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More iPod Killers Introduced for the Holiday
An anonymous reader writes "MP3newswire.net has just released part III and part IV of their iPod Killers for Xmas list. Standouts are a $1200 24K gold-plated player from Jens of Sweeden, a 137 Gig unit called the Xclef, Sony's first true MP3 player, and iRiver's MPEG-4 video jukebox. If you missed them, here are parts I and II."
Can we do away with the "iPod Killer" thing, it's old. Nothing is going to "kill" the iPod, it has establised itself as the standard for better or worse. It's like the Walkman. In fact, the iPod is the Walkman killer. Nothing that comes out in the short term is going to be an iPod killer.
A house divided against itself cannot stand.
... How much music can you fit in that kind of space? At one meg a minute, typical for MP3, that's... about one and a half seconds. Surely you expect a little more for twelve hundred dollars these days?
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
how any of these are "iPod Killers"... first of all, none of them have killed the iPod. Secondly, some do more, such as playing video, and probably put themselves into a different catigory. Thirdly, a gold played mp3 player is dumb.
Also, they don't have iTunes or iTMS. Nothing is going to kill the iPod without the whole package.
and f.p. b-otch.
The More Laws, the less Justice --Marcus Tullius Cicero
Everyone wants to be Apple. Everyone.
Business isn't willing to pay for products, innovation and careers, so we get brands, mortgage commercials and layoffs.
I wonder if they got the sack.
It's Sweden, and not Sweeden.
It's Jens's and not Jen's. Jens is a name for crying out loud.
At risk of sounding like 'me too', I'm also sick and tired of the 'ipod killer' mentality.
Even if a better product comes out, its not going to 'kill' anything, my ipod will keep functioning just fine. And at this point 'better' is a personal preference anyway..
Part of the ipods popularity is brand recognition ( apple), and that's not easy to negate, even if you come out with 'better' technology..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
From glancing at the pictures, I don't think that any of the devices will be as nice to use as the iPod.
One very nice competitor isn't listed: Olympus' mp3 player (the one without the camera). It's the only mp3 player that looks as good as the iPod.
Tom
After spending that much money I don't have any money left for legal music.
Did anyone else get the image of some serial killer known by the name "The iPod Killer" that managed to find someway to turn an iPod into a murderous device?
If not, I blame Daylight Saving Time. (I just moved from a non-DST state to a DST state.)
What?
When flash eventually becomes cheap enough that I can put my music collection on it I'll consider an alternative. Removing the harddrive from the equation will offer a bit more durability and long term health.
I really don't see any advantage to buying something other then a 'proven' iPod when all other comparable products will cost the same price.
Where's the advantage?
Anyone else notice on the "Jens of Sweden MP-400", that besides being nicely compact, it's got an OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diodes) display?
0 .j pg
http://www.mp3newswire.net/Graphics/Jens%20MP40
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
I've had an MPIO FL100 since I bought it last christmas. MPIO/Digitalway, the manfacturer, does a better job than most electronics manufactures in updating the firmware. For a craction of a price, at least take a look. The iPod is a sexy piece of electronics though.
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
" big reason Sony has failed to dent the digital portable market is that none of their players support the MP3 format, just their own proprietary (and very good) codec ATRAC3. "
Everyone knows ATRAC3 doesn't sound good! 18 kids in their parent's basement running a dodgy app with un-official versions of the old ATRAC codec said so!
Now playing at a theatre near you!
I've never heard of this place called Sweeden . Must be a small town in Canada or something.
I've got the DCube on my list.
maker UK seller SE seller
Belief is the currency of delusion.
I wouldn't use an Ipod if they threw it in my face.
There are so many better mp3 players out there that I just don't understand all the "iPod standard" crap.
It's to big for a compact player.
If you don't care about size, but only about capacity there are products that will beat it 4 fold.
And it's to expensive compared to it's rivals.
And to top it off: Ipod is to music what MS is to software.
I actually went to RTFA and I don't even see any prices (or predixcted prices)
Am I missing something?
I think it's spelled "Sweeeden".
ogg vorbis seems to be becoming a pretty standard feature on these new portables. Now what am I going to complain about.
I remember having read this 'ipod-killer' story before...
DAMN THOSE EDITORS!!!
Half of these don't even come close to competing with the iPod. The ones that play movies are more in competition with portable DVD players and Game Boys. Others just don't look like good buys compared to an iPod or iRiver. (Why am I going to pay $500 for a 1GB player when I can pay half that for a 6GB player that's not much larger?)
Personally, I think that the thing that really makes the iPod, and which I have failed to see in any competitor, isn't iTMS or iTunes, or the sexy design, or even the fact that you can put a scratch on it by looking at it for too long. It's the interface. Starting with the jog dial (which I haven't seen on anything else. Scroll wheels don't count.) and going to the software UI, I haven't tried out another player that comes close to being as easy to use as an iPod. Heck, the iPod is so much more pleasent to use that I'd gladly take one over a player that sports 20 more GB, costs $100 less, and is HDTV-ready.
Like the old saying goes:
A fool and his money are soon parted.
In this world, status and not reason, are the order of the day.
Besides that, won't the 24 karat plating on this iPod clone eventually 'wear away' from use? 24K gold is too soft to make jewelry out of so they have to add stuff like nickel to it to harden it up which lowers the rating down to 18 karat and 14 karat gold and so on.
First, all the me-too music players seem to forget a few things. Like the fact that sometimes less really is more. It's not about who has the biggest hard drive, or the biggest screen with the most colors. It's not about who has the most features or even the lowest price. It's about hitting the sweet spot with regard to features, battery life, storage capacity, size and price. None - absolutely none - of these would-be iPod Killers has shown that they understand and can execute based on this principle. (And think back: what made the original Palm a success? Sweet spot. It's that simple.)
m -it doesn't mean we should start doing the job of their marketing department by tossing around the "iPod killer" label. I guess if we keep throwing this crap against the wall something will eventually stick. But you'll get no points for prognostication from me.
The other thing that is often forgotten about the iPod's success is the fact that it's achieved damned near jewelry-level fashion accessory status. Put away all the jokes about Apple customers being Gucci-wearing fashion slaves. This technology is finally becoming ubiquitous enough to have to adhere to people's sense of taste and style. Like cell phones. Be glad. You want to make an iPod killer? It's going to have to be something people want to be seen with.
Finally, Apple is in a really enviable position because of their online music store. They were the first ones to implement a DRM scheme that is both tolerable to most purchasers and most copyright holders, as well as providing a first-rate buying experience. The combination of the best portable player and also the best online music store is an almost unbeatable one-two punch. You want an iPod killer? It'll have to interface with a good - no, very good - online music store. One with a proven recipe for success.
Just because Sony or Dell or iRiver or some other company announces yet-another-little-box-with-ear-buds-dangling-fro
You like your Macintosh better than me, don't you Dave? Dave? Can you hear me Dave?
Wow. The RIAA has its first martyr.
which iPod would Jesus use to steal music?
Some of us can actually hear how crappy MP3s sound, along with the crappy sound of all the other lossy compression protocols. Yes, even at the maximum possible bitrates, there is definitely sonic material sorely missing. So, why do none of the 60+ gig players not support WAV format (insofar as I can tell)? Is it so hard to incorporate WAV capability?
Whoa, that's some anti-Apple prejudice you got going on there. Let's see, for your statement to be based on facts instead of emotions, Apple would have to be threatening "to cut off the oxygen supply" of companies who sell competing mp3 players, charging companies more money unless they put "works best with iPod" logos on their web sites and catalogs, and actively trying to kill off competing firms.
Don't confuse market share with predatory practices. You can achieve 90% market share the right way (Apple), or the wrong way (MS).
"Audio formats supported: AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 (32 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible, AIFF, Apple Lossless and WAV". http://www.apple.com/ipod/specs.html
apple could cut their advertising in half with the amount of articles and discussions their stuff generates.
scott king
even if a better and cheaper, player comes out, it'd still have a tough time disloging the ipod.
ipod has become the status quo now, the "cool".
Timang tinggi tinggi
parang sudah asah
alang alang mandi
biar sampai basah
Never make presumptions about how much audio someone else needs to carry around. The reasons for wanting to carry this or that amount vary significantly and can be quite complex.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
I've been looking for a while but there doesn't seem to be a player like this ...
I'm envisioning a CD/MP3 Walkman-style device that can read audio off of burned DVDs. I would have imagined there would be portable DVD-Audio players capable of doing this, but I can't seem to find one.
THe closest I can find are the portable DVD players that ALSO happen to support dvd-audio and mp3. But these are far bulkier than I'm looking for, and have far shorter battery life.
I'm thinking a sub-$99 device that could double as a cd walkman, or, with a dvd in it, give me 4.7 gb of mp3s.
anyone seen anything like that?
The first thing that struck me when I looked at the page, before thinking about all of the competitors lining up to fall at Apple's feet was the photo of the iRiver's MPEG-4 video jukebox.
The player itself is viewed rotated 20 degrees or so. What happens is that the entire picture, including the black background looks rotated as well. I actually had to scroll and line up the image with the top of my browser window to make sure it was straight. Needless to say, iRiver is trying to win the MP3 market by disorientating potential customers enough that they grab an iRiver while reaching for an iPod.
Yup...
Design is more than functionality. Design is more than features. It's not about interface, per se. It's not even (as so many claim) that it's about style in the sense of fashion.
It's the whole shooting match.
People who don't grok Apple, don't seem to get that.
I had a can opener. A manual can opener, that I got for about 5 bucks in the early eighties. A maid accidentally threw it out several years ago. Only when it was gone, did I realize how wonderful it was. I searched off-and-on for months trying to find a suitable replacement. I bought 5 can-openers finding each to be annoying to use.
I finally bought one that was about half as good from a mail order place in Great Britain (I live in the US). Nobody in the world makes a can opener like what I used to own. It was the right weight, and had a perfect gearing. It gripped the lid, and neatly dropped it in the trash. The balance, texure, and feel were simply superb. If I were an architect or other design geek, I would have realized how good it was long ago. As it was, only by comparison with alternatives did I realize how nice it was.
The iPod, and other great designs from Apple, exhibit this kind of property.
If you look at a checklist of features, look at particular aspects of functionality, price, or other attributes in isolation, they do not appear special. Through feel, and through use, they just seem right. As a whole, they simply strike many people as right.
You're right, gold-plated, mpeg enabled, or cheaper, a true iPod killer would have to have the "whole package".
What's tricky, is that this requires attention to the details of the design which most people are never actually aware. It will take a great deal to "kill" the iPod.
the one thing it seems they all still lack is a decent scroll wheel. Do they really think apple owns the patent on this? Scroll wheels have been on keyboard synthesizers for over a decade (certainly long before people had even heard of anything called mp3) The only thing apple did was to make it "laptop stlye" touch scroll. I am suprised no one has tried to use the more "moveing part mechanical style wheel" But maybe that is what I am missing? would it break too easily? Since when has that stopped electronics manufacturers? :)
meep
http://www.mp3playersrule.com/ Apple is hard to beat for this christmas season. The new small 5GB players from creative and rio will get some attentention.
What you are unknowingly referring to are the Archos MP3 hard drive based players. When the iPod 20 came out, I bought an Archos Jukebox 20 Recorder for exactly half the price. Admittedly, it was a tad larger than the Apple which also gets points for style, but since when did geeks begin caring about carrying around the equivalent of e-jewelry? At the time, it was a more than viable alternative. It didn't hurt that the crazies over at Rockbox Firmware (down right now) rewrote the firmware for Archos systems. You can now develop your own apps for the system as well as enjoy total customization of the interface. They've added a "video" extension, a text file reader, and multilingual support, among other things. Now, with the release of the new 20 gb Archos player, even smaller than the iPod and the around the same size as the iPod mini (2.9" x 2.3" x .7") albeit with a larger screen (2"), I am beginning to believe that a new era of iPod competition is being reigned in.
Yet, all the players are made in South Korea.
all these players do about the same, why pay so much for an overpriced item?
id go with some of these other brands, the ipod design looks very feminine, just my personal opinion.
Think Different used to be/is Apples motto.... I guess that doesn't apply when discussing alternative's to Apples products. Screw "Think Differently" I'd like to see the Apple zealots just "Think", period. Back to the pile.....
give me something fresh and at the next level, ty.
Off topic, but it is 28 karat gold (pure gold) that is to soft to be made into wearable jewelery. Impuraties are added to make gold wearable (to 24K), and of course 14K doesn't need any more impurities added to make it stronger, so 14K is still half gold.
You'd think the iPod'd be dead and gone by now, no?
Yesterday, I saw the iPod and the mini, and a shitheap of other players. Man, that's an education. It seems you can't discuss taste, well, I happen to disagree, but sheer beautiful simplicity is hard to beat, that's for sure.
Even more fun: having a salesman show the features. Every time he says "it can do this" you go "OK, show me". No wonder the iPod is still alive and well...
I think, therefore I am...I think.
give me something new and better looking, ty.
i doubt everyone has the same taste in design. i personally don't like ipods look, so the advantage would be aesthetic pleasure.
Actually, I really didn't. I expected Offtopic.
Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
Odd that none of the 4 articles mention the Rio Carbon mp3 player. I just got one a week ago, and love it. It's a 5gb HD based player, smaller than the iPod Mini with more space, and the battery lasts up to 20 hours. Plus, you don't need to use iTunes / MusicMatch type software (although you can if you want to) - I just plug in the USB 2.0 and copy files to it.
What it is good for, is downloading photos on vacation. You got the little gizmo to provide music on those long trips... and you can also dump your camera card onto a 20Gb hard disk, and then use the colour screen to verify the photos are really there. (Peace of mind!)
This beats taking your laptop on vacation; but nobody other than Archos really seems to value this feature. Even the new ipod requires you to buy the crappy clunky slow Belkin adapter (bigger than the ipod itself! Needs batteries!) just to dwonload a memory card into the unit.
A portable CD player. I burn CDRs from the MP3s I buy and Rip the CDs I bought into MP3s so I can remix them into a new CDR.
Costs about $30USD for the portable CD Player.
It kills the iPod, because I cannot afford an iPod.
Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
A small box with: a) Replaceable 4-6 GB flash memory - No moving parts ...
b) Replaceable and Cheap Li Battery or the box uses rechargable AA batteries and also works as a recharger.
c) When connected (via USB 2.0 or Firewire) this box appears to a PC just as an external drive
d) No uploading/downloading restrictions - it's just a harddrive ... isn't it ?
e) Has support for every music format under the sun ... FLAC, OGG, etc ...
f) A UI ripped right off the current gen ipods
g) A graphic equalizer - but that would just be a nice to have.
"a $1200 24K gold-plated player" WoW!
Imagine how expensive it would be if it were Linux-based and only available in Japan!
Dear S-dotters, I would like to dress up as "an iPod Killer" tonite for a party - what should I look like?
My choices are:
a) a hammer.
b) a walkman.
c) an LP...
But Wait - I can dress up practically as anything and claim myself to be an iPod Killer to have same smashing success...
OK, now back to carving that pumpkin...
This mod stuff is odd... the greater slashdot mod community of the day apparently decided you are worth a '+5, insightful', whereas I myself would have given you a '-1, attention span of a ferret' since you somehow failed to read the gp's last sentence.
With only 5 sentences to read, that's a 20% failure rate.
There's a few links to news, but mostly it's just a front for one of those Amazon front stores, with no real content.
There must be loads of us who'd like some information as to which of these devices is the best ogg player. Does anyone have any experience of the oggs from these articles?
Am I the only one to suspect /. for being someone's cash cow... The story submissions are ridiculous, people are joking about how crappy it is, it's blatantly obvious that a quarter of the +3 and more comments are just karma whoredom digitized.
Is the financial aspect of this site inspectable by the public? Does anyone know if we're not just a million creatures of habit that generate ad views for someone who since long doesn't care?
Not meaning to spread FUD here, but I would like to see a good answer in plenum. The lack of such would mean the end of my own personal grazing here.
Other manufacturers already killed this generation of iPods for me--admittedly a pretty tiny market. ;-)
I got the iRiver 20gig hard drive unit this time, and it gave me freedoms not offered by the iPod.
One kind of freedom was double the battery life.
Another was free use of my own files. The iPod, according to the Apple Store, had two modes, which I (not they) call the Free Mode and the Big Brother Mode. The Free Mode, they proudly proclaim, lets you use it as a portable USB drive, plugging in to any computer and doing anything you like with any of your files. Anything, that is, except actually PLAY THEM. That's disabled in Free Mode. This media player won't play any media if you loaded it in Free Mode.
If you actually want to use the media files you load, you have to use Big Brother Mode, using a special loader app that doubles as a storefront for exactly one store: Apple's own. Your device has to be registered with this app and there are all sorts of arcane rules about how many units of this can be registered with that on which computer and how to properly disable one before you can move to another, etc. Bah!
The iRiver, like most non-iPods, has one mode: Free Mode. It's just a simple portable USB drive that lets you plug into any computer you like and put any files you like anywhere you want, and it will play the ones whose file types it recognizes.
And like so many non-iPods, the iRiver plays OGGs, which is great because I write software that produces audio output and I'd like to be able to play my own output without incurring legal liabilities for my own code.
And like so many non-iPods, the iRiver has an FM tuner that I can use to listen to the news and other live broadcasts. (I only wish it had an AM tuner as well.)
And it will record live audio direct to MP3 from either its built-in microphone or off the radio.
I'm a technical guy whose idea of "cool" doesn't involve sporting hip fashion accessories. Name brand rock star touts and the chance to be considered hip don't hold a candle to useful features, as far as I'm concerned.
And I'm not interested in signing up for Apple's You Can Be a Hip Lemming, Too, But You'll Have to Do As We Say agenda. If they can produce something with superior technical features that doesn't require me to submit to their larger agenda, I'll give them another chance when I make my next purchase.
"Those who have never entered upon scientific pursuits know not a tithe of the poetry by which they are surrounded."
I provide some discussion, and I get this back. Love it. Ever heard of projection? Cuz you just demonstrated a textbook example of it.
How in the hell is a $1200 24K gold-plated player considered and iPod killer? I don't personally know many folks that could afford something like that. Hell, I don't know anyone that if they did have the money would spend it on something so stupid like this.
Is it me or did they just repackage the past few weeks of stuff from Engadget's digital audio section?
The market for portable music players is really becoming funny, totally bloated with offers and confusing. Actually I'm sure that having so much competition is an advantage for Apple. It has now become so difficult and time consuming to choose a music player, checking the features, the prices, choosing between solid-state or hard disk based players and whatnot, that the only clear way is to buy an iPod. With so many people around carrying it, it's definitely more reassuring to take the iPod. At least you know it works well, otherwise nobody would be using it.
If you go with something else, you can never be sure that your investment is a good one, and you will allways wonder if you haven't made the wrong choice.
The beauty of the situation is that the same psychological lock-down that leads more than 90% of computer users to go Windows is working for the iPod.
Look at all four of those articles! They're listing players that have 512MB .. Or players that only support ATRAC format! Or players that cost $1200 and plated in gold?? Every single one of those listed players fails miserably in one way or another; There are NO killers listed in that entire mess.
Go to Best Buy and look for a CD Walkman .. 90% of them all support playing MP3 files off burned CDs .. They generally run around $40 each. They've been around forever.
The phrase "ipod killer" means absolutely nothing now. It's just marketing hype. One has to wonder when "iPod" is going to be synonymous with "digital music player"
Why don't they even mention the RCA Lyra HD and RCA Lyra A/V? The current RCA Lyra HD is as small as an ipod mini, but with a 20 GB HDD instead of the measly 4 GB of the Ipod and it's the same price! It also comes with every accessory your ever likely to need... I work at an electronics store and I sell as many of these as I do Ipods, probably more...
Yet as was the case the last several times this type of story has come out they are ignored... I'm betting no one will even read this since I didn't get to reply until I got back home today, but in case you do the Lyra is my bet for Ipod killer... If anyone ever realizes they make one that is...
we are all invisible unless we choose otherwise
One has to wonder when "iPod" is going to be synonymous with "digital music player"
It already is, with some people. Last Christmas after I'd shown a friend my iPod he told me he'd bought his kids "iPods" for Christmas. Turns out they were fairly generic USB flash drives that could play music files. Maybe held about 32 of them. He knew iPod was an Apple thing, but was bandying the term around generically. I've heard others do the same since, mostly just non-computer type folk.
Your argument seems a bit circular to me. Because Apple entered an existing market (remember that when the iPod was introduced many felt Apple had entered the market late) and blew away the competition there is now no competition to the iPod. But you seem to be saying that because there is no competition Apple won't be able to compete when other companies deliver products that match or exceed the iPod's capabilities.
Based on your comment about Apple being unlikely to drop the price of the iPod to $50, you seem to be thinking of price as the only criteria for success in a competitive marketplace. But price is not the only factor in this market, as Apple has shown repeatedly since the introduction of the iPod. Apple has been competing successfully against competitors that have been given rave reviews here on Slashdot, so your comment about lack of competition for the iPod rings hollow to me. It's kind of like saying until someone makes a perfect copy of the Ford Explorer and sells it for $10k less, the Ford Explorer has no competition in the SUV market.
As a side note, could we drop the whole, "Macs are more expensive than PCs" thing? Apple does not sell at the low end, but at the medium and high end their machines stack up very favorably in price to Dell and other competitors. If you want to buy a $700 computer, a PC wins hands down. But if you move upmarket, Macs often beat comparable PCs in price.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
One thing I know: a physically larger, uglier, or slightly cheaper competitor will NOT be an iPod killer.
A "killer" has to be smaller, ligher, and just as elegant and at a very competitive price point to be an iPod killer. It has to be better than the iPod in -ALL- ways. And whatever the product, it has to be better not just for a month before a new, better Apple release, but for more than six months. A "killer" must up the ante substantially.
Thats how Japanese cars killed the British car industry. They made all-around better, cheaper, and more stylish cars. In the mean time, the British made more expensive, less reliable cars that weren't updated for 7 or 8 years. As the British invested zero in their product lines, the Japanese came in and took over the market.
The question is, will Apple sit on their butts, or will they continue to push the iPod product line? My bet is that the iPod is Apple's big winner, and they're going to fight to keep competitors away.
I remember reading that the way Apple designed the internal CPU unit for the iPod allows it to have very high quality audio output consistently when you are operating the controls of the unit.
I would suggest to Apple, however, to make some improvements to the iPod:
1. Allow users to change the battery on their own.
2. Design the next-generation iPod to be fully-compatible with future-generation high-capacity flash memory cards that can be re-written to many times.
The term "IpOd killer" is a compliment so know when to be graceful, mac-fan-boy.
Wow, you sure misread me there! I -love- my iRiver iHP-120. My point was actually anti-"mac-fanboy". I hate the ipod killer thing because it's just another sign of drooling over a device that is arguably not the best of breed....
A house divided against itself cannot stand.
To drive sales Sony capitulated and recently claimed that they would start selling all of its future portables with MP3 capability. Unfortunately, the new Sony Sports Network Walkman doesn't have that capability.
So, they're not there yet. Which is a shame, if Sony would just release the NW-HD1(or 2) with gapless MP3 capability (it does gapless ATRAC now) and less shitty software (something like the iRiver database updater would be nice, thank you) I'd be 510 EUR poorer in a second.
This from an iPod owner.
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