News Microsoft leads Japan in iPod crusade

[Tim S]

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2006/06...od_consortium/

[DXR_13KE]

M$ must put a lot of efort in this or else they will be owned by apple.

anyway i wont buy any mp3 player that has been filled up with DRM.

[rgkgraphix]

because god forbid someone else besides Microsoft makes some money.

[CountStiltzkin]

I reckon MS will have to keep aesthetics in mind more than anything else, as to the average consumer that seems to be the ipod's biggest appeal.

[LoneArchon]

Sounds good if they can make a quailty product. I myself never got on the Ipod bandwagon. I prefer the creative MP3 players they just need to improve the drivers and software. Nothing against the ipod i just don't like having something that everyone else has. If they can make a nice product with a complete service and everything and cut costs then thet may be in business but if the music is the same price apple will win do to a more mature system.

[Lucidity]

Ummm this has already been done. The Creative line of mp3 players allows for superior sound quality, easy functionality with windows, and you can find them for a lot cheaper than the apple products.

[Atomic]

The iriver clix for example, I think is better than the nano.

[<A88>]

The iriver clix/u10 would be any easy iPod beater if they gave it some more damn memory! As it is, the player falls into the Nano's storage range, beats it on features but loses on price and size. If iriver just added at least 8gb of memory they'd have an iPod killer on their hands. As it is, the most promising PMP coming out is the Toshiba Gigabeat s30/60, which is more or less the same size as an iPod, but with a widescreen for videos, Windows Portable Media Centre, radio, audio recorder etc...although it doesn't sport the fancy FLAC/OGG/DivX support, it's set to undercut the iPod's price and offer a whole lot more.
If Microsoft do intend on beating Apple, they have to get their Media Centre onto a whole lot more devices- namely Sandisk and Creative ones, as iriver wouldn't give up their multiple codec support (although if Microsoft did add this to their software the products would be welcomed with open arms by many entusiasts).

<A88>

[r3Q]

this is what needs to be released;

*has to support regular NON DRM compressed and uncompressed media formats (*mp3, *wma)
*has to be easy to use and very uncomplicated
*NO NESSICARY software, completly plug+play and drag+drop - virtually an external harddrive. that will play any\all media files on the drive. (maybe a video version too?)
*a nice screen, does not have to be color, but it has to be able to have enough area to list song names
*small, sleek, and durable
*what would be cool, would be one of those "pad" charging spots. where you just put the unit onto the charging pad and it charges with out being plugged into the pad (like this-> http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/lights/76c0/ )
**if possible, wireless internet connection (bluetooth?)**
****INEXPENSIVE*****

make this, and the ipod will crumble. would be sweet.

[Bindibadgi]

Originally Posted by Lucidity

Ummm this has already been done. The Creative line of mp3 players allows for superior sound quality, easy functionality with windows, and you can find them for a lot cheaper than the apple products.

What the hell? I own a creative zen micro and you have to install drivers THEN software for it. It's sound quality is no different from the ipod nano and they may be cheaper but they dont look nicer. Creative doesnt sell something that competes with the nano, unless you count a 6gig micro, which is far larger in both size and memory.

I dont understand about this sound quality mlarky, I cant tell the difference between my brothers nano and my zen micro.

There is NOTHING Microsoft can do, especially in Japan. They just dont have the direction and management: look at Vista. They dont have the marketing appeal either. They would have to stop and go backwards before MS released a product that competed on the ipod's terms.

[fev]

anyone who can tell the difference is using £150 headphones, and if you're using headphones of that callibre you shouldn't be listening to mp3's or compressed music

[Preti9cboi]

Japanese do not buy american products. Only way it will work is if they create a japanese namebrand.

[<A88>]

That's why Microsoft are trying to team up with Japanese hardware manufacturers to overcome the American iPod .

<A88>

[Firehed]

Originally Posted by Lucidity

Ummm this has already been done. The Creative line of mp3 players allows for superior sound quality, easy functionality with windows, and you can find them for a lot cheaper than the apple products.

Do they have a click wheel?

Apple wins.

I hate all of the music restrictions as much as the next guy, but at least Apple's are pretty seamless and fair. Back in the day when I used a minidisc player, it only let me transfer music RIPPED STRAIGHT FROM THE ORIGINAL, LEGAL CD three times, and even then it had to slowly transcode it and then slowly transfer it. The player itself was great, but that was the most god-awful excuse for player integration I'd ever had the misfortune of dealing with. Five computers and any iPod you own simultaneously (and the ability to re-license computers) is quite reasonable, and the audio quality and price from the iTMS are decent enough.

Long story short, until a company makes a proper iPod clone with a cheaper and more rights-liberal store than iTMS that properly integrates with the player (think Allofmp3 replacing iTMS within iTunes), nobody stands a chance.

[olly_lewis]

This is all very reminisent of when Apple, back in the 90's was part of a large consoritium or copanies that believed that Microsoft had a monoply over the market in computing and high end technology, and no it seems that Apple has pulled up a chair right next to them, and is no receiving hate from Microsoft and other companies that believe Apple is not the biggest threat to the market, a second monoply buisness in the music and portable media industry... Ah well, could'nt of seen it coming several years ago, way before the iPod and when Apple was yelling at Microsoft from the lower podium of software manufactorers that were past their prime...

[Bindibadgi]

Originally Posted by <A88>

That's why Microsoft are trying to team up with Japanese hardware manufacturers to overcome the American iPod .

<A88>

Oh yea :P But it still wont have the overall integration and obvious ease of the ipod. Let alone the fashion appeal and sucessful marketing campain.

[<A88>]

That's the sad fact really- no matter how good they make the player, Apple already has the security of its product being synonymous with the term 'mp3 player'. I don't quite understand what you mean by integration though- if it's simply a fact of the universal support of the iPod (hifis, car audio systems and accessories etc) then yes, the iPod has the upper hand; however I still think the whole proprietary approach of its software/hardware is a bit of a bu**er and puts the market out of reach for other competitors who are more adament on building standards (ie using a standard usb, making the players accessible through other software).
I think much of the marketing was done at the start- somehow the iPod suddenly got a boost in popularity (probably state-side) and suddenly became a bit of a fashion icon; after all, there are plenty of competitors putting out credible marketing campaigns, but how often do you see a 'free Zen Vision:M' banner on your interweb travels?

<A88>

[scq]

iPod's gone beyond an MP3 player now. Even I find myself using one, despite the problems it's riddled with.

iPods look pretty good, and are easy to use. I have yet to find any MP3 player that has as good an interface, or I'd switch in a heartbeat.

Unfortunately, for many, iPod is just a brand name. Hopefully, this fad won't drag out too long, or competitors start thinking about how to make their players better, not just with more features.

[ChromeX]

Originally Posted by r3Q

*what would be cool, would be one of those "pad" charging spots. where you just put the unit onto the charging pad and it charges with out being plugged into the pad (like this-> http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/lights/76c0/ )

Why? What possible use would that have? Charing up an LED which has a current draw of 20mA is easy. Charging up an ipod which has a massive capacitance battery, through induction is another matter!

[exavier412]

i'm going to be honest, i love my ipod. i've had a minidisk player, and a couple other mp3 players, and the ipod is no doubt the best product out there right now. thats why it is so successful. it doesnt record or have a radio (it can though), but it is designed to be a consumer's mp3 player. it has plenty of other features though- calendar, reading notes, solitare/brick, very nice GUI.

and i *** apple.