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Creative Gunning For the iPod
yashchopra writes "CTZ is running an article where Creative's main goal in 2005 is to take away market shares from Apple's iPod music player, which they believe is very possible. The publication also have some information on the upcoming flash MP3 player standards that we will see this year. "While many companies are looking forward to their flash MP3 players, Creative has other plans. Creative was one of the most popular exhibitors on the show floor with their Zen Micro and Zen Touch players on display. Creative's sole goal this year is to take away some market shares from Apple's iPod. The company believes it to be a possible task, as iPod is limited to iTunes when it comes to purchasing music online and with Creative's products, you will be able to purchase music from major online vendors. The ability to download and listen music from any major online retailer and the price are what Creative is using as their marketing strategies to compete against Apple's iPod. But other than that, Creative's products look very much like the iPod with a few changes."
Either Creative is wrong, or the dumbass that wrote the article is wrong...
iPod is limited to iTunes when it comes to purchasing music online
That's total BS, and I hope people don't think that this is true. You can purchase music anywhere online that has the Mp3 or AAC formats. Audible.com is a good example of where to get audio books. And allofmp3.com (although maybe not so much on the up-and-up) is another place to get music online. I'll leave the copy and paste of these sites as an exercise to the reader, since I'm not trying to pimp them or anything.
But come on folks, you can put almost ANY mp3 on your iPod, and it certainly doesn't mean you have to use only iTunes for your online music. It's also possible to buy music from iTunes and load it on ANY music player. There are programs out there (Hymn) to remove the security from the iTunes music, and them convert to Mp3. Google has your answers.
This is just a way for Creative to scare people away from the iPod, and it is crap.
"as iPod is limited to iTunes when it comes to purchasing music online and with Creative's products, you will be able to purchase music from major online vendors. ". I purchase all my music from www.allofmp3.com and have no problem with iTunes. Just give up and stop writing crap about it....
There is a flaw in that line of resoning.
A, Creative assumes that it can steal market shares from Apple.
B, Creative states that the reason why it can do this is that it is much more adverse when it comes to online purchases.
While both A and B may be true, they haven't taken C into reason:
C, Only a very small share of MP3 device owners purchase the majority of their music.
Lets face it. Even though we all love iTunes and the Apple music store most of us still have 90% pirated MP3s, and that is hardly going to change in the long run. With this assumption, what Creative may actually steal is the 10% of the 60% (?) Apple market share that applies to people who actually buy a lot of their music online. I.e, 6% if they steal all of it (not very likely?).
So in conclusion: Not likely, not for that reason.
/John Sjolander, project manager Contribio
Apple is superior to Creative in more than just usability and design - Creative has no qualms about rushing poorly tested products to market.
I bought a spiffy new flash 128 Mb Creative Muvo that had clearly been rushed to market. When it locked up about three months later, I learned it had not one but TWO crippling bugs.
1. Unplugging the Muvo's USB connection without doing the "Safely Remove Hardware" thing in Windows can make the Muvo permanently lock up (can't be turned on). I didn't do that (but lots of people do).
2. Attempting to fill the Muvo's flash to capacity can make it permanently lock up. I did that, as does everybody.
Creative's warranty is 90 days and I couldn't get my $220 + tax. I keep my worthless Muvo as a reminder - they won't fool me again.
If you must buy a Creative product, do some research and beware of buying something that's only been on the market for a few months.
There are a hell of a lot of iPod users/fans here at /., and I doubt most of them have been influenced by the teeny bop stars and U2. (granted, some of it IS rabid Apple-fanboy behaviour, but I digress)
The iPod is more popular because it was the first out of the gate, had far more storage than the Flash memory offerings, looked/looks better than any other product available today and is far more simple to use than Creative's or anyone else's device. (iTunes is easy, scroll wheel is a godsend) The last one is particularly important, considering that many/most people are barely computer-literate and are rather frightened of technology.
Marketing and envious, keeping-up-with-the-Jones buying has certainly put the iPod where it is today. But the initial and ongoing popularity is because it is simply the best product available. The Creative product IS good, but the iPod is better.
I'm sorry, but once I did it myself I started to agree with the anti-Apple battery-trolls to a certain extent. It isn't something an average person can be reasonably expected to do. The design of the iPod, in this regard, is seriously fucked up.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
Creative's software is not as good as iTunes.
Does it offer unlimited bitrate ripping of music into AAC, MP3, AIFF, WAV and Apple Lossless?
Does it offer unbridled speed burning of Audio CDs?
Does it offer unbridled speed burning of MP3 CDs?
Does it offer complete integration with the music store?
Does it offer rendezvous library sharing?
Does it offer smart playlists?
Does it offer built in capability to back up your library to DVD or CDR with one click?
Does it offer an interface as easy to use, and as elegant as iTunes?
No.
This sig has been deprecated.
AAC is an open format, one that was created by Dolby.
You mean you want Apple to open the Fairplay DRM, and I think Apple is open to the idea as evidenced by their offer to Sony to jointly operate the iTunes Music Store. Sony though, decided to go their own way with yet another format and DRM.
I did everything Creative recommended, the built in scan-disk, formatting the disk, upgrading the firmware
In my opinion, that's a sign of a major difference between the way Creative thinks of their products and the way Apple thinks of theirs.
When my old-school 5 GB iPod died last year, I decided, instead of spending $250 to repair it, that I'd spend $50 more and get a new 20 GB model. (Mine was long out of warranty, you see. Always buy AppleCare, y'all!)
Mine came in the mail --I bought it from the online Apple Store -- and it worked great for a few days, but then it started acting funny. I called Apple, and without even really listening to my problem, the guy says, "I see from your mailing address that you're about 20 minutes from the Apple Store So-n-So. Can you take it in there? I can make you an appointment in half an hour, if that's good for you."
I said sure, got in my car and drove to the Apple Store. When I got there I went to the "genius bar" and introduced myself, and one of the guys behind it said, "Oh, hi. Here." And he handed me a brand new 20 GB iPod, still in the box.
I should have just sprinted for the door, of course, but I stood there looking stupid instead. He told me that Apple policy for people with misbehaving iPods that are still covered under warranty is for the customer, if possible, to just take it in to the nearest Apple store and exchange it for a brand new one of comparable size and features, no questions asked. They didn't even have any paperwork. Just "Sorry for the inconvenience. Here's your new one."
How many computer or consumer-electronics companies do you know whose official, written company policy is "Sorry for the inconvenience, here's your new one?"
Just for the record, the full year of AppleCare comes with the iPod. For a fee --I don't remember how much, but it's less than $100 --you can double that to two years.
And the treatment you get with AppleCare is amazing. I just got through writing a long comment about my AppleCare experience. The key phrase: "Here's your new one."
You can do that. Set your iPod to manual syncing, and it will preserve everything that's currently on the iPod and will allow you to manually add songs from any computer and create and manage playlists. You will still not be able to copy songs off the iPod; for that you'll need separate software.
The mandatory installation of QuickTime is because, well, iTunes REQUIRES QuickTime - QuickTime is more then just a media player, it's actually also a large chunk of Apple's Carbon APIs ported to Windows. iTunes uses QuickTime as a porting layer of sorts, as does much Apple software that runs on Windows. So you literally cannot run iTunes without QuickTime.
Your best bet with regard to the audiobook thing is to convert it to AAC instead, then rename the file to ".m4b" - there's no DRM encoding on it, but it will allow you to use the audiobook specific features by tricking iTunes into thinking it's a downloaded file.
My English teacher once told me that two positives don't make a negative. Two words for her: Yeah, right.
My creative player was no different. A plastic switch broke and made the unit extremely difficult to use. When I was looking at a new player, I did not go to creative. I went to apple with thier mini. It had one switch, and a trackpad with button, something that has proved to be very reliable. Likewise, the ram allows the harddrive to be mostly powered down and safe under normal cicumstances.
I paid good money for the creative palyer, almost as much as the mini. Creative just didn't care enough about the product to make it reliable. Althought the battery life was better than the iPod.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
I have an H320, and it certainly has all the features one might ask for, but compared to the iPod is certainly also full of usability annoyances. While the iPod uses a single, easy to navigate menu structure, the iRiver has a bunch of buttons and things have to be accessed by completely illogical button choices.
For example: Want to change the shuffle and repeat mode? You have to learn to press the record button while playing (not kidding). And you have to learn that "Directory" means shuffle all the tracks in the directory, and "Directory All" means shuffle all the tracks and repeat (sound logical - there is another icon for repeat, only used when you aren't shuffling!). And with six shuffle modes, not a single one is shuffle BETWEEN directories, the natural choice for those of us who like to hear whole albums!
Want to access the menu to change mode to radio, recording, photo, etc? You now have to know to hold down the same record button. Think you can view a photo file you find while navigating music? No, you have to go to photo navigator and find the file again. There is a button called A-B which is used for segment repeat (a rather obscure function to deserve it's own button): to change equalizer settings you need to know to hold this down while playing. Otherwise, it is used to access menus in the file browser, change the seek mode for FM radio, etc etc. The list goes on and on.
My H320 is a great piece of hardware, but I had no idea when I bought it that the software could be so shoddy. The only thing to do is really to wait for the rockbox port to be finished...
weenies suck....
how about 30 bucks?
that is what it costs for an iPod battery replacement you retard.
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
Even beyond that, Creative has exactly zero reasons to be critical of Apple's design and marketing, since that's what they excel at. For starters, check out a recent NY Times article on what the iPod Mini offers, versus other iPod-killer wannabees. Here's what the article says on how Creative's Zen Micro player, Creative's mid-range product, compares to Apple's iPod Mini:
Pros (Mid-Range) Cons (Mid-Range)
The price is the same ($250), but even if the Zen Micro offers more in the way of features, the quality of those features is lacking. At the bottom end of the market, which is more price-sensitive in nature, you have Creative's Nomad MuVo line of products, the most inexpensive of which are:
So now along comes Apple's iPod Shuttle, which lacks some of the more salient features of the MuVo, but offers more space for less money per MB.
Pros (Low-End)
Cons (Low-End)
The only place I can see Creative possibly beating out Apple is at the top-end of the market, with their Zen Touch (20/40GB) and Zen Xtra (30/40/60GB) players. Despite being a bit larger and heavier than Apple's iPod, they offer a superior price-per-GB ratio. Then again, if Creative's problems with their mid-range products appear in their high-end products, that may not stop consumers from seriously considering the iPod, even though it's far more expensive per GB.
Personally, I'd rather buy a player that's well engineered (hardware + software), and built by a company that stands behind its products -- that company being Apple. Apple offers a fairly straightforward set of base models, with a growing lineup of 3rd-party accessories that serve to expand the appeal to their products. Creative, in many of these respects, doesn't meet these high standards.
Oh, and before you call me an Apple weenie: I don't like Macs, I don't own an iPod, and I own an old-ass Creative Nomad II mp3 player (whose flaws have been evident from the very start). In all likeliness, I'll probably snag either an iPod Mini or Shuttle at some point in the near future; I haven't decided whether giving up the LCD display and capacity is worth the cost savings.
My iPod's battery died. Luckily, it was still under warranty, but I was less than impressed with the prospect of having to mail the player back to Apple for a damn battery. So when I got the iPod back, I sold it and bought a Zen. So far, I've been happy with it. It can hold the same amount of music as my iPod for less money, the music sounds the same, I don't use the iTunes store, so that's a non-issue for me, and I don't really like the touch pad anyway. I think the Creative is the better product, and can definitely compete with the iPod.
"Do I dare disturb the universe?"
This isn't a geek thing, so I suspect a large proportion of "average users" also use their's every day, in much the same way as I used mine.
My guess is that a huge proportion of average users will need to replace their iPod battery within a year or two of buying it. My guess, too, is that most don't, they get a different player or try to get it repaired. A professional battery install is around $75-100 depending on who you go to. That's a little absurd.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
I have a Zen Xtra, and it's a piece of crap. I bought it because it was cheaper than an iPod for the storage (30 gigs for $270 about a year ago). Problems include:
- The headphone jack is screwed up. Occasionally I'll only hear out of one ear (it's not the headphones, I've tried several pairs). The Zen Xtra is notorious for having headphone jack problems.
- You need to install drivers and a Windows Explorer extension before you can move files to and from the thing. Why can't it just be a plain USB mass storage device? What about plug and play?
- Controls: That stupid scroll wheel/button is a terribly stupid idea. I've gotten used to it, but it's really clumsy to use.
- Interface: the lag between pushing a button and its effect is at least half a second, more if a song is playing. It's really irritating to be scrolling through a huge list of artists and stopping when I see the one I want, only to have it keep scrolling another 20 names because it didn't notice that I stopped holding the control down.
- The battery cover does not attach snugly. There's about a millimeter gap between the cover and the unit that I can push closed, but it just snaps back out. It's been like that since day one.
I've never used an iPod, so this isn't meant to be a comparison between the two. The Zen Xtra is just plain crap.
Yo mama so fake, she failed the Turing Test.
I haven't yet had to replace my iPod battery, but I mostly hear that it is not difficult to do yourself if you are patient in cracking open the case.
I think the going rate for a DIY battery replacement kit is around $25. Check out OWC. Make sure you get a kit that includes the tool(s) you need to open the case. The only horror stories I've heard are from people that I wouldn't trust to open a car door. =)
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
Of course they don't think people are buying iPods to download form ITMS. They've been in this market for longer than Apple. They know the score. That's why their machines don't lock you into an ITMS or to proprietary audio formats (which is how Sony messed up with their NW-HD1 -- an error recently corrected with the new HD3).
You don't need to tell them that, either. In case you haven't noticed, their latest models look a lot more like iPods than their earlier models, and they've got this "touch" interface, which is clearly inspired by the iPod wheel, without being a direct imitation.
~~~ Centigrade 233 ~~~ yaku, yaku, yaku!
You'll pardon me if I lend absolutely zero relevance to this claim. Unless you're doing at least volume normalizing with a meter, with identical tracks, preferably not lossy-compressed, preferably blinded comparisons, sound quality comparisons are useless. Louder music almost ALWAYS sounds better, as proven by many blinded tests with listeners with far better ears than you or me.
You'll also pardon me if I don't give much importance to somebody with a $1000 sound system. $1000 isn't really much in the realm of audio systems. My front speakers cost more than that alone, and mine isn't what I would consider audiophile quality.
"No, no, no. Don't tug on that. You never know what it might be attached to."