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Why the iPod is Losing its Cool
An anonymous reader writes "The Guardian Unlimited has a provocative article on the recent decline in iPod sales: 'Analysts warn that the iPod has passed its peak. From its launch five years ago its sales graph showed a consistent upward curve, culminating in a period around last Christmas that saw a record 14 million sold. But sales fell to 8.5 million in the following quarter, and down to 8.1 million in the most recent three-month period. Wall Street is reportedly starting to worry that the bubble will burst.'"
I think its a mixture of the DRM/format lock-in, regular market saturation and growing competition. Personally I think that the lack of on the fly recording is one of the many reasons why I would get another mp3-player and not an iPod. But lets wait for Apples Showtime event and then talk about it again. Steve might have something to fix the xmas sales.
...DRM-fatigue, finally, sets in (it's about time!).
;-) Personally I buy quite a lot of music (about 5-6 albums a week at times). Since the RIAA consider their customers, including me, to be criminals, I've decided to act like one. I burn, rip and share it, and give away copies to anyone who asks ;-) Ironically, if there were no DRM, I wouldn't act this way.
You know I'm glad people are finally starting to realise they're being screwed in the ass by DRM. Over the last few months I've been asked various questions by (non technical) family, friends and colleagues that all involve DRM'ed content making things awkward, and not allowing them to do what they want with their legally bought music. I'm happy to tell them why they can't play their iTunes/Napster sourced music wherever they like; hopefully they'll wake up and see where their apathy has got them.
I then mention there are plenty of places people can get all the music they like without DRM, for nothing
Code, Hardware, stuff like that.
Couple of reasons, in no order of importance:
;P)
- Backlight died after a few weeks.
- Durable construction? You could scratch the screen with cotton.
- "Innovative" touch pad.. try scrolling through ten thousand songs precisely. Not. Happening.
- iTunes (though it's easily circumventable)
- Overall versatility only increases when you hax0r it (this might actually be a plus
- Price
TLF
I do not respond to cowards. Especially anonymous ones.
Honestly, all doom-and-gloom iPod discussion in this article is going to look silly after this Tuesday's media event by Apple, which is rumored to be offering new metal-enclosed nanos in multiple colors, new iPods, a cell phone, a video streaming device, and movie downloads from Disney (which also means studios like Miramax).
Let's sit back and enjoy the negative comments from iPod haters wanting to look really cool and outside-the-norm for bashing a popular piece of technology that's left them behind. After all, it's par for course around here--let's not forget the original iPod announcement or the iPod mini discussions which were oh-so-accurate in their future predictions. Ahem.
"Sufferin' succotash."
I was a senior about to head off to college and I thought "Hey.. I'm going to buy one of those fancy iPods so I can listen to music on the way to class." So I bought one. 4 years later I walk around with my 1st generation iPod still. I notice other people around campus having minis, nanos, shuffles, regular iPods.. but you know what? I never bought a new one. In my statistics class I remember the professor made everyone stand up who had one.. nearly 75% of the room had an iPod. Thats amazing. My question is.. why would I spend another 300 dollars on a new iPod whenever I already have one that works fine? I'm sure other people feel the same. I think that the information in this post is faulty. They correlated the wrong data. Instead they should have correlated the data against competing mp3 players instead of just total iPod sales.
I will bend like a reed in the wind.
That's a very fair and valid point. However, with regard to the argument iPod sales may be levelling or falling simply because of market saturation, what have overall MP3 player sales done? What is the iPod's current marketshare?
I don't use my iPod that often, but the battery has lasted fine since 2004-10. Even if I needed to replace twice already at ~$17 (seems to be the going rate for a 4th gen) I'd still be better off vs. buying AA batteries. Not to mention the environmental damage from using non-recharable batteries.
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I don't have one, I have an ancient 32K RCA K@zoo with 64mb SD card (the biggest it can handle) that I have not used in a while.
When I next upgrade it will be an Ipod, not because it is fashionable or faddish or popular, but because there is now a supporting ecosystem. Cars come with IPOD docks, you can get a cheap, nifty running package from Nike that tracks speed/distance while you are listening too music while your run.
In short I think it is the perfect choice for taking my music with me everywhere, moving seamlessly from jogging, to work, to driving cross country. I am just waiting for an 8Gig Nano to make the driving across country more feasable.
I'd like to make the argument that these children were all idiots.
Point 1: They choose $400 gadgets based on fashion.
Point 2: They value the drivel on the radio (I doubt they were missing NPR).
This is probably the biggest thing that apple & other 'convergent' device manufacturers are missing.
all of the new 'video on your celphone' pushes just make me laugh - who's seriously going to download video onto their celphone at the cost that it ends up being (few fixed data rate plans) plus the fact that people watch movies on their 40" TV's, not a 2 inch micro screen.
Everyone I have seen using their Ipod is using WHILE doing other things - it's not a 'lets sit around the house and listen to music' - so video doesn't fit into this model at all.
Apple needs to be pushing the wireless transmission from ipod's to their traditional devices (ie stereo's, tv's etc) instead of worrying about bigger screens, clunkier devices etc.
Providing wireless transmission from the Ipod (which is supposedly near/coming out soon) would take Ipod's out of the 'walkman' category into the 'portable media station' one, which would be a huge jump imho.
i already drag around portable harddrives packed with movies & mp3's - it's my 'portable music collection' - having an ipod sized device with 120 Gb of video / music on it would be a huge benefit to a lot of people.
Gekido's Lair
They buy music so that they can do something else and not get so bored doing it.
Back when I bought music, it was mostly so that I could listen to it, and the radio was for background. That was back before the web and before video/DVD. Who "just listens" to music anymore? (And if I am just listening to music, it won't be to some compressed crap on tinny earbuds, but to vinyl or CD over real speakers.)
Nowadays, I fill the "do something else and not get bored" niche with books-on-tape (or disc), from the library. (Mostly fiction, and some non-fiction that I wouldn't otherwise take the time to read.) Works great for those hour-long commutes or just doing clean-up around the house. Music still works though as background for reading or writing, because it's harder to do either of those and listen to a story at the same time.
-- Alastair
Yeah, steps 1, 2, and 3 are rocket science for sure. It takes all of three seconds to set that up.
Besides, it's you that's missing the point. The point was that the iPod plays non-DRM mp3 files without issue. The anti-iPod nerds always want to skip past that bit.
all of the new 'video on your celphone' pushes just make me laugh - who's seriously going to download video onto their celphone at the cost that it ends up being (few fixed data rate plans) plus the fact that people watch movies on their 40" TV's, not a 2 inch micro screen.
Everyone I have seen using their Ipod is using WHILE doing other things - it's not a 'lets sit around the house and listen to music' - so video doesn't fit into this model at all.
While I agree that a video iPod is dead in the water, the idea does fit the use-case of a long commute. I use the Osaka subway and local train system to get to work, and the single most common thing people are doing is to use their mobile phones to email, to play games, to listen to music or speech books and to surf the net (the second most common is read a book or comic, with portable games and mp3 players a distant third). Lately, TV-enabled mobile phones are becoming more and more common too.
They're effectively using their phones as a portable entertainment and communication center; nothing much bigger would be useable anyhow. And while the phone/TV screen may be 5-6cm only, it's pretty high resolution and high quality and look at it right up close so it's perfectly fine for viewing your typical morning news and talkshows. You already have book and comic serials downloadable for phone use; adding video is a no-brainer, probably.
But the key for this use is the convergence. For most people, a phone that does only 80-90% of a dedicated device is a lot preferable to actually having a second, dedicated device to carry around on the way to work. And when it comes to convergent devices, the war is over and the mobile phone won.
Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
Indeed. It's hard to think of a better HTPC than a 1.66Ghz Core Duo Mini running Windows MCE.
And as soon as the Apple resellers wake up and stop trying to flog the old Minis for a paltry $10 less than a new one from Apple, I'll be buying one to do just that.
So you can burn and rip all you want, RIAA will not care.
The hell they don't. They simply have no easy way to prosecute or intimidate anyone for personal burning and ripping, but they would if they could, fair use not withstanding. The RIAA doesn't believe in or accept the legitimacy of fair use anyway, considering how they reneged on their side of the Audio Home Recording Act. The studios themselves have demonstrated that they are perfectly willing to use DRM, as well as other even less savory technological measures, to control the usage (let alone distribution) of their content.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
''To get something that sounds as good as an 160 AAC you need to have MP3 encode at 192 or higher.''
t s.html e sults.htm
I think, respectfully, that your opinion is somehow skewed. I've seen a couple published blind abx tests * of various formats at 128 Kbps. iTunes AAC was rated equal to LAME MP3 (and Ogg Vorbis too). At higher bitrates, it's even more clear that AAC has no advantage because almost nobody can distinguish 160 or 192 Kbps files created by a decent encoder against the original CD. Especially on a device like an iPod.
* http://www.rjamorim.com/test/multiformat128/resul
* http://www.maresweb.de/listening-tests/mf-128-1/r
If you want to refute my opinion, please, show me a published test that has some real statistical significance. Not just unprovable claims.
For the truths about audio encoding, see www.Hydrogenaudio.org