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It's so bad that's why the iPod shuffle sold out in 2 hours at the Apple Store in S.F.

Jealous at the success that Apple is having.

moron. and who actually bought zen micros...two million? That.s not a small number...the world is full of stupid, stupid people [must ship only to red-states]. <-- magic word was 'left', couldn.t help myself.

It's an iPod. Duh. That's all that matters.

Mr. Sim has that blind Balmer bravado down... Let's see how he does with it.

Magic word: "death." Hmmmm.

I really doubt this 2 million number they are throwing around, I don't know of one person who has ever bought one of their MP3 players, I've seen more Dell DJ's than any Creative pos.

hmmmm, too bad those crappy creative mp3 players don't have itunes to work with, or the itunes music store....yeah, even If i liked anything from creative, I wouldn't buy it cuz of the crappy software alone.

What he is missing is the fact its not just the features of the player that make people love iPods of any type, its the smooth integration of player, computer and purchasing with iTunes/iTunes Music Store. Its a total package. They may have sold a lot of flash players in the past because people put up with them because they did not want to pay or could not pay $250 - $500 for an iPod to use with iTunes. Now they can pay $99 - $149 and get the ease of use from start to finish.

Translation of Mr. Sim's quote: "I'm scared sh**less of this new iPod!"

'nuf said

Perhaps Mr. Sim would like to tell us how many of those he sold ...

/crickets

It has nothing to do with the player, it has nothing to do with Flash memory, it has nothign to do with the features. No one gets it, it all has to do with iTunes. Apple is the first one to do it right, they put the experience before the hardware.

I admit it - I bought the Nike mp3 player. 1) It was made by Phillips and 2) my wife wanted it because Oprah said it was a good buy. (last time I listen to her!)

Anyway, the player was great in all honesty. It sounded great. The controls were easy to use. All in all is was good hardware. But where is really sucked was the software. My god did that SUCK! Transfering songs was like having sex with my ex-wife, it has to be easier then this!

So yes, the iPod shuffle is the same as a 4 year old creative prduct. But, and this is a big but, it works with iTunes and it just looks cool! You can't go against that.

Apple wins today,

MDN readers should stop the insults and analyze just a bit more.

Creative is a big company with markets all over the world. Whatever Apple creates in hardware, they'll easily match in price, quality, et al (it's all made in the Far East, folks).

But that's not the point.

Apple creates something entirely different and Creative cannot compete on that level. A pleasant experience.

Ease of use, Mac and Windows, iTMS, iTunes, total package. Apple's doing that right and has tremendous leverage. Once a market opens with Apple Stores, iTMS, iTunes (Mac and Windows), then "cool" sets in.

Remember Steve's numbers: once the iPod mini hit the streets, the US flash market share (of the total portable music player market) went down. That bodes well for Apple as it enters the flash market as current iPod owners will buy one and give as gifts.

Have you seen anybody give a Creative portable player as a gift? Or stand in line to get one? Or a Dell DJ or Sony Walkman? Nope.

Creative says they shipped 2-million MP3 players in the last quarter. That's vs. Apple's 4.5-million iPods in many fewer markets. What isn't said is, of those 2-million MP3 players, how many were hard drive players?

Not 2-million.

And that, until yesterday, was the market Apple was in. Now they're in the flash market, too, and the whole "package" is what the folks at Creative, Dell, Microsoft, and companies just don't get.

Microsoft Office on the Mac is a superb suite of products. They work like Mac products, play well on Mac OS X, and were designed by Mac programmers (albeit working for the dark side, eh?).

However, I "switched" all my contacts and all my email to Mail/iCal/AddressBook/iSync.

Why? They work better together and that's the whole point. It isn't the hardware. It isn't a single piece of software. It's how they work together.

Apple gets it.

Tera Patricks
Mac360.com

Sim Wong . . . WHO?

Let's be real for a minute. The Creative CEO does make a valid point. The design is nothing innovative, the interface does lack a screen that could have been designed into, it will only play one playlist in order or shuffled, and there are plenty of other players that do way more (even the cheap, cheap Chinese ones).

HOWEVER

1. It's got the Apple name and reputation.
2. It's already created a consistently good player in the iPod, thus, iPod shuffle is riding their coattails
3. It's got a loyal following of Apple evangelists that will speak wonders and make you buy one
4. most importantly, and this is huge, it is the only flash based player that supports the iTunes Music Store and its FairPlay DRM scheme - the same DRM that Apple will not license out to other manufacturers (and makes those who crack it pay dearly for it).

Sour grapes for Mr. Hoo? Perhaps. And Uncle Steve has got'em by the "you know whats".

The shuffle falls right into line with Apple's philospohy- keep it simple and elegant. Like others said, the biggest part is the part you don't readily see- the integration with iTunes. While Sim Wong Hoo-the hell-cares about Creative claims it is a 4 yewar old design, what he doesn't get is that they didn't get the design right 4 years ago. The iPod shuffle is perfect for excercising, jogging, etc. If you are doing these sorts of activities, you are not going to fumble around with a display and click wheel- you are going to pick a playlist and let 'er go. Exactly what the iPod shuffle is designed to do. You don't need a display for that. The iPod shuffle is for short-term activities or listening (if you call approx. 250 songs a short amount of time!). I can see more sold to current owners of iPods as "adders" than to newbies.

The thing is that, Mac fans will get an iPod shuffle... It's only $99, and it's a cute gadget to bring to the gym...

I wasted way too much time trying to come up with an intelligent response to Mr. Sim Wong Hoo.... but then I saw Tara's response. Thank you Tara for saving me wasting any more of my valuable time.

By the way... if anyone can point me to a 1GB creative MP3 player/flash disk product that sells for $149.00 or less, I'd be more than happy to look at it. I am aware of their $199.00 product, but I don't think I would pay an extra $50.00 for an FM radio that I'm sure I would never use.

(secret word: quality) oh... the irony

I'd just like to say, Tera rules. Love your site!

As for Creative, he's just trying to get buzz for his product. A coworker of mine ALMOST bought a Creative player for his daughter. She wanted an iPod and he thought he would take the cheaper route. I laughed at him and told him to get the iPod, because if he didn't his daughter would hate him. ("If she asked for an iPod, she wants an iPod!")
Now, how many parents out there didn't have me to guide them properly? All of a sudden you have 2 million sold... but I wonder how many were RETURNED?

Who listens to Frequency Modulation anymore ???

After thinking a while about this ipod shuffle, I've decided that i really like it and am probably going to get the 1 Gig version to use mostly as a flash drive, but also to take some music with me. And I think it's going to be very popular because of how simple it is. You don't even have to think about choosing songs. However, I do wish they would have created a variety of looks for this thing. With the iPod we've gotten used to different colors with either special editions or with the mini. You're able to personalize it by choosing the color. I think if the shuffle had even more color choices than the mini, it would become an even bigger fashion statement. Or another possibility would be to have several different designs but with the same layout - one the way it is now, another that's circular, etc. Basically, what I'm saying is that with the next version, Apple should add some flavor to the iPod shuffle , and then might see this gain the same status as the other iPods.

As much as I love Apple, personaly I think the shuffle would be a pain in the a$$. Not being able to play the song i want when i want. Sitting there hitting the play button at a party until the right song plays. I guess thats what the HD models are for though. We all have different needs/situations. Just my 2 cents...

One more point to add to Johnson Rod's list:

5. Since it is an iPod, there will be a host of accessories for it within a few months.

The iPod is THISCLOSE to becoming the de facto music player. Not the best choice, the only choice.

The shuffle is going to be huge for people who wanted an iPod to workout with. I know a couple people personally that wanted an iPod for just that reason, but couldn't justify the cost. I have $50 that says they'll have one of these within 6 months. These are perfect for workouts. Whenever I've used my iPod for jogging, etc., it was always a bit unwieldy (had to hold it) and I *always* set up a playlist before hand that I played during the jog. The most I would want to do is skip a song or repeat a song. You can't really pull out an iPod easily and navigate through playlists, etc., while jogging. So, having one playlist with this simple design and 12 hours of playback time is great. And the strap that lets you hang it from your neck is a great touch too. I may buy one just for workouts myself.

This is so bloody funny.. But i don't think anyone.. ANYONE.. is buying his bluff..

Creative's gonny copy that design ASAP..

Even if we throw out the "user experience, the whole package" and focus strictly on hardware, Sim Hung like-a-two-year old, doesn't even make a good comparison. Have you ever held on of their early mp3 players? They felt like crap. The buttons were hard to push and the whole thing felt like it would come apart if you dropped it.

The iPod Shuffle has that quality feel to it. No comparison.

One thing that has to be said: in many countries (mine included, Finland) it's pretty hard to know about iPod, let alone buy one. But Creatives crap is sold all over the place.

So it might be true that Creative sold 2 million. But not where iPod was really present.

Apple does not have the mind share in Asia that they do in the west yet but they are gaining. Traditionally this market follows more or less the trends set in the U.S.

Woo Hoo sounds like he is very nervous or totally out of it. I have never wanted a flash player. I received a 20 Gig ipod for Christmas. Love it! When I saw the Shuffle I wanted to trade in my 20 gig. I decided to keep it though and order a Shuffle anyway. Can't wait!!

For some reason the phrases "famous last words" and "gallows humor" come to mind...

Yes iPod go down. Worse than Chinese player. You be sorry Apple. You be sorry. My player kick wang tang. Your player piece of junk. You be sorry.

The entry price for the Digital Music Revolution- Legal has just dropped to a 4-year old PC and $100. The other day it was $250 and that's HUGE. For small kids, aerobics queens, hikers, etc these things are ideal. It's going to be big.

I have a first gen iPod, and I usually only listen to my big playlist in shuffle mode. So the iPod shuffle is perfect! As for FM, the only time I listen to the radio is when I don't have my iPod. And now with the iPod shuffle, I'll always have one handy.

Joel nailed the reason I ordered my 1GB iShuffle the day they were released--I've been waiting for Apple to release a jogging accessory iPod for months. Can't wait to try it out.

I don't care what Creative's CEO says!

The iPod Shuffle SUCKS!

So far around here we are three for three on wanting iPod shuffle added to our Mac systems.

We all have iPods already, but iPod shuffle has so many possibilities and is so compact and so inexpensive, we just have to have one.

Also, today I went to Fry's (huge electronics store, maybe just here in Texas) with a buddy I switched over to an iBook about three months ago I asked the guy putting product out on the shelf in the Apple section if he was putting out any iPod shuffles.

He turned around and said I was about the 50th person who had asked about that today (a picture made page 1 of the Houston Chronicle) and he confessed he didn't have any idea what it was. After I explained it to him, he wanted one too.



~M

At first, I had my doubts about the iPod Shuffle. I did not get it. Today I went to MacWorld and tried it. The iPod Shuffle is insanely great. You can not believe how small it is. You can not believe how light it is. You can not believe how beautiful it is. The iPod Shuffle is as perfect as it gets.

I think this guy now has over a billion people pissed off at him.
I'd be pissed too if I were Chinese!

There are MILLIONS of parents that will not spend $250 on a iPod but will buy 2 $99 'shuffle' for their whining kids!!

Yes I'm one!!!

SIM WHO? can say whatever he wants - the bottom line is Creative don't have iTunes or access to it.

SJ is not daft. Why let every other player manufacturer into the profitable, high margin end of the business by allowing compatibility with FAIR PLAY.

Until M$ or Creative produce an elegant software front end they will not challenge Apple.

Mr. Hoo, a month or so ago, brought down the gauntlet and announced that his company would overtake Apple in the MP3 player wars. I think he announced a million dollar (plus?) ad campaign. His company was one of the first to introduce an MP3 player. Now he knows what it's like to lose out - just as Apple did to M$. In the Far East tt's a "dog eat dog" situation!

Sim Wong is simply wrong, and here's why…

Here in the UK, the Kingston 1.0 GB Traveller Elite USB 2.0 Pen / Flash Drive costs around £90.00 inclusive of VAT (I chose a branded drive, as opposed to some generic piece of nonsense).

However, for a mere £99.01 (an extra £9.01), I can purchase an iPod shuffle.

So, I buy an iPod shuffle, use 25% of it for data storage and yet I still have enough space for 180 songs at 128kbits. Hell, even if I encode at 160 kbits, I'll still have room for around 150 tracks which will get me to and from work each day for a week so long as I don't have more than a 60 minute commute.

Oh, and it works with iTunes and - even more importantly - iTunes Music Store. So, it's not quite like the "cheapest Chinese player" now, is it??

REMEMBER PEOPLE - Creative are bound to slag off the Ipod Shuffle as it competes with their crappy flash player!

And they know it is better than anything that they can produce too!

I don't expect Creative to say anything but bad things about it!

Intresting how uncreative 'Creative' is!!!

Cost of USB flsh drive + cost of headphones = cost of iPod shuffle.

So the music player and battery parts are free !

Cost of the same device with a display ? MORE!

If you want a music player with a display, don't buy one of these.

They've taken a step back and made a good choice with this. Released it at a good price too. I was thinking about getting a USB flash drive and this just sold me on the apple version.

fyi - check out the range at Creative:

http://www.creative.com/products/welcome.asp?category=213

They're doing everything they can to keep up with iPod. I don't doubt they sold 2mil - in Asia.

I reckon Apple would be right to keep tabs on what they do. Some of their players are obvious rip offs of iPod, but others aren't.

Their weakness it seems, is they've forgotten - in classic Asian thinking - the core philosophy.

"It's about the music, stupid."

I'd be surprised if it didn't sell heaps -- particularly to people with a larger iPod already. Sim Wong Hoo doesn't want to think of the connection between the shuffle and iTunes -- that's the source of his nightmare.

Me, I have to pass. With a first-gen and a mini in the family, the next one's gotta be biiiigggg. There I was in business class with my first genner, and the fellow beside me whips out his 40 gig momma -- a Windoze user for chrissakes. I felt like chokin' him. Never again, I vowed.

NEXT CHRISTMAS... My business will purchase about 75 of the iPod Shuffles of whatever iteration is available - and we will stamp them with our business logo for gifts to our staff and our best clients.

At $125 each they are no more costly than the gift baskets we already distribute - and they will produce a much bigger bang for the buck than fruit and champagne.

Once again.... Thank You Apple for providing a computer system that is stable, secure and intuitive. It just works.


Secret Word = Feeling. As in... "I have a feeling that Billy Gates is going apoplectic right about now."

Yeah, four generations behind...when did yours have a scroll wheel, Mr. Sim? The iPod shuffle is soooo terrible, that I just bought one. Little product and big talk. Haven't we seen this before?

Less than an ounce. I'm eating mine, damn #2.

Hywel.. by taking out a display it has better battery life and lower cost..

Apple is probably making 10 bucks on each iPod shuffle...

Perfect strategy..

I'm getting mine next week i think..

Effwerd: don't say you weren't warned!

"Two million"? It was probably more like just 2 after they were all returned.