Silly Apple, flash-based mp3 players are for good companies

[glasseye]

"We’re expecting a good fight but they’re coming out with something that’s five generations older. It’s our first generation MuVo One product feature, without display, just have a (shuffle feature). We had that — that’s a four-year-old product. So I think the whole industry will just laugh at it, because the flash people — it’s worse than the cheapest Chinese player. Even the cheap, cheap Chinese brand today has display and has FM. They don’t have this kind of thing, and they expect to come out with a fight; I think it’s a non-starter to begin with."

http://engadget.com/entry/1234000343027143/

My 4-year old MuVo is virtually identical to the iPod shuffle, except that when the battery dies I can replace it, it's physically smaller, and was cheaper. Sadly, people will probably buy this POS because "It's an iPod! Shiny! Let's abandon all reason because Apple is cool!"

Comments

[pandorasbox.livejournal.com]

Apple is pretty cool

[sablebadger.livejournal.com]

Some of the designs are pretty cool, some are a bit weak. this is an example of a weak offering.

badger

[pancakex.livejournal.com]

That was kind of my reaction to this: what? flash?

I don't think the hipsters would go for the cheap iPod anyway, because it doesn't LOOK like it cost $400.

[trygve.livejournal.com]

But no, you're of course not at all biased against Apple. ;-p

I agree, this is one of their weaker offerings. But it's not nearly as bad as you make it out to be. Do a quick search on Amazon, and there are no 512mb mp3 players as cheap as Apple's new one. There is one 1gb mp3 player at $150 (matching Apple's price), and others more expensive. But Apple is being competitive on the price here. (Yes, you can find others for similar or better prices if you hunt hard and/or factor in rebates when available, but these are the prices most people will find.)

Also, those other players will work with mp3 (obviously), and probably protected wma files, while the iPod Shuffle will work with mp3's and protected aac files. Yeah, I don't like DRM either. But between wma and aac, which is selling better? iTMS has utterly dominated online music sales, and with another 4.5 million iPods sold this holiday shopping season, their sales are only going to continue rising, and that makes being able to play protected aac files a whole lot more valuable.

Regarding FM & display, I agree, they're missing, and they shouldn't be. Oh well, it's a tradeoff.

[trygve.livejournal.com]

Oh, and from what I've heard, something like 70% of mp3 player sales are still flash based, which I think is why Apple chose to enter that lower cost market. After dominating the hard drive based mp3 player market so well, they'd be fools not to make an offering in the other 70% of that market.

[glasseye.livejournal.com]

A two-second search on pricewatch provided half a dozen 512MB flash players below the $100 mark (one as low as $64) with varying feature sets.

I guess my main point is that Apple is very good at selling an inferior product for more money, and it astonishes me that people put up with it.

[trygve.livejournal.com]

Nonetheless, more people buy from Amazon than check pricewatch, and regardless, they're still within a reasonable price range compared to their competitors.

I'm inclined to disagree on the inferiority, but I guess everything's relative.

I guess I'm surprised at how far reaching your apparent opinions about Apple extend. Whether you like their products or not, it basically comes down to tradeoffs (as does any decision). Is it so difficult to conceive that what they produce is a good fit for what some people are looking for?

[glasseye.livejournal.com]

True, it isn't rediculously overpriced for the size of the device. And most people will just go to their retailer of choice instead of shopping around for a better deal.

The feature set of the iPod shuffle do make it rather far behind, when compared to other devices in the same class and price range. Your point about AAC is valid (though I personally refuse to purchase DRM'd music), and a person who does not have the ability or desire to strip their music of the DRM would have no choice but to use an AAC capable device. There are other players that do AAC, but few approach the price of the new iPod.

I'm sure there are some people for whom this new device is a perfect fit, and that's great. I'm also sure that many people will buy it over another superior, equivalently priced device because it's an iPod.

Superiority or inferiority obviously depends on many factors, including ones own preferences and requirements. Apple has yet to meet my standards, so I have not purchased anything from them.

These aren't the droids you're looking for...

[alaric.livejournal.com]

I don't have an iPod, but I hope to get one soon. :) I agree with everying that Tom said, you Kilt wearing Unix lover.

Miss ya!

[seant9.livejournal.com]

APPLE SUCKS!