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Dell Launches Flash Music Player
desert island writes "Dell launched a new flash-memory digital music player, named DJ Ditty, to compete with the iPod Shuffle. Both devices are $99 and come equipped with 512 megabytes of memory. The biggest difference between the devices is the Ditty's 1-inch LCD display screen, which helps users navigate their music lists. In addition, the Ditty can receive FM radio and sport a rechargeable lithium polymer battery that can provide up to 14 hours of continuous play."
1. "DJ Ditty" is a stupid name, and likely to get them sued by P. Ditty. (This is the same guy who threatened legal action against "Puffy" forcing them to change their name to "Puffy Ami Yumi.")
:-P
2. 512MB, FM Radio, 1 inch LCD screen... That sounds awefully familiar... You don't think Dell would just be rebranding and pretending they did all this great and competitive R&D, do you?
Nah. That wouldn't sound like Dell. (Which is to say, that sounds EXACTLY like Dell.)
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
(taken w/o permission from Daring Fireball)
Rhymes With Ditty
Wednesday, 21 September 2005
See news item that Dell had released a new flash-memory-based music player to compete against the iPod Shuffle: the Dell DJ Ditty.
Note that no picture of said Ditty accompanies news item.
Visit dell.com.
Note that no picture of said Ditty appears on front page of dell.com, even after several reloads to cycle through random promotional images.
Search for "ditty" in text of front page of dell.com.
Note that "ditty" is not found.
Begin to suspect that even Dell is not very proud of this device.
Visit apple.com.
Note prominent and primary emphasis on luscious product porn of new iPod Nano.
Hop back to dell.com and search for "Ditty" in site-wide search box.
Note vague resemblance to a 50-cent Bic lighter:
Note footnote attached to claim in "Product Highlights" that the Ditty can pack 220 songs into 512 MB of memory, roughly twice the songs Apple claims can fit on a 512 MB iPod Shuffle.
Follow footnote to see explanation that this storage estimate requires encoding songs as 64 kbps WMA, which bit rate is half that of Apple's default of 128 kbps AAC, and roughly equivalent in fidelity to that of transmissions carried over tin cans and string, but which, perhaps, is not a dirty marketing trick, but, rather, a fair assessment, considering that anyone with such profoundly bad taste in industrial design who would consider purchasing this device probably also has such bad taste in music as not to notice that their 64 kbps-compressed songs sound like mush.
Sit back and recall, with tremendously smug satisfaction, a decade's worth of tech industry punditry holding that superior design would never get Apple anywhere, and that Apple should instead, you know, be more like Dell.
The main difference between the ipod and this player is that the ipod plays AAC files (and not WMA) and this dell player plays WMA (and not AAC).
I'll do it for cheesy poofs.
but damn. Slashdot looks sweet this morning. Seems like they finally implemented the new css, and it's looking great.
And it wouldn't be the first time Dell rebrands a flash player. They used to rebrand the Oracom ORC200 if I'm not mistaken.
Since the linked story doesn't have pictures of the MP3 player in question, here's the official page from Dell. Enjoy.
--
RumorsDaily
If you're going to post an article about a new product, it might be helpful to post a link to the product. I kind of like being able to see pictures of what the article's about...
to get one of these bad boys. It's not just about the technology, you know - it's about how COOL I look. And let me tell you, I'll look fucking cool wearing one of these.
It's all about style, people. About time some of the nerds here realized that style wins out over substance every single time.
Take it from me, I bag a different chick almost every night.
Funny how the pc-pro with &%#%& advertisement over the text in Firefox, said that the AAC/mp3 format of the ipod is a tie in and this way suggesting that WMA is not a tie in. Very funny.
My wife's sketchblog Blob[p]: Gastrono-me
Does anyone buy these?
AC
hallelujah! a radio!
now i would actually buy one of these things
why the heck the iPod doesn't have a radio is completely beyond my understanding
i would never buy an iPod simply because of that incredible oversight
50 cents of circuitry=massive improvement in usefulness... do a cost-benefit analysis
i simply cannot fathom why any player would not have a radio... what, it's peripheral to the player's purpose? you mean playing music?
and PLEASE, none of the bs about radio being dead... radio is NOT dead
if you get one pop station in the middle of nowhere, that is NOT an argument against the inclusion of radio for those of us who live in major cities and have a lot more channel options
seems like a no-brainer to me, it's so little added cost for such great benefit, and yet getting a radio on a player seems like such a struggle... i don't understand that
are you listening apple? it's a deal breaker for me, and plenty of other people, to not include a radio
good move dell!
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Both the Napster and Yahoo have unlimited music access for these players. I think Real might also make music available that way. I have used both Napster and Yahoo (with Yahoo now because it's cheaper and I like the attitude of the developers).
You can also find per-song costs to BUY for only $0.79 on Yahoo. Walmart's are $0.88.
The unlimited subscription and cheaper music prices are _not_ available on ITunes. Yahoo/Real/WalMart/ETC are competing with each other to give you a reason to go with them - once you buy an Ipod you are locked into Itunes and Itunes alone.
"DJ Ditty" ?! Holy Crap! That is such a bad name.
DJ P Ditty with highly annoying background chatter about making money, groping women, and busting a cap in peoples asses on every song I hear.
Get with the times DELL is '05 not '85.
I think the invisible hand of the market has its middle finger extended
--A wise old fart named SC0RN
Who ever came with that idiotic name? It should have been named Dell P14YZ0R!
Flash stick mp3 players? Doesn't PEZ make these now? Who cares!
People say "I'll google it up!" when they want to search for something on the net.
They'll say "It's so Dell!" when talking about something so ugly that people can use it to scare kids.
-xype
It'll probably never be in the nano though, that thing's pushing it as it is on size.
They also aren't advertising for it. In a similar article, they disucss Dell's marketing scheme for this product.
"Dell has launched a digital music player dubbed the DJ Ditty in what it calls its first "word-of-mouth" promotional campaign. The vendor announced the player in the US only with a banner on its website, and stated that it is getting the word out through employees and customer focus groups. Dell has also launched a special multimedia site targeting young buyers. The announcement was so low-key that a UK spokeswoman was unaware of the launch. "We don't get US announcements but I wouldn't be surprised if it were available here soon," she said."
This might have been a viable competitor with the iPod Shuffle, but only if people know about it.
"For Great Justice."
There are lots of similar players on the market. Why is this one better/more newsworthy? It does not even look cool.
Freedom of speech doesn't come with bandwidth.
I agree DJ Ditty is a poor name choice.
I would have gone with F'in Biatch
GreasyBloater
Civilization, the death of dreams.
Ok, you're joking but you have a point. Sytle does tend to win over substance. So why in God's name have Dell placed their name in large type across the device. It is pretty damn ugly to begin with in my opinion but who the fuck would want something so obviously branded Dell? This will prevent it selling well no matter how good the device. It just looks crap! Sony could get away with putting their name so obviously on a device but they have spent years building up a cool image. What kind of an image does Dell have?
All Dell has done with this is prove they don't have a fucking clue!
That's one .mp3 player that everyone I know who has an iPod would never buy. Dell needs to find some designers that know how to make things look good.
As far as i am concerned, the iTunes software is one of the key reasons Apple have done so well. It's easy & effective, whereas I suspect Dell is not. But then I guess we knew that right?
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productde tails.aspx/dj_ditty?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs
My spirit takes a journey through my mind...
Dell is trying to establish branding for a personal accessory that has a four-syllable name? Especially "DJ Ditty," which sounds like it's being marketed to kids? I can just imagine how that's going to play out.
What about UI? Will it have a proprietary UI? Will it be as easy to use as iTunes?
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
all the encoding I have done of the last two years has been to ogg.
why not make all this plays ogg compatable, the cost can not be much comapred to implimenting wma or even mp3 ?
ERR 411[Max number of witty sigs reached]
Why no radio? Well, it makes sense to us Apple users. The iPod, and the entire Apple experience, is intuitive for a certain kind of person. Artists, fashion mavens, leftists, and other creative personalities can sit in front of a radio-free portable media player and just "get it," but accountants and everyday pencil-pushers don't have a prayer. Squares should stick to Rios and DJ Dittys. iPods are for different thinkers.
y .jpgj pgp gq .jpgj pgq .jpgm .jpgy .jpg. jpgd .jpgk .jpgg .jpga .jpgv .jpgd .jpgk .jpg
g boothsized0hs.jpg
Evidence?
http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/7792/img08079i
http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/3600/img10156rv.
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/2539/soho0uj.j
http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/5614/img66606p
http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/6756/img64271jj.
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/5082/bleeder0w
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/1672/img85083c
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/7234/img82642a
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/787/img60047ow
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/4819/img58719t
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/9681/img46882w
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/8519/img45081g
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/3102/img39464t
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/7783/img07414p
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/5816/img07328r
http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/5096/img07309m
Versus:
http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/3118/ms1by.jpg
http://img270.imageshack.us/img270/7789/linuxnylu
I realise I'm feeding a troll here, but you do realise you can still buy music on CDs and rip them with iTunes, don't you?
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
I liked this article on the marketing campaign.
Also, Dell is really starting to suck. I have a feeling that to buy this is to buy pain.
And finally, Shuffle's got a secret.
Luck favors the prepared, darling.
For a couple more bucks you can get an iRiver which are much better players.
Looks like a nice unit, but I have a different question.
If you have an iPod, do you HAVE to use iTunes to put music onto the player?
A friend said you CAN drag and drop to the device (like an external USB drive), and the files will get STORED on the device, but are not playable.
Is this true?
Ignore Alien Orders
What power has law where only money rules.
This is probably the main reason I got the ipod shuffle, because it could actually play music in random order. It's amazing how many players miss this capability. There are a lot people that just like to load their player with a bunch of music on random and leave it play forever.
-- these are only opinions and they might not be mine.
You ought to fault them for not adding in a hand crank so that the device can be recharged if the power does indeed fail and the batteries run down. Or maybe, Apple is trying to make a device that does /one/ thing and does it well.
DJ Ditty changed its name to "Ditty" to avoid confusing its fans. At a recent product launch, some people were chanting "DJ Ditty!" and some people were chanting "Ditty!" and it threw everything off. This way, everybody can just chant "Ditty!" and be on the same page.
put a nice spin on it.
My favorite quote:
"...Begin to suspect that even Dell is not very proud of this device."
Kiteboarding Gear Mention slashdot and get 10% off!
Don't be such a drama queen.
why the heck the iPod doesn't have a radio is completely beyond my understanding
What?? Presumably the reasons for not including a tuner are commercial - for example apple want iTunes to be the source of all your listening experience. The fact that business manoeuvres, dirty or not, are so completely beyond your understanding means that you are likely to get ass-fudged many times in your life.
But I doubt this is the case and you are in fact being a drama queen.
it's a deal breaker for me, and plenty of other people, to not include a radio
Clearly not that many. Anyway you can already buy a music player with built in tuner (have you looked into the Dell DJ Ditty?). Question is why are you so hurt that it won't be from apple?
Now i'm sure Dell has thought of this, what with viability and all...but aren't Li-Po batteries a little dodgy? They offer the best power density, apparently really good stuff that way, but I know if they overcharge *or* even undercharge they like to swell, and then catch fire. At least that's what is a very real possibility with R/C LiPo batteries. (People sometimes will charge them in a fireplace - not lit naturally - or some other safe spot, and sometimes they will even have a spot handy to put their battery if it starts swelling. Often voltage meters etc are necessary to make sure you aren't discharging the battery too far)
iPods can be put into one of two modes: player mode and storage mode.
In storage mode, it becomes an external hard drive. Music files copied to the iPod in storage mode cannot be played when the iPod is put into player mode. Unless, that is, one uploads one of the many third party pieces of software that allows you to do just this.
In player mode, one does have to use something akin to iTunes to transfer files. But that something does not have to be iTunes. There are many third part programs that will suffice. This is how iPods can be used with Linux, which doesn't have iTunes available.
So, out of the box, your friend is correct. But one can easily fix the problem by installing third party tools.
You have to pay $14 to get a normal standard 1 yr ltd warranty. Evidently this thing's a piece of crap.
Link to configurgation page
Something to think about.
${YEAR+1} is going to be the year of Linux on the desktop!
I honestly cannot see any other reason for Dell releasing this... They see Apple selling similar items that are completely dominating the market and they release something that's nearly the same functionality-wise and extremely ugly; those two attributes are common among rushed products... I hope Dell (at least) learns that most people will choose desgin when compared with two products with nearly the same functionality.
Support alternatives to Paypal: http://www.e-gold.com
Dell's offering
:P
As you'll notice its a little longer thinner (depth) and not as wide. I doubt the Zen Nano was packing extra space inside just for the heck of it. Dell also has a 5 band equalizer compared to the Zen's 4 band.
So the conspiracy theorists can go back in their holes now
-everphilski-
> OS X...because making UNIX friendly was easier than fixing Windows
;)
As much as that's funny, to be fair, it's actually because it was easier than fixing Mac OS
I kind of doubt that Steve will crap his pants over this one.
As mentioned elsewhere, the iPod is not so much the best bargain musicplayer, but the best all-around device: nicely styled, software works, DRM isn't too awful, etc.
Also very important: the iPod is cool, while the Rio and other stuff was considered uncool. I read about parents complaining that they got their kid a cheapo music player (at Walmart!), but then had to shell out for an iPod (and consign the other to the dustbin of crappy electronic devices), because their kids got teased at school for having an unstylish device.
I'm happy Dell will try to give Jobs some competition -- hopefully he'll drop the price, add a radio, etc.
http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_law/when_to_
... didn't Dell include a cigarette lighter function? I know that I'll put a cigarette to my lips pull out my Ditty and will be pissed that it doesn't light the damn thing for me. Hell I'll look stupid in front of chicks and stuff.
There are numerous other players on the market, which already have fm-radio/ogg/mp3/wma/aac(?) support, and support AA batteries (Which are far better than a non-changeable rechargeable one). And they have greater storage (e.g. 1gb+).
I fail to see how this is news or worth looking at.
"Others who bought this player, also looked at : http://www.iaudio.com/ , http://www.iriver.com/ etc."
The Ginger Dog
No *way* was it left out due to size. I've got a Sandisk MP3 player that's got a built in radio and it's not exactly bulky.
You'd really have to see one to appreciate it, but if this this is the Sandisk you are talking about, the Shuffle is actually _a third_ of the size volumetrically (75.2 x 32.8 x 20.8 mm vs 83.8 x 25 x 8.4 mm) and almost half of the weight (22g vs 40g, with batteries.)
I swapped a AAA-powered stick for a Shuffle and the Shuffle is much better, particularly convenient that it charges through USB rather than annoyingly running out randomly. I'd much prefer the size of the thing as it is over a radio (although a screen _would_ be nice to see what is playing, I'll agree.) Interface on the Shuffle is also better for me in that it is much more responsive than the player it replaced (e.g. next button works _immediately_ rather than after a delay like many flash players, am not accusing the SanDisk of having this problem.)
Maybe someone with more understanding of electronics can answer this one for me. Howcome all the portable devices with radios always have FM only? Why do they never have AM? It can't be circuit complexity... I built crystal radios with those silly 100-in-1 project kits from all those years ago. I could wire up a working crystal radio (admittedly, with zero understanding of how it WORKED) in about 15 minutes. And that didn't even use a bloomin' battery!
So why on earth don't they include AM too?
I think it is time for companies like Dell to say, okay, we lost that one. Sometimes you get the bear, and sometimes the bear gets you, and when that happens, you do not waste money and resources in an hopeless attempt to gain a foothold. You concentrate on what you do well -- making ugly mass-market computers in Dell's case -- and wait until something changes in a fundamental way. At this moment in time, the iPod rules supreme, and the drool-factor of the Nano has just made that worse. Accept it, bid your time, and fight when you have a change. And spare us, yourselves, and your stockholders this sort of crap.
http://www.dellditty.com/
What happens, I bet, is that Dell realized that Ditty is going to be an utter failure following iPod Nano, and decided to save marketing dollars on it.
Part of the reason the iPod works so well and has such a responsive interface is that it keeps a detailed database of all the MP3s and playlists stored on it. This database has to be updated each time you add songs to the iPod, which means you need to use iTunes or a third-party application to transfer the songs over.
Otherwise, the iPod just acts like a Firewire hard disk - which it is, when it's hooked up to your computer.
He who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.
Why on earth is Dell even bothering to do this? They're trying to enter a market that's already flooded. Between Apple and Creative, the $99 MP3 player market is pretty much taken care of.
When it comes to style, though, I still prefer my MobiBlu Cube. It has everything that this new Dell unit offers plus 7.5 hours of voice recording. Dell's product looks like most of the other MP3 players out there, so the only thing to differentiate this from the competition is the name. Sounds a lot like when Carly left HP, she and her goofy ideas went over to Dell.
Hmmm... were she and Michael Dell possibly...? Nahhhhh....
The Overrated mod is for reversing inappropriate, positive mods, not for voicing disagreement with a post.
Well, it may be past 1am here, but I could have sworn I had read this comment before.
... I'm complaining about creativity of the comments below an article about Dell. Sorry, carry on now.
Oh, that's right. I did.
It looks like the parent has been beating the same, dead, horse, over and over again.
Enough of moderating this guy insightful, please! At least make him be a bit more creative. Between all the story dupes and the comment dupes as of late, I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.
Oh wait
**AA: a bunch of mindless jerks who'll be the first against the wall when the revolution comes
This new Ditty is a great addition to Dell music player line up. It manages to capture all the style of it's larger siblings whilst being small enough not to consume too much warehouse space it is destined to need...
The iPod Shuffle can:
1) Play iTunes songs.
2) Be used as a thumb drive.
I didn't see anything on the Dell site mentioning these features, so the Shuffle does have some advantages.
Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
The big diff though is I have to use Music Match or some other P.O.S. software to sync it... no thanks. iTunes is as good as the iPod and there is no way I'd switch; FM transmitter or not.
Yes, by Apple.
I've been wanting a good/compact/decent memory MP3 player for awhile now. The reason I didn't get the iPod shuffleis because my friend said they break very easy, plus I don't like the lack of a display screen. The name, yeah, kinda wierd but oh well, not a huge deal. I think this is going to be good competition for the iPod shuffle if it gets alot of media attention like the iPod does.
"Dude, you're getting a Ditty!"
The phrase just conjures up some nasty speculative images.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
This article analyses and explains why the shuffle sounds the best of all major mp3 players: Shuffles Secret
-- these are only opinions and they might not be mine.
"Normal" people such as myself"
u mean like cave people??
Nobody tells u to buy anything from anywhere my man..
Having FM is good, but what about AM?
---- Booth was a patriot ----
For those whose browsers don't link outside of
I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
Consequently, iPod owners will eventually be replacing their existing equipment. And more than a fair number will be buying the newer, sleeker version to replace their still working models.
Think of it like buying a new car. It is more common for people to buy new cars because they want a new car than because they need a new car.
But you're dead on about appearences being subjective. I'd only observe that (1) the set of people that don't care about what devices look like is fairly small and (2) Apple seems to have visual designers that are in synch with the overwhelming majority of people who buy personal music players. I'm of the opinion that both of these factors will negatively impact the sales of the DJ Ditty.
And what about software on the PC side. Shuffle's iTunes integration will no doubt kick the crap out of anything Dell can bundle together. Also the fact that it can play iTunes downloaded songs. I don't think you have appreciated how important these two things are!
Also what REALLY matters is brand and image. People think Apple and even the Shuffle looks cool. So cool they even were the thing on their arm or around their neck.
Nobody wants that ugly thing from Dell, especially with the Dell logo so visable. Can you imagine anyone with that around their neck. It looks like a lighter. The only people who would have it around their neck will be young boys who like like geeks and nerds (and hence were even aware of the extra features). The 'oh so cool' people will stick with the shuffle and will act free advertizing to everyone else.
Mark my words, this player will rapidly die. After a few news articles like this, nobody will ever talk about it again. I honestly don't think it stands a chance against the Shuffle.
You're getting a Ditty!
Best Buy can have you arrested
had to read way down the thread to find the correct marketing answer!
No radio in ipods until such a time as apple has a digital radio deal with some satellite company or cellphone company and it actually works in a tiny size
Before you freak out, you should know that they have compensated for the Dell logo by making the other side have an equally obnoxious DJ logo.
I'm looking for an MP3 player with the ditto's physical characteristics (size, rechargeable, lcd, usb plug without cable) but want to use it for arbitrary audiobooks in mp3 files, which reqires at least "remember my last position", or better yet real bookmarks. I also want to dump mp3 files to it without their software, just as a flash drive.
It's not clear if the ditto can work as a flash drive. The ipod does, but won't play files that are loaded that way (there may be workarounds).
The ipod does bookmarks only for files in audible.com format, which is not enough for me. Ditto says its audible.com compatible, not clear if the bookmarks are restricted to that format.
If anyone knows the answers for Ditto, I'd like to know. I would also like to know if there is a competitor that has these features. The nomads do, but none meet all the physical characteristics (size, built in usb plug, lcd, rechargeable).
In other news, DJ Ditty has been arrested for being in a 4-way shootout with Lil' Kim, Monzy, and MC Plus+
Best Buy can have you arrested
The biggest difference between the devices is the Ditty's 1-inch LCD display screen, which helps users navigate their music lists
The biggest difference between the devices it the Ditty sports that huge, butt-ugly Dell logo prominently while the Shuffle sports that cool, understated Apple logo.
I can't believe you didn't link to the official Dell Ditty site! They show how cool you'll be with your Dell Ditty! And there's a dance instructor in Flash to teach you the latest Hip-Hop moves!
Best Buy can have you arrested
You are spot on. The integration between iTunes and the iPods (including the Shuffle) is often forgotten or simply ignored by those who have not experienced it. iTunes is actually one of the major plusses of the Shuffle. For me this would be the clincher. However, I must add for most people I think it is the look of players and Apples strong brand that will allow it to remain no. 1.
Apple have really got into a good groove at the moment. The technology is better (in this case iTunes integration) and they have the cool factor.
Not too bad, even if it isn't as cool as a Nano. You get 512mb storage AND you can play mp3 or radio. Hell, I paid almost that much for my 256mb Jumpdrive.
jred
I'm not a mechanic but I play one in my garage...
Simplicity!
If I want a player that can do all that stuuf I will get one large enough to hold my whole library! If I am going to carry 1GB around I just want it to play... and be easy to use. Don't give me a screen to look at... don't give me a bunch of option... I don't have a use for an FM player I am listening to MP3s! My phone has a voice recorder.. calculator... calendar... you get the idea.
The Shuffle is sooo perfect because of what it does simply... we just bought twenty for a bunch of little old ladies who will never figure out 99.9% of the mp3 players on the market, but can push the big round button with the play symbol.
Well... enough with the product endorsement, but hopefully you do "get" the idea. The Shuffle especially combined with iTunes "autofill" feature IS the perfect flash memory mp3 player.
I
Seriously though, every new music player that comes out seems to fit this years-ago comment.
OK, the Dell DJ Ditty has a 512MB storage capacity, one of the Shuffles has a 512 MB storage capacity. The Dell site says "...the DJ Ditty's 512MB of storage can hold up to 220 songs..." encoded in WMA at 64kbps. The Apple site says "...the Shuffle's 512MB of flash memory is good for storing up to 120 songs..." encoded in AAC at 128 kbps.
"Gretchen Miller, director of mobile product marketing at Dell..." claims that "...Windows Media Audio format...""...doesn't take up as much space as Apple's encoding format."
If Gretchen is telling the truth then why isn't the capacity of the Ditty reported to be more than double the number of tracks of the Shuffle when encoding at half the sample rate? If you record at half the sample rate and your encoding algorithm produces smaller files than another encoding algorithm shouldn't you be able to store more than double the files on the Ditty than on the Shuffle?
Could it be the FM?
Take it from me, I bag a different chick almost every night.
Except for those days your at the doctor?
This device doesn't have the contacts/calendar/sync features that the nano has does it? I would like to have MP3, FM, and Calendar/Contacts and possibly email sync (with Outlook). But I was looking for an alternative to the ipod. The only decent one I came up with was the Creative Zen Micro 5GB. http://creative.com/products/mp3/zenmicro/ Comes in a range of colours and there seems to be a few accessories for it. It is usually around the same price or cheaper than the nano 2GB, and is roughly the same size. Anyone have any experiences with that one? Or other suggestions for comparable devices?
GnomeSkull
http://jdouglasmedia.com/
He decided that the 'P' was 'getting in the way between him and his fans'
As a rock-in-roll Physicist once said, No matter where you go, there you are.
Well, as usual, I haven't read the article but my first thought was "I wonder what crappy propietary file system this will use" ?
:) but I despair at the ridiculous overengineering of most MP3 players. It's almost worse than under engineering.
I have an "el cheapo" portable MP3 player and the best thing about it is it uses a "bog standard" FAT32 file system. No fancy, unnecessarily complicated databases type structures (hello iPod) and, even better, no retarded over complicated interface software (hello iTunes) which attempt to "manage" your collection and then ends up losing or deleting stuff (hello iTunes which deleted loads of MP3s off my friends hard drive when he borrowed an early iPod from a mate)
To put data on my player you simply plug it into a USB Port (I use it from both Linux and Windows) and shortly thereafter it shows up as a removable drive. You then just copy & paste files across (optionally using as many, or as few, folders as you wish). If the files you put on the device are MP3 or WMA (sadly not Ogg) then they show up in the players menus and it will play them back. If they're not they simply take up room until you move them off to another machine or delete them etc. etc. So not only will it play music I can transport data with it.
In my humble opinion all these other "fancy schmancy" iPod style players (which I am assuming this Dell will emulate) are complete crap. Absolute over engineered bollocks. Why do you need special drivers to talk to a flash based device ? Why do you need crappy management software to talk to a flash device ?
So sorry for the rant (which was probably somewhat off topic
As usual, "Keep It Simple Stupid"....
Sky subscribers are morons. They pay to be advertised at !
Under "Customize it!"
"Save $50 with mail-in Dell/Yahoo rebate. Price shown before rebate. [Included in Price] "
Well, that's clear as mud. The DJ Ditty is apparently so compact, there's no space left for articles, pronouns and modfiers, not even in the ad copy.
Sure makes you appreciate "Do not eat iPod Shuffle." At least we knew exctly what they meant.
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
Let me get this straight. If you wanna save a few pennies on every song you purchase and be locked into WMA, then you should buy a player that is clunkier, heavier, ugly, and use software that is clunkier and takes many more steps to accomplish anything. On top of that, you'll have to log on to the web (another extra step) to use WAL MART(!!!!)s ugly ass music store. But it has a built in radio. You guys are silly.
My friend got this one recently. He hated to admit he got it at walmart, but it's super tiny orange cube with a blue display. It looks awesome and hilarious, and everyone's always asking about it. I'm sure the Dell's nice, but why does everything they make have to be ugly?
The Dell offering is almost double the size as the shuffle (1.98 in^3 vs 1.07 in^3). It's 1.29 oz instead of 0.78oz. The iPod Nano is only 1.5 in^3. Now you see the difference between Apple's design team and Dell's.
Should have called it 'Ditto'!
- Sh!t
Looks more like DJ Shitty to me. Oh man I couldn't resist.
You're behind the times. Some of the commercial third party products that work with iPods, do use their database. And, of course, if you're using Linux, then third party programs are the only game in town.
get the real fact out there. Dell is taking a loss on this to start with.
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
Ive been having this discussion with a few friends for a while. It is my belief that the Ishuffle proves that a products features do not directly translate into sales: Marketing goes a long way. These days everyone knows what an ipod is; and most also know the Ishuffle. It has less features than cheaper players: no radio, no display.
.
Dont give me that "you dont need a display to navigate through 128 songs" - I dont buy it..
Granted, 512 mb its a less space than that which is available in harddisk based players, but 128 songs are a lot.
The funny bit is that apple actually markets its limitation as a feature: random is good. Correct me if Im wrong but hasnt randomize been around since the first portable cd-players?
With Ishuffle you purchase a trendy merchandise that everyone knows and yes; it is easy to operate. You can put it on display, and make a fashion statement - but to me, thats what youre buying for the price of proper navigation and radio - and often, youll be paying more.
Truth be told; I havent held or tested an ishuffle - but i see people in the streets with them on a near daily basis. If I had the cash to could choose my mp3 players like ties or shoes, I might also have an Ishuffle.. but if I have to settle for one mp3 player, that wont be it.
- Mad, ingenous - they've both left you puzzled -
Actually if you look at the total annual revenues (Apple: rev $12.6 Bil, 5 yr growth 8.1%; Dell: $52.8 Bil, 5 yr 11.5%) Dell must be selling something. Dell moves more "stuff" in one quarter than Apple sells in an entire year. The 5 year growth comparison is telling to. Growing 11% annually on $50 billion is tough.
I love it when people throw out bullshit statistics selected only to prove their point. Look at profits, not revenues, and look at four-year growth, not five-year growth.
Asshole.
One of the major marketing insights by Apple is their understanding that people don't want a piece of hardware that looks and feels cheap or unstylish. All Apple iPods 'feel' smooth and strong in your hands, and their designs are avant garde and intelligent. Dell's 'Ditty' (dropping the fact that the name sounds like a two year old is doing their market research) is an ugly and unstylish hunk of technology. Look at these screenshots of the controls http://img.dell.com/images/global/products/dj/dj_l eft_ditty.jpg
It looks like Dell found a surplus of 1980s tape players and decided to reuse the buttons. Not to mention their use of a potentiometer for the volume controls!? This looks like an mp3 player my Grandma would use and I'm doubting that she'd even buy it considering that without a seamless integration into iTunes or a similar program, most of the less computer-savy customers will be overwhelmed trying to manipulate Napster and get their songs uploaded.
512mb, USB2.0, LCD display, FM radio, voice record, simple phone book, etc. $29.99(on sale) USD @ Fry's. AVB Player
The big appeal to me on the Dell over the Creative is that the Dell has a rechargeable battery.
the controlls look pretty fiddley. I operate my lanyad ipod worn under my shirt while bike riding or skiing. I dont think I could quickly operate those teeny controls. The volume knob looks especially crappy. All of them look like great pocket lint collectors.
Look at the seems. Even in the demo-model they can't get them to line up! this is chunk of crap.
And then where's the connectivity? just a couple jacks.
It's all exactly like Steve Jobs predicted: cramming a screen and controls on to a small device compromises the usefulness of both. Here's the concrete realization of something with a uselessly small screen and awful human interface.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Fair enough. You have your opnion and I have mine. Give it 6 to 9 months and let's see which is selling better.
To answer your question, the shuffle is still selling and is not replaced by the Nano.
http://www.dellditty.com/ has this ridiculous marketing campaign with some guy teaching u air guitar I mean who said this will ferrell wannabe ad would be what people want to see about a product. I think I'm getting old.
The least they could have done is to hire a Photoshop jockey.
If you take a good look of the picture just under the 'D' in Dell's logo (printed, not on screen), you'll see a horizontal line created when two image parts do not match vertically. It's totally obvious if you follow the left edge of the player: there is a break in the vertical line (one pixel offset). And at the top, it's just under the black trimming (less obvious, though).
Well, either it's heavily touched up or their crappy manufacturing can't do a simple, shitty design without even screwing it up.
I have an Ipod. And I have a Dell DJ30 (for Rhapsody to go). And the Dell sucks in unimaginable ways compared to the Ipod in terms of user interface. It's slow. The controls don't respond instantly. The little scroll wheel is MUCH too sensitive and impossible to use while riding a bike, or driving a car, or walking fast. The feature set is lacking in terms of playlists and shuffle/repeat modes. Ok to give you an example, Say you hit pause to put the player to sleep because you don't feel like holding the tiny power button down for 6 seconds. When you want to power it back on you hold down power for an eternity and it finally comes up. But none of the buttons work for the first 10 seconds after turning it on because it's CPU is being used to initialize everything, but the display is siting there showing the last song you were listening to. Finally after now 20 seconds since you hit power the buttons start working. You hit play and wait, and wait and wait and finally it begins to play the song you were listening to when it went to sleep. You are listening to a track and want to listen to the next or previous song so you hit a track button. It takes 5-10 secons to change a track. This doesn't sound unbearable unless you consider it takes almost 30-45 secons to go forward 6 tracks. This thing is unbelievably slow with regards to changing songs, loading playlists, etc. My ipod on the other hand is instant. It changes tracks as fast as I can press the button. The DJ? To fast forward through a song you have to hold down the track change button. And hold it. And hold it. And 15 seconds later it finally begins to fast forward through the song. Dell screwed up big time by under powering what ever process they use for the operating system. The sound quality and everything is fine, but the interface is so slow and clunky that if it weren't for the wma to go capability I would have sent it back. And I don't see this new ditty player to be any better.
Here's what counts: ...to you
...to you
price
functionality
batteries
Here's what doesn't count:
appearance (unless you wear transparent trousers and are incredibly vain)
size
weight
a funny circle thing [- note, some people call this 'usability']
corporate branding
Have you ever considered that people other than you might have different priorities? The market seems to put quite a premium on size and weight, and it makes quite a difference when exercising.
No joke. It is pure hype that makes people think the Ipod is well designed.
The click wheel is a terrible interface. What, is there a little piece of string in there that connects the click wheel to the menus? The screen menus go up/down/in. Wheels go around. The metaphors just don't link up at all.
Then again, as the IProduct parody says, Jobs could take a dump in a white plastic box and people would line up to buy it, and they would feel smug and superior for doing so.
"Funny how the pc-pro with &%#%& advertisement over the text in Firefox, said that the AAC/mp3 format of the ipod is a tie in and this way suggesting that WMA is not a tie in. Very funny."
Anyone can license WMA. Real does, Napster does, Yahoo, does, etc. Many of these companies wanted to to Lincense fairplay too. Apple is tying iPod and iTMS, so no deal. There's a difference. Maybe you shouldn't think different, since that phrase isn't even correct English
Vote for Pedro
The only reason Apple has the lion's share of the mp3 player market is that they're the only one's who put any serious money in advertising. Most people have never heard of any of the competing brands
Vote for Pedro
Never had a battery problem (my 1st generation iPod from 2001 still runs with 2.5 hours life) nor a click wheel (on the original, mini, or my new nano). Only issue I had was my first iPod in November 2001 died after about 6 weeks, replaced under warranty.
:shrug: According to your post above, I'm still an idiot for having a good experience, and my friends are idiots for preferring my iPod. Whatever. I think you're an idiot for painting such a broad brush. At least there is symmetry.
My 2 friends that bought Dell DJ's have to keep a paperclip on them to reset the thing, it crashes so much. And it's very heavy. And the "up / down wheel" is much more thumb-cramping than the iPod's round click-wheel. Another friend that bought a Creative Zen finds it OK but still prefers my iPod, he bought the creative purely because it was on sale.
-Stu
Just because of the Dell's form factor and price? The shuffle fulfills a different kind of need to the user than this player. Heck, before I got a shuffle I didn't even know that I had a need for a simple way to hear my music in random order and that I actually liked listening to my music that way because it's something I rarely do (Usually I listen to playlists in the order I created them or I listen to full albums). Apple predicted it and it's selling like hotcakes. This player is just like any other player with a screen and the UI that goes along with the screen and its associated controls. Which means that it should be compared with, say, the nano instead.
No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.
Dell has a much better player. They don't need a stupid slogan like "Life is Random" to make up for the fact that there is no LCD screen to allow you to select the song you want to hear.
Vote for Pedro
" The iPod Shuffle can:
1) Play iTunes songs.
2) Be used as a thumb drive."
All mp3 players can be used as thumb drives. The Dell player probably loads songs using standard file copy software for whatever OS is on the computer it's connected to.
If iTunes support is a must, you probably aren't interested in anything but an Apple mp3 player anyway. It's up to Apple to make its software compatible with other players, and shouldn't be hard. Complain to Apple if iTunes doesn't work with your mp3 player.
Vote for Pedro
Why is it that the iPod dominates the .mp3 player market? It would seem that the evidence at hand directly contradicts your assertion as Apple currently controls a 74 percent market share in the U.S., the world's single largest MP3 player market.
Nice. Was it in their newspaper ad?
Umm... they don't force you. You can play in order if you like. Have you ever seen/used a shuffle?
http://www.ohhla.com/anonymous/puff_dad/nowayout/b enjamin.dad.txt
The truth hurts :)
"from the bricks to the booth...I predict the future like Cleo the psychic..."
...as long as reformatting the flash doesn't make the scissors nonfunctional...
Side note: Welcome to CSS, Slashdot. It's about damn time. Hopefully you'll iron out the resulting issues as you, and Web browsers, mature further... ;)
You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
BTW, the real travesty that has not been mentioned before is the Dell ditty website http://www.dellditty.com/> I guess this is Michael Dell's idea of being hip. While Apple has captured the imagination of the urban-hip, Dell ditty website is trying to position itself as the alternative to the red-neck hip.
Also take a look at this page http://www.dellditty.com/Guitar.aspx> the same color scheme and arrows that were used to promote the iPod Shuffle.
I guess when Steve said, Dell was busy copying Apple, he was understating it.
The linked article mentions that the shuffle is an easy target for competitors.
That's funny, a year ago, the Apple had 0% market share in the flash mp3 player segment. In May, Apple had (according to their numbers) 58% of the flash player market. It seems to me that the market was easy pickings for Apple, not the other way around. Apple took over that market segment IN SPITE of (or maybe because of?) the fact that their product had fewer features than the competition. Most flash players up until then had FM tuners, most had tiny LCD screens. Apparently people really wanted what the shuffle offered.
On a side note, I just replaced my shuffle with a nano. It turns out what I really wanted was a tiny version of the big iPod, not a flash player. I wonder what effect the nano will have on shuffle sales; due to people like me? (I'm sure there are now a bunch of used shuffles appearing on the market from others who moved to the nano.)
Another non-functioning site was "uncertainty.microsoft.com."
The purpose of that site was not known.
without giving too many details, i am close associate with someone who was in the position of beta-testing this thing just recently. he let me try it out on the strict condition that I not leak it, but now seems like an ok time to talk. the beta version looked different so i don't know how much of what i experienced still stands, but it was very recent so who knows? btw, it never left his house so i never got to test it under real life conditions, but i'll tell you a few things.
1- bugs galore. i hope they worked some of this stuff out because the thing worked like shit. it would cut out from time to time and sometimes just stop playing or shut down unexpectedly.
2- terrible sound quality. dunno what they use to decode the songs at the beta stage but ohmygod it sucked. the high frequencies in particular suffered, sounded tinny, staticy.
3- the whole package had a cheap manufactured feel to it. i don't own an ipod but i've held them and they feel solid. this thing feels like it would fall into fifty piece if you drop it.
4- ssssssslllllllllllooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. nothing was instant, it all moved like molasses. i suspect this was a side-effect of the beta stage, but just changing songs took a significant amount of time.
D.J. Ditty acronym expansion offered for free. See title.