Almost iPod, but in the End a Samsung

NYT ^ | March 9, 2006 | David Pogue

[martin_fierro]

David Pogue

Almost iPod, but in the End a Samsung

Published: March 9, 2006

ALL right, we've now entered Year 5 of the iPod Era. Apple's rivals have had plenty of time to study the iPod, figure out what makes it such a hit and offer reasonable competition.

Samsung hired a designer of the iPod to create its new player.

The Z5 displays an image of the CD cover when a song or album is highlighted in a menu.

As you may have noticed, however, that hasn't happened. Of every 100 people walking by in their little music isolation bubbles, 78 of them seem to have telltale white iPod earbuds. Year after year, the iPod's market share drifts upward, leaving its rivals to fight over the scraps; call it Snow White and the 20 Dwarfs.

The iPod's competitors have wasted years of opportunity by assuming that they can beat the iPod on features and price alone. They're wrong.

In fact, at least six factors make the iPod such a hit: cool-looking hardware; a fun-to-use, variable-speed scroll wheel; an ultrasimple software menu; effortless song synchronization with Mac or Windows; seamless, rock-solid integration with an online music store (iTunes); and a universe of accessories. Mess up any aspect of the formula, and your iPod killer is doomed to market-share crumbs.

< -- SNIP -- >

[martin_fierro]

Almost a Newspaper, but in the End the NYT.

[martin_fierro]

	iPod
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[Choose Ye This Day]

I am jealous of you all.

[martin_fierro]

Bah! There are inexpensive alternatives to the iPod out there for about $115. They hold like 2GB of songs, but that's still a good bit.

[Terpfen]

"In fact, at least six factors make the iPod such a hit: cool-looking hardware; a fun-to-use, variable-speed scroll wheel; an ultrasimple software menu; effortless song synchronization with Mac or Windows; seamless, rock-solid integration with an online music store (iTunes); and a universe of accessories. Mess up any aspect of the formula, and your iPod killer is doomed to market-share crumbs."

[claudiustg]

---Bah! There are inexpensive alternatives to the iPod out there for about $115. ---

But they are uncool. Uncool things cost too much no matter how cheap they are. :^)

[tubebender]

I heard RUSH say today that he signed a deal with iTunes for downloading his PodCasts directly from iTunes for a fee. Of course they have been available from his 24/7 site for awhile...

[A CA Guy]

I think the Ipod stuff only sends the sound in LR stereo.
Is that two channels?

Anyway, it seems a very limited range of sound to me when I hear it.

[Mr. Blonde]

They neglect to mention that with an AirPort Express you can stream music to your stereo from your computer. Granted you have to pay for it, but I bet it works better than what comes from MS and friends.

[Little_shoe]

I know Im not planning on ever getting an Ipod. Im like the mp3 players with SD capability.

[TheMole]

Anyway, it seems a very limited range of sound to me when I hear it.

Agreed. iPods just don't sound that great. They improve with better headphones, but even then they're just not really high fidelity. I'm not selling or promoting them, but I've noticed that the sound on some of the iRiver products is quite good.

[A CA Guy]

I have an obsessed friend who has a 300gb Hd with Itune programs and probably 70k songs.

He has a few 60gig Ipods nearly filled with tunes and he plugs them into his cars and they sound like stereo from 1968.

It sounds like they limited the transfer of sound to two channel stereo instead of quadraphonic of what ever you call it today.

IMO Ipod darn well knows they did this and in years they will cause the sale of all new Ipods by coming out with ones that send a full signal out.

Or if a competitor was smart, they would do that first.

Currently this sounds like two cheap speaker stereo when it should be sounding at least like Dolby surround sound IMO.

[MediaMole]

That has to be the connection with his car stereo or the quality of the encoding. A properly connected iPod with well encoded music can sound as good as a CD.

I suspect your friend plays his music through an FM transmitter in his car. The music will sound like garbage.

...but that is the FM transmitter, not the iPod.

[A CA Guy]

I've burned CDs and run Ipods and the CDs are much better.

[Choose Ye This Day]

How many songs (approximately) would a 2 gig player hold?

[martin_fierro]

Assuming an average song file size of 3.5 megs, about 570 songs.

[Choose Ye This Day]

Rats. Not nearly enough. I'm holding out until my wife lets me buy the big memory iPod. I want ALL my CDs on there.