marketing to. And a bunch of clean-cut models wearing clothes from the Gap isn't how they sell their products.
Cheers
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
the coolness factor is way up there.
For the price of the sunglasses you can get an iPod, which also has a great coolness factor plut the functionality.
When I go to buy sunglasses I look for the ones that are lite and easy to put in my pocket, these sunglasses look pretty similr to a science project where you tape a USB memory stick mp3 player and tape it to a pair of sunglasses. Definately not worth 395$ or even half that. Of course thats just my opinion, i'm sure i don't speak for most people
o/~ Join us now and share the software
This is both:
1) an MP3 player that you can't listen to without wearing sunglasses
2) a pair of sunglasses that you can't wear in extreme conditions.
This is about as useful as a champagne glass with a built-in knife.
Not Found
The requested URL