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Sony Already Lost Media War to Apple?
Declan McCullagh writes "Sony's Walkman was the king of media players. Now Apple's iPod is, and Sony Connect was a flop. But Sony's problems may soon be even bigger: the company is having a remarkably difficult time coordinating software development across different divisions and continents, and some managers are worried that things may be getting worse. Will Apple's recent forays into the living room create even more of a problem for Sony?"
I love my Apple-centric media room, don't get me wrong, but Apple makes two things: computers and MP3 players.
Okay, and now a crappy $300 stereo for the den.
Sony is a player in almost every personal electronics market there is, with the possible exception of "massage wand" marital aids. They can afford to lag behind in one or two market segments for a few years and bounce back.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
Will Apple's recent forays into the living room create even more of a problem for Sony?
That would be a real shame. I was hoping to purchase as many products with rootkits, backdoors, and viruses as possible. Here's to hoping that Sony regains marketshare so they can bring more fine rootkits to the market.
Sony's EQ2 is taking a beating as well. Not to mention the original EQ that they simply let (are letting) die. I think the guy's at Penny Arcade hit the nail on the head with a recent cartoon: (paraphrase) they seem to be generating content by robots completely devoid of a human touch.
Sony is a player in almost every personal electronics market there is, with the possible exception of "massage wand" marital aids. They can afford to lag behind in one or two market segments for a few years and bounce back.
You can afford to behave as stupidly as Sony has for only so long in today's marketplace. If they don't split up their conglomerate into separate entities that can actually innovate and compete without interfering with each other, the market will do it for them.
Sony does not have to just worry about Apple, they have to worry about Microsoft's XBox 360. That is here today with a full online component. The PS3 is nowhere in sight and they will have to build an online component from scratch...
I think it's more likely that Sony and Apple will want to collaborate in the future. I don't see Sony going gently nto that good night, and they've been more than willing to deal with Apple in the past. In case you missed it, Jobs demoed the new mac mini on a Sony brand television, which isn't saying much, but it does speak to a general affability between the two.
Pain is God trying to be funny. That's how out of touch It is. -- Jeff Lint
That the media division control the development division!
They can do thing that can eventualy and may be remove some little part of the profit of the media division !
So Sony will be in 5 (or lest) year a Media company only !(...)
Well if they don't change !
Ceci n'est pas une Signature !
Sony's been making audio equipment for a long time, and it's really good quality. If Apple can compete with Sony's quality and Sony can't get cooordinated enough, they may have competition.
But what exactly is Apple going to do?
What would they do for stereo equipment? iPod docks? It's been done.
1) "The 'killer app' of tomorrow won't be software or hardware devices,
but the social practices they make possible." - Howard Rheingold
The Sony 'iPod killers' are just using new technology to accomplish the same social purpose. The only difference between the Sony products and the Apple ones is that the Sony ones are less sexy. If Sony wants to succeed, they need to make a product that A) serves a new social purpose and B) is more sexy. Let's face it: the iPod is already sexy. But the iPod is sexy as in sexy to look at. That was good enough five years ago, but not today. I want REAL sexy. Not just sexy as in sexy to look at sexy, but sexy as in dripping down your face sexy.
2) "The real 'iPod killer' won't be an mp3 player."
The world doesn't need a new mp3 player. The iPod is already good enough. The real iPod killer won't be an mp3 player. It won't even play mp3s. It will do something entirely different. The problem is the people who run these companies like Sony are a little slow and don't get this, so we get these people investing 100 million dollars to create shit products that any five year old knows won't sell when they could be creating the next patent pending paradigm shifting curve jumping technology for 1/20th of that much.
I didn't RTFA, but Apple is on its way to becoming a powerful presence in the living room. With the new mac mini shipping with Frontrow and the apple remote, it just seems like it is a matter of time before we have a fully DVR capable mac or an airport express that carries a video signal from a mac mini or other mac into the living room.
that a good rootkit can't fix.
I only buy 17" component equipment. I like having a seperate receiver, cd player, dvd player, vcr, and the like. Apple doesn't produce anything in that form factor (and a 17" wide speaker with an ipod sitting on top doesn't count) and hasn't since the days of the pizza-box Quadras of the early nineties.
For me to consider putting Apple into my AV cabinet they need equipment that fits the form factor that both industry and I have chosen. I can put a cheap PC into a rack mount server chassis and use that for music and video playback a lot less expensively than even the iPod solutions cost.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Sony's biggest problem is not Apple.
Sony's biggest problem is the contempt it has shown it's customers.
I'll buy Apple products.
/two words: root kit.
/Two more: never forget.
In the mid-eighties to early nineties my brother and I would frequently pour over Sony catalogues and hang out at the Sony store. At the time, they were definintely the cool place for gadgets. I think about ten years ago I started to feel like they had lost the cool factor. I'm not exactly sure what it was, but after that, every time I went into a Sony store I got bored real quick. Recently, their attempts with the VAIO and related computer equipment have seemed like neat ideas looking for a problem. Visual design without any real innovation in the substance. The iPod was innovative due to its simplicity, its design and its quality. The combination was powerful and continues to be powerful. That tends to be Apple's strength. They don't worry too much about price. Sony doesn't either, but they also don't get all three factors right as consistently as Apple.
Helping with organizational effectiveness is our job.
Edit: I forgot about the X-Serve, in that it is 17". Unfortunately it's also about three feet long and is obscenely expensive. So, while technically that could fit into the right system, it's a lot deeper than the 12-18" deep equipment that most of us use.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Sony outsources to the cheapest bidder. Apple carefully shepherded their technology and it shows.
Sony would kill a goose for a chance at a single golden blastula. Meanwhile Apple sports a nice margin on golden eggs at the moment.
Hardly surprising, then, that it has that effect on distributed development. Apple has the advantage of keeping its developers together, which is fine as long as you have a narrow product base.
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
Did you know that with all the various products that Sony sells that the Playstation division is basically carrying the entire company? And if the PS3 doesn't do well vs the XBox 360 and Nintendo Revolution the company itself may go bankrupt?
Sony keeps trying to force unattractive standards on the market. From the Memory Stick, to Betamax to Blu-Ray it just never fucknig seems to learn its lesson about using open standards. That pisses people off and its why their consumer electronics division is getting its butt kicked by Apple and Samsung.
Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
But as for now, when people think of Sony, they think of a company that produces mediocre products and treats them like criminals. And that's not going to help the company move its merchandise.
Albuquerque PC
I had to sound like a broken record (no pun intended), but bad karma is a bitch. Sony declared war on the consumer with the BMI spyware fiasco, and as far as I care I feel nothing but malice and schadenfreud towards Sony corp.
It's true no man is an island, but if you take a bunch of dead guys and tie 'em together, they make a good raft.
Okay, and now a crappy $300 stereo for the den.
And a somewhat expensive but easy to use HTPC for the living room? Only an HTPC that understand what people fundamentally want on TV's is in the end video, not programming schedules?
All of the sudden Apple has bypassed Microsoft and Sony into the living room. It supports optical out, and HDMI - so it will hook into whatever HDTV you decide to use. It has software that integrates well with the devices around it (sound familiar yet?), and a store with a lot of media the consumer can buy Ala-Carte (and as per the recent story, might not even have to buy!).
Let me put it to you this way. Why would you mess around with a DVR and work with a somewhat fallable guide and programming in hopes of catching media as it flies past you, instead of downloading it when YOU want to, at any time, with no thoughts as to schedule. If you think of any aspects of the DVR that make it so popular, can you think of ANY that cannot be replicted by simply downloading video and watching it with full random access? Are not so many great DVR features really artifacts of the need to pull video off a fundamentally sucky storage and transmisison medium?
The only advantage PVR's offer right now is (thanks to cable) a somewhat greater choice of material to view - there are some popular shows on cable that are not on ITMS. But how long will that last? Have you ever tried putting a pile of money in front of a TV executive and then timed how long it took him before he tripped over his own two feet trying to dive in? TV shows are heading to ITMS in droves, when they first appeared there I thought the adoption would be slow but TV guys are seemingly more savvy than those in other industries and they are diving in with amazing rapidity.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Love the hardware, hate the software.
I would have had several sony mp3 players by now if it wasn't for the several restrictions on filetype (ok, they finally took care of that one) and how you put songs on the player. Battery life and style almost have me wanting one anyway.
I wish they would just spin-off some of their hardware to a completely independent line that doesn't have to care about the content that their other half is so worried about us pirating. Then they would be able to put out some easy to use media players.
Yeah, I think they'll lose this media war if they keep fighting their consumers as much as they fight their competitors.
(IMO) Sony is better in the personal device department, and Apple is better in the digital department. Neither seem to have been particularly successful in each other's fields.
"I lie right back and turn the radio on..."
I, for one, am watching closely to see if I can determine the answer to that question myself. As a stock investor, if Apple developes a MediaCenter Mac with the appeal of of the iPod then Apple's currently "high" stock price will suddenly be cheap.
It appears that Apple is slowly putting the peices in place to have the Mini as a frontend solution for media serving or an "iPod for the living room". Its not all integrated yet, and there are lots more technical and legal problems with video that didn't apply in practice to music.
Another issue is that if the Disney Pixar deal goes through, then with Jobs being the largest Disney share holder he will be sitting on both sides of the DRM debate. (Much like the CEO of Sony.)
All the chips haven't fallen, but it is very interesting to watch. A defactor Apple monopoly on the magical convergance of the PC into the media center would be very interesting indeed.
Think Deeply.
One way to fix this would be to throttle back all current development of the Walkman brand, mp3 players, etc.
Then, select your brightest people and create a division for the sole purpose of developing the next portable consumer entertainment device (not necessarily just a music player. who knows).
Give this division complete autonomy and make bonuses directly reflect market performance of the end product. Emulate a startup within the corporate structure of Sony.
This will only work if the shareholders as a whole were significantly competent to hire competent managers who can accurately identify the talent needed for this division.
Best,
Paul
US companies have comparatively free atmosphere and they are good at making loosely attached large softwares with lots of features. Japanes company on the other hand are good at making small, gadget types softwares which must work perfect and must work all the time with little CPU power and memory. Ofcourse there are exception to both the sides. As the digital gadgets are becoming complex and computers and gadgets are merging, the Japanese companies are losing. The can't compete with PDAs like PALM and PocketPC not because they can't develop software for it, but they are finding it difficult to interact with desktop software. Similarly, they can't compete with iPod, because then you will need to compete with iTune, which is not a gadget type software but is a huge software ecosystem. The other devices are PVR (people demand networking, filesharing with PC and so on), cell phone, etc. Slowly Japan is feeling pain of software complexity. They will make excellent digital cameras, LCD TVs, but will make poor enterprise software, search engines, operating systems and so on. For in between the cases (PDA, cell phones, portable audio, PVR), sometimes they will win but at this times, they are mostly losing.
I also like having seperate components. However I don't mind combining a few into one, as I can with a Mac mini - which seems to me to fit your criteria, except perhaps it is too small? :-)
Seriously why not use a mini as another kind of component that acts as a media hub for the rest of the computers in your house (iTunes sharing, for example).
One other nice thing about the Mini is that if you enable desktop sharing you can use VNC to connect to and control what the computer is doing, making a laptop (or any other computer) a practical control device for other rooms.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Sony still has a chance.
The race for the home media server and portable media devices are just now getting underway. Apple was great at branding and marketing the iPod but this is just the first round of a very long fight between many different companies.
Lets just hope standards win out and we are not suck in with another Microsoft.
I think they will end up buying their future via acquisition, then doing it in a inhouse manner as repeated here and everywhere, they can't come up with a solid software stack for the Home Media market. They have the tools and know how but molding that into a viable product that will compete and be sucessful is where they are are currently having problems.
I'm can't say for sure but I believe that certain groups are trying to push more dominance then viability....Being late to the mp3 market proves this...
no sig yet
Apple didn't succeed because new social practices become possible. This is obvious - mp3 players were available before the iPod came along. (And anyway, half the social practices associated with iPods are mythical - like random strangers jacking into each other's iPods.)
When are people going to stop making up ever more fanciful notions about why the iPod is so popular and just look at the device and software itself? Unless you're a geek who likes to waste their day messing about with clunky hard to use software and devices it's pretty obvious why the iPod is a superior product to its competition.
"The White House is not an intelligence-gathering agency," -- Scott McClellan, Whitehouse spokesman.
What the hell is the Sony Connect? Seriously.
Synchronize your calendar and mobile phone via text messaging.
i'd say microsoft is more of a threat than apple. let's not forget that sony has an indomitable foothold in the living room already - the PS2. The living room is theirs to lose.
When I first learned how to code - I had a high school teacher named Mr. Rice - and he always admonished me to keep it simple. He'd write KISS on the board - and then say no offense - to which I'd reply, - none taken. Sony can't seem to keep it simple.
All of which is to say - all Sony has to do is SHOW UP ON TIME - and the living room is theirs. But no - they keep trying to kill every DAVID out there. If the PS3 were coming out RIGHT NOW - the console wars would be a rout - Sony would win. Even with no killer launch titles - Sony would be a hands down winner because of the installed user base and backwards compatibility. They can always add their online service later - in say the PS3.1 or whatever. Blu-Ray spec issues? Add it in PS3.2. They just need to be in the marketplace with a new product.
To win in the living room - you must deliver gaming. Because apple does not - they're not yet a living room solution. Microsoft delivers gaming in a very nice package - but they don't know how to design for the living room - meaning they design boxes that age poorly and soon seem and look anachronistic (the xbox one is so damn ugly). But the X-Box gaming experience is superior - and x-box live is a gaming solution without competition. They just can't get games out there fast enough.
The first one stop gaming/DVR/audio/movie device with already recognizable brand awareness wins the living room hands down.
un burrito me trampeó.
Not anymore.
What you are describing is a marketdroid's wet dream: Complete, total, utterly mindless, brand identification.
It is the only reason that Sony has held on so long.
Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.
- W. Wriston, former Citibank CEO
... perhaps.
Sony is shooting themself in the foot in the exact same manner as with Beta vs VHS. The Sony NetMD is an excellent piece of hardware, but the proprietary codecs associated with it make severely limit it's market penetration due to the difficulty involved with moving audio to and from the device on windows. Not to mention the secret encoding algorithm makes reverse engineering the software (ie. what's required for a linux client) basically impossible. Sony makes top notch electronics, but if they don't learn from their own mistake, they are going to sink themselves all over again.
Both companies thrive on vendor lock-in. so why really differentiate between the two?
I for one welcome our new American consumer electronics overlords.
Sony has been losing the 'media war' for a bunch of years. Before Apple started making iPod's actually.
Those screwy mini-disc players they had a bunch of years for example. Very few people bought them. Only Sony supported them. They weren't compatible with anything else. I think they even used a proprietary format as I recall.
So now they come late-to-market with a me-too product that nobody could figure out what it does, and someone is shocked it's not selling that well??
Add in the root-kit fiasco, a format war over DVDs most people don't want anything to do with, and a hugely delayed PS3 which is gonna cost a small fortune, and they're shooting themselves in the foot.
They've managed to make themselves irrelavant, hostile to consumers, out of touch with the market, and a pariah on PC owners/music buyers all in one year. They would need to change an awful lot to become relevant to my purchasing dollar nowadays.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
iTunes outsells Sony Connect.
iPod outsells Sony's MP3 players.
Apple makes a foray in to the living room trying to sell a $300 version of what others sell for $99-249. What does this compare to Sony stereos? Sony PS2s that have a 100m+ install base? Sony's forthcoming PS3? Portable speakers for PSPs?
On the first two, Apple wins.
On the third, Apple is charging a premium based on its brand name. It's a great profit center as they can slap a $100 premium on every unit they sell, sell far fewer because of it, and still laugh all the way to the bank at $100xhowever many they sell. But, great as that business model is, in sheer volume it'll never come close to Sony.
And, if we're talking about media, remember we're comparing 1b MP3 sales (or ~80m CD albums worth of content) to whatever happens with Blu Ray? How you even compare CD to BluRay is up for debate. Still, being generous to CD and calling it 1:1... Assuming Sony simply sell as many PS3s as PS2s, they need to sell one Blu Ray disc per player to outsell iTunes on media. Even giving Apple several more years of sales as PS3s take time to come to market, you're still only looking at 2-3 BluRay discs per PS3 and that's before counting non-PS3 BluRay players.
I'm not saying one's better than the other. Honestly, it's all down to the metrics you decide to use. But that's kind of the point - you can't call a victory either way. That is why pointing to two battles plus a curio-skirmish, whilst ignoring every other battle including many Apple's sensible enough to not even try and fight, then calling it "lost the media war" is a little rich.
Although Apple's fan base has made it clear they want a media center device with recording capabilities, they don't want to give them what they want.
Why? because it will hurt their iTunes video download business? Sound like any major conglomerate you know?
I believe Apple will overcome this by developing a better movie/video, distribution/download, system/service. The service will hopefully be good enough to silence most of it's critics.
Apple would need to convince us that subscribing to their service is a better value proposition than doing all the "heavy lifting" of recording our own content.
As Apple continues to grow and venture into new territories there will be more "conflicts of interest" in the future.
Making CD's with DRM that won't even play in your own company's CD players? C'mon, folks, Sony is low hanging fruit. Go in there and kill!
Since Sony is member of the RIAA, it's logical that it has invested a lot of resources into proprietary formats and $sys$rootkit DRM. Notice that their DRM schemes were outsourced, not invented by their own engineers.
:P ), and of course, Windows. Apple has OS/X as a flag for its software Success, and of course, the iPod.
Meanwhile, Apple and Microsoft have invested most of their resources into... guess what? SOFTWARE! Microsoft has Media Player, Internet Explorer (we learn by screwing up, so that counts
And in contrast, Sony has...?
Sony is a n00b in the software industry. Is it a mystery now that it's having problems coordinating its software efforts?
Face it, Sony. You lost.
Who here was actually surprised that technology such as MiniDisc flopped? Or how about their MP3 players that *only* played ATRAC? Apple understands something that Sony does not: There is a difference between a proprietary format and absolute lock-in. Apple opened up the iPod market to all sorts of third party manufacturers. They let people use MP3s as well as AAC. Et cetera.
Also, it'd just be interesting to point out that Sony and Apple are partners in the next discwar. Both are on the Blu-Ray side.
A wise man once said, "wtf h4x."
I already said "computers." And that was after mentioning that a Mac runs my media room. Sheesh, pay attention.
In fact I was paying more attention than you know.
This is exaclty the problem that most people have - thinking of the HTPC as a "computer". If you are trying to get something a lot of people will use in the lviing room this is not what you want to sell to them, because people have zero interest in complexity in teh area where they choose to relax.
Sure the mini is technically a computer. But did you not notice the tremendous number of output options geared to TV output and receiver output? And Front Row included?
The mini is the box that can simply be the "digital media center" without having to be a computer at all. And that's the way in which Apple has beat both Microsoft and Sony to the punch, by delivering something which can be used as simply a video viewing station and little else if desired - just like cable boxes today. Why would you use either the 360 or a PS3 as more than a game system if you can't even buy TV shows to watch on them, or host your whole music collection on them for use by any actual "computer" in your house"? Can you name any other device that so easily could simply replace cable or satellite TV? The media center PC's have the technical capability but they are too intertwined with PVR functionality and have no good purchasing solution. Live on the 360 lets you buy some things but the interface as it is is not really scalable to a very large amount of video, and hard drives are optional on the 360 anyway so you can't even rely on being able to store things.
These are the kinds of reasons the iPod is so successful today - it to is a "computer" but one dedicated to being noticed as little as possible by the person that just wants to listen to music, while lettingthem easily obtain "fresh" music from a larger source. The same could be true of the mini as an digital media delivery device for video.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Where does that leave Sony in developing... an application like iTunes ?
I'll tell you where. It leaves Sony flapping in the wind, with a bunch of BMG-style media company guys yanking the chain of the guy in charge of the Walkman product development, who yanks the chain of some ( I'm guessing ) tiny, underfunded, design-challenged software development unit originally concieved to write PC drivers within the Walkman hardware division.
It leaves Sony right *behind* all of the other companies like Napster, Yahoo, and ( err... there has to be another, right ? Who uses WinAmp, that's AOL, right? ) who are in theory software *specialists*... and yet even these software specialists can't seem to write an application that can even approach more than a tiny fraction of the popularity of iTunes.
It's about the software, really, to a very large extent. Apple nailed the hardware, the software, and the marketing. Sony screwed up all three, and was late to the game to boot.
Note: TFA is really about audio, and nothing else, though the slashdot headline says "Media", it's really just "audio" being discussed here... although the chances of Sony getting any video-delivery software right are about as good as them getting the correct ( i.e. completely minimal, if any ) DRM for any video-delivery software right, i.e. zero, so I guess you could extrapolate this to "media". Really, the story is about Sony not being able to deploy a solid Windows program to compete with iTunes, and how that is a real problem for their hardware sales.
The mini to me seems a good replacement for the cable box and CD/DVD player.
I am talking about expensive in terms of common consumer electronics price point, whcih is around $200 I think for components... thus until until a media suited mini came to around $400 or so it probably will not see large adoption rates.
Then again the iPod was kind of pricy but the benefits it gave were large enough to convince people to buy them, which could be the case here.
I don't consider it so expensive that I could resist buying one now that it includes decent outputs.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The next gen console from apple will ship as a 5 inch diameter, perfect white sphere, powered by a thermal recharger in its shallow bowl cradle. The system itself will have a single 64bit 2GHz G5 processor with 256MB of ram and an Nvida Geforce onboard chip. Cooling will be achived through a liquid circulation system that runs fluid just below the surface of the sphere.
All communication will be wireless, with connectivity to the iMac monitor supported preferred, with the option to have the game display as the OSX background. Export to a television will be supported by an advanced Airport express optical link only.
The system will have no controllers, instead input will be via the next generation wireless enabled iPod, which will double as the systems memory save card.
The system will naturally seemless play streamed music from iTunes, as well as videos from the iTunes store.
There will be no game discs, or other input media. Games will instead be purchased from the iPlay online store for $19.99 per game and stored on either a local authorised computer, or optionally transferred to the wireless iPod controller.
The selection of games will be somewhat limited to; very stylistic or esoteric titles, Pixar movie licences, music/video based party trivia games with iTunes support, and iUnreal, which will be exclusive to the console.
May the Maths Be with you!
If the product development guys at Sony had been allowed to lead the way, Sony would be in a very different place today. By crippling thier own products they have ceeded many markets to other players.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The Media War - love the media hype don't you - is far from over. Hardware and software compaines have barely made a dent in the living room - let alone the rest of the house. Music is still largely listended to on CDs, with MP3s and other formats being confined to MP3 plaing CD players or portable devices. And yes, iPod remains king (though why is a topic often debated on \.). Apart from a few of us nerds with media centers and the like, most people still watch DVDs on a plain old telli, love their radios, and are happy to be forced fed whatever shows the cable companies pump down the line. At this stage, that's how the vast majority of people wish to be entertained in their home. I've been writing a Java based distributed home media system for three years now. I have half a dozen descretely placed and hidden boxes throughout my house giving me and mine the ability to listen to any music and watch any video on any room in the house. Visitors love it when the come over and I can show a favourite show on the projector in about 15 seconds, then send the kids upstairs to watch their shows out of our hair. Its great and the future. I built the software and put it online as a downloadable (see url) and have offered to help a number of family and friends to slowly build similar systems. And yet, nobody is interested. Its not cost nor ability. I've offered to build hardware as needed and my software is friendly and easy to use (so say my wife and kids). Yet, everybody loves my house and wants the same freedom and flexibility. What gives????? They don't want another "computer", yet are happy to spend $800 on a PVR. You can't even see the computers in my house - apart from the obvious one in the office - and yet there is backlash because of the perception that multi-media is something you do with a computer, and they have enough computers at the office. Nobody realises that your TV, mobile phone, hell your fridge is a computer these days. And the $800 PVR is really a knobbled computer that can be built for about $200. Nothin' for it, I'll just sit back and watch for the next few years and see what the masses decide they realy want. Either way, I own my lounge room and I plug in what ever hardware or software I want. It should be compatabile with most things or I ain't buying it.
We do not inherit the Earth from our parents. We borrow it from our children.
They should make me a CEO of Sony. I could solve all their problems overnight.
STOP WITH THE STUPID DRM and just use mp3/ogg. Done.
I actually bought one of those minidisc players... It would have been so awesome if was a hdd that took mp3s and played them. Instead, it came with some incredibly worthless software that was impossible to use (and buggy) that allowed you to make 3 copies of your songs in a format that no sane person would use.
So that's it. I win. Sony could easily make a comeback and take down apple with some kind of portable memory stick player. All they have to do is quit with the DRM.
Imagine if you weren't allowed to use roads because a bus company complained about your driving 3 times. --skunkpussy
Sounds like I could sell this guy a 17" wide empty plastic box just tall enough to hold one Mac Mini and maybe an external drive ot two. The trouble is that I doubt I'd find two many more "equipment philes" who would prefer the PC tower laying sideways form factor to a Mini's
According to all the slashdot experts.. Sony wont sell a thing, and Apple are dominating the audio, hifi market. Geez.. Its amazing to see anything useful said here anymore.. Slashdot really is the new Fatbabies.
There where other, better and cheaper portable cassette players before the walkman. All along the early eighties Sanyo kicked the living crap out of Sony when it came to features, performance and battery time.
So how did the Walkman get the mindshare? Just the way Apples iPod did. By wrapping it in flashy colors and design (Walkman 2 anyone?) and make it a fashion statement rather than a boring intimidating tech device.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
Five years ago, Sony's music labels should have started releasing all albums as mp3 on Memory Sticks. They should have released a Walkman with a Memory Stick Slot. Sony would have owned the music hardware scene, and limited-edition Memory Sticks with unique content would have established the Memory stick as the standard flash format.
But now Sony's hardware is languishing, and their Sony label artists are all sporting iPods. As the only label/hardware manufacturer, they had an undeniable advantage, and they blew it. Oh well.If you think Sony is having troubles take a look at Philips. They been struggling for the last 2 decades and they are still around.
Big companies don't die easily and they don't get much bigger then Sony. Even now.
Oh sure, Sony can really get into trouble but it is to big to just collapse unless a scandal happens like Enron. For one thing there is employment. Sony has factories everywhere and goverments are very reluctant to just let them close. So for at least a few years ways will be found to keep them open. It happened with companies that were in far worse trouble then Sony is.
Frankly most of this talk is rather silly. There is the ever present fantasy of seeing the giant cut down to size. Very human but just not likely. There is even a post in this news story that Sony should really worry about MS x-box. The eternal fantasy that the giant Playstation will be brought down by the humble MS (irony or what) in the form of the x-box. Because the x-box 360 has all these features. That the original x-box also had and that didn't work but that is just details. It is the upstart vs the giant and the giant must loose or how can the world survive.
Then there is the idea that Apple can compete with Sony in the living room. Because Apple has an mp3 player while Sony only has every other device you can have in your house. Apple to provide a DVR. Nice, and what will you watch it on?
A problem I can't judge for its realness is wether Sony Hardware is really being cripled by Sony Media. Yes there are suggestions that Philips (who sold its media division) is far more ready to provide consumers with electronics that can be used to excersise their rights to make personal copies while Sony devices seem to take DRM to the next level. But is this really because of the media division or is it just someone in hardware who doesn't have a clue.
Oh and lets not forget that the other 'players' MS and Apple are both very happy DRM sellers as well. Hell Steve Jobs has disney so he should be feeling the same pressure from his media half as sony feels from its.
Remember Sony once fought in court for the right to copy. Disney has always been anti-consumer rights.
Now if there is a problem with Sony I think it is far simpler. They seem to be dropping in quality. Sony just to be just good for not an insane amount of money. They weren't the best and they weren't cheap but if you bought something off them you could be reasonably sure that it would last for a while. My minidisc player lasted me for four years. All my old Sony stuff lasted a long time under heavy abuse while cheaper brands would break in under a year.
If you could afford Sony it was an okay deal and that is actually worth a lot in real life.
Just recently my only Sony products are the PSP with its famous dead pixels and the Sony earbuds. Now they used to be very expensive (50 euros) but they fit perfectly in my ear and allow me to keep the sound level down by reducing outside noise. They lasted about a year of daily use before falling apart.
Recently something seems to have gone wrong with the plastic around the wires. It melts or something becoming almost chewing gum like and falls off the wires. Just after a month 2-3. Once I thought it was my fault, but when it happened a second time with a new set for no reason (not left out in heat or something) I am starting to think something is wrong the material itself.
If Sony has lost or is going to lose its image for decent quality for a decent price then it is in serious shit. As long as it could sell me earbuds for 50 euros when everyone else manages to sell them for half then it is doing fine and can afford a few 'flops'. Personally I am now looking to buy some 'pro' earbuds with real earplugs. More expensive but hopefully they give better sound isolation and last longer.
The upcoming PS3 (whenever it may actually launch) will I think be an imp
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
The mini is not exactly there as you say, but the new mini is indeed that first Mediacenter Mac you are looking for - or so close as to make no difference.
Check out the connection options and TV tips they offer today. The thing is fully ready to live in harmony with any TV or HDTV you might have.
And if Jobs is sitting over both sides of the DRM debate as you say, then we already know which way he is predisposed to come down on the issue. DRM but not to a crippling extreme.
If the mini as it stands is basically only a software update away from being a fantastic dedicated media center (that is to say - the hardware ducks for connectivity into the living room are all there, which they are) then why not consider it the first real Mediacenter Mac. They've got the video store, they've got Bluetooth in ever mini for better remotes, they have connectivity and resolutions for most TV's out there.
You are right about the stock being cheap.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Come on, hooking a G5 tower into the living room is not exactly consumer friendly, and the resolutions supported by the mini were not quite sufficent before. I was doing the same thing with my laptop and M-Audio box myself but it doesn't make it a viable media center solution.
The new mini is the first Mac that can honestly be treated as a first-class video component nad not a computer you are jerry-rigging into the system. In short, something msot people can accept and use.
I am happy to point out to you where you are missing the key transition point, which is in the feasabilty of standalone use by the average consumer - which the mini can do at last. Why you are not excited about that is a mystery to me given your obvious early adptor stance on the issue. I am not trying to take away from what you or I may have done with current macs as media center computers, I am trying to point out how finally apple has delivered a practical solution "for the rest of us" thaT I could honestly wander up to some random stranger in the hall and reccomend without knowing what level of technical expertise they might have.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Yes, well, let's keep your sexual paraphilias out of the conversation, shall we?
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
In case you have not noticed, you are in a severe minority of aficionados that Apple is not marketing to. But hey, if a 17" form factor is the only thing holding you back from putting an Apple product into your equipment rack, then consider an Xserve!
People forget that services like Rhapsody did exist before the iTunes Music Store. In many ways, iTMS has been even more successful and dominant in its market than the iPod, in a shorter period of time.
concrete5: a cms made for marketing, but strong enough for geeks.
SNE - approx $45 Billion AAPL - approx $59 Billion Even with its narrower focus, Apple is already a more successful company. Any new successful consumer product is only going to take more away from Sony.
Did you just blame ousourcing? Apple has many suppliers to make their iPod. Even the original (not sure about latest generation) iPod had a operating system from a canadian company. Also the design of the internal hardware was by a company called "Portal Player" .. which has developers all over he world including India. Furthermore he iPod is manufactured in China (though "proudly designed in California"). Basically for at least the first few generations the main thing Apple did "in house" was the shape and look and feel. I am not sure about the current generation. So plz .. qualify your statements with evidence.
The whole point (of DRM) is to prevent interoperability.
That's not really the point, it's to protect the path of video or other media to the consumer.
A side effect is indeed lack of interoperability.
That is a key distinction to understanding why Apple's DRM has been more successful, because initially they did in fact provide interoperability with CD players and other computers. Then the network effect took hold and competitors had to do more; but there they ran into a wall because DRM only allows so much flexiiblity before there is no protection. Apple has handily repeated this trick with video even though everyone already knew what the trick was.
The first major players to break Apple's hold over media will thus be the ones to wake up and start offering products and services with no DRM - which of course is unlikey. And that is the condundrum of the whole media industry.
Also, I'm not sure how narrow APple's product base really is when you consider they have:
Portable devices from large (laptops) to small (iPod Video and nano).
Home computers
Wireless devices of all kinds (very advanced bluetooth support across products).
Components for living room (with the mini)
I mean, they aren't in phones (yet) or game systems but that's about it.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Shadow of the Colossus came out of Sony, so remember that at least one division of Sony has still got some good in it.
Sony isn't the best at anything, and is overpriced at everything, but if you don't feel like doing any market research, buy a Sony and you will do okay.
Honestly I am not sure your statement is as true at a general level for Sony any longer as it is for Samsung in the minds of most consumers, and I have heard less technically ept people express the same sentiments.
When I am not sure about a purchase today and have no time to look up product details, I am a heck of a lot more likely to go with Samsung because I can be sure of a general level of quality. I would say I have had some Sony duds over the last few years and do not consider the brand quite as reliable as you note.
Sure my 20 year old Sony CD player is great and still works. But I would not be likley to buy a CD player from them today.
Go into a Best Buy and look to see which electronics have the least number of boxes left on the lower shelf. Very illuminating...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The second two words are already covered by remembrance day!
There's a lot to be said for the freedom to do whatever I want with the files I've recorded, and paying only for the hardware. The alternative would be paying, frankly, through the nose for DRM'ed up, poorer quality videos from the iTunes store and having to limit myself to whatever arbitrary rules some marketroids negotiated for me.
But I can do anything I want with the ITMS videos:
I can watch them on the TV.
I can transfer them onto my laptop for travel
I can transfer them into a video iPod for portable viewing.
I say that mainly to illustrate why the average consumer would not see limitation from DRM that is present, just like with ITMS DRM limiations that most people do not encounter.
For the more advanced users, I point out that I, too, am free to download whatever video I like through "shadier" sources if I desire a higher level of quality than any DVR could ever give me (Battlestar in HD anyone? Not on my cable network).
Myth TV is great but then of course you have to pay for a cable subscription, which I am soon to drop altogether. So I wouldn't be so sure your solution is more financially appealing.
And one last point... if you like MythTV then why not run MythTV on the mini? I'm sure plans to that end will accellerate now that the hardware is more purposed to that use. I have no interest in a PVR per se but am starting to look at open video management solutions for more complex video uses outside of iTunes.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Sony is a player in almost every personal electronics market there is, with the possible exception of "massage wand" marital aids. "Most people, I think, do not even know what a Rootkit is, so why should they care about it?"
But what exactly is Apple going to do? What would they do for stereo equipment?
Oh, I dunno, they could do... this?
You can't take the sky from me...
Why is competition in the marketplace always characterized as a "war?"
Why are these "wars" always lost before anyone even knows about them?
Business isn't willing to pay for products, innovation and careers, so we get brands, mortgage commercials and layoffs.
some managers are worried that things may be getting worse.
I was trying to figure out how things could get worse than plummetting sales, deteriorating product quality and a brand image rivalling Enron then I remembered that (inexplicably) no one at Sony has actually been charged yet under the various computer crimes, "cyberterrorism" and RICO statutes that they've been falling afoul of lately. If I were a Sony manager I'd be terrified.
Sony is much larger then personal music players.. They make TV, Stereos, media ... tons more stuff then apple can even dream of..
But, i agree the 'PM" market, apple has that pretty much sewn up for the next decade or so, until the next 'really cool thing' comes along.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
No offense, but just like every other geek on Slashdot who says "I won't buy it 'cause it won't play OGG," you are not the target market. Picky geeks are not what keeps a consumer electronics industry afloat. You only buy 17" gear? Great. Apple will get along without you.
I, on the other hand, greatly value your business and will happily sell you a Mac Mini in a 17" wide box for just $1399. Also, Monster Cables are 10% off with any WideBody Mini purchase.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
I have a huge CRT television/monitor, DVD player, TiVo, CD jukebox, and a 5.1 channel receiver. I have no interest in converging my entertainment center wth my computer. For streaming audio, TiVo has a live365 front end.
The past 3 Sony cd players I've had in my car looked really cool but they would skip constantly even with new cds. Apple is just one of many non-sony options, I don't buy Sony anymore.
"Did you know that with all the various products that Sony sells that the Playstation division is basically carrying the entire company?" ..and you can of course point to a source for this "fact".
f x2302512.html
This piece seems to suggest you're lying: http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/afx/2005/10/27/a
Operating profit for Sony march-september 2005: 50.98 billion yen
Operating profit for Sony gaming division: 2.3 billion yen
Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you like. - Mark Twain
Eventually pocket computers that do a lot more than just play mp3s will be available for the same price. Why carry around a separate device to just play music when it can also check your email, surf the web, download songs directly, make phone calls, etc.
Vote for Pedro
As has been pointed out repeatedly, Sony's biggest enemy is themselves. The Entertainment half won't let the Consumer Electronics half do anything that they think might deprive them of a single penny--i.e., by making a device that you can play a movie or song on. "OH NOES!!!!11", they cry. "If someone wants to watch a Sony movie on $NEW_DEVICE, they have to buy it again!" Which consumers, obviously, don't want to do.
Remember, more Americans died in our own civil war than any other war we've participated in, before or since. Civil wars tend to be like that. Same thing with Sony.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
Why oh why oh why do people want to have "iPod/mp3 home stereo's"? Seriously, the quality of most 'rips' is shocking. And one you plug your iPod into a decent sized set of speakers...you just end up with loud crappy quality music. And whats worse, you pay to download tunes in an inferior quality format! Anyway...there is already a iPod killer on the market. It's called a phone. Unless you want to carry a phone, mp3 player, portable TV, PIM,....
Sorry, couldn'd resist the urge!
Without wishing for the lives of the employees of the Sony conglorporation, seeing Sony take a large hit would make me happy. Sony deserves heavy criminal prosecution for the rootkit assaults and other intentional vandalism, including perhaps liquidation of the music group. But this won't happen; the goverment is either too afraid or too corrupt. So anything that hurts Sony is in the first instance just a small piece of the negative karma owed the company...
Have you held the PSP? it is a thing of beauty.
It feels great in your hands, the controls are all right, the screen is crisp and bright, the battery life is excellent.
And it is probing extremely hackable.
Hacking means love Sony. I wish somebody will drill this mantra on the numb skulls of the Sony executives: hacking is love.
People will only go to the pains of hacking something they really care about. Sony got the PS2, now the PSP and before the now defunct Aibo.
And what do they do? They fight with all their might the love of their most comited costumers.
With the help of the hackers the PSP could become the defacto standard in hand held computing. It has all the ingredients to become the hacking platform of choice. If Sony had half a clue they would be helping hackers to hack, thus nurturing the ecosystem in which people would want to have more PSPs.
But no. They frantically release new firmware to block hackers, firmware that tries to lock out hackers from their onw devices and that sooner rather than later is defeated.
Sony could reap the benefits for free: the Web browser included with the machine is crap, the input mechanism is horrendous. Hacker could come with solutions for which Sony would have to pay nothing but that would improve the experience using the platform and thus generating more demand. The capabilities of the machine to play licensed games would not be diminished an iota.
But no, Sony is quite a stunch Japanese company and they are fond of ancient traditions like sepuku or harakiri.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
When he said that as soon as people find a way to do something useful with the PSP - like, make it fun - Sony comes out with a patch to break it again.
;)?
This is the same problem. I'm about to sell my PSP. Fine screen, better than my iPod, but compared to the DS the games are throwbacks (Ys stinks, Generations of Chaos is hardly the Disgaea I had hoped - more like an annoying stategy game), and I'm tired of waiting for a good one - and I'm not sitting around for yet another Mega Man 1 and Ghost and Goblins remake. My iPod and my DS are fine enough.
Now, if I could run the homebrew (yes, including emulators, to be honest), I could hold onto my PSP until some good games come out. If they put in a "download game" system, I'd give it a shot (since they would suck less battery power down than the UMD games). If they sold video online I might consider it.
But - they're not. Like another post said, they're anti-customer. Pro-consumer (as in "someone who consumes media without thinking if its good or bad). But I'm a custom-er. I want to use my device the way *I* want to - and I'm just getting hampered by Sony's choices.
So - anyone want to buy a PSP with 512 MB memory stick
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
I'd love to see apple go down in the media war and Sony to rise once again! I hate apple. * You may ignore the following rambling * Their computers are overpriced for the given hardware(A Lenovo Thinkpad has more power and features than an Intel Mac mini duo of the same price - An Intellistation Pro has more power features than a dual processor Intel iMac of slightly higher price). * You may continue to read the rambling is over * I think the Creative Zen is better
It is the owner that crashes the system. If you are enough of an idiot to put 50 background processes in Windows you sho
"I like having a seperate receiver, cd player, dvd player, vcr, and the like. Apple doesn't produce anything in that form factor."
That's correct, and it's because that's what Apple does. They develop and create to sell a complete solution, while also providing support for those products. That's what it does. It doesn't sell parts for a techy to frankenstein into whatever he wishes. For the 1% of you that are like this, there are other options for you, just not from Apple.
"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel Boorstin
but TV guys are seemingly more savvy than those in other industries and they are diving in with amazing rapidity.
About 5 years ago at Comdex the CEO of Fox media gave a speech defending DRM (basically a here's what's in it for you let me make the case type speech). It was actually a pretty good speech full of facts, logic and organized around core principles. Pity that so rare in our society.
Anyway, one of the things he said was (and I am essentially quoting here amazing enough), "either we are going to have DRM or the only content we are going to be able to make is stuff not worth stealing, like what you see on television". Television shows unlike movies or music need generate a very low return per viewer to be financially successful. I guess for the TV guys is 1 guys it from iTunes for $1.99 and shares it with 9 friends they still are perfectly happy with the per person revenue, so they don't nearly as much about DRM issues.
Japanese companies always produced the best consumer electronics. In Japan, everyone had a wide range of responsibilies. The same people worked on software, hardware, design and experience on previous products was applied to new products. If programmers couldn't design useful interfaces, they didn't survive.
The problem seems to be their attempts to apply American specialization to consumer electronics. Now the programmers are supposed to just program, the EE's just design hardware, interface design is strictly management, and needs are filled by hiring and firing instead of reusing people.
Consumer electronics aren't the kinds of things you can apply American specialization to. Those who think they can are being eaten up by the LG's and Samsungs. Apple has Slashdot on its side, and that helps a lot.
Sony dies when iTunes no longer sells music from other production sources.
Why should Artist 'X' sign with Sony, when he could sign with iTunes and instantly have exposure to the whole planet of iPods?
Who needs radio stations? iTunes not only can publish artists directly, they can make sure the actual musicians get a fatter slice of the pie, and still make money for Apple.
Have a new artist signed up to iTunes - give away a couple of songs - sell the Albums @ 9.99 and promote the artists web site and concert dates.
Wait for the public, retail - Publishing kit for iTunes.
The average joe band will be able to sell his home written and performed songs right along side the latest from the top artists.
Eventually the quality and fickle nature of public music tastes will drive out the over-marketed no-talent types,
and the lone rising stars will float to the top.
And with each step of the way - more money for Apple, less for other content producers.
Podcasts and PodTV are just the start of a much, much bigger wave of change.
How long before - iTunes only TV shows and full length movies replace people's habit of watching Cable TV?
Steve wants it all - The OS, The Computer, The Media Player, The content, The publication rights.
More power to Apple - the big record producers have lived long enough off of the talents of others.
One more thing:
BOYCOTT SONY!
why not?
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Sony is much more established than some of you seem to think. Like many great corporations, they have a diverse foundation. Their consumer products aren't their biggest thing. And even if you just look at that division, their brand of products isn't it either. Sony makes the technology that's inside other brands'/companies' products. Remember that slashdot about Sony's partial CCD recal? They didn't recall just their cameras - they recalled many other brands.
This all wreaks of a slow news day. Give us something interesting and better suited to talk about. Sony isn't going anywhere. They make a lot of bold and often stupid decisions in the consumer market, but that's because they can and their reputation is built on that sort of innovation. Look at their new low-power CMOS camera sensor. It's going to revolutionize professional digital photography. And I'm not talking about the R1. I'm talking about the technology itself. Cameras are just one example - there are many others.
You macheads are just flat-out batshit crazy! I normally try to be a bit more diplomatic about this, but on this particular topic, you are just in some kind of brand-inspired psychosis. It is amazing to me the number of cold, hard facts you have to blithely ignore to even begin a conversation like this.
There are millions of Xbox 360s already in homes, already hooked up to televisions, and every one of those acts as a media extender, and is HD capable.
The number of XP media center PCs shipped last year, exceeds the total number of computers Apple sold last year.
The PS3 will have HD output, online connectivity, LocationFree TV support, media hub functionality, and will be selling in quantities an order of magnitude larger than any product Apple has ever sold (and that is even if it doesn't do very well).
The single largest set-top box manufacturer is now owned by the single largest network equipment vendor.
All of these are facts, and yet you say that the first product to ever bring digital media into the living room is a Mac Mini with a remote control? That is just insane! Apple doesn't even have the manufacturing capacity to compete in this market at the moment, much less the resources to dominate it. Apple has shortages just trying to get a million computers out the door in a year. Yet you think that they are the only player in the market, and they are going to outproduce Microsoft, Sony and Cisco?
I'm sure that Apple (just like every other tech company in the past five years) sees the living room as a place they want to get their products. I'm also sure that having a rabid bunch of fanatics who don't think a category of product exists until their favorite brand makes one, won't hurt their sales. However, they need to get up to the point where they can even compete with the number of Media Center PCs, before you can even start talking about how they are going to compete with things like the 360 and PS3, much less Scientific Atlanta boxes.
Every time I hear this argument from Macheads I have to shake my head. Even iPods (a fairly easy to design and manufacture product) have not reached anywhere near the kind units that the PS2 or Scientific Atlanta cable boxes do. There is a BIG difference between what you would like to see happen, and what a company is physically capable of doing. Just ask Microsoft about that one, and the shortages they've been having with the 360. Producing tens of millions of complicated boxes with numerous components from numerous vendors is something only a few companies can pull off, and Apple is not one of those companies. Apple's production has been strained to the breaking point many times just keeping up with the iPod. Scaling that up to a more complicated products, selling in the tens of millions isn't something you can just make happen because you want to.
Since when is it innovative to sell music based on software that doesn't work with anyone else's format and doesn't offer any significant benefits over other technologies? This choice of wording seems to me to be a really big stretch in Sony's favor. I willing to grant that it is a business strategy to let your formats lock in customers and battle your competitors, but since when has it helped anybody? Maybe Sony's problem is that they really do think that this is innovation.
Where were the marketing and engineering execs on this one?
I do not understand how Sony couldn't forsee their customer base rejecting its redundant conversion from MP3 to their "8-track-3" format. Slap in their minidisc player in this process and you've got an entertainment formula as isolated from mainstream, as actually playing 8-tracks.
If they were less blatantly anti-consumer, and if they focused more on providing a product that consumers want, they might be able to compete.
Ah, but there's the rub. It's not that Sony itself is anticonsumer, it's that important divisions (specifically Sony Music and Sony Pictures) are, so everyone else must play along. This has already been discussed here in past Sony related articles and more throughly in a past Wired magazine article.
What needs to happen is for Sony to be split into separate music/content and electronics companies, and maybe even split the gaming platform off of that, too. But corporate dogs like having it all as one (one big company means more power and prestige than running one of three little ones).
Getting a breakup like that to happen will be next to impossible without a shareholder lawsuit (the different divisions holding each other back from competing and maximizing profits for shareholders is a real issue).
I'd rather have one box that can do all that than need 4 or 5. Much, much cheaper and I control what's played or seen not some big fat company making me pay through the nose.
We do not inherit the Earth from our parents. We borrow it from our children.
The flaw in your argument is that the Mac Mini is not a HTPC. A Mac Mini plus several other boxes and wires for video capture, adequate hard drive, AC adapter, and (until the latest model) digital audio out, together, are a HTPC... a rather crude and discombobulated one. If the case were a standard AV component size, it would have room inside for all of these things in a single nice package.
There are two kinds of companies - companies with supply chain problems, and companies that Best Buy and Wal Mart let in the stores.
If boxes are low at a Best Buy chances are much higher that consumers like it than the single driver for the company got a bad ham sandwich.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Live tv? Sports?
,but, have the best possible version for my home system which is MUCH more capable of good sound reproduction.
Which is all better from a direct feed rather than broadcast. You can cache and replay just like a TiVO.
Furthermore, sports on TV is hit or miss as far as what is actually broadcast. There are actually some interesting sports around but damned if I could follow the wacky times some are broadcast.
And yes, as you mentioned...there isn't near the variety available from ITMS yet....and that may indeed change, but, not yet. And also, many out there want a bit higher fidelity for media 'purchased'. Will Apple offer for sale full blow HDTV resolution shows for sale? Will it ever offer lossless formatted music? The latter is one reason I'll never buy a song from iTunes...I'd rather buy the best copy I can get, and rip it myself for the poor listening environments (gym, car)
I am pretty sure we will see HD conetnt from them, but you know what? It doesn't matter because the quality they have is good enough to be a smashing success. Look at Battlestar Galatica, how many cable systems offer Sci Fi in HD? Yet the show is very popular despite having to watch it on a sucky low-res TV picture that is (to me) a bit worse wuality than the ITMS version of same. You might see that ITMS feed as an unaccpetable resolution but the fact is people are watching that same TV every day with far worse quality due to a variety of analog mishaps before it reaches thier eyes.
My point though is really more general than ITMS (though it's looking to become the defacto video download source as well). My primary point is just that someda, and I don't even think that day is that far off, direct access to video content will simply eliminate "schedules" as we know them as they are an artifact we no longer require.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I would buy a Sony Walkman if they were actually any good. The current models are more expensive than the iPod and have less features, and very ugly designs. Sony need to lower their prices to even be considered as a serious player in the MP3 market. I saw a stupid little Sony Walkman player, the screen was about half the size of the iPod nano screen, and it was only 256MB and it was over $200!
you mean 19".
A lot of audiophile equipment doesn't come in 19" format. it's only the (semi-) professional stuff that does. The DJ tables, amplifiers and light switches. They aren't necessarily good, but they're generally more rugged.
Good audiophile equipment is not marked by a form factor. Get a "What Hi-Fi?" magazine and see for yourself.
B.
Every experiment which ends in a big bang is a good experiment.
Actually, the numbers look differently when you download the 2005 Annual Report from Sony's website:
(Operating Income / Loss for 2005)
Electronics: -34.3 billion Yen
Game: +43.2 billion Yen
Music: +8.8 billion Yen
Picture: +63.9 billion Yen
Financial: +55.5 billion Yen
SO.net: -4.1 billion Yen
So, Sony is actually a bank/insurance company with movie and gaming business. I guess they should really consider closing down the Electronics business.
The last time Electronics was profitable was in 2003, but then again in 2003 Electronics made 65.9 billion Yen whereas Games made 112.7 billion Yen (Music: -28.3, Pictures: +59, Financials +22.8).
Can't wait for the Pippin 2!
One of the worst purchases I ever made. What saddens me the most, this hardware is awesome, sound quality is fantastic. It's the shoddy software that is unusable. How Sony managed to release this still baffles me. I would not buy an iPod, simply for the very poor sound and build quality, so as a consumer, there are few little options (Creative or iRiver perhaps...) I am hoping Sony sort thir sh1t out quickly, Connect software is a fiasco, SonicStage is slightly better, but incompatible with the lastest Sony devices. The best they can do, is fix forget about Connect Player, and fix SonicStage to work with the latest players.
Apple is leader in the USA. In Europe, for example, the situation is quite different. Sony is not leader either, but things are open here.
I think we expect different things from our stereo's
:)
we want MP3 compatability and we want to play our itunes
downloads.
there is no real competition to itunes and nothing but the ipod that can play Fairplay DRM.
The ipod hifi as is, isn't pretty but imagine a device which lets the ipod dock in properly with built in wifi connectivity that lets you use your ipod to directly order music over the net. built in credit-debit card reader so any music on itunes is a download away.
build in a dvd / audio cd player and a 5.1 decoder and you have the most desirable home entertainment system ever.
The only people that can make this is Apple because they control the DRM.
A hifi that always has the music your guest's request.
To be honest the biggest market for this will be single guys, you'll always have her favourite track.
no band too obscure you'll have it
now how can Sony build an answer to that.
Blarney Quality Restaurant, Plants
I guess the Sony Walkman NW-HD05 (20 Gig Mp3 player) that I bought a few weeks ago is a spoil of war. I compared for months against the fan boy favorites (iPod) and every other little box with a HD and mp3 decoder chip -- and decided on the Sony for simple reasons....
1. Removable and replacable battery
2. Battery life of more than 20 hours per charge
3. Sound quality (I am not an audophile - but on the audiophile websites - they gave this thing a constant thumbs up)
4. Consistantlly high user reviews
5. Size (yes it is smaller than an Ipod)
The only thing people complained about constant was the software....In the end I figured big deal....my software experience with Sonic Stage would be shorter than a blind date. Only long enough to dump 20 gigs of mp3's from my USB HD to the player -- and then it would be divorced from the PC anyway, so who cares if the software sucks and sony is evil, as a consumer -- sound, quality, battery life and usability is 99% of the overall experience in the long run.
(+1 Funny) only if I laugh out loud.
Don't count Nintendo out on the gaming front just yet, they're gearing up to have quite a good system which follows the KISS rule. It will provide backwards compatibility and open up their 8/16/64-bit libraries as well. The DS is also doing quite well. Nintendo doesn't have a foothold in the media industry but one company doesn't have to dominate every industry.
Twinstiq, game news
You are a pretty angry guy there. Happy now that you think you are right?
I am on the other hand emotionally unaffected.
As it stands, the gaming division is carrying the company. If it fails so does Sony.
Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
I can't even count the many divisions Sony has. They got hands in gaming, tv, computers, cell phones, movies, and music. All this diversity means they can they hit in one area and still be profitable. It is equivalent to telling me that Microsoft is losing money on the Xbox. But, one thing that always concerns me is why do they have such a hard time getting all those division to work together. Apple started their foray into music with iTunes on Mac OS 9 with a market share of 2.3%. Now they have everything integrated well from the OS to the computers to the music players to iTunes Store and are the undisputed leader. But, Sony had all those divisions years ago and couldn't pull it together and offer more. It is a shame they are now playing catch up.
You don't have to be smart to use a Mac, you just have to be smart enough to buy one
I think the big underlying problem is how big corporations do not know how to handle developing code at different locations around the country and especially the world. I just quit a large multinational corporation that has started offices in India, Poland, China, all the usual places. They do not understand how much it really costs them in coordination, support, and other issues like integration. All they know is the people work for $X/hr, no one ever figures the actual cost. Funny how open source groups can be so successful and big corps can screw it up so bad.
You may also want to look into what accessories come with those players when comparing prices. I seem to remember people complaining about Apple discontinuing its inclusion of an accessory that allows you to charge your iPod without a computer. So, if the competitors include such a device while it would cost you additional money to get a similar device for the iPod, that would need to be taken into account as well. I know that when I purchased my Dell DJ, it even came with a dock for the computer and a case at no extra charge, which increased the value to me over alternatives. Maybe you did take that into account, but your statements did not address that issue, so I felt I would point it out.
It seems to me that offering iTunes on the Revolution would further pry open the door to the living room for Apple and Nintendo would have added functionality to a system which already has a primary focuse on it's online presence.
Continuing the war analogy... "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."
I bought Sony DVD camera about year ago. The camera is pretty good, but the DVD authoring software it comes with is horrible beyond my worst imaginations. I was shocked and awed how company like Sony with so many fingers in DVD business can produce any DVD software that bad.
...
For example you would think that for importing DVD to your hard disk to use it with bundled software you could use the DVD disc produced by the camera - pop it into computer's DVD drive and start from there. Wrong. You have to pop DVD into the camera and use bundled USB cable to transfer the data. Considering that I am still on USB 1.0 - I pretty much scratched that option. Even if I had USB 2.0 (which I can get I guess pretty cheaply) - it is still very bad inconvenience.
I could continue with other software problems all day long
* DRM - Sony products seem to have more restrictive and annoying DRM than any other, and they seem to push it harder and more arrogantly. Cases in point - the Minidisc (bleech) software, and the fact thay every practically DVD player EXECPT Sony is region free.
* Lack of price competitiveness - bad news Sony, simply sticking a Sony badge on 3rd party products does not get you a 20-30% price premium.
* Utter contempt for ethics and customers - 1,2,3...say it in unison "Rootkit"
Far from being a premium label, it is rapidly becoming one to avoid. If you look at its behaviour, and that of the consortia it belongs to, there is probably no company in the world doing more to deprive consumers of their rights.
Ok, there are three kinds of companies - the ones I mentioned before, and then Microsoft. :-)
However, you must admit that the lack of boxes is indeed a sign of popularity with the 360...
Not to take away from your original point, which was an excellent rebuttal.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I do not believe that gaming will be the decisive victory in the media wars. I believe that it will be the ability to have a powerful, yet easy, interface to link together all media aspects. Once with a sleek and sexy look, that would match todays slimform design preference.
And Apple so far has got that down to a science. With iTunes, the macmini, and if they forked MythTV into an iTunes miracle child, add a TV tuner card to the mini, and maintain the Apple identity, I can see this battle done.
And I know many want gaming added to their media experience, but for that a PS2, Xbox, or other console is more than enough. I myself already have my old MacMini hooked up to my TV, for WoW, Itunes, and my MASSIVE collection of "downloaded" TV shows, movies, music, and porn. But IF I could have that with a better interface, one usable with a remote, I would be in heaven.
3 degrees of separation from Vladimir Putin
No, I meant 17". 19" is the width including mounting provisions. 17" is the width of the equipment sans rails. The Xserve is 17".
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
this could be the kick in teh ass they need.