It's HERE: iPod
- Thread starter ScottW
- Start date
beef
Dinner
I dunno what you guys were really expecting or hoping for... (iUFO or something?) but it's the marketing dept's job to hype things up... they're not gonna say "our competitors make something like this already"
I bought a mp3 player that uses HD sometime ago. It's Archos Jukebox with 6GB HD. At the time, the alternatives were: Creative's Jukebox thing, and ThinkGeek's jukebox thing (mentioned in another thread).
I didn't buy the Creative's because
1) it's huge... bigger than most DiscMan... how 'portable' is this, really?
2) my bro works for Creative, and he's yet to say something positive about their products
I didn't buy the other one because
1) it's pretty big
150 x 80 x 26 mm, and Archos Jukebox is 115 x 82 x 34mm. Yes, I can read numbers. The one I have is actually a bit fatter an taller (there're 4 rubber like things at the corners, in case you dropped it)
2) the thing has 20GB HD, and it's $499 now, but when I started to look for a mp3 player, neither were out. Archo's jukebox was projected to be around $300 (I heard the price went up a bit before the release, but the company honored the price for people who made preorders). I can't quite recall how much this 20GB monster was at the time it came out, but I remember seeing one of the first few units on ebay, and people bidding over $1000 on it. I believe it was projected to be over $800. probably had alot to do with the price of 2.5" 20GB drive. "easily tucked into any palm-sized space" (from their site) but I think they're talking about NBA player sized palms.
When it came time to make my decision I chose Archos because it probably was the smallest, and it was only just a bit more expensive than Creative's (and avoid conflict with my bro).
The Archos one was the smallest overall, but I'm still reluctant to take it out with me unless I have a bag or I'm wearing cargo pants or something with bigger pockets. So the size of iPod is pretty attractive, at least to me. The others can double as HD also, but but they only have USB. I do agree that a USB port on it will be nice, not just for data transfer but also as audio out, as more preamps are starting to have USB ports. (Sutherland's 12dAX7 is a tube preamp with USB that supposedly works with Macs, even with OSX).
The price might seem a little high, but it'll come down, just like anything else. The first (and/or highend) units have to cover R&D ad well as production, I think... still my recommendation is to wait for reviews by various sources (and maybe user-reviews... tend to be useless though... it's either pride of ownership or nay-sayers). I dunno how good the sound is... and it might need a firmware update or two to fix things like volume, bass management, etc... Well, you can always blame the source, I guess (does it piss you off that some people can't even make decent mp3's?) When you've replaced the $5 headphones, use your own mp3's and it still sounds like shit... and if fix doesn't come out fast, then I guess that's $400 down the drain...
or you can get Nagra Ares-P or RCX220. RCX220 is competively priced at $2430... and Nagra is still in business (of course, these aren't just portable audio players... and Nagra makes other products as well...)
I bought a mp3 player that uses HD sometime ago. It's Archos Jukebox with 6GB HD. At the time, the alternatives were: Creative's Jukebox thing, and ThinkGeek's jukebox thing (mentioned in another thread).
I didn't buy the Creative's because
1) it's huge... bigger than most DiscMan... how 'portable' is this, really?
2) my bro works for Creative, and he's yet to say something positive about their products
I didn't buy the other one because
1) it's pretty big
150 x 80 x 26 mm, and Archos Jukebox is 115 x 82 x 34mm. Yes, I can read numbers. The one I have is actually a bit fatter an taller (there're 4 rubber like things at the corners, in case you dropped it)
2) the thing has 20GB HD, and it's $499 now, but when I started to look for a mp3 player, neither were out. Archo's jukebox was projected to be around $300 (I heard the price went up a bit before the release, but the company honored the price for people who made preorders). I can't quite recall how much this 20GB monster was at the time it came out, but I remember seeing one of the first few units on ebay, and people bidding over $1000 on it. I believe it was projected to be over $800. probably had alot to do with the price of 2.5" 20GB drive. "easily tucked into any palm-sized space" (from their site) but I think they're talking about NBA player sized palms.
When it came time to make my decision I chose Archos because it probably was the smallest, and it was only just a bit more expensive than Creative's (and avoid conflict with my bro).
The Archos one was the smallest overall, but I'm still reluctant to take it out with me unless I have a bag or I'm wearing cargo pants or something with bigger pockets. So the size of iPod is pretty attractive, at least to me. The others can double as HD also, but but they only have USB. I do agree that a USB port on it will be nice, not just for data transfer but also as audio out, as more preamps are starting to have USB ports. (Sutherland's 12dAX7 is a tube preamp with USB that supposedly works with Macs, even with OSX).
The price might seem a little high, but it'll come down, just like anything else. The first (and/or highend) units have to cover R&D ad well as production, I think... still my recommendation is to wait for reviews by various sources (and maybe user-reviews... tend to be useless though... it's either pride of ownership or nay-sayers). I dunno how good the sound is... and it might need a firmware update or two to fix things like volume, bass management, etc... Well, you can always blame the source, I guess (does it piss you off that some people can't even make decent mp3's?) When you've replaced the $5 headphones, use your own mp3's and it still sounds like shit... and if fix doesn't come out fast, then I guess that's $400 down the drain...
or you can get Nagra Ares-P or RCX220. RCX220 is competively priced at $2430... and Nagra is still in business (of course, these aren't just portable audio players... and Nagra makes other products as well...)
I said it in some other thread, but I thought it may help here - those neodymium earphones don't look (by spec) cheap. beef's $5 estimate I think is probably under by a factor of 15 to 20!
But I want options! I want options! Take away those snazzy earphones and I'll buy the thing for drei hundert.
But I want options! I want options! Take away those snazzy earphones and I'll buy the thing for drei hundert.
beef
Dinner
from Apple's site
Earphones
Earbud-style headphones with 18-mm drivers using Neodymium transducer magnets
Frequency response: 20 to 20,000 Hz
Impedance: 32 ohms
Sensitivity: 104-dB sound pressure level at 1 mW
well... I'm almost certain that the only difference you see between the ones Apple supply with iPod and these cheapo headphones that come with other sutffs is the color... if you look around, everyone of them boast "20-20kHz"... and of course, they all rolloff way above 20Hz... they all have nothing below mid-bass, and harsh mid-high to high... not that you really 'hear' 20Hz from your music... about the only advantage these earphones have over quality headphones is the higher sensitivity... if some company makes one of these small earphones that's as good as advertised (well, I can't really say it isn't, since they don't tell you everything), it would be huge news... really.
considering the retail price for one of the Sennheiser eaphones that has a bit higher sensitivity is $10(and hell, they boast 20Hz-20kHz as well), I'd stick with my guess of $5.
and, continueing with my b*tching on these headphones... they never fit my ears... I have to push them in and by the time I'm done running or biking or whatever, my ears hurt like hell... do these actually fit anyone's ears comfortably?
my recommendation is to get replacements if you buy an iPod...
for short hours, I'd recommend something like Sennheiser HD600
for long hours, you can pick up one of the small ones sony makes with soft silicone earbuds... or... since you've spent $400 on portable audio, why not spend another hundred on custom fit silicone ones...
in any case... if there's an Apple store near you (I don't, gah!
...I kinda doubt CompUSA here will have it either...), you should bring your own headphone to see how iPod sounds... hopefully, it's good enough and Apple doesn't need to be making firmware updates like Archos did...bleh. apple comes out with an mp3 player at the tail end of the mp3 codec life cycle - mp4's coming soon, my JVC DV-Cam already supports it - and they label it as revolutionary.
sad.
and to think... I was waiting to be impressed.
[rant]
guess it will be the same thing with the G5, and anything else in the foreseeable future... Apple really needs to do something revolutionary (like a computer with FireWire internals - hard drive AND SuperDrive!!) and DDR-RAM. right now... they have a super OS with 10.1, but not the apps that make Apple who they are - where's Photoshop and Quark!? - and then they pair (and I have one) dually 800mhz, with slow PC133 RAM when DDR366 is coming out VERY soon. They are CHOKING the processor with such a slow memory bus.
and now this... revolutionary. indeed.
if it was 2 years ago.
bleh.
[/rant]
sad.
and to think... I was waiting to be impressed.
[rant]
guess it will be the same thing with the G5, and anything else in the foreseeable future... Apple really needs to do something revolutionary (like a computer with FireWire internals - hard drive AND SuperDrive!!) and DDR-RAM. right now... they have a super OS with 10.1, but not the apps that make Apple who they are - where's Photoshop and Quark!? - and then they pair (and I have one) dually 800mhz, with slow PC133 RAM when DDR366 is coming out VERY soon. They are CHOKING the processor with such a slow memory bus.
and now this... revolutionary. indeed.
if it was 2 years ago.
bleh.
[/rant]
symphonix
Scratch & Sniff Committee
Dammit, there goes this weeks salary. It is very cool, very clever. Only one cable (it recharges over firewire). There just aren't the products out there to compete with this, I don't care what anybody says! I have a Creative and it is a hunk of junk - there is more humm and hiss in the output than my cassette walkman! I will trade it in, for sure.Most people out there will spend that extra 20-50% to get a REAL CD player as opposed to the plastic-korean-portables that you pick up at the big retail chains. They may not like spending that extra cash, but they'll be happier in the long run. I've had my Yamaha home system for five years now, and in the same time my mum has gone through five - yep, five - K-mart bought stereos.
If this performs as well as the Harmonn Kardonn gear that Apple back, it will be worth every cent.
ksv
web developer
There are taxes for everything here. On services and transport there are also 24 %. And of course there are 24 % tax on stuff we import too, that has a value over 200 NOK (23 US$). So when I buy stuff on ebay, I always try to keep the price under 22 $...
There are also tax on salary, of course... About 35-42 $, I think...
Just to throw in my 2-cents here...
I like many other were at first glance slightly dissapointed by this device. I mean just seeing mp3 player and a price tag of $400 is a bit of a shock. However after the dust settled and all the FAQs and tech specs were up...well this thing kicks ass. Simply trying to buy the aforementioned Toshiba drive off the street would run you about the cost of one of these iPods. And then it's just a tiny HD. At least here you get an mp3 player and a portable HD.
What really makes this thing amazing is the Firewire port. I'm not expert here obviously but reading aroudn a bit has impressed the hell out of me. There is a plethora of uses for this coupled with the updateable firmware. Hell, all DV camcorders, and many professional Digital cameras are Firewire eqquipped. The possibility of being able to link these devices to an iPod for 5gigs of storage in such a small space is amazing. This would put the IBM microdrive to shame. Of course there are many more venues to explore wih the Firewire port. I think one of the first will be recording. US microphones exist and Firewire is even better at I/O than USB ever will be.
Couple this with the 10 hour battery life, conveninet charging, extremely fast transfers (BTW the whole CD transfer thing..wouldn' that simply copy over the wavs already on the cd to accomplish the 10sec "rip"?)
Anyway, the price of new players are always high, and they always come down. Thgouh I myself can't afford one right now, although I may cave in, i'm sure holdin out a little while will result in perhpas a bigger HD or at least a lower price. And of course, Apple will explore all the possibilities they've created with this device.
I like many other were at first glance slightly dissapointed by this device. I mean just seeing mp3 player and a price tag of $400 is a bit of a shock. However after the dust settled and all the FAQs and tech specs were up...well this thing kicks ass. Simply trying to buy the aforementioned Toshiba drive off the street would run you about the cost of one of these iPods. And then it's just a tiny HD. At least here you get an mp3 player and a portable HD.
What really makes this thing amazing is the Firewire port. I'm not expert here obviously but reading aroudn a bit has impressed the hell out of me. There is a plethora of uses for this coupled with the updateable firmware. Hell, all DV camcorders, and many professional Digital cameras are Firewire eqquipped. The possibility of being able to link these devices to an iPod for 5gigs of storage in such a small space is amazing. This would put the IBM microdrive to shame. Of course there are many more venues to explore wih the Firewire port. I think one of the first will be recording. US microphones exist and Firewire is even better at I/O than USB ever will be.
Couple this with the 10 hour battery life, conveninet charging, extremely fast transfers (BTW the whole CD transfer thing..wouldn' that simply copy over the wavs already on the cd to accomplish the 10sec "rip"?)
Anyway, the price of new players are always high, and they always come down. Thgouh I myself can't afford one right now, although I may cave in, i'm sure holdin out a little while will result in perhpas a bigger HD or at least a lower price. And of course, Apple will explore all the possibilities they've created with this device.
Apple is not out to rip us off. They are passing along the cost and adding a little profit just as they do with all of their products and like any good business would do.
I paid $269 for my 6g Nomad Juke box and I love it. But, the upload/dwnload speeds are USB and kinda slow. It's also heavy and has a quirky user interface as well as a small and slow display. It came out on the market for $499 and now you can get the same one for 2 bills. After Christmas these things are gonna drop on the net at least a hundred bucks.
I paid $269 for my 6g Nomad Juke box and I love it. But, the upload/dwnload speeds are USB and kinda slow. It's also heavy and has a quirky user interface as well as a small and slow display. It came out on the market for $499 and now you can get the same one for 2 bills. After Christmas these things are gonna drop on the net at least a hundred bucks.