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Will the iPod Ever Die?
Azhar writes "Will we always prefer the iPod's glossy slim design over all the others? Or at one point of time will the iPod revolution actually fade? Lets have a look at what could happen and why."
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Granted, there have been some fantastic inventions in the history of man. Like the wheel, that's still going pretty strong and with a massive distribution even now. Will the iPod follow in its footsteps? Unlikely that it's not going to 'ever die'. So yes, it will. Might take five years, might take twenty; but yes it will die.
Lets have a look at what could happen and why
For what use ? Some jobless manager on a dull weekend...
No one will ever create something people like better then the iPod, and no one will ever want a computer in their home.
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
Will the automobile ever die, will toasters ever die, will stupid pointless articles written just to make ad money ever die? Stupid, stupid article.
But only if we Nuke 'em from orbit. Its the only way to be sure.
liqbase
In Malaysia, the ipod isn't terribly popular. Sure some folks have them, but it's rare. A lot of people do own an mp3 player, but it's usually of varied brands. The reason is that ipods are just too expensive for the average youth to own, and there is no iTunes service to download music from over in this part of the world.
The article is just some blogger listing a bunch of reasons why the iPod is better than the Zune. Maybe if it were someone who's an authority on the subject it might be worth reading but after wasting my time I got the distinct impression that it's probably just a mac fan. Now that doesn't make his argument incorrect but it's not really worth a discussion.
It's battery does... :(
If I were average Joe who didn't want to take apart my iPod to replace the battery then yes. It's the only thing I hate about iPod. I am sure they designed it this way to. After all, by the time the battery dies, the mindless consumer will just want the latest iPod that is out.
"Will this server ever die?"
Well, lets slashdot it and find out.
Yeup.
Test your net with Netalyzr
require("Intesting pithy comment about the Slashdot effect");
Looking for something to do? http://www.grinion.com
It keeps getting mildly upgraded and resold to the same people time after time. It will die when they do.
July, 1983 - The Sony Walkman has dominated the portable cassette player market so far. It began the ultimate revolution in how we listen to our music......
Back to the present, the Walkman ceased to dominate the industry 15 years ago or more. The iPod will someday share it's fate. TFA is a lame blog article written by some fanboy who thinks he is creative, insightful, and discerning.
You know Taco, if it is a slow news day, it's better to leave the front page alone than to post "stories" like this just for the sake of filling space.
Slashdot - the place where you can look like a genius by restating the obvious
There have been other companies we thought we never see a decline. For a recent example, look at the problems that Sony is facing with the PS3.
If Apple forsakes their loyal customers, and abuses said loyalty, they will lose their biggest cheerleaders.
The iPod is a revolutionary device, although maybe not techinically, it has entered the conciousness of the public and it will be extremely hard for anyone to even try and match it's market dominance. The one thing Microsoft could have done with the Zune was to make sharing music unrestricted, but once again red tape has stopped it and the DRM will limit the function that could have made the Zune the better choice (along with Apple cutting the price, a move Microsoft didn't expect). I think the only thing to match the iPod now will be a device that is a mix of genres, much like the phone that is rumoured to be in development from Apple, if they can successfully merge the best features of an iPod (plus storage) with the good functions of a phone and make it stylish (not a hard job for Apple right now) then they may just have a chance of beating one of the devices of the decade. For other companies, it will be very hard to beat the iPod in the long run, and the only front I think they will have is pricing - which will only hurt their bottom line, as people will pay a premium to have the iPod. Congratulations to Apple on their market domination with this one, it's well deserved.
Business Voyeur
There are trusted brand names in many fields of consumer technology: the Zippo lighter, the Brunton compass, the Victorinox Swiss Army knife, the Timex watch. Outside of the geek market, Apple's biggest challenge comes not from what their competitors have to offer as features and cool-factor, but from their own ability to keep excellent customer service and quality control while newer and more machines are turned out of the factory. Even yuppies and posers will have enough common sense to prefer a brand name trusted as "reliable" over cheaper or more feature-filled options.
I have felt no compelling reason to upgrade from my monochrome 4G: its battery life is as good as the day I bought it, it plays music, it works. I know that if my battery starts to die, I can send it to Apple with $100 and receive a refurbished iPod of the same generation with a new battery. This is something important to me, and that kind of customer service will be a factor in my eventual decision to switch to another music player.
Seeing as the article was still in my browser, and is now slashdotted I copied the text here.
The iPod has dominated the MP3 player (and portable video player) market so far. It began the ultimate revolution in how we listen to our music. Competitors have come and gone, while the iPod stood strong, but really, will the iPod ever die? Well there are a few points that say NO and some that say YES.
NO! It will not die! (at the bottom of the article we look at the possibility of it actually dying, but for now the NO points outweigh the YES)
1. Its just too cool
The iPod has become so much of a cool factor today that teens prefer it over any other MP3 player. They don't care much about functionality, but how cool it looks. That's where Apple's ingenious design wins them over, and as long as the whole social group has iPods, it's going to stay that way. People just don't consider the Rio players or Zune cool looking: as the Apple sleek white design is just so much simpler. And Apple is getting better every day, with the recent introduction of colors (which we all love) and at even tinier (way cooler) iPod shuffle. So the driving force behind the iPod's success is it is the coolest thing to have, to use, to show off, to carry around; and it will stay that way at the pace that Apple is making it cooler every season.
2. Its known
When we think of MP3 players we think Pod. That was not true a few years ago, MP3 player could mean Sony or Philips or any other brand, but today the word that first pops into our head is iPod. The iPod is now global, even here in India we see the white ear buds walking the streets. You can get an iPod probably anywhere in the world.
3. Price
Apple always has very competitive pricing for iPods, especially with the iPod shuffle. That's one of the main factors teens look at, and combine that with the fact it's just so cool, hey, how can we resist?
4. Competitors aren't getting it.
Competitors like Creative and recently Microsoft (although the Zune does have a lot of potential) don't know what the current generation is and what they want. We want simply stuff, which looks good and works. While competitors focus more on functionality which not many will use, Apple focuses on pushing the limits of creative design: which many people appreciate more. Would you rather have a tiny glossy iPod which plays MP3s only or a bigger bulkier competitor's product which plays all known formats? Exactly. Apple made sense of it all giving us only what we will need, and sometimes more.
5. Accessories in all directions
We all love to personalize our stuff. Apple lets you do that with the countless number of accessories. It's like pimping your car with rims: iSkins for iPods, headphones with glowing wires, lanyards, stick ons and what not. No company in the near future can create so much personalization to match up with what the iPod already has in its large accessory market.
6. We don't like to change.
Once an iPod user, probably always an iPod user. If the iPod was your first MP3 player, you will probably never change if it's worked well for you. When you plan to upgrade you will go for the newest iPod, not the Zune.
7. Getting better.
The iPod is getting better every season. With smaller sizes, bigger drives, better functions etc. So far no company has been able to match with the pace that Apple has set in introducing new iPods which keep us anticipated to what they will do next.
8. Personal Touch
Mentally we are fixed that Microsoft is a big company with no taste and no 'coolness'. We see Apple as a bunch of fun loving guys which brings them closer to you than Microsoft or Creative. Their fun Ads on TV or their quiet sense of humor sometimes allows us to connect with the brand easier.
9. Killing the PC
As Apple converts even more people to Macs (and businesses) and as Macs get cheaper and more compatible with Windows, the iPod parade follows. More Macs, more iP
OMFG I get a new ipod first thing I do is buy and extended battery from a 3rd party company works for years. That is what I did with my second generaton iPod. I will never buy a new I pod I will just replace the hard drive. This christmas I am going to get a bigger drive for it and I am going to get a replacement audio jack board for it. The cost of all thoes parts still does not add up to the price of a new one. I think that the iPod will die but Apple will still have the mp3 market with a new and better design that will be names something elce
iPod is a fad. All fads eventually die. Some have longer legs than others, but they all eventually fade into a sort of background commodity basis if they don't outright die. Usually, you can tell when a fad is about to die when you see the fad and products for it everywhere...
What a totally trite piece of fanboi blathering. You owe me the last two minutes of my life back.
The saddest part is, so many of you really seem to believe apple is not simply a giant corporation. Does their stuff look different? yeah, it has to - and they spend a fortune on those "fun" marketing campaigns that have you so brainwashed. Oooh, look at me, I'm different because Steve Jobs tells me I am!
There, that's better. Now we're even.
More accurately, the rate at which iPods are sold will level off. That doesn't mean iPod itself is a fad, just that consumers are approaching it with a "fad" mindset.
iPod itself may become the Sony walkman: ubiquitous, until CD comes around.
Yes, they're tough little nuts to crack.
Apple will do whatever it takes to keep the iPod on top for as long as possible, because it's a very strategic product.
The iPod is the "gateway drug" to get Apple products perceived as cool and easy to use-- to influence iPod owners to take a look at a Mac the next time they're in the market for a computer. And though it's taken a while to pick up steam, the strategy is starting to pay dividends now. Fortunately, Apple has some help-- the product's cachet, the "it's what everyone else has" mindset that helped Windows for so many years and, like the article says, the thousands upon thousands of accessories made for the iPod (not unlike all the accessory products available for machines running Windows).
When you sit down and think about it, it's a complete role reversal for Apple and Microsoft-- now Apple has the product that won the market-share war and has had industries spring up around it, and Microsoft's on the outside trying desperately to get in.
They're still one of the only major portable music player manufacturers out there with no ties to the content creation industry. If any company were going to beat them out with a better, sleeker, CHEAPER product, it would be Sony, but Sony has thus far been more concerned with protecting the copyrights of its music and movies than creating a portable device that people actually want to use. There are many, many obvious ways that the iPod could be improved upon: cost, battery life, interchangeable batteries, the ability to transfer music directly to other iPods (wirelessly), to name a few. But no one is even trying because improving on the iPod would make people more likely to "steal" music. And apple isn't trying because they already have a monopoly on this market, why should they bother rushing to innovate?
One thing many people (even iPod owners) keep pointing out about the iPod is that every product that has ever been invented to compete with it is only at best "just as good." This seems rather pathetic considering all of its shortfalls that have yet to be addressed.
Articles like this are so silly. Does anyone obsess over the countless other mp3 devices? No. Get over the iPod already! There were mp3 players before iPod and many will come out in the future.
People have replaced hi-end audio with low-quality gadgets.
An iPod couldn't hold a candle in sound quality to a $99 record player with a decent stylus or even a modest Sony CD player with a 1-Bit DAC.
Try this: plug a decent pair of headphones into an iPod. The compare the same song on a CD player. You will hear the difference.
Fortunately, Apple offers a battery replacement service for out of warranty iPods.
Out of curiosity, which other brands offer a similar service? I have a feeling the brand I stick with will be the one to offer the best post-purchase support. For one thing, it shows confidence in their product.
WTF is it with the fad these days of using CSS to make down-sized body text in freaking GRAY? I mean, it's annoying enough that it's smaller than you've set in your freaking browser preferences as the point size you'd like to read, but then they set it to 75% gray to make it even harder to read? It also doesn't help that displays these days have more pixels per inch, meaning that it goes from just being small to being microscopic. Ever since getting a MacBook Pro, I've been wearing out the command-+ in Mozilla.
And then you get this joker who ups the ante by changing the background to black?
Hint: try making the headlines bigger and leave the body text size alone.
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
But I don't understand the attraction to begin with. As far as I know, the iPod currently (or used to) has these problems:
1. It cannot be treated as a USB harddrive
2. It can only use MP3's.
3. It is highly overpriced compared to its competitors.
4. The batteries are of extremely low quality (talked to someone at work just this last week, he said everyone in the family got one for last christmas (5 iPods), and 3 were dead by then).
5. It does not work in cold weather (say, jogging in the winter).
In addition I've used iPod's belonging to others. I didn't really like the UI (if I'm spinning my finger around a circle of sorts, when do I stop to make it get where I want?). I suppose I'd get used to it, but the UI seemed terrible to me compared to my iRiver. With my iRiver, I can change the song or volume without taking it out of my pocket.
So, what's the allure of an iPod if I can buy a rival for $100 with a better battery, better temperature immunity, better UI (to perspective), better compatability (ogg, treated as a harddrive)? I want an honest answer actually.
Oh and once again, forgive the "troll".
From the crappy state of submissions lately it seems increasingly likely.
Oh and lets not forget Ogg-Vorbis support, of course.
The day you can walk into Walmart and buy a 4 - 8GB flash player for $39.99 is the day the iPod will die. The iPod will eventually meet the same fate as the Sony Walkman did in the 90s once cheap Japanese knock-offs can be manufactured for cheap enough.
The Osborne 1 computer died. The IBM Stretch 7030 computer died. The Sony Walkman died. The Studebaker died... and so did the Oldsmobile and the Plymouth. Eleven of the twelve corporations in the original Dow Jones Index died. Elvis Presley died. The Soviet Union died. The United Society of Believers (Shakers) died. The Roman Empire died. Kepler's supernova died.
The iPod will die. So will Windows. So will the Toyota Prius. So will Toyota. So will GE, the sole surviving original Dow Jones Index company. So will the United States of America. So will life on earth. So will the sun. Even Jack LaLanne will eventually die (oh, wait...)
And your point is?
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
But the server hosting the article is certainly dead.
When I bought my 1G shuffle, it was cheaper than any other MP3 player that size - almost the same cost as many of the 512M models. At the same cost or less, I went with the Apple MP3 player. All of these players seem to be within $10 of each other, and as parts get cheaper, they seem to add more functionality to keep the price point high. Someone willing to make 5% profit on basic hardware could dethrone the lot.
Many folks have large collections of bog standard MP3's. I know I keep my CD collection in a couple milk crates once I figured out how to rip high quality MP3's and keep the original media safe and sound. The fact that my Shuffle can play Apple's DRM format does not matter to me - I have never purchased an electronic track. Same goes for Zune and the plethora of 'play for sure' devices. I just want an MP3 player. On the original purchase, the thought of using the iTunes store did come into play. Not so anymore. I'd love to pay half what Apple or Microsoft are selling their models for, and skip the ability to do 'pay to play'.
Subscription services are right out. I like to own my music. I suspect others feel the same way. Were I starting from scratch, on the music front, might feel different. Don't see that business model taking off.
Heresy, but I don't consider iTunes to be a fantastic way to manage large collections of music. I strongly dislike the transcoding to other 'protected' formats like Sony tried and sounds like the Zune is doing. It is worth more to me to not need special software to upload or download music to the device. Something that would, oh, just look at the player like a USB drive and play all the MP3 files on it would be great. Again, I'm happy enough with the Shuffle - no screen, random or linear track selection - so not looking to pay for an MP3 player that does all sorts of clever stuff.
So could something else win? I think so. A decent quality 4G MP3 player for $50 would be very appealing to me. Brand would not matter.
+++ UGUCAUCGUAUUUCU
Yeah, I'm as old as my UID would suggest.
No. It will never die. It will survive the heat-death of the universe, as all other protons dissolve in the uncountable trillions of years in the future. They will be all that is left in The End.
Next question?
Help! I'm a slashdot refugee.
I don't use Apple products because I believe the company is small, I use Apple products because my research indicated that theirs were better products for my purposes.
I needed a new laptop. Windows was frustrating me and I wanted to switch to a Unix-like system anyway. I needed to use the following commercial tools: Adobe Photoshop, Macromedia Fireworks (as it then was), Macromedia Freehand (as it then was), Macromedia Flash (as it then was). Wine was not officially supported by those companies and would result in slowdown. Gimp and Inkscape were not viable alternatives as they did not contain many of the features I use most often (especially dynamic layer effects, which is still missing.) OS X was officially supported by both Adobe and Macromedia. I went with a PowerBook, and couldn't be happier with my decision. I still keep tabs on Linux, especially Ubuntu and its child distros, but in the meantime I have a solution that works well.
I'm getting pretty fed up with PC users who take personal offense at Apple and who assume that many or most Apple users are Apple users because of some idealistic view of the company rather than the sheer pragmatism that led so many of us away from Windows without the ditching commercial products we trust.
I think that what the iPod is or does will change but Apple will continue to sell a product called "iPod" for a very long time. Look at the iMac. It's morphed twice into new form factor and added more total features than it started with.
No sig for you. YOU GET NO SIG!
Many of the reasons this person states for the iPod being popular contradict each other.
Author States:
While competitors focus more on functionality which not many will use, Apple focuses on pushing the limits of creative design.
and then:
The iPod is getting better every season. With smaller sizes, bigger drives, better functions etc. So far no company has been able to match with the pace that Apple has set in introducing new iPods which keep us anticipated to what they will do next.
The what this person is saying is the iPod is popular because it is consistent and not bloated. But then claims how great Apple is with outpacing the competition with changes and innovation with the iPod? Which one is it?
Well, if the only thing that changes in iPods is physical size and storage capacity, why are people getting anxious, you KNOW that is what is changing. Wow, I can't wait, a new iPod is getting released next week, I wonder if it will be smaller and have more capacity?
Author states:
Apple knows how to sell a product. (evident from the iPod's success).
The iPod is the only product they have sold in the last 20 years that has has out paced the competition. The other products they sell are not even close to the competition. Come on guys, lets be honest here and look at the numbers. This is not a slam on Apple or a reflection of the products they sale, just pointing out the truth.
Author states on connecting sentences:
People just don't consider the Rio players or Zune cool looking: as the Apple sleek white design is just so much simpler. And Apple is getting better every day, with the recent introduction of colors (which we all love) and at even tinier (way cooler) iPod shuffle.
What is he saying here? White is sleek and easy and a good reason for everyone to love the iPod, then in the very next sentence, brags about the awesome colors that everyone loves?
Sounds like the author is just shotgunning and a fanboi. Basically, the iPod is popular and he is coming up with no real evidence of why. I get the impression that if Apple put an FM radio or recording capability or some type of functional feature in some models, within six month, this persons blog will claim how great those functions are. Since those and some features are not there, this person falls back to the excuse of "people just want a simple unit". Bascially, if Apple does not have a feature or functionalilty, obviously no one wants it and the product is better without it, when Apple does include additional features and functionality, suddenly everyone loves it. Remember video a few ago? Who want to be bothered with video on a audio player, everyone just wants a simple easy to use audio player. Oh wait...
(Article is slashdotted, so I can only react to the submission/summary.)
I realize that some people really like the iPod, but it never particularly appealed to me. There are a lot of people (in absolute terms, not relative terms) who don't see that product as particularly impressive.
What that means, is that they'll never get all the market. There's room for competitors. I doubt anything Microsoft can offer will ever be that competitor, but there will be someone. A few years ago, I though the Neuros was great (as far as features go, it was outstanding and whipped the iPod to a bloody mess without much resistance), but my car was just too hostile an environment for the hardware to survive (I suspect it was the combo of vibration when driving, combined extreme heat when parked in the summer). As flash capacity/$ dollar increases, the day will eventually come for a viable all-solid-state music player (today's products' storage are around two to three orders of magnitude too small). When that day comes, somebody is going to make a great player. And somebody is going to buy it.
When that happens, there's a chance that, instead of merely appealing to the I-need-features niche, it'll have widespread appeal as well. Thus, there's a chance (however small) that it could take over the fashion market where the iPod dominates. The only way Apple can prevent this is if they work on features and functionality (instead of just making it pretty and having good ads) to keep that niche closed. So far, there's little sign that Apple is going to do this, since (short term, at least) that's simply not where the big money is.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
... Will M$ ever stop being the most widely used OS and office suites? My guess is it will be like the iPod, if it can keep up with the trends and evolve with it, then yes it will be around for a long time. If it doesn't keep up with trends and falls behind, then of course it will fade. It's all up to the companies that make it not the end user.
Can I bum a sig?
Any filesystem device that does not follow the idiom of explicitly asking the user for confirmation before deleting files, is broken. Yes, I know all about DRM, and I know all about Itunes and Apple's policies and all that, and I don't care. The Ipod will delete *all* your files, just because you happened to clean up your Itunes folder. It will *NOT* say "Are you sure you want to delete these 14,697 files that you spent the last few months organizing?"
That's broken. After seeing how that "works" for other people with Ipods, there is no way I'll be buying any such thing. I realize fully it's that way by design, and I don't care. I'll have no part of it.
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
The flaw is with the product design, not the business model. I assume the business model is something along the lines of "make as much money as we can as fast as we can based on false promises." Sometimes this ultimately results in jail time, sometimes a flight from justice, but the basic business model can and does work, sometimes for a *long* time.
Someday a Slashdot ID of 177180 will mean something.
Apple actively protects the iPod name. Big problems will arise for any company that uses the name "iPod" for their MP3 player device.
The beauty of digital media is that Apple has already done that: iPod currently plays AAC, MP3, Audible Audio, AIFF, and WAV. The only current format missing from this list that I strongly desire Apple to add (and you can sign a petition here) is OGG Vorbis.
I will definitely throw my iPod away and buy Zune if it will have support for Internet radio
Even though more advanced gadgets/control methods will come, people may still prefer the familiar click wheel interface of the Nano for basic music listening. Perhaps it will not be made by Apple, will have much higher quality/capacity or be a part of a multi-function gadget, but I think the design itself has made a lasting impact.
The iPods were created by man. They Rebelled. They Evolved. There are many copies. And they have a plan.
Which is your MP3 player and are its specs and battery life comparable to those of any of Apple's current iPod models? I'm guessing it's one of the older iriver models? iriver has since started using a battery system comparable to the one Apple uses in iPod.
Really
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
... will *I* die? There's no conclusive evidence.
Apparently every human being dies sooner or later, but my fanboy club says I'm living forever since I'm better than the rest of the humans. Makes sense right?
Let's see, but I bet I won't die ever.
My first iPod was a gift for someone else who never ended up using it. I used it and found that the podcasts were pretty cool (German, math, science courses). Then my work started banning MP3s on workstations and company issued laptops. At that point my 2G iPod got too small. So even though I rarely listen to music, I'll end up getting another one because lots of my collection is now in iTunes. Apple is probably "somewhat evil" as opposed to the Satan that is Microsoft, but I can live with it.
First a bad hard disk, now a bad battery.
If this keeps up, I'll have to go back to vinyl.
What the hell is an iPod? I didn't RTFA!
If Apple slacks off and produces products that are constantly inferior to competitors then it is possble for the iPod to become another "Mac".
I certainly hope the Zune won't just replace the ipod as the defacto player, but if I were Apple I would be worried that it (or some other player, or players) will remove my market dominance. I don't know what could do it (or I'd be making it) but I would say it is innevitable and Microsoft stand a good chance simply because of its OS dominance.
Maybe it will be subscription licensing - itunes is an expensive way to fill 15GB of space. If MS can make a subscription model that is as easy to use and intigrate with the Zune as itunes/ipod then it could be a big selling point (note - I don't like the subscription model, I like to own, but I learnt a long time ago I am far from the median in most markets).
Joe Sixpack might love the fact that he can pay $10 a month and have his Zune filled with trackes he loves, tracks related to tracks he loves, suggested tracks, his friends playlists, related playlists (think amazon 'similar' and 'recommended' items) but all synced and put on his player when he leaves it charging. After all, most people simply don't have a 15GB core music collection and I'll bet many would be happy to see the rest of the space used with a changing flow of music.
Honestly, I read comments here all the time of people being rejected for posting a real tech story, yet THIS somehow gets on the page?
Slashdot has truly lost its focus.
Then don't buy one. Speak with your wallet, not some assinine letter to a useless agency.
Honestly, get over yourself. Warrenty died. Sucks to be you. You had the option to extend it, and you didn't take it.
When your DRM player dies, and noone supports your old DRM media format, your DRM files would be worth less than your 8-track collection.
dude,
Your problem is not with iPod, Apple, or consumer products that just don't hold up.
Your problem is that you are a huge pussy who can't stand up to your wife.
so sorry.
sigs are for losers (except to point out that sigs are for losers)
DRM and Open standards killed the WalkMan.
The cassette walkman and CD walkman worked were icons of Sony. They were simple to use and people could easily enjoy the music without having to understand the technology too much.
That all changed with the MiniDisc player (MD)
The MiniDisc player was one of the first players to introduce DRM to the music world (and people didn't really get it [trying to explain DRM in the late 1990's was a nightmare... yes, even worse than today]). Also, ATRAC/ATRAC3 wasn't really an open standard (there is a reason the MP3 took off and ATRAC/ATRAC3 didn't.)
IF Sony had introduced an MD player that would play MP3 player in 1997-1998 (that didn't change the MP3 in ANY WAY)... I really wonder if the iPod would be as popular as it is today. The technology was there... but ultimatly Sony killed the Walkman.
The funny part is... Sony now offers an MP3 based player... so after all energy and time trying to force DRM and ATRAC/ATRAC3 on the world... they offer what others have been doing for years.
[NOTE: I'm not saying the ATRAC/ATRAC3 format is inferior from a technical standpoint to MP3]
That's very funny, because as someone who was actually alive over 20 years ago, I can tell you that people said the very same thing back then.
Notice the pattern:
In the 2000s, everything built in the 1980s lasted forever; things made in the 2000s break after a few years.
In the 1980s, everything built in the 1960s lasted forever; things made in the 1980s break after a few years.
In the 1960s, everything built in the 1940s lasted forever; things made in the 1960s break after a few years.
In the 1940s, everything built in the 1920s lasted forever; things made in the 1940s break after a few years.
In the 1920s, everything built in the 19th century lasted forever; things made in the 1920s break after a few years.
And yes, I've done research on this. My grandparents are over 90 and swear that everything made since the Great Depression is crap and never lasts. I've found early newspaper op-ed pieces from the 1910s that claim the very same thing, just pushing back the date a little.
(The secret, of course, is that the things made in year X that only last a few years are long since discarded, and we only remember the things that last any decent length of time)
Repeated post from a while back. I can't believe people still believe the "stuff made today is shit, while everything made in the past lasted forever" meme.
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
The iPod has only been around for five years! Even in technological time (accounting for Moore's Law, etc.) that's not an overly long time for a product to dominate a market. Market forces always swarm early in a new product's life cycle, especially for dominant products that do what the iPod did to the portable digital music player market. The dominance of the product will level off and it will either become a commodity (i.e., a useful or valuable thing, such as water or time) or be toppled by a better product, or replaced by a newer technology and outmoded. Only time will tell. Most of the points in the article about why the iPod *WON'T* die are a bit shallow. "It's cool" Yeah, so was the Sony Walkman....GONE! Basically, everything said about the iPod is almost EXACTLY what people said about the Sony Walkman in the 1980s; well, except for price. Those bitches were WAY more expensive per inflation adjusted dollar. They also raised almost the same copyright stinks as the iPod and music swapping are doing now. I remember the guy in the car stereo shop telling my Dad about not copying music to tape to play in the car because it was "illegal". This was late 1970s, early 1980s.
The iMac is overdue for an retro-overhaul back to the design of the G4 iMac. I've never met anyone who prefers the look of the G5/Intel-style models to the G4, definitely the high point of the iMac line from a design standpoint. I've got a first-gen iMac G4, my roommate has a first gen iMac G5. Though her machine's a couple of years newer, she's had about a thousand times the problems that I have had, and it's got hands-down the worst DVD-R drive I've ever seen. If it's not failing to read a disk, it's launching it out of its shitty slot-load drive onto the floor. This is all assuming the computer feels like powering up at all - sometimes it powers up, and sometimes you have to unplug it for a few minutes and curse at it for a while before plugging it back in and making another attempt. Never had any problems like that with the G4 - it works, not the fastest computer by any stretch of the imagination, but I can turn it on whenever I want and that counts for a lot.
Short answer: yes
I mean, did 640K ever extinct? It was "enough for everyone" back then, but now...
That's what's gonna happen to iPod. It's cool and all now, but after some time it will get replaced by something even more cool. Maybe a next-generation-updated iPod, who knows...
Why "Oops"?
When did fanboi blog pieces become post worthy articles? Given the clear bias of that article I feel the need to respond and expound on why the iPod WILL DIE and lose a few karma points in the process. I also intend to be biased and obnoxious in response to said article.
1) They are just not cool
Apple is quickly losing its coolness factor with both the iPod and the Mac. Apple's control over the way its products look actually works against it as its products become more popular - I walked into a cafe last semester and saw a lovely row of people, all yuppies btw, using shiny white macbooks and it looked pretty damn ridiculous. Play count the white headphones once and then ask yourself if you want to buy a regulation white iPod. Yes its a landmark for miniturization that apple can make the shuffle so small that it can fit up your arse hole but making things small isn't the same as making things cool and it certainly isn't making them usable. (Reall fanboi's point 4) belongs here - he tries to make it a seperate idea but really its just one disjointed rant)
2) Its known... to be defective
Survey this page for the number of comments about defective batteries - sure you can get them replaced - or even buy a player in which they don't faint in the first place.
3) Price for features
the ipod looks competetive on price until you compare a feature list. Fanboi argues that people don't care about functionality and only simple looks and shiny colors. I don't. Give me an FM tuner and a voice recorder please - wihtout me paying 40 bucks for it. Zune will have Wifi and it won't be long before someone figures out how to connect it to the web.
4) see 1)
5) You go girl - accesorize that mutha!
Mmm iSkins for your iPod and headphones with glowing wires! Wee! Wear you glowing wire headphones - I think you look fucking ridiculous just like the idiots with those glowing rims for his car. Yes, please enjoy that fancy dock - I'm sniggering at you paying more than 100 bucks for a pair of crappy sounding speakers and a plasticky remote. That you don't use because you listen to your music from your shiny white macbook at home. With widgets!
6)The dinosaurs didn't like to change either
Fanboi claims that you will never change from an iPod if it was your first player and IF it worked well for you. So now that we've lost all those people who've had to change their battery or can't read the nano's screen anymore or found that click wheel unresponsive one morning, and all those people who are so sick of seeing everyone with whiteheadphones(TM) and all those poor cash strapped students who will happily save fifty bucks for noname player how many does that leave. Yours was alwaysa lonely world fanboi...
7) oooh fancy bigger hard drives! and a color screen!
Everyone has been introducing bigger drives - really fanboi actaully read release information before blogging. There really is a size limit for things beyond which there is not much point in making them smaller. I can wire up a really tiny calculator but its useless if you can't press its buttons. Unless your in Gitmo and Apple makes that iPhone you've not much need of something that can be lodged up your nether regions. And if Apple makes that iphone or that touch/widescreen ipod I will laugh as you get suckered into an even more rapid charge discharge cycle for that Li ion battery.
8)If you think MS is bad...
Apple is rapidly becoming a company that drops buzzwords and gives you useless users iCandy. Yes cocoa, yes shiny metal Aqua, yes expose - so pretty and so utterly pointless. Yes you love that little widget that tells you what the weather is now, so that you can look at it and be entirely confident that its 58 and its raining, and you no longer have to look out that little window (yes the real world thing that goes in a wall and occasionally has curtains) OOOOH a calculator widget - too bad you still haven't figured out order of operations from primary school and still can't add and divide. You brag about iLife but al
Reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.
The iPod is the mp3 player version of the wheel. The iPod design (click wheel, color screen) is a symbol for an mp3 player. Watch a cartoon that has a character holding an mp3 player (they're out there, I've definitely seen them), the design is going to be like an iPod. The iPod, or at least it's design, is going to be around forever, because of adaptation of technology.
I have faith in nothing but this: when the Universe collapses and dies, there will be three survivors. the iPods, the cockroaches, and Tony Fadell - trying to save the iPods. I admit i have not read TFA as i can't but the premise of the story alone is ludicrous. Sooner or later (probably sooner) a better storage medium will come along. Likely one a little less volatile.
"No, no, no, don't tug on that! You never know what it might be attached to."
- "Azhar" is the submitter, and the author of the linked-to article.
- The linked-to article is poorly written, contains no factual information, and basically can be boiled down to, "NO way, iPods are teh r0x0rz!!!!one!!!1111!!!one!"
- The submitter is clearly trying to simply generate traffic to his site with this opinion piece.
Given these... how does this constitute "news" for anybody, much less nerds?Seriously, slashdot. I want my 5 minutes back.
Of course, it's possible for more than one trusted brand to sell a similar product. My examples were only examples. For a long time, Victorinox was not the only official manufacturer of the Swiss Army knife; they recently acquired their long-time consumer competitor Wenger (BTW, my watch is a Wenger: a younger, less known watch brand than Timex but one I still trust on the reputation they've grown in their short lifetime). Silva also make fine compasses, etc. Most Buck knives I've seen are huntsman's/fisherman's knives, but the principal stands.
"Times change. When they do, viable, respected competitors enter the market."
This is exactly my point: in order for Apple to keep their market lead, they need to keep their existing customers happy. Right now, I'm worried that they're starting to pay less attention to their customer service while they concentrate more and more on R&D. Ultimately, I think consumers will go with whatever brand has the best reputation. If they hear bad stories about iPod, they may shy away from the device. If they hear excellent stories about iPod, their decision may be made easier.
Now fuck off and suck Jobs' dick
Excellent point, wish I had mod points...
And that is no joke. The good news is that Apple never questioned why any of my iPods (seven dead ipods as of March 2006, number eight has a near dead click wheel and is going to the shop this week) and always replaced them on the spot. Once the Apple Care coverage kicked in, I did not even need to take them to the store, Apple simply sent me a padded box to ship it to them. To me Apple Care for the iPod is the same as a subscription.
Is this bad? I don't know. I am not a typical iPod user, my iPod usually runs nostop for many hours and I use it seven days a week. so I am probably killing it simply by overusing it. Also most of my problems have been with the drives crashing.
Would I pick any other MP3 player? Hell no. $300 and a $60 warranty bought me two years of non stop hard duty service. I got about two months left on my Apple Care, and the wheel is sticking, so I'll be able to do at least one more exchange before the warranty is over.
BTW, while I was killing all those iPods, I have had friends that have owned theirs for over two years and no incidents. Why? Because their usage is nowhere as bad as mine.
Pedro
----
The Insomniac Coder
While you have a valid point for many things there are a few things that were actually made better in earlier times. For example Marantz, Sansui, and Pioneer amplifiers and recievers from the 70s have MUCH better transformers and power supply capicators than the junk made by the same companies today. It's possible to get stereo equipment on the high(er) end like NAD, high end Yamaha, Rotel, Creek, etc that have decent electronics, but the days of solidly built mass produced amplifiers are gone. I'm a relatively young guy but you'll pry my 70s era Marantz receiver from my cold dead fingers.
:)
In a similar fashion certain cars have gone down in quality as well. The Mercedes 300 D 5 cylinder diesels from the late 70s through mid 80s would go 500,000 miles on a fairly regular basis, the same for old gas Volvo engines. I highly doubt the modern lighter weight vehicles from the same companies are going to be as durable.
And of course many of us geeks miss the old solid IBM keyboards from the early 80s, though of course we don't miss the 8080 processor or 640 K of ram.
Yes modern equipment may be more energy efficient which is a big plus the actual build quality has gone down in a few products.
Tired of all the isms, don't exploit people as an employer, or a government, mmmmK?
Wow, how dramatic! I didn't realize it was so bad that we abandoned all digital music on metallic discs when digital music players arrived. Vinyl is now our only fallback, long live vinyl, our musical savior.
Sounds to me like she's got a bogus unit. Personally I think the current iMac (G5 / Intel) formfactor is the best computer design ever. It is what computer designs should be. We have two G5s at work and five Intels - they're all great and have zero problems.
The G4 design was total crap. We have three of those at work and all the arms are going weak and each of the users has trouble finding a suitable place for it on their desk. It's aukward and mechanically weak. And the optical drive is in a lousy location - open into the keyboard? WTF!
I'm not a Mac fanatic either. The current iMac is actually a good computer.
No sig for you. YOU GET NO SIG!
iPod is the Coca-Cola of portable digital music players. There's a lot of value in being first (or in being perceived as the original of something).
Hopefully some new player can muster some real market penetration. If one comes about that does something new, does it easily, and it's something that iTMS's DRM prevents, maybe we'll see a swing in the other direction. Seemed most people I knew used Alta Vista before Google came around, but web search was a pretty nascent market at that point & brand recognition was confined to a pretty small demographic.
Has the music player market reached critical mass, i.e. does it have too much cultural penetration for the top brand to be toppled in a quick coup? I'd like to think not, but my inner cynic seems to have the upper hand right now.
Pi Ran Out
You are as pragmatist as a Jehova's witness, asswipe
There are a lot of legitimate criticisms of the iPod, but the DRM one I don't particularly understand. Okay, so the iPod supports DRM. It doesn't require it. There is nothing about owning an iPod which requires you to purchase music from the iTMS. You can own an iPod and just ignore the iTMS completely, and use it just like you would an iRiver or a Creative or whatever.
The whole "I hate the iPod because I don't want to pay $0.99 a song" is silly. Nothing about the iPod requires that you buy your music that way. In fact, I'd argue that if you want to get your music from a CD, the iPod is probably still the best player, because iTunes is the easiest ripping/syncing/library-management software around -- naturally that's debatable, of course.
Your points about the lack of a microphone and a line input are well taken, because they're actual capabilities of other devices which the iPod does not have. But the DRM thing is a rather silly point and it gets brought up a lot. If you're buying another player as a sort of "protest vote" against DRM, that's your choice, but it's not really a limitation of the device. Apple isn't Sony, and you can use an iPod just fine without ever paying a cent into the iTMS or buying a single DRMed song.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
This isn't a new observation, but it's the first time that I'm writing about it. Probably because I'm sensing the end of my time here at Slashdot. I have not journaled worth mentioning, and not commented worth mentioning - but I was an avid reader and meta-moderator (and yes, I read many of the articles I meta-modded and their responses, to make sure that I would get non obvious situations right).
The news business, even in it's blog form is a tough business indeed. When the mother of all blogs (i.e Slashdot itself) needs to go trolling for clicks with a front page link to a teenage fanboy's blog related to iPods, it's a sad day indeed.
This article is neither "news for nerds", nor "stuff that matters".
But it's a predictable click gatherer - and it's been promoted to the front page by the Cmdr himself, not a junior apprentice editor.
The Cmdr hasn't lost his marbles - quite the opposite, he has a business to run - and this business is desperately competing with the shrill upstarts with editorial models solely around popularity, rather than quality.
The unwashed masses supply more clicks than even moderately intelligent and critical thinkers.
Populism at work, because populism pays. So now we have editorial control trying to emulate populism. Not the first and not the last time that will happen.
I understand that, but I see a fatal disconnect with Slashdot doing it. Slashdot doesn't do populism best. Slashdot's strength is (was) in quality control (editorial control , followed by discussion with moderation and meta moderation).
However, when the first input (editorial control) to the process isn't even remotely attempting quality control, all other quality control processes are becoming rather irrelevant.
Or to put it more bluntly, if the whole story is a troll, the comments, moderations and meta-moderations can't untroll it.
So I think Slashdot is losing it's way in this battle and like all good things will slowly fade away.
Reminds me a bit of apple in the early to mid 90s. They tried to emulate the populists of their day in their industry, when that's not what they did best.
Why am I mentioning apple?
Because against all odds, apple found its way again and came back - and found that their original essence could get them back into their highly respected and quite nicely profitable niche and they even could become the number one popular choice in another field.
Here's to hoping that Slashdot can do the same, because I miss Slashdot without its original essence.
Now this is why I love nerd humour!
Mother, do you think they'll like this sig?
Good god that is an awful site. If you dont want your eyes to bleed as you try to read a small dark grey font over a black background. here is the article text.
====
The iPod has dominated the MP3 player (and portable video player) market so far. It began the ultimate revolution in how we listen to our music. Competitors have come and gone, while the iPod stood strong, but really, will the iPod ever die? Well there are a few points that say NO and some that say YES.
NO! It will not die! (at the bottom of the article we look at the possibility of it actually dying, but for now the NO points outweigh the YES)
1. Its just too cool
The iPod has become so much of a cool factor today that teens prefer it over any other MP3 player. They don't care much about functionality, but how cool it looks. That's where Apple's ingenious design wins them over, and as long as the whole social group has iPods, it's going to stay that way. People just don't consider the Rio players or Zune cool looking: as the Apple sleek white design is just so much simpler. And Apple is getting better every day, with the recent introduction of colors (which we all love) and at even tinier (way cooler) iPod shuffle. So the driving force behind the iPod's success is it is the coolest thing to have, to use, to show off, to carry around; and it will stay that way at the pace that Apple is making it cooler every season.
2. Its known
When we think of MP3 players we think Pod. That was not true a few years ago, MP3 player could mean Sony or Philips or any other brand, but today the word that first pops into our head is iPod. The iPod is now global, even here in India we see the white ear buds walking the streets. You can get an iPod probably anywhere in the world.
3. Price
Apple always has very competitive pricing for iPods, especially with the iPod shuffle. That's one of the main factors teens look at, and combine that with the fact it's just so cool, hey, how can we resist?
4. Competitors aren't getting it.
Competitors like Creative and recently Microsoft (although the Zune does have a lot of potential) don't know what the current generation is and what they want. We want simply stuff, which looks good and works. While competitors focus more on functionality which not many will use, Apple focuses on pushing the limits of creative design: which many people appreciate more. Would you rather have a tiny glossy iPod which plays MP3s only or a bigger bulkier competitor's product which plays all known formats? Exactly. Apple made sense of it all giving us only what we will need, and sometimes more.
5. Accessories in all directions
We all love to personalize our stuff. Apple lets you do that with the countless number of accessories. It's like pimping your car with rims: iSkins for iPods, headphones with glowing wires, lanyards, stick ons and what not. No company in the near future can create so much personalization to match up with what the iPod already has in its large accessory market.
6. We don't like to change.
Once an iPod user, probably always an iPod user. If the iPod was your first MP3 player, you will probably never change if it's worked well for you. When you plan to upgrade you will go for the newest iPod, not the Zune.
7. Getting better.
The iPod is getting better every season. With smaller sizes, bigger drives, better functions etc. So far no company has been able to match with the pace that Apple has set in introducing new iPods which keep us anticipated to what they will do next.
8. Personal Touch
Mentally we are fixed that Microsoft is a big company with no taste and no 'coolness'. We see Apple as a bunch of fun loving guys which brings them closer to you than Microsoft or Creative. Their fun Ads on TV or their quiet sense of humor sometimes allows us to connect with the brand easier.
9. Killing the PC
As Apple converts even more people to Macs (and businesses) and as Macs get cheaper and more compatible with Window
The war with islam is a war on the beast
The war on terror is a war for peace
This is true. However, when the "fad of the white earbuds" ends, I'm not sure that audio players in general will fade away.
Certainly the obnoxiously rich teenagers of the world will move on and find a new status symbol to demonstrate how much money mommy and daddy have, but that doesn't mean that the technology will be any less useful or desired. I can think of a bunch of things which started off as expensive fads, and have since trickled down and become commonplace parts of daily life. Lots of household appliances were this way to begin with: having a "Radar Range" was at one point something reserved for the very rich, or at least those willing to blow a lot of money on something; today it seems a bit odd to invite your neighbors over to show off your microwaved food.
I suspect this is what will happen to portable audio players. The fad will end right about the time that everybody can own one (which we're probably getting very close to right now). Having those white earbuds isn't cool when it doesn't signify your wealth/status/hipness/whatever. So the popularity of the fad, in essence, is the engine of its own demise. But the demise of the fad isn't the demise of the technology -- the opposite, in fact, because the ending of the fad means that the device has reached a widespread audience and acceptance into society at multiple levels.
That is where I see audio players going. Until perhaps the entire category of devices is subsumed into some "convergence" technology (which I am not too convinced of, in the immediate future at least), they'll just become a staple consumer product. Like the dishwasher and the microwave and the cell phone, what was once a status symbol becomes commonplace.
The risk for Apple is that, like the Radar Range or the Frigidaire, their association as a "premium" brand could hurt them and drive them into obscurity later, as the market becomes one dominated by the hoi polloi and not the elite.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
From reading the blog llinked to, I really don't feel like they have an understanding of what really makes the iPod as popular as it is.
The first item listed is noting that teenagers buy it just because it's cool. I beg to differ, teens buy it because they like music and the iPod has a great interface for doing so and makes it easy. Not evey teen wants to know all about computers but the iTunes/iPod/ITMS trinity has made it really easy for people to get music on a computer and on portable players while taking advanatge of all the things computers can do to make lives easier.
The rest of the items are equally superficial, not really looking at what kinds of things it would take to displace the iPod. For instance one could ponder if Microsoft's "we'll re-buy all your AAC music for you" approach will really be a draw. It's interesting because while it sounds compelling, I don't know how many people will even be able to understand what they are offering and that they want it... I do not tink a deep understanding of what Apple's brand of DRM (or indeed ay DRM) means to the consumer is really widespread yet. So people will buy the Zune, not be able to play ITMS songs and return it will few figuring out they could have switched.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I will always prefer a player that plays MP3s, if not also other non-proprietary formats, and I just don't trust Apple [or Microsoft] enough to take a chance on their pods. One day, iPod and iTunes users will wake up to find that a recent software update prevents them from copying or converting their own music files. iTunes may stop converting to WAV/AIFF or burning CDs. The iPod may stop playing MP3s. Why else do you think Apple maintains the 'update culture'? So they get you in the habit of releasing control of the device to them.
But a player made by a company that isn't in the music selling biz has more of my confidence.
Besides, I want a player that records audio, too. A built-in FM radio is nice, as well. Got both in an i-bead and love it. If that dies in the future, I will want the same features next time.... and no requirements for updates. My i-bead doesn't need updates. I don't need new features on it. I just want it to keep doing what it did when I bought it, and it does.
First, the iPod was wildly popular LONG before the iTunes Music Store (now iTunes Store) opened. The iTunes Music Store opened (with a rather limited selection) on April 28, 2003. By that time, the iPod was already "cool" due to the wonderful iPod --> iTunes --> OS integration.
Second, there is a DRM-less music store... it's called your local music store. I get so sick of people saying they are "locked in" with an iPod. Nobody is locking you in, unless you let them lock you in! It's not like Apple infects your MP3 files with DRM so that they only play with the iPod or your authorized versions iTunes. (like Sony did)
The iPod plays my MP3 files flawlessly. It is popular NOT because of the iTunes Music Store, but because of the AMAZING iTunes/iPod integration.
The iPod isn't selling because it's white/black/shiny. That's part of it, but for the most part it comes from the interface (both physical and software) and from iTunes (not the online music store, the program).
If I can rip a CD with a single click (including ripping, tagging, cataloging, adding cover art) and sync to my player with another click (or even simply by connecting it), then anyone who wants to compete with the iPod has to do something that's at least as good, for both the portable player and the computer program. The fact that iTunes also gives you access to an online store where you can buy a single track for 0.99$ in a few seconds is just a nice bonus.
If you continue to think of the iPod as "oh, shiny object" then you'll never beat it. So for now, the question should be "how long will the iPod be the market leader"? I don't think it'll ever die as such, just like Pac-Man isn't dead yet. I think I'll go for a walk.
Planned obsolescence ring a bell? I'm not saying all things are going downhill BTW, processors are faster and more energy efficient, so are many cars. In a similar fashion most newer houses and appliances are built to higher standards of energy efficiency and this is a good thing. But the build quality has gone down on more than a few things and no digital camera can yet reach the resolution or tone range of an old Hasalblad or Leica camera. For those things that do have a lower build quality one has to wonder if the energy invested in building them more often to replace the worn out ones outweighs any energy efficiency gained in their use over their lifetime. Is there even a discussion of planned obsolescence in the modern generation used to the fast change of the digital age?
Tired of all the isms, don't exploit people as an employer, or a government, mmmmK?
Slashdot posts stories like this to create news. One could even create an article from the top comments.
At the very least, the discussion is far more interesting than TFA.
I'm sorry, the answer we were looking for was 42. 42. Thanks for playing.
I like your Macs, but I don't like your Mac users. (with apologies to Gandhi)
You missed the point and added nothing to the discussion.
Show me a battery that lasts forever. I bet you a bajillion dollars you can't.
And $70 for a brand new shell, screen, HD, and battery isn't a bad deal compared to 2 AA batteries every 10 hours of playback.
You all suck.
It was difficult, after the 8 hour drive home, to crack it open at 2am, but it was possible. I bent a pin out of shape, but got that bent correctly back with the tools that came with the kit.
Its not a big deal! Do you think that Apple should have to have a huge friggin clip on the back, and then little instructions on "how to replace your iPod battery..." on the inside? It would look hideous!!! I tell you what, most people dont replace their iPod batteries, its only for those who got 3G ones that died quickly etc, you know, the faulty Sony batteries, and why not just get another iPod, I know if I did, I would have gotten at least 10 new features, any one of which would have been "worth it". I like the pause-when-you-take-out-headphones thing on the newer ones, the colour screens, better battery life etc.
Give it up on the "iPod batteries die and then they want you to give them ALL your money!!!111!!!" stuff.
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It's a bit fan-boyish, and his conclusions seem based a lot on wishful thinking. He draws conclusions based on his own opinion, but he couches it with the royal "we".
(and yes, I own several iPods, and I think they're great).
The answer is "of course it will die". Every gadget does. Will it be soon? Who knows? If people could predict this stuff with any kind of accuracy, they'd be multi-billionaires. Heck, if you could predict if the dollar will rise or fall again another major currency tomorrow with any kind of certainty you'd make a lot of money. But nobody can. And that's a lot easier that predicting when a consumer gadget will fall out of fashion.
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
I just watched one of those E! channel (or whatever) shows the top 101 things about the 90's, I bet that we will always remember the iPod, the thing that got us from actual discs to stuff "streamed" from the "network". Tapes, Cds, now HDD/Flash. I think its worth calling the iPod a revolution for that.
I can see the future shows, The Top 101 Things of The 2000's, with the iPod taking out number one, they will have heaps of washed up stars saying "yeah, I used to have this thing from, you know, err, Dell, it used to be called Dell then, and it was called a umm ...." etc.
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"The Day, the muuuuusic died." OH GOD!!!!
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"God is Dead"
--Nietzsche
"Nietzsche is Dead"
--God
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
I have no doubt that a device called an "iPod" will be around for a long, long time. However, like the personal computer or the cell phone, what is meant when you refer to your "iPod" will almost certainly be different 5-10 years down the road.
Note that "not dying" is different than "continue to be the de-facto standard in the portable music player world". Apple will have to continue to do lots of work to stay on top of the wave, and will still have to worry about someone, somewhere, coming up with a different, cooler, clearly better device. But even if someone else grabs the majority of the market (whatever that "market" is when it happens), there will still be an "iPod" around.
#DeleteChrome
"What it *doesn't* let you play is older DRM-protected WMA files such as those downloaded from Yahoo Music Unlimited or Rhapsody."
Isn't this a huge mistake? Isn't the biggest drawback of DRM that you are locked into a specific implementation? That people are worried that the songs they've "purchased" will turn out to be useless next year? This seems to confirm people's worst fears that MS will obsolete their entire song collection just because it's more profitable to do so.
I can't imagine anyone dumb enough to buy another WMA/DRM file after this. Usually MS doesn't make these kind of ridiculous mistakes.
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
There are a lot of legitimate criticisms of the iPod, but the DRM one I don't particularly understand. Okay, so the iPod supports DRM. It doesn't require it.
DRM probably has driven some key aspects of the design of iPod. For example, the fact that the iPod doesn't present its contents as a file system, like many other MP3 players do, is probably due to DRM. The fact that it's hard to get music off the device is also driven by DRM concerns. Likewise, the fact that the iPod does not support syncing to multiple machines well is probably influenced by DRM. Lack of iTunes support for third party MP3 players, and lack of third party support for iPod is another consequence.
Wow, you're right. Why didn't I think of that? Please, please, write a book about how to be a man. I'll buy three copies from you since it's likely that you have such a rich and rewarding life. Boy am I glad you posted that. Thanks so much.
Yeah, I'm as old as my UID would suggest.
No, they don't. Well, maybe I'm wrong, but I can't find an iRiver player which doesn't support Microsoft's proprietary DRM. So in order to avoid Apple's proprietary DRM, you buy a player which supports Microsoft's proprietary DRM, ignoring the fact that you can use both players with plain old MP3 files. Are you insane or just stupid?
Its tough, but if you bring your boot down on it at exactly the right angle...
The real question is whether Apple will ever die.
Before you flame me, I own 6 Macs, and my career is intertwined with Apple technology. My dependance on this so called "niche" computer maker is precisely why I ask this question, and why I keep close tabs on Apple's doings.
The iPod snuck up on everybody in the industry, and I believe it has resurrected Apple's brand in the eyes of the young. Just think about what the average teenager thought of Apple in 2001 versus today! Before the iPod, the average teen shunned Apple because there were far more games produced for Windows. You rarely if ever saw an Apple logo on TV unless it was a prop for show. I don't think it's a coincidence that Apple chose the mall for most of its stores. The iPod made Apple "cool" again in the eyes of the young, and I see a lot of these kids drooling over MacBooks and Cinema Displays at my local mall's Apple Store just like us old guys do.
I hope that this isn't just a bubble, and that Apple regains enough computer market share that they can give the industry some real competition. Double-digits would be nice, but I think 20% would be a real tipping point. If those little music players can help make that happen, I hope they're around for a long time... for our part, we own 3, and each is well loved.
That may sound a bit harsh, but it's only hard if you're a moron. Seriously, if you know a small bit about the Terminal, you don't even need any kind of third-party app to copy MP3 files from an iPod. It's all there as plain old files, just inside invisible (to the Finder, that is) folders. It's not hard at all.
Yeah, it's not as easy as it should be, although it has got nothing to do with DRM - in fact, you can copy DRM'd files off an iPod through iTunes if the "other" computer is allowed to read these files - the copy prevention only applies to non-DRM'd files.
Oglethorpe: Get the iPod. He knows how to do it.
Frylock: He's dead.
Oglethorpe: Impossible! The iPod can only be killed by stabbing him in the heart with the ancient bone saber of Zumacalis!
Emory: Or maybe his head and lungs too. Just stab him wherever.
Oglethorpe: And the saber probably doesn't have to be bone.
Emory: Yeah, just anything sharp lying around the house.
Oglethorpe: You could poke him with a pillow and kill him.
Apple knows how to sell a product.
That must be why macs have such a huge market share? Apple knows how to do many things (primarily how to look cool) and have demonstrated market savvy with the ipod, but to suggest generally that they know how to sell a product is to ignore the fact that their "cool", "they just work" computers are not in most computer users homes. Obviously, it is Microsoft that understands better the importance of monopoly to sell a product, regardless of whether or not it is inferior.
The best thing going for the ipods is that they are being sold in every corner electronics store, and the mac marketing plan will need to follow suit if it is ever to aquire significant market share.
Have I just outlined Apple's new commercial? It is grandiouse enough for Stevie, I think.
My dad used to relate about geographical location in regards to quality.
He would tell me "In my day, we never wanted Japanese made items- we had a word for them Jap-oke (meaning Japan-Broke)"
"We always wanted the American goods, those things the americans built would last forever".
"Nowadays we gotta make sure to look at the VIN number on cars to be sure they weren't made by union hands and will actually drive for a few years".
Of course- he also had to walk to school, uphill- both ways- in the snow. Though how that happened in the tropics, I'll never know.
So, does your MP3 player house an 80 gig disk? Or is it as small as an iPod nano?
Batteries have their place. But inside an MP3 player, their place is not.
"I'll pay too much for a DRM encumbered media player and pay $1 a piece for a collection of bits to play in it shortly after monkeys come flying out of my anus and not one moment before, thanks..."
Where does this stuff come from? DRM encumbered? What?
If you don't buy off iTunes, you have no music with a DRM lock. The iPod plays raw MP3 files, you know.
Further, I've never got the DRM complaints about iTunes, either. I hate DRM too- mainly because I feel it makes things more complicated and frustrating, and criminalizes legitamite users (for example, I want to rip a DVD, but that DVD has copy protection. It is now illegal to make a backup, not because the backup is illegal, but because the act of breaking the copy protection to make that legal backup is illegal).
iTunes music does neither. The ONLY thing that Apple's DRM on purchased music does is prevent me from transferring songs to all my friends via the internet, which is illegal anyway. I can transfer them between all my computers with no hassle, can put them on my iPod, can BURN THEM TO A CD as if they had no DRM with no trouble, etc. I don't even bother keeping track of which sings have DRM and which don't anymore because it truly DOESN'T interfere with what I do with it.
However- iTunes MOVIES are different. The iTunes video DRM prevents you from burning it to a DVD, and leaves the video playable only on an iPod or computer. This is DRM that is intrusive and makes it difficult for me to do what I want- which is why I have not purchased any iTunes TV Shows or Movies yet.
Anyway, back to my original point- people, QUIT WHINING ABOUT iPod DRM, you don't have to use it at all if you don't want to! I'm starting to think that people think you HAVE to use iTunes or something.
Styles change. What looks cool now[1] will look tacky in 5-10 years[2]. Especially if it is 'cool'. And then it will be cool again in 20-30[3].
[1] See Atari 2600.
[2] See Playstation.
[3] See wood grain paneled electronics.
Listen to my music.
I'm going to invent the iTurntable.
Getting divorced, and while the wife was moving out, my old -- probably 1st or 2nd generation -- mp3 player disappeared. I don't need much, just something that will play a couple of hours of music while I go on a bike ride.
I went to Wal-Mart to get an iPod Shuffle, figuring it would do great for what I needed. I ended up getting a Creative Zen.
Not only was the Creative cheaper and did about the same thing, what made me choose the Zen over the Shuffle was that Apple required XP with Service Pack 2 on it (now this may not be true in actual use, so don't flame me, but that is what the iPod Shuffle box clearly says).
Personally, I don't like being forced into Windows service packs, especially buggy ones like SP2. So Apple lost a sale there.
(Also, I can put plain old rechargeable batteries in the Zen, so there is no need to pull it apart or send it back to Creative to get the battery changed.)
Transporter_ii
Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, religion destroys spirituality
I've got three dead ones sitting next to me.
Do I really need to say the answer?
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
Heh... you let a Windows service pack determine your choice of portable music player.
Nelson voice: Ha-ha!
For what use ? Some jobless manager on a dull weekend...
The article brought a tear to my eye* :'-( ::sniff::
*From laughing so hard at how poorly it's written.
I don't know whether the iPod will ever go away, but I hope those losers who think that grey text on a black background is 'cool' will go away.
There are car designs that have become timeless trademarks, there are architectural styles that have never died. While the Ipod will certainly die, the design is something different altogether.
Still a pointless thing to think about anyhow. We could be defeating cancer, proving mathematical theorems or taking our wives out in this time. Slow news day.
And as history has shown, people cling to fashions and style for a long time which is why we still see bustles and hooped skirts.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
My Walkman broke earlier this year. Will I get an iPod? No. I use Yahoo Music Unlimited on my laptop now. Listening to local FM on the walk to work was my only reason to have a mobile player of any kind. If I get another mobile player, it'll have to support Yahoo's DRM and it'll have to have recording off FM. I've been looking at some of the Sandisk players. As far as I'm concerned, the iPod never lived. It just doesn't interest me. I like the PC platform and things associated with it, simply because its vast popularity brings in so many network effects (plethora of add-on cards, many different applications and OS choices, etc.). The iPod is a specialized device tied in to the Apple chic. I don't care about Apple chic. In fact, I'm decidedly against it simply because of that. Also, street criminals love them--nice and white in the night, easy to know what you're ripping off as you slug somebody and run away. I'm not saying that I'd let that dictate my choice, but it's something to consider when you're walking around a city with any ammount of crime.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Of course the facts point out the opposite. Even in the 5+ years of the iPod, Apple's market share has barely budged. They might have gained a fraction of a point in the home/consumer market, but their share in the business (especially 100+ employee) market has remained the same. With Apple just becoming a consumer gadget maker, it's harder then ever to recommend them for the business market.
Just like the iPod has an ecosphere of attachments, Windows has a much larger ecosphere in the busienss market--from Exchange to system adminstrators Apple can never succeed in the mid- to large-sized business.
Would the fanboi response be different if this article was titled "Microsoft: will it ever die in the enterprise market?"
I'm sorry. That's bunk or FUD or over exaggerated, take your pick. DRM on the iPod only comes into play when I purchase songs from the iTS. I have thousands of songs ripped from my cassette collection. I have my LP collection waiting in the wings. None of them have or will have embedded DRM. I purchased several months worth of tracks from eMusic.com: No DRM. So the DRM conundrum only comes into play if I want to transport my iTS collection to, for example, a Zune. Then I'm "forced" to burn all my FairPlayed tracks onto CDs and re-rip them as DRM free MP3s. Audiophiles will wail and moan about a loss in audio quality, but most muggles won't care. They'll be more concerned about the time it will take to burn and rip the music. But then can still do it.
The iTS is a perk for iPod users, but it isn't the reason Apple maintains "it's crushing market share". People buy an iPod for many reasons like design, ease of use, and even chic, but not the iTS DRM. iTunes the program, on the other hand, is a large factor in the iPod's popularity, as well.
Actually, Fairplay is the loosest of all the DRM schemes out there and is virtually undetected by common usage, unlike the MSFT alternatives. This, too, contributes to the iPod's popularity. Apple got a lot right here. That's why they dominate the market.
The Splintered Mind - Overcoming
I could not agree in more ways, I am not an iPOD fan, as such I don't even have one.
DRM is however an issue and I don't like the concept of buying music that is locked, it is against the grain,
but that has nothing to do with iPOD that is purely an iTunes.
Thus as long as apple remains in the customer focuesed arena, of allowing you to choose, iPOD is safe.
Really for me management of DRM is the biggest blight on the ZUNE attempt, it scraes me to think that the unfocussed rapid change of M$DRM attempts to date scare me that I will buy some music that will never play again,
?
-- email me @ 30,000 ft
I want an iPod but [...] no reason [...] when [..] last time [...] more trouble and less satisfaction than we ever could have imagined
I am confused as to why you want an iPod when you don't want an iPod. Maybe you should stick to one position and not two contradictory ones when trying to troll Slashdot. If you are not trying to troll Slashdot, seek psychiatric help. Your written complaint is symptomatic of a cognitive dissonance whose resolution would probably help you enjoy a much higher quality of life. Cheers!
Fuck iPods up their stupid asses.
"9. Killing the PC As Apple converts even more people to Macs (and businesses) and as Macs get cheaper and more compatible with Windows, the iPod parade follows. More Macs, more iPods, more iProducts, more Apple." This appeared to hold true for a little while, it seemed like OSX market share was on the rise, untill very recently that is, when it dipped back down. Apple market share beyond ~5%? It just doesn't seem like thats happening. I'm sure vista will also put a squeeze on Apple market share. Why is this happening? (I use a PC, but I go to a college where ~50% of the students use macs, and the campus computers are mostly macs (Steve Jobs, an "alum in spirit" (he went here but didn't graduate) donated a bunch I think.) As one of my mac using friends pointed out, as more people started buying macs, normal people, more people realized the disadvantages of owning a Mac. Mac laptops are fragile things...recently I witnessed a laptop fall off a couch onto a carpeted floor (cheap thin carpet, but carpet none the less) the screen broke off the thing. Another friend of mine had her laptop fall off her desk onto her tile floor. That little excursion shattered her screen and broke the CD drive. Contrast these kinds of things to the kind of beating a ThinkPad can take and...yeah... The other biggest problem with Macs? First gen apple products are notoriously awful. Even most Apple lovers stay away from frist gen Apple products, and for good reason. Look at all the problems MacBook Pro owners have had...Overheating Macs, check, Motherboard killing heatsinks, check, seriously underclocked components, check, exploding batteries, not apple's fault but check...Sounds like tons of fun to me!
Another possibility is the iPod becoming so so common that people will start buying other products just to be away from the crowd of iPod users and be unique. Hey, you never know. This is precisely the reason why I haven't bought an iPod. It is too trendy. People get killed on the NYC subways for having white earphones!
Would you rather have a tiny glossy iPod which plays MP3s only or a bigger bulkier competitor's product which plays all known formats?
The other reason why I chose a Creative Zen:M over an iPod was for the functionality. I wanted to be able to play Microsofts DRMed crap because thats what the local public library uses to 'protect' its online audiobooks. And, I wanted to be able to play a number of different movie files on my player, while commuting to work on the bus to NYC. It might not look as 'cool' as the iPod, but most straight men prefer function over form. Even the non-geeks.
I would buy an iPod in an instant if it supported other DRM formats, other music formats such as ogg, and movie formats other than .mp4, and if it had an AM/FM/SW radio, and maybe even broadcast television reception capabilities.
Or even the boombox. When the media fails and people lose all the lossy mp3s they paid oodles for, they'll be a bit pissed. Perhaps it will die when people realize it's just hipster jewelery, and listening with tinny headphones sucks.
For example, the fact that the iPod doesn't present its contents as a file system, like many other MP3 players do, is probably due to DRM
if you use tinkertool in mac to "view hidden folders" or do something similar in windows you will notice the folders have hash values on them.
in other words.."it's probably nothing to do with DRM and more to do with hashing songs into the player to make searching and indexing more efficient without sacrificing as much memory as is done on a normal pc"
the hashing would be totatlly fubar'd if naive users were able to alter the contents, so they put it in a hidden folder.
VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
Yeah, I just love my portable vinyl player.
The pro-iPod article mentions "Personal Touch" as a plus for the iPod. It's a fine product and all but there is nothing even remotely personal or individual about the ipod. A second-hand t-shirt has more personality.
Jonathan B.
itll die, obviously, it just might take a while XD The author had some good (although obvious) points. I couldn't NOT agree with him up until the windows/mac bit. Windows is showing a LOT more style with vista it seems. The apple commercials are painfully...untrue, even to many Mac lovers. And if the ipod drives Mac sales up know what itll mean? People might care about macs and start creating viruses for them! So is the ipod the windows killer or the mac killer? hehe lawlz
why post someones blog as news ??? is this person of any significants
Apple hasn't ever before designed and sold a product which is bought as a gift more often than as a necessity. Apple doesn't publish and you'll never find a statistic that tracks it, but as long as the competition views the iPod as technology - iPods will continue to find their way onto wishlists.
Isn't it thoughtful of Apple to have figured that out first and given you the ability to burn your DRM media to CD in unprotected glory?
GPL Deconstructed
Going by uid, I've been around longer than you, and others have been around longer than me. Nothing's changed...the QC has always been crappy to non-existant, and they'll post whatever they think people will talk about. It used to every 2.2.x release would get posted...now it's anything to with Apple. If you think the story is lame, why click on "Read More"?
i think the ipod is just a little over rated. It was just a matter of time before someone came up with the idea.Apple just did what they usualy do, put it in a cool package and market the hell out of it to make it look cool to the largest market base.
I think there are alot better mp3 players on the market now that are priced for less, they just dont have the advertising that the ipod has , and therefore arent as "cool". What would realy be awsome? If someone started making an mp3 player that accepted
removable flash memory cards so they could be swapped out like cd's (like on a pda). Or even the ability to trade songs on you "ipod" via bluetooth or something (like on a mp3 cell phone). I like to listen to music on my hp ipaq pocket pc, its a little bigger but i can also view video, pictures, play games, surf the web, etc.
...I hate you. ^_^
I've gotten 1 year of sold use out of my iPod with video, used maybe 1 hour a day on avg. My wife still has the only 40 gb U2 iPod, which I made by taking the 40 gb G3 iPod and putting it inside her case (had to remove the rubber insides to get it to fit, so if she drops it, it's likely toast, but no problems so far).
Seriously, the only iPod I had die on me was the one I killed by looking at the pretty screen while I walked into an open ditch. Apple gave me a new one, despite the obvious abuse.
You've got a friend in Japan: http://www.jlist.com
Yes, I am no small Apple supporter, having 15+ Macs in my company (which publishes PC software, go figure). But that article was embarrassing to read -- I hope that too many /.ers didn't get a, you know, bad image of Mac users from it. That would be terrible.
You've got a friend in Japan: http://www.jlist.com
Of course the ipod will die eventually, and be repaced by something "better". Who knows what that will be or who will produce it. There is not an institution that I know of that has survived ( but I'm sure someone out there will be able to prove me wrong ) other than democracy that has survived longer than a fleeting moment in history.
...Yes: It will die approximately 8 seconds after the warranty expires.
CheShA: Manchester Breakcore / Drill and Bass Yes I'm a s
But he doesn't care about that shit, he wants 'copy *'. Virtually every MP3 player ever released since the first Rios support this feature. The iPod doesn't. In fact, it mangles the hell out of filenames DELIBERATELY to make this impossible to implement and to force you to use iTunes. And I personally have found showstopping bugs in all the iTunes replacements I've used in conjunction with iPods (On Windows anyway. Maybe on OSX there are replacements that work). I used to have an iPod mini. I loved it. But iTunes was like stabbing myself in the eye so I sold it and bought a Rio Karma because I wanted to drag n' drop files and crossfade is fscking awesome.
Since then I've learned about Rockboxhttp://www.rockbox.org/, which is an opensource firmware you can flash your iPod with that will make it not suck. You're probably still better off getting an iRiver player because it has better support for Rockbox.
Ipod will have to survive on coolness alone - because they do not actually work well at all. I had a 4G 40 GB, and the goddamned thing never truly worked well at all. A complete POS. Yes I'll say it - the ipod is a complete POS. Great functional and aesthetic design, truly crappy operation over time. I now own an iAudio from Cowon - the second player I've owned from them (the first 1 GB flash player I bought in desperation when my ipod was being repaired...). Plays ogg, has incredible sound, and 60 GB space (for actual 224bit encoded songs). Free yourselves from the pod. Do not buy itunes, it is such a total rip-off. But you won't hear, and if you hear you won't listen... Actually I still have the 4G - it's a paperweight. Really. I put a screw through it into a piece of oak and it is a PAPERWEIGHT.
The iPod will never die. It will continue to improve and get better and better. http://www.adbloggers.com/
It takes time, but nearly EVERY technology becomes obsolete. Also, these things are only designed to last 3 to 5 years. Come back in 10 to 15 years and look for an Ipod. Go ahead and try.
35 or 40 years ago, there were 4 track layers in like 25% of cars. Then came the 8 track and Wham Couldn't find a 4 track anywhere. Where are the 8 tracks now? gone. It'll be the same here. Even faster. The DRM will in the end kill them off quickly
Everybody knows 3 people with my name.
Now I don't have to watch the rest of Eureka to see what it is.
Nope, no sig
And boy, did it work...
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
In case you didn't notice, Ipods die all the time. My friend that worked at Best Buy said there wasn't a single day that went by that 4-7 of them didn't get returned or brought in for RMAs because they broke. How can a product that breaks so much be so popular?! I hope they die for good soon.
Is it just me or is it not going to upgrade to Vista in here?
This morning, I copied a tree of songs to my mass storage MP3 player. There they were.
No messing with tags, or software programs.
I forgot to charge the battery. I bought an AAA at the gas station. Good to go.
I listened to the radio, as I was exercising during lunch.
I recorded a lecture given in the afternoon.
I was able to 'rewind' into the previous track (I do this quite a bit) while doing my foreign language study.
I love my MP3 player/recorder. I have an Ipod too. It sits in the glovebox most of the time.
I guess this goes into the realm of "to each his own," but before I bought an iPod, I had a mass-storage type MP3 player. (Pontis, if anyone cares.)
I hated it. I thought having to actually manipulate the files directly was a giant pain in the ass, and I jumped ship from that whole organizational scheme to iTunes with the first version that was released. I actually stopped using that MP3 player because I started to use iTunes, and went back to using a CD player.
As far as I'm concerned, anything that requires you to touch the files directly is obnoxious. There's just no reason for it. Unless you have a file manager that can display and sort by arbitrary metadata (like the BeOS's could), the file manager just isn't going to be as good at working with MP3 files as a dedicated library management package is.
Cramming all the metadata into the file name is a kludge at best; it reeks of inelegance and if there's one thing I can't stand, that's it. I would much rather have an automatic system tag everything on import, manage and organize it on the back-end, and sync it all to the portable player without me ever having to look at the files. How exactly it organizes things in the back end doesn't really matter to me, except perhaps in how easily it allows me to go in and pick out a particular file to email it (which is simple in iTunes -- "Show song in Finder"), or find the files so I can back them up.
I guess this is a matter of personal preference, but I just find it very surprising that anyone would actually want to go back to the days of folders full of [Track#]-[ArtistName]-[AlbumName]-[SongName].mp3 that you have to work with directly. In my opinion, the iTunes way -- that is, using the metadata embedded in the files to organize, manage, and present a single interface to the user for importation, playback, and portable device syncronization -- is the way to go. I don't ever want to go back to having to deal with files directly (unless it's through some type of a file manager which can parse the metadata). I didn't much like it in 1997, and I like it even less now that I've seen the alternative.
There are certainly things I don't like about the iPod -- a microphone, line input, and FM tuner would be great, for starters, and bi-directional sync would be nice, too -- but anything that doesn't allow me to just drop the player into its cradle and have the software sync it with my library, without any interaction whatsoever, is a huge step backwards.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
yes, that's right, open source--or in the hardware world, DIY. open source software on top of open source hardware. Expandable software and hardware capabilities. Trust me, I have plans up my sleeves--just wait; _______ will kill apple the same way firefox is about to kill IE. Have fun with your short-lived dominance, apple, have fun. . . while you can =D