Slashdot Mirror
2004 Digital Media Winners and Losers
An anonymous reader writes "MP3 Newswire has just released Richard Menta's annual digital media winners and losers list. Apple tops the winners list for the second year in a row as does eDonkey and last spring's Grey Album protest. Losers include the term iPod Killers, Winamp, and the WMA format. BitTorrent made both lists. Menta also released a 2005 wishlist. Topping that list is an iPod in-dash unit similar to the old Rio Car. You can see Menta's previous years winners and losers lists."
In the winner side may be kind to name ARM, IBM, AMD and VIA designs; at the loser side, Intel, MIPS and Hitachi (CPU division) for being less paranoid than expected (that was the key secret for previous uP series: be paranoid in extremis to survive).
With everyone making Tivo knockoffs (got my card @ newegg.com for $30 bucks last year) -- how is that service a winner?
Did the author forget Tivo charges for DVR when most of us that are tech saavy can get it for free?
or mainly their bitching, I heard about the Grey Album and downloaded it to see what the fuss was about. Had they not done anything I would of been none the wiser, now I posess an albums worth of good music.
Btw, I don't own any other illegal mp3s. Just the Grey album because EMI moaned rather than marketed it. Given a chance, I'd still pay for the cd however, the bit rates are lower (192kbps) than what I rip at (256kbps).
Jonathanjk.com
WMA's ability to load web content is NOT merely flaw. It's a flawed feature.
Think like Microsoft for a second. All it wants to do is dominate without any concern for security. It's trying to get the content industry to use its WMA format. Some lackey speaks up at a meeting:
"I have a great idea. Let's add a feature to WMA so that it'll open up web content. So if EMI wants to distribute an WMA song it'll open an option to buy the whole CD."
Of course all the brainless other lackeys at Microsoft agree that it's a great idea and implements it, completely oblivious to any security concerns.
My question is whether Microsoft will be smart enough to disable this feature in future releases.
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
if you get and alpine cda-xxxx head unit, say like this head unit here, and also get this adapter you will be able to control the ipod from the head unit and have song titles and other info display on the head. this is not the same as the bmw thing...it is much much better.
i saw the baby, and the baby looked at me
Its becoming obvious that a totally open non-DRM format is a precondition for digital music.
are unfortunately the customers
Hey, this is my sig, if you don't like it, STOP READING MY POSTS!
As for the cable boxes that are starting to include it, they're even worse than you could ever imagine. UI nightmares ahoy, terrible listings, horrible season pass implementations, and overall just too restrictive.
The only downside I can give Tivo is their Cablecard HD capable model wont be out until 2006, which is too long. It should have been released by summer 2004.
You're paying for packaging and convenience.
Most maps are available online -- yet ADC and other companies still exist, who package and distribute maps. People still buy TV Guide, and yet again, it's something that people could get online for free, if they knew where to look.
I've written code to parse the NOAA's collection of METAR information, because my boss didn't want to pay some service provider for them to supply us with the information that had been converted to a more readily understood format.
But that's not to say that there is no sustainable market for those people who sell the information. In the case of TiVo, they're selling more than just the information, as you're also paying for the rest of your system, and continued R&D. [and of course, lining someone's pockets, but we'll just assume that part isn't a significant number].
There are plenty of things that are sold where the initial sale results in a loss, but additional money is made over time to justify the cost. Cell phones are a prime example -- they give the phones away, so they can make a profit by selling service. If TiVo wasn't selling service, they'd have to charge you more upfront. [and in fact, there's the 'lifetime' charge, which takes this into consideration, however, they're still losing money in the expense of their modem banks, and whatever else it takes for them to supply to information and distribution infrastructure]
Just because you aren't willing to pay for the service, doesn't mean that no one else is willing to pay for convenience. We live in a commercial society where people are willing to pay extra for time savings (prepackaged meals), and to show off (luxury vehicles, oversized homes)
I'm not going to claim that I can predict that TiVo is going to flop, or not, and I did work with my roommate on building a TV-connected game system that was also a PVR a few years ago, and I thought the process was a pain in the ass. I do know that I don't bother using it with the current software, and I haven't gone to the trouble of rebuilding it. I'd probably pick up a TiVo, and recycle that system, rather than go to the process of updating it.
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
I'm very sorry, I didn't mention I was a mac user, all I have been doing is clicking "import" (only once per cd btw), do I need an education in verbose, are you willing to teach me? ;)
Jonathanjk.com
Not only is this a shill site, the author doesn't know the difference between lossy and lossless audio formats. Notice how they suggest FLAC might replace WMA.
I think what he was saying is that as good as any of those devices might be, none of them sell like the iPod.
To outdo the iPod you need to outdo the concept -- not just make what amounts to an iPod with way-too-small video playback and no iTMS compatibility. There are basically three companies that I believe could not only outdo the iPod in quality but then move the merchandise: Sony (if they get their act together), Microsoft (with their massive R&D potential), and Apple itself (Where do you think the iPod profits and the interest from that $4bn bank account are going? Most likely into research, the lifeblood of any company that depends largely on innovation).
It's my personal theory that the halo effect was just what Apple had in mind when they went full-bore with iPod and iTunes for Windows -- what may be the world's first self-sustaining itself-profitable ad campaign, with the intention of getting an iMac onto every desk and a PowerBook into every briefcase, with far higher margins than the iPod and a greater potential for sale of software.
This is particularly true for the iTunes Music Store, which is run at break-even -- its purpose is to provide iPod filler and introduce people slowly to Apple software. Why do you think the Windows version looks a lot like something out of OS X, when they could have easily made it look more like a regular Windows app? So when people go to the Apple store to get an iPod accessory, they stop to look at the G5 -- who could resist? -- and everything looks "just like iTunes" and they take one home. So it's not just a self-sustaining profitable ad campaign, but a multitiered one -- iTMS draws people to the iPod or vice versa, the iPod draws them into the Apple store or to the rear right corner of CompUSA, and then they buy a Mac.
That's why all the other online music stores are failing -- Napster isn't a hardware company, but they have to compete with Apple, which is running a superior product at just over even for the purposes of selling more hardware. So if anything is more "loser" than a theoretical iPod killer, it's an iTunes killer -- the Music Store business model isn't designed to be necessarily profitable (at least not to the extent of being a company's main business), but rather to transfer a low cost to the consumer to increase the likelihood of purchasing hardware.
How about this then from Dension here in the UK, just add a 2.5" HDD of your choice and go: http://www.dension.com/main.php?pageid=49&topid=42
Ive not had the pleasure of an iPod or 'iPod Killer', but most of my music is MP3-based and I use a car more than walk (not that I'd walk around with an iPod in my pocket these days). End of this month, I'll be hopefully getting hold of one - I think they retail for around £270 - £300 (what that is in $ is anyones guess atm).
The market has branded the iPod a winner, and this site just reports it. It's not spinning anything (as you would believe).
6 million iPods sold, possibly 8.
You also have some strange history there. Apple didn't create the first mp3 player. Or the second, third, or even 10th. Creative and Compaq were ahead of them with hard drive units and Rio, Samsung, and a few others were ahead of them with CD and flash based units.
Apple is #1 for transforming the mp3 market from niche to mainstream. That is why the iPod is synonymous with mp3 players; not because it's the first, but because it made the market it now rules.
Kind of like how Ford created the automobile market, even though they weren't by far the first cars.
What you want is not a list of "2004 winners," and "2004 losers," you want a list of "2004 cool gadgets," but then I would argue what is important:
The device that no one remembers?
The device that everyone knows?
GPL Deconstructed
Bittorrent is on the winners list, but several key torrent sites that were raided are on the losers list as they have been permanently closed. The maddening thing is that torrent sites don't trade music files, just torrents (little road signs to files) so there is no legal precedent in ANY country that makes them illegal. The problem is, these sites don't have the money to mount a case. The concept of guilty until proven innocent gets a boost here.
. htm .
That is not true actually, a few years ago, in Belgium, when mp3's where publicly available on http and ftp servers, some webmasters that only linked to those files or sites were sentenced/convicted in court (I don't know which is the most correct legal term). Here is a Dutch text that describes what happened: http://www.law.kuleuven.ac.be/jura/36n2/dumortier
This is one lame signature, please read the message above instead.
I won't comment on the winners and losers list, but the number one thing *I* want to see? A volume control for the iPod. Yeah, the scroll wheel is a great metaphor, and I love it, but it's a pain in the ass for changing the volume.
For one thing, you have to be at the "Now Playing" screen for volume to even be available. Now, imagine you have the unit in your shirt pocket, walking down the street. The next song comes on way too loud (or way too quiet). Quick - reach in and try to find the right spot on the wheel and rotate it in the right direction, without hitting any of the other buttons. Or, try to press the pause/next/previous buttons. Not too easy, is it?
Ideally, there would be a volume slider and the three playback buttons on the top of the unit, between the hold switch and the remote adapter on the Mini. The hold switch is too big anyway, and could be rotated 90 degrees so so that it moves front-to-back, with no loss of usability.
Yes, I know you can get an aftermarket remote-control dongle from Apple that does this, but have you looked at those? Big, ugly, heavy things that dangle from the headphones like a tumor. Couldn't they have made something that fit flat against the top of the unit - you know, kind of an elegant design?
Anyway, I love the unit, but hate the annoyance. It's a small annoyance, but it makes an obvious wart on a really clean design.
Oh, and the ability to randomize a playlist/album would be absolutely fantastic.
What if life is just a side effect of some other process and God has no idea we exist?
Based on recent computer history (for example, when Word ousted WordPerfect), to outdo the leader, you need to offer "more for less". WP, for all its power, didn't look as nice or seem as easy to use as Word (note the word "seem" - advanced Word features can be just as arcane to find as advanced WP ones), while "buy Word and Excel - get PowerPoint free" seemed like a good idea at the time. OK, so hindsight shows that looks aren't everything.
So, for a company to outdo Apple in either player or media ditribution, they need to offer something that seems to be "better" than an easy to use player, or something that gives "more" than an easy to purchase download site. Yes, there are players with more capacity / cost less / more features than an iPod, but the public aren't convinced that these make the player "better". Most competitors use tech style naming - look at the name of Sony's MP3 player as an example - when the public is still going fo rthe simple name (iPod + capacity / size). As for the download sites, what people appeciate is consistency. Tracks that are different prices, because record label A wants more money than record label B don't translate well to consumers, who may not be aware (or care) what label an artist is with. Similarly, being able to burn some bought tracks to CD, but not others, or only being able to listen to the music while you continue to subscribe to the service, does not make sense to people who can understand the concept of buying a CD. So, it looks as though the "iTunes killer" has to be something that is as consistent as iTMS for price and burn to CD, and as easy to go from download to "listen" as the iTunes / iTMS integration. The problem is that the bar is already pretty high, so a new player would have to be very very good to make people want to download it and use instead of Media Player / iTunes (those who use something like WinAmp would already consider the option, but may not be a large enough group for the "new" player to make money).
So, maybe a combined p2p / torrent / general media player, that has a link to an online store with a larger catalogue than the current leaders will become dominant. Because anything less will not be "more for less".
"She's furniture with a pulse"
The H340:
Plays up to 1200 hours of digital music
40GB of internal storage
Large, vivid color display
Ultra-fast USB 2.0 transfers
Supports secure transfers from Windows Media Player
Rechargeable battery lasts up to 16hrs
View JPEG or BMP images
Built-in FM tuner
Integrated voice recorder
Record music from any audio source(no PC required)
Supports MP3, WMA, ASF and OGG music files
Store or transfer files of any type
Enhanced 3D audio
Packed With:
iriver earphones
Carrying case
USB 2.0 cable
Audio line-in cable
Installation CD
AC adapter
This iriver is the perfect Valentine present for a sweet geek girl like me.
Julia Cameron
Oich ù agus hiùraibh éile