iPod Shuffle, starting at $99 and competing with flash mp3 players Airport Express, starting at $129 and competing with wireless base stations and print servers and wireless music streaming devices.
How about the demand for portable satellite radio units? In a January report, there were only 3.2 million subscribers. 1.8 million subscribers joined in 2004.
Apple, on the other hand, added 4 million iPod owners in Christmas alone, and 2 million the quarter before. So Apple is essentially selling 12 to 20 times as many iPods as people even potentially purchase radio units. They'd probably sell more iPods if they added, instead of a satellite radio receiver, an FM receiver or just an extra 10 hours of playtime.
Anyway, even without taking software into account (By Apple's account, it's at least $80 worth), the Compaq is still $509.99 after the mail in rebate. This is with 40gb, 256mb, Windows XP Home, 1.8GHz CPU, CD-RW/DVD, and the NVIDIA 5200XT.
The only 'benefit' is that, out of the box, the PC may be faster, while out of the box the Mac will do more: Edit videos Make music Make DVDs Organize photos
If you don't apply the rebate, the PC costs $559.99. What kind of math were you taught where $559.99 $499?
Even worse, if you do want firewire, it seems the only way to get it is with the Creative soundcard, which bumps the price up to $609.99!
CD-RW DVD-ROM Firewire non integrated, non shared 32mb video (ATI or NVIDIA)
And with software, to boot: Movie making DVD making Music making Photo album
Yes, all that software exists. Yes all that hardware exists. None, to my knowledge, come in kit that's $499. For $349 you can get a PC without CD-RW and with shared video ram and integrated video. For $649 you can get the video+CD-RW and DVD.
Likewise software; for $699 or more, you get the movie making software, but for bundles of $499? You get Quicken or Windows XP Home and Norton Antivirus.
" When she saves an email attachment, she has to go into the file search function to find out where it wound up becuase she can't grasp the save file browser."
OS X Tiger's Spotlight/Search feature will be a godsend, won't it?
You're assuming then that the PC is equipped for HTPC use; TV out of sufficient quality, quieter than the quietest parts of a quiet movie, no audio distortion from the power supply when playing music, no adverse EM distortion on the TV from the computer, etc.
I think many households are still single computer; and those with two computers, one is for kids and one is for parents, and the parents are those that have modems, 15" screens, and the original Pentium processor. At least that's what I've seen at my aunt's, my in-laws, and my dad's!
But all of them would enjoy, I think, the benefits of an Airport Express 2. Yes, I understand I'm leveraging anecdote, rather than statistical data, but really, how many leftover PCs do you know that have the capability to act as media libraries?
Nope. It needs to become a wireless product to be even close to what I'm describing; it has to be disconnected from the PC, so it needs 802.11g. The EyeHome still needs a cable to plug into an Airport Express.
You have to consider the population in general: How many people have computers near the TV; isn't that why the PC/Microsoft world is hyping media center PCs?
What I am describing is NOT a PC.
Take that old G3 or G4, and have it running iTunes. Equip it with a $60 wifi card.
Take the new Airport Express 2 and hook it up to the TV.
Stream from the computer to the TV; build in 20ft bluetooth into the Airport Express to enable a wireless keyboard and mouse. Play DVDs, music, and other content on the TV, sans PC.
Look up the Airport Express because I don't think you understand what I'm talking about here.
They are as much victims of the AIDS epidemic as anything else. I quote from the linked article, "Researchers and AIDS prevention advocates attributed the high rate among blacks to such factors as drug addiction, poverty and poor access to health care."
So rather than being the CAUSE of the AIDS epidemic, they are victims due to poor social circumstance; using drugs, being poor, and being inadequately treated medically.
If they were the CAUSE, which you want to believe, then the researcher should have said something else, like, "Researchers and AIDS prevention advocates believe quarantine of the black population will stem the tide of AIDS among the white population."
They mention nothing of the sort in that article... only that we can do better for the black population.
The Airport Express has optical out; why would the power supply have any bearing on the device, unless you think line noise is going to corrupt the digital optical signal? And how do you perform a SNR measurement on a digital signal?
And if you rip using iTunes, error correction, and Apple Lossless, there's no analog component at all.
Why do you think the Airport Express would not qualify?
The travel path would be:
CD-> Hard Drive -> RAM -> CPU -> Wifi -> Airport Express-> Speakers
The only place the signal could get distorted is from CD-> Hard Drive, when it is being ripped, and from Airport Express-> Speakers if the optical output isn't being used. From Hard Drive to Speakers (if optical output is used) the entire signal is kept in a digital state.
Airtunes is using 802.11b/g, which has respectively 11 or 54 mb/s; or something like 1mb/s or 6mb/s, so even if you were transmitting uncompressed audio (which you can't), you're only transmitting 176kb/s; since the device uses Apple Lossless Encoding, you're sending the WAV file at something like 90kb/s
Which means, technically, you can still use the thing as a wireless base station (which is what it is).
So why do you think there's an FM transmitter in this thing? It has support for 5.1 DTS encoded audio!
Isn't it easier to use something like Apple's Airtunes to stream from the computer, and then use the optical out on the airtunes to feed into a receiver of some sort?
My 5gb and 10gb iPods got 12 hours out of theirs My 400MHz PowerBook G4 used to get 4 hours, not it's down to 3 hours (with probably a dead cell somewhere).
Anecdotes do not data make, of course, but I've been consistently impressed with Apple battery performance.
Slashdot Mirror
They've done it twice now:
iPod Shuffle, starting at $99 and competing with flash mp3 players
Airport Express, starting at $129 and competing with wireless base stations and print servers and wireless music streaming devices.
How about the demand for portable satellite radio units? In a January report, there were only 3.2 million subscribers. 1.8 million subscribers joined in 2004.
Apple, on the other hand, added 4 million iPod owners in Christmas alone, and 2 million the quarter before. So Apple is essentially selling 12 to 20 times as many iPods as people even potentially purchase radio units. They'd probably sell more iPods if they added, instead of a satellite radio receiver, an FM receiver or just an extra 10 hours of playtime.
satellite radio
iPods
Why do you proclaim it to be obsolete?
Anyway, even without taking software into account (By Apple's account, it's at least $80 worth), the Compaq is still $509.99 after the mail in rebate. This is with 40gb, 256mb, Windows XP Home, 1.8GHz CPU, CD-RW/DVD, and the NVIDIA 5200XT.
The only 'benefit' is that, out of the box, the PC may be faster, while out of the box the Mac will do more:
Edit videos
Make music
Make DVDs
Organize photos
If you don't apply the rebate, the PC costs $559.99. What kind of math were you taught where $559.99 $499?
Even worse, if you do want firewire, it seems the only way to get it is with the Creative soundcard, which bumps the price up to $609.99!
eBay will get you your Mac without firewire or fancy video card.
They're called 'iMacs'. They came in 5 colors, more or less, and are about $200 right now.
Okay, forget size for a moment.
Where can you get a $499 PC with:
CD-RW
DVD-ROM
Firewire
non integrated, non shared 32mb video (ATI or NVIDIA)
And with software, to boot:
Movie making
DVD making
Music making
Photo album
Yes, all that software exists. Yes all that hardware exists. None, to my knowledge, come in kit that's $499. For $349 you can get a PC without CD-RW and with shared video ram and integrated video. For $649 you can get the video+CD-RW and DVD.
Likewise software; for $699 or more, you get the movie making software, but for bundles of $499? You get Quicken or Windows XP Home and Norton Antivirus.
Oops, I didn't see the follow up on the Solaris lab machines!
The iTunes TV Store for $1 an episode!
Or $15 a month!
That's the back end solution I'm sure Apple will find.
" When she saves an email attachment, she has to go into the file search function to find out where it wound up becuase she can't grasp the save file browser."
OS X Tiger's Spotlight/Search feature will be a godsend, won't it?
This is the feature you're looking for, right?
Streaming across a LAN, free, media jukebox, runs on Windows.
You're assuming then that the PC is equipped for HTPC use; TV out of sufficient quality, quieter than the quietest parts of a quiet movie, no audio distortion from the power supply when playing music, no adverse EM distortion on the TV from the computer, etc.
I think many households are still single computer; and those with two computers, one is for kids and one is for parents, and the parents are those that have modems, 15" screens, and the original Pentium processor. At least that's what I've seen at my aunt's, my in-laws, and my dad's!
But all of them would enjoy, I think, the benefits of an Airport Express 2. Yes, I understand I'm leveraging anecdote, rather than statistical data, but really, how many leftover PCs do you know that have the capability to act as media libraries?
Nope. It needs to become a wireless product to be even close to what I'm describing; it has to be disconnected from the PC, so it needs 802.11g. The EyeHome still needs a cable to plug into an Airport Express.
Since when can you build a 6"x6"x2" PC for $249?
I thought the cheapest 6"x6"x2" PC was $900? That's more like 50% more expensive than a Mac. Just the case, alone, at Cappuccino PC is $379!
You have to consider the population in general: How many people have computers near the TV; isn't that why the PC/Microsoft world is hyping media center PCs?
What I am describing is NOT a PC.
Take that old G3 or G4, and have it running iTunes. Equip it with a $60 wifi card.
Take the new Airport Express 2 and hook it up to the TV.
Stream from the computer to the TV; build in 20ft bluetooth into the Airport Express to enable a wireless keyboard and mouse. Play DVDs, music, and other content on the TV, sans PC.
Look up the Airport Express because I don't think you understand what I'm talking about here.
A $189 device! Not a PC at all!
They are as much victims of the AIDS epidemic as anything else. I quote from the linked article, "Researchers and AIDS prevention advocates attributed the high rate among blacks to such factors as drug addiction, poverty and poor access to health care."
So rather than being the CAUSE of the AIDS epidemic, they are victims due to poor social circumstance; using drugs, being poor, and being inadequately treated medically.
If they were the CAUSE, which you want to believe, then the researcher should have said something else, like, "Researchers and AIDS prevention advocates believe quarantine of the black population will stem the tide of AIDS among the white population."
They mention nothing of the sort in that article... only that we can do better for the black population.
Why do you think that, of all things, is going to sink Apple?
If anything I would have thought their intensely secretive nature would kill them.
Their iPod and iTunes products are exactly how they are expanding to the PC world.
Their mini is exactly how the PC world will get OS X.
If OS X is the only real desktop alternative, nothing is stopping people from buying Macs you know.
Hook up near a TV, plug in your S-Video+Optical out, and you have your 'media center pc-less', or something.
So for $189 you have a base station, streaming music, streaming video, a print server, and no need for another computer.
Any bets on whether we'll see something like this soon?
Or you could use an Airport Express.
Pure digital from input (rip from CD) to compression (Apple Lossless) to transmission (802.11g) to receiver (digital optical out).
You would think people would know more about this thing; only $129 and it can do DTS 5.1 as well.
The Airport Express has optical out; why would the power supply have any bearing on the device, unless you think line noise is going to corrupt the digital optical signal? And how do you perform a SNR measurement on a digital signal?
And if you rip using iTunes, error correction, and Apple Lossless, there's no analog component at all.
Where is there a soundcard in the signal path I described?
HD->RAM->CPU->Wifi->Airport->Receiver->Speakers
The only DAC in play is at the Airport Express, if you use the analog out, or in the Receiver if you use the optical output.
As for your gapless playback, that might be a consideration; but at least the DAC isn't, if the poster wants to use the optical output.
Why do you think the Airport Express would not qualify?
The travel path would be:
CD-> Hard Drive -> RAM -> CPU -> Wifi -> Airport Express-> Speakers
The only place the signal could get distorted is from CD-> Hard Drive, when it is being ripped, and from Airport Express-> Speakers if the optical output isn't being used. From Hard Drive to Speakers (if optical output is used) the entire signal is kept in a digital state.
Where's the low end FM transmitter?
Airtunes is using 802.11b/g, which has respectively 11 or 54 mb/s; or something like 1mb/s or 6mb/s, so even if you were transmitting uncompressed audio (which you can't), you're only transmitting 176kb/s; since the device uses Apple Lossless Encoding, you're sending the WAV file at something like 90kb/s
Which means, technically, you can still use the thing as a wireless base station (which is what it is).
So why do you think there's an FM transmitter in this thing? It has support for 5.1 DTS encoded audio!
But the parent poster asked about CD quality audio, right? The Airtunes device also supports 5.1 DTS sound.
What can he lose by trying it? It's cheaper, simpler, and faster than any other solution mentioned! At the worst he can just return it right?
Isn't it easier to use something like Apple's Airtunes to stream from the computer, and then use the optical out on the airtunes to feed into a receiver of some sort?
Here, though it does use lossless compression, if you care.
And it's only $129.
You just got no luck, do you?
My 5gb and 10gb iPods got 12 hours out of theirs
My 400MHz PowerBook G4 used to get 4 hours, not it's down to 3 hours (with probably a dead cell somewhere).
Anecdotes do not data make, of course, but I've been consistently impressed with Apple battery performance.