“The iPod shouldn’t dominate the digital-media-player market,” Rob Pegoraro writes for The Washington Post. “That’s not a value judgment, just a statement about economics.”
“For all the success of Apple’s iTunes Store, most digital music still consists of MP3 files, which anybody can build a device to play. And anytime one company must compete with the collective talent of everybody else in the world, it should be lucky to grab one-third of the marketm” Pegoraro writes. “Instead, Apple owns more than 70 percent of it and has wiped the likes of Sony and Dell off the map.”
Pegoraro writes, “Last month, Apple renewed its drive for the rest of the market by revising its lineup of iPods. Its new models don’t mark a major shift in the iPod formula, but still worked far better than two other players put through the same tests.”
“The [new 2nd generation] iPod shuffle, shipping later this month, is much smaller,” Pegoraro reports. “The new Nano, just 1.75 ounces with its headphones, is the easiest to spot in this bunch, encased in colorful anodized aluminum instead of scratch-prone plastic. The $149, two-gigabyte model is silver; the $199, four-GB version can be had in silver, blue, green or pink; and the $249, eight-GB variant comes only in black. Inside that sturdy exterior, the battery life has been boosted to an advertised 24 hours — though the four-GB Nano I tried lasted almost 26 hours.”
“The full-size, don’t-call-it-video iPod looks no different from before but adds the Nano’s search option and longer battery life. An 80-GB model lasted for 22 hours of music and seven hours of video,” Pegoraro reports. “This updated model can also double as a handheld game player, at least for the small set of $4.99 titles sold on iTunes.”
Pegoraro looks at SanDisk’s Sansa e280 (8GB, $250) and Toshiba’s Gigabeat S60 (60GB, $399). “The iPod is allegedly a luxury item, but the prices of the others, at best, barely undercut Apple’s. And the SanDisk and Toshiba players don’t approach the iPod’s simplicity… The controls of each player were more cumbersome yet. The Sansa’s array of buttons looks like a ClickWheel but is less elegant and feels flimsier. On the Gigabeat, adjusting volume, pausing playback or skipping to the next or previous song requires pressing tiny buttons on its side, not the big four-way control on its front.”
“Their screens almost wash out in direct sunlight, while the iPod’s stays legible. And after a few minutes of playback without user input, these displays shut off instead of just dimming, forcing you to adjust the volume or tap another button to see what song just came up,” Pegoraro reports. “These gadgets didn’t run as long as iPods, either. The Sansa sustained 18 hours of music playback, while the Gigabeat allowed 10 hours of music, four of video.”
“It’s supposed to matter that these Windows Media-compatible devices can play songs rented from such subscription services as Napster, and that the Gigabeat also supports video-download stores such as Amazon’s new Unbox,” Pegoraro writes. “But those non-iTunes stores possess a tiny fraction of iTunes’ popularity, which undermines that aspect’s entire relevance. How many shoppers will base their decisions on the lure of a store they’ve never tried? How many will, instead, only see devices that are uglier, heavier and buggier than the iPods everybody else seems to like?”
Full article here.
Related articles:
Analyst: Microsoft Zune with fake scroll wheel ‘hardly an Apple iPod killer’ – September 14, 2006
Analyst: Microsoft’s Zune an ‘underwhelming’ repackaged Toshiba Gigabeat; no threat to Apple iPod – August 30, 2006
Microsoft confirms brick-like Zune to be made by Toshiba – August 25, 2006
Computerworld review: ‘Apple’s new iPods are better than ever’ – September 27, 2006
Review: Pac-Man for iPod – September 27, 2006
PC Magazine’s 19th Annual Readers’ Choice Awards for MP3 players: Apple iPod line – September 25, 2006
USA Today reviews new Apple iPod nanos, updated iPods, iTunes 7 (each earns 4 stars out of 4) – September 21, 2006
CNET Editor’s Choice: Apple fifth-gen updated iPod – ‘best, most attractive iPod to date’ – September 20, 2006
CNET Editor’s Pick: Apple’s new 2G iPod nano – ‘sure to be top choice among wide range of users’ – September 14, 2006
Apple debuts new iPod in 30GB and 80GB with Hollywood movies, games and new lower price – September 12, 2006
Apple intros new iPod nano with new aluminum design in five colors and 24-hour battery life – September 12, 2006
Apple unveils new iPod shuffle: world’s smallest digital music player – September 12, 2006
“But its slick new “CoverFlow” album-cover view bogs down older computers ..” he says in his article.
Gotta admit he’s right on that one, but just the simple presence of CoverFlow did motivate me to finally go and find ALL my album covers, a task which I had previously avoided. That particular feature is quite alluring, for sure.
The statement, “And isn’t it beautiful?” should appear at the end of the second paragraph.
How will MS copy the new Shuffle? A 2-inch square turdlet with a faux click wheel? At least they’ll be easier to flush.
gwm, same here for album covers!
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The Washington Post: ‘New competitors can’t measure up to Apple’s iPod’ ..now, if the rest of the world will just figure that out about Mac computers too.
Pfft. My 3-year-old 1 GHz G4 PowerMac runs CoverFlow with not the slightest stutter. ‘Course, I have 1.5 GB of memory in it.
Coverflow works fine on my QS2002 G4 800. Although it has been upgraded to 1.2GB RAM and a ATI Radeon 9000.
What is the minimum config for an effective Coverflow animation?
Coverflow slows my iTunes as well (a mere 1 GB RAM).
Still infatuated with it. Spent several hours over the past few days working towards getting all the albums covers on and correct (several downloaded by iTunes 7 were wrong).
Performance has improved with 7.1, but it still is not close to 6. I believe it will improve more over time.
Still, I like the direction iTunes is going – the iPod interface is better, the organization of the icons on the left is better, etc.
Hey gwm, now I know I’m not alone./
I too hunted down all my album covers online and scanned the ones I couldn’t find. I must be nuts, but CoverFlow makes hunting for music a VISUAL experience on top of musical. I just HAD to do it!
Very Cool!
Is the color arrangement temporary for supply purposes or is the 8gb nano remaining black-only for good?
I think the 8GB iPod nano will remain the only black model, until it becomes the only 16GB model, and the colorful ones will move up to 8GB. It may be a matter of supply, but it’s also inventory management. Apple wants to make the “cheap one” easy to stock at Target and WalMart, so one color. Most people will want the mid-size mid-price models, so four colors is reasonable there. And the 8GB model is elite and most expensive, so it gets its own color and distinct “not white” scrollwheel look.
Try going to creative.com and look at the number MP3 player designs it has, and all the color choices. There must be at least 100 possible combinations. What a nightmare…
Apple has
iPod — 4 – black and white, x 2 storage sizes
iPod shuffle — 1
iPod nano — 6 – silver 2GB, 4 x colors 4GB, and black 8GB
That’s 11 possible iPods for 75% of the U.S. market. Creative has more than 100 for at most 7.5% of the market
Make that 12 possible iPods. I forgot about the “U2” special.
Bye bye Zune.
The Toshiba Gigabeat is 60gb and “retails” for $399 compared to the 80gb iPod which sells for $349 — oh please. Greenpeace needs to be tracking Toshiba because there will be a lot of Gigabeats heading for a land fill in January.
Coverflow is cool, but as I scroll through movies with it, it shows blank poster art in some areas until you stop and let it load. This is on a new intel iMac with 2GB ram. There is most definately a problem here.
Also, when tagging movies on the ‘Get Info’ pane, I have to tag info one page at a time – artwork, OK – then info, okay – and spotlight doesn’t seem to be able to read some of the meta for movies.
All issues I’m sure will be addressed in future updates. Regardless, I moved all my video to iTunes, and really like the new look. Music organization is excellent, and movies are, well, getting there…
What nonsense.
Did this guy even read his own article? He actually gives reasons as to why the iPod does dominate the market. I’m reminded of the expression, “They have eyes, but they cannot see.”
“It’s supposed to matter that these Windows Media-compatible devices can play songs rented from such subscription services as Napster, and that the Gigabeat also supports video-download stores such as Amazon’s new Unbox.”
Who says it matters?
Everyone involved (online stores, music industry, etc., etc.) in trying to push subscriptions on the music buying consumer, that’s who. Including those music buying consumers who think music subscriptions are the “cat’s meow” of the digital age, and who don’t understand why everyone else doesn’t “get it.”
Oh, we “get it.” We just don’t want it.
They all are ignoring the fact that the music buying consumer is not “buying it.” Literally and figuratively.
And…who, like Mr Pegoraro, consequently don’t understand why the iPod dominates.
Coverflow is great. It’s turned my laptop into a jukebox. I can see potential for maybe ‘free’ jukeboxes in clubs/pubs where you have a half decent computer set up just running iTunes in Coverflow view mode and people can just tap through literally 1000’s of albums.
Zune is crap, but with that said, MS has a way of taking crap and making it less smelly crap that is used by 90+% of computer users. They are willing to take a hit early and hang in there to gain market share. Apple will need to stay ahead (far ahead) of MS in innovation if they are to keep their lead in the portable music business.
As I’ve stated in the past, Rob Pegoraro is the proud owner of a CLUE. Which fact sets him apart, in a pleasant way, from other tech journalists.
Rhapsody 4.0 is currently in beta. RealNetworks is abandoning the crappy WMA format in favor of its own RealAudio 10 AAC. They will soon be testing compatibility with the iPod as the 192Kbps tracks purchased from the RealPlayer Music Store will already transfer to the iPod without any loss of quality. If they can pull that off, then they will have a real winner on their hands.
I love my gigabeat, and after using my friends iPod, I’m convinced the gigabeat is much nicer. User interface is easy, I like the buttons on the side, and the video quality is great. Gigabeat rocks. Also, accessories market is starting to pick up. Found a workout case for the gigabeat at <a href=”http://www.buymedge.com”>. I’m a satisfied customer.
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