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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."
(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.
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.
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
It's one thing to say that most people don't use the radio, but most people don't use the LCD? Are you mad? Maybe back in the 64MB days, no, but once you get 100+ songs on a device, the LCD becomes more and more useful. Would you rather hit "next" a possible 100 times to find a certain song you want to listen to, or just navigate to it real quick on the LCD? What if you want a couple different playlists? Only want to hear a certain artist?
Going from a CD-based MP3 player with no name display to a Dell DJ was night and day. Even with 20 times the amount of music, I get FAR less frustrated trying to find what I want to listen to. Yay LCD.
The ipod plays mp3, as does this. However, it supports evil DRM music (DRM 9, 10 or PD-DRM & WM-DRM) just like the ipod (DRM acc)
Given that it's not even clear what you're saying, I'm not even sure how to respond. I never said anything was "DRM Free" although you can rip your CDs to either device. The main point is that you have the OPTION of an all-you-can-eat system (via PlayforSure). That's the main reason I dumped my Ipod - along with the lousy design of it (won't work if you have gloves on or cold hands, can't really tell what your pushing without looking at it, etc.)
Unlike iTunes, these "third party programs" do not take advantage of the iPod's database. So when you load up your iPod using a non-iTunes program, the iPod cannot browse through the song files as quickly, leading to much more rapid depletion of the battery. This is a good reason to only use iTunes to load up your iPod.
"He'd be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once." - Steve Jobs on Bill Gates
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
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
Yeah, this same comparison works with the computers too.
Unpacking a Powerbook is a real occasion. The attention to detail in the packaging is superb. There is a short setup procedure that is easy to go through, then you are free to play with all the great new toys like speech recognition and synthesis. The fabulous Omnigraffle, and like me maybe, installing Microsoft Office just by dragging one icon into applications. Sweeeeeeet!!
Unpacking almost any PC is pretty sucky in comparison. Lets gloss over that though and cut to the *long* initial run. The registering with MS. The clicking 'NO' to 'Do you want to purchase Norton anti-virus'. Suck. Suck. Suck.
Mod me down, but I am a great fan of Windows XP. Good solid system. BUT !! Mac OS X kicks ass. I run XP and Gentoo at home, and XP at work, but my Mac Powerbook is sooo much nicer to use than either one. Powerpoint is a good piece of software but Omnigraffle makes it look and feel like ass.
I think we are pretty near a turning point, where geeks will migrate en masse to OS X. I just did, and I'm loving it so far. No downsides.
Oh yeah, the 'Ditty' will sink without a trace. Well meaning parents will buy it for their now terminally ashamed children who will hide it in a drawer rather than be exposed to beatings at school. This ass stinky piece of crap will only accelerate the popularity of the properly designed and built iPod line.
-- "It's not stalking if you're married!" My Wife.