Tide Turning Against iPod?

[belletristik]

From the Evening Standard:

They are the must-have gadgets for millions of music lovers -- but there is increasing evidence the iPod could go the way of the Betamax video and the MiniDisc.

[....]

People are looking for the next big thing and the iPod is suffering. They seem to be facing a backlash and their competitors are all doing well. They have a tough road ahead.

[....]

"The overall brand index is showing a definite downward trend up to the beginning of April," said Sundip Chahal of YouGov. "The index for quality is going down -- from a rating in the high 30s in October to the mid 20s, which is a very significant drop."

If this is accurate, I certainly won't be shedding any tears.

The full story is available at:

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/51786.html

[Sparky191]

Doesn't give any details of the survey or what it measures. "index for quality" what is that? Sloppy article that talks a lot and says nothing.

[smkranz]

I agree, it's a pretty lame article...reads like the guy wrote it to fill space. But I guess I also don't share the propensity of some people (even here ) to bash the iPod and take glee in any negative news having to do with it.

I don't have an iPod but my kids (three of them, ages 16-20) each have one, and if I didn't need my MD's for recording, I would probably own one, too. They play music...a ton of it (without having to swap discs )...and they do it pretty doggone well. They are definitely slick and cool. Each of our kids' has performed flawlessly, under conditions of use which frankly would have relegated either of my minidiscs to the dumpster a long time ago. There are tons of cool accessories (Apple and third-party brands) available *just* for them, only because there are sooo many of them out there in the hands of very happy consumers. And from our personal experiences with Apple, via internet purchases, telephone support, and the brick & mortar Apple Stores, their customer service is top rate in my book. [i can't avoid the obvious comparison with Sony Support's current -yesterday- inability to even identify the part for a replacement remote for my brand new MZ-RH1.]

[pata2001]

Simple, just look at market share. Has Sony/Samsung/Creative, etc overtaken apple? No. You can blame it on anyhting, but Apple definitely did the right stuff. all the other companies need to do is just follow what Apple did, but oh that would be too simple. Just look at how confused Sony execs are.

[Sparky191]

I don't get all the iPod bashing myself. Its a different product to MD/HiMD. Live and let live. What killed the MD market is Sony, not anythng Apple does.

Edited July 15, 2006 by Sparky191

[danielbb90]

I don't get all the iPod bashing myself. Its a different product to MD/HiMD. Live and let live. What killed the MD market is Sony, not anythng Apple does.

Thats a great little sum-up of it there!

[The Low Volta]

sparks... you state it so nice and simple there but... oh you are sooo correct as well

I have just learned a rockboxed ipod will play gapless (still have to research this a bit, but the lack of gapless was what really crippled ipod for me personally, as I have lots of live stuff and/or albums meant to be gapless) and after giving SS a shot again and it failing the music-library-manager-test once again, I'm now completely at a point of while being really happy about my HiMDs (NH900 and RH1) as recording devices, I will start thinking about a replacement technology for day-to-day portable listening

[Sparky191]

I think a lot of people do that, HiMD as a recorder and MP3 player as well a player. Ironically I sold my Zen Micro and my iPod Shuffle stopped working so I'm back using my HiMD MH700 as a player. I don't use my legacy MD units anymore or the discs for that matter. Must get rid of them. I'm actually getting tempted to get one of those HiMD player only units simply because I like the look of them. Bit pricey though, pity there don't take a AA. I'll probably get another Shuffle as it sounded fantastic, and is so small.

I'm using SS a bit more these days. I used only use it to transfer stuff to and from the HiMD. These days I'm keeping a little ATRAC library together while I use the HiMD as a player. The majority of my stuff is in MP3 though.

[tekdroid]

I don't get all the iPod bashing myself. Its a different product to MD/HiMD. Live and let live. What killed the MD market is Sony, not anythng Apple does.

Well, for lots of people, it comes down to hype not matching products. The market leader (and also many that aren't market leaders) will always get bashed, so get used to it In any case, all can improve in some way. Sony really needs to go back to school on the software side. Usability; they've heard of it.

Look into the Cowon U3. About the only things it's missing is gapless and removable batts/flash, IMO. Wide choice of open formats. Excellent sound, by all accounts. Native drag n drop. What's not to like?

You bought a Shuffle which stopped working, so I dunno why you'd want to buy it again (aside from the slightly smaller size, I guess).

[Sparky191]

...

You bought a Shuffle which stopped working, so I dunno why you'd want to buy it again (aside from the slightly smaller size, I guess).

Primarily it sounded better than everything else I've tried. PCDP, Zen Micro, iPods, HiMD etc.

AFAIK the Cowons support for tags is limited. Also it gets a mixed opinion about the sound quality. Some say its great, some say its too artifical with all the EQ and Bass effects. I am tempted though. Twice the price of the Shuffle or a Zen Muvo but 2yr warranty.

[The Low Volta]

hey sparks... two little questions:

- not to start a pod >< MD war... really not, I mean it... honestly, I've already stated my ideas on player >< recorder above... but the shuffle sounded better than a HiMD? which HiMD are we talking about? HD digital amp or not? as I have tested this myself with an NH900 and a shuffle from a friend and a very demanding track in A3+ (HiSP) and Lame VBR MP3 of averagely the same rate and I personally couldn't really name a significant winner, though I could hear some difference with a slight personal preference for the NH900 (though admittedly perhaps just cause I'm used to it's sound signature) but remarkingly, the owner of the shuffle who did the test with me was taken by the 'clarity' (his words) of the NH900 and almost didn't want to give it back (he's bought an RH10 now, chose OLED over SQ... the poor sod )

- "AFAIK the Cowns support for tags is limited" just sounds a bit daft as a criterium coming from someone coming from and probably going for a shuffle (you know, the screenless always shuffling strangely freat sounding USB-stick with phones) even lousy tag-support (and a screen to see hem on) should be interpreted as a step forwards from the shuffle, not?

still, I'm starting to feel well, overwhelmed by the seemingly endless range of choice in crap, crappier and crappiest and then some very not crappy except for a couple of points MP3-(or better DA)Players out there. Not one seems to offer the perfect solution (too big/small, crappy support of tags/codecs, too little storage space, too much, too fragile, ... whatever) and the ones that come close seem to be extinct (or at least off the market and unsupported)

I'm kinda torn between choices here:

- I wished that SS wasn't such a pain in the behind or even better, that the mac -> RH1 software was out and the RH1 could do MP3-gapless as I would have no trouble using my RH1 as a playback device then (I listen to full albums, so the one line display of the remote doesn't bother me at all, I don't even use my RM-MC40ELK with it)

- there's this 60gb ipod video 5g (or what's the latest gen?) sitting in a closet at work, brand spanking new (I personally cracked its seal and I'm the only one with a key to that closet), unused and there for my taking... still, feel kinda anxious to run about with a 60gb HDD known to be quite fragile that's not really mine...

well, I've hijacked this thread enough already... on topic: no, ipod is not losing, it's playing a different league

[Sparky191]

- not to start a pod >< MD war... really not, I mean it... honestly, I've already stated my ideas on player >< recorder above... but the shuffle sounded better than a HiMD? which HiMD are we talking about? ....

I don't own a HD amp HiMD. But I couple of friends do, NH1, RH910 so I ABX'ed with my ex-shuffle.

- "AFAIK the Cowns support for tags is limited" just sounds a bit daft as a criterium coming from someone coming from and probably going for a shuffle (you know, the screenless always shuffling strangely freat sounding USB-stick with phones) even lousy tag-support (and a screen to see hem on) should be interpreted as a step forwards from the shuffle, not?

Why buy a player WITH a screen if it can't read the tags...

To make filename really useful they have to be long and include other details like artist, album. Then the filename become too long IMO, especially for a portable. So while I like filetree, I realise it has limitations.

still, I'm starting to feel well, overwhelmed by the seemingly endless range of choice in crap, crappier and crappiest and then some very not crappy except for a couple of points MP3-(or better DA)Players out there. Not one seems to offer the perfect solution (too big/small, crappy support of tags/codecs, too little storage space, too much, too fragile, ... whatever) and the ones that come close seem to be extinct (or at least off the market and unsupported)...

Agreed. Every player out there is compromised.