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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....
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.
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.
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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."
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.
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.
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