Virgin's New iPod Rival

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Posted by timothy on Wednesday October 13, 2004 @12:12AM from the like-a-virgin dept.

iammaxus writes "CNET has the scoop on Virgin's new iPod killer. Favorite quote: 'Virgin said support for open standards such as WMA will let people select the music service of their choice.'" While this doesn't look like a bad player, it's the same price as an iPod mini (and incompatible with the most popular pay-per-download site), so calling it an iPod killer seems a bit premature.

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the 50th challenger for the throne by TAGmclaren · 2004-10-13 00:16 · Score: 5, Insightful

except, really, it doesn't do anything better than the king. Branson of all people should know that if you don't differentiate, you won't beat the incumbent. Especially when the incumbent has a flock of rabid followers and is singularly considered the coolest tech gadget in the past ten years.

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Qua?? by Anonymous Coward · 2004-10-13 00:16 · Score: 5, Insightful

support for open standards such as WMA
Since when is WMA an open standard?
I've already got my iPod and I hope it doesn't get killed by this device. Can I take Virgin to court if they kill my iPod?
Come on, this "iPod killer" thing needs to stop until the device is actually rated and used by someone, and is actually better than the iPod. Also, a key point: it needs to actually sell more.
WMA? by darkseid · 2004-10-13 00:16 · Score: 5, Insightful

Since when is WMA considered an open standard? How about FLAC or OGG?
What they don't realize by panker · 2004-10-13 00:16 · Score: 5, Insightful

iPod is cool, but its seamless integration with iTunes is what makes it the thing to beat. These iPod killers seems to forget that.

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1. Re:What they don't realize by jrockway · 2004-10-13 01:33 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  I agree with you. All the posts above mine (in reply to yours) seem to think iTunes + iPod sucks, but they are very uneducated.
  
  If I listen to an audiobook on my computer for a bit, then sync with my ipod, the ipod resumes where I left off. When I get back to my computer and sync, the bookmark (on the computer) is right where it was when I was listening to it on the iPod. Perfect integration.
  
  If I change the per-song EQ setting in iTunes, it is reflected on the iPod.
  
  The song count, last-played timestamp, etc. are all synchronized between iTunes and the iPod.
  
  Soundcheck works on both iTunes and the iPod.
  
  (need I mention the iTMS?)
  
  All of these things make the iTunes + iPod combination perfect. Everything that the iPod does, iTunes does. Everything iTunes does, the iPod does. It even syncs with iCal and Address Book, too.
  
  That is why the iPod has not been killed by some "iRiver" (how did they get away with that name!?) or Sony ATRAC3 player. Nobody else has paid attention the software, all they pay attention to is bullet-points (0.3 megapixel camera! yay! that's just what my music player needed!) and names like "iPod killer".
  
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  My other car is first.
Re:Ipod Killer? by ViolentGreen · 2004-10-13 00:27 · Score: 5, Insightful

We have had so many "iPod Killers" that the term now just means "new mp3 player."

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Not everything is analogous to cars. Car analogies rarely work.
Re:support for open standards such as WMA... by blowdart · 2004-10-13 00:46 · Score: 5, Insightful

yes, you can use the online stores that have 2% of the market, 3% of the market, and 7% of the market
But does the end user care, as long as the music they want is available for purchase? Doubtful. With all the major labels, and a lot of the minors on all the stores most people will use the store that works for their device and not worry about anything else. It's when you try to track down a hard to find piece of music the problems arise. If you're a Beatles fan you're right out of luck.
Of course there's other "choice" available with WMA, you can choose a device from another vendor, you're no longer locked into Apple as controller of the format, seller of the music and only "manufacturer" of the portable device that plays it.
"it's their choice, not ours..." by mgkimsal2 · 2004-10-13 00:49 · Score: 5, Insightful

Songs downloaded from iTunes are not supported. It's their choice, not ours.

I'm glad someone has put it in such basic terms, rather than in small print.

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Re:support for open standards such as WMA... by thparker · 2004-10-13 03:11 · Score: 5, Insightful

OK, but is the iTunes market share not driven by the ownership of an iPod? That's what I'm questioning.
It's probably not as clearly a factor as some would assume. The addition of iTunes for Windows boosted iPod sales, so a strong argument exists that the iTunes Music Store drives iPod market share more than the iPod drives iTMS market share. (I, personally, started using iTunes because I liked the interface, decided to buy a couple songs off the iTMS because it was integrated with iTunes, and only later decided to buy an iPod because it worked well with iTunes.)
But like I said, a market share number alone doesn't answer WHY. It's entirely possible that a growing number of non-iTMS-compatible devices will shift the market share breakdown. However, if most people buy digital audio players to rip and carry their own music, the music store is almost irrelevant. Most music is still sold on CD, and in that respect iTunes is compatible with almost every player out there.
tom