Re: Re: a durable, dedicated reader for under $50

On May 29, 2008, at 11:42 PM, Aaron Walker wrote:

> My point was the first iPod was $399.99 and offered 5 gigs of storage.
>
> It "revolutionized" the whole MP3 market.
>

It was the first--and best working hard drive mp3 player. It  
revolutionized and took over the market for a couple of reasons that  
had nothing to do with the price or the purpose:

1) Apple managed to tie up the VERY few makers of tiny hard drives  
into long-term exclusive contracts. They became the only company that  
COULD make a hard drive based MP3 player for a while there.

2) Then, the other companies offering HD based players fell down on  
the job. I recall reviewing a couple at the time. Neuvomedia (I think  
that's the name) wouldn't give me a review unit at all. They didn't  
even have one to give me. Rio gave me a hard drive based player that  
cost the same as the 2G iPod, but was an unconscionable piece of  
garbage. The software stunk. It was reviled in the review media--and  
rightly so--and it broke almost immediately. In short, it REALLY  
sucked. Of all the stuff I have reviewed over the years, the Rio  
Carbon was one of the worst products EVER. Rio subsequently went out  
of businesss.

> Sure there were MP3 players before the iPod but not too many people  
> paid attention to them.

They were small, expensive, and they didn't hold many songs since they  
were solid state. It was the use of the hard drive--and the shark like  
tying up of the producers of same--that ensured the success. Music  
takes up a LOT of space and you need a fair amount of storage. Heck,  
even **I** have 8G of music.

> It has taken years for them to get down to the $25 - 30 range. In  
> the mean time, Apple was steadily selling iPods like hotcakes.
>

Oncluding MANY lower priced ones. IIRC, the best selling iPod last two  
years running was the teeny, tiny iPod Shuffle. My daughter owns one  
and it's the size of a small binder clip and weighs less.

> Then all the hoopla about iPods. No, I wasn't going to spend $399.99  
> on something I didn't (think) I needed at the time and still haven't.
>

I own a 2G iPod but we don't really use it. What I use constantly are  
my Oakley Thumps which hold about 60 songs... which I cannot lose and  
are so expensive, that I don't generally misplace them (on my head or  
on the kitchen shelf, period).

> And still, my point is, saying e-books will never take off until we  
> have a free or virtually inexpensive e-reader doesn't jive with the  
> closest piece of tech in recent history.

I'm really NOT sure that music and ebooks have anything in common. The  
markets are SO different. The way we consume the media is so  
different. Even the desire FOR the media is so different. The problem  
with ebook readers is not that they are too expensive, it's that most  
people don't want ebooks!

This is, I should say, changing in the next generation.

> People bought the device (the Apple iPod) because it would allow  
> them to listen to music they already had or knew they were going to  
> purchase. Apple's iTunes is the biggest music store in the world  
> behind Wal-Mart. So the argument that people are just burning their  
> own cd collection to listen to on their iPod doesn't fit.
>

And paired with iTunes, it let them listen to music they already owned  
or could buy almost anywhere. iTunes was the first computer music  
software that made it really easy and really friendly to rip mp3s from  
CDs. I recall stumbling around with the Mac Amp player and nearly  
tearing my hair out--not to mention that music player software for the  
Mac at least STUNK at the time and was 5-10 years old.

> Is listening music more ubiquitous than reading? Probably.
>

undoubtedly. When you have music on, you can tune it out if something  
comes that needs you attention. It still plays, you still hear some of  
it, but it becomes background. Due to the need for attention to  
reading, it's a foreground activity. Even when listening to audio  
books, I find that I cannot understand what is going on--I don't  
process  if I don't pay attention. In our attention deficit society,  
attention is at a premium. No wonder reading isn't the favored  
activity. You can tune out the iPod. You can tune out the TV. But you  
can't tune out a book. You have to actively read it.

dej
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