Comments on: Dell bids adieu to hard-drive music players

Pocket DJs never made headway against the iPod, so PC maker is focusing on flash-memory music players instead.

[hoshie]

The War is On!

With Dell axing it's hard-drive based players, I feel we are about to
see a war brewing for the market in flash memory players, because
let's face it flash memory is more durable that hard-drives. Apple
fired the first shot with the nano. I am excited what Sony/Creative/
Dell/iRiver have against the nano (and shuffle).

[hoshie]

The War is On!

With Dell axing it's hard-drive based players, I feel we are about to
see a war brewing for the market in flash memory players, because
let's face it flash memory is more durable that hard-drives. Apple
fired the first shot with the nano. I am excited what Sony/Creative/
Dell/iRiver have against the nano (and shuffle).

[gwats1957]

You are so right.....

I'm a mac guy who has owned 5 iPods since their debut in 2001.
What sold me? The simple elegance and simplicity of the
MacOS in my hand! These machines are as easy to use and
dependable as the company that builds them! Apple makes the
hardware and the software and they work together EVERY TIME!
My G4 1 Ghz boots and recognizes my iPod(s) every time I plug
them in. I use my iPod every day and can't wait to upgrade to the
new video models!

Marketing, my a**! If Bill Gates or Mr. Dell can bring this level of
consumer satisfaction (or customer loyalty) to their products,
then WHY the hell haven't they done it?

[gwats1957]

You are so right.....

I'm a mac guy who has owned 5 iPods since their debut in 2001.
What sold me? The simple elegance and simplicity of the
MacOS in my hand! These machines are as easy to use and
dependable as the company that builds them! Apple makes the
hardware and the software and they work together EVERY TIME!
My G4 1 Ghz boots and recognizes my iPod(s) every time I plug
them in. I use my iPod every day and can't wait to upgrade to the
new video models!

Marketing, my a**! If Bill Gates or Mr. Dell can bring this level of
consumer satisfaction (or customer loyalty) to their products,
then WHY the hell haven't they done it?

[Llib Setag]

Dell had an MP3 player?

Dull little mp3 player called the DullDJ doing Dull little tasks inside
a Dull little box...

Fits Michael Dull's persona to a tee...

RIP DullDJ...

[Llib Setag]

Dell had an MP3 player?

Dull little mp3 player called the DullDJ doing Dull little tasks inside
a Dull little box...

Fits Michael Dull's persona to a tee...

RIP DullDJ...

[lingsun]

Apple had an instant market with iSnob customers

Apple had an instant market with their iSnob customers. It doesn't matter that the first iPods weren't that great. With the Apple faithful and their religious zeal, Apple was always better to them even when they really weren't. Apple was lucky that they had that base to start with so they could improve the iPod and make it what it is today.

[Earl Benser]

Another uninspriring Sundling post.....

... but what's new?

ha

you're an idiot.

[Michael G.]

Relax, iSnobs...

Maybe Bill can't afford to purchase an iPod.

[S R]

yeah..

isn't it interesting.. that in a few years, you have at least the best
product.

With Microsoft, people have been with them for a long time and
they are yet to deliver a secure operating system. :)

Don't just base the comment on the iPod. It's just not that one
product, it's the combination of iPod and iTunes Music Store
(along with iTunes interface to integrate both seamlessly) that
made this success. So, even if the others had a single product
or music store, it doesn't matter. No single player has all the
three togther. That's why they can't stand the competition from
Apple.

Apple markets, Dell merchandises.

and there's a huge difference. Apple has created & innovated while Dell just packs togethers old ideas in a cheaper version. Show me anyone who has brand loyalty to Dell. They'd buy from anyone with a lower price, knowing that ther'd be no real difference in what they were getting. So please, don't think I'm a snob: I've used Apples since 1987 and I KNOW that they are superior products. My Macs run my business without crashing and without needing calls to a help desk. Personally, I'd rather buy from the innovators, not the cheap knock-off guys. That's not snobbery, it's having the brains to recognize quality & the guts to not need to join the crowd.

[Thomas, David]

iSnob?

Seems to me that the majority of iPod owners, and users, don't own Apple computers, at least as the beginning of LAST year.

So not only was your comment completely off-the mark, but just flat out ignorant.

[Michael G.]

Integration

The reason that Apple's iPod is more successful than Dell, Creative Labs, Sony or other rivals is because of integration. How many of these other MP3 players have an online service that can compete with Apple's iTunes? Sony has Connect, but that's not too popular. iTunes is the innovative standard, when it comes to offering podcasts and video online, as well as the selections of music it has to offer. Musicmatch and other rivals simply can't compete. If Dell wants to compete online, they have to come up with both the MP3 player and a superior online service to iTunes. The DJ Ditty alone isn't going to cut it in competition with Apple.

[stanshih]

Couldn't turn up the volume on the DJ

...and I'm not referring to adjusting the sound levels. Dell just
couldn't ramp up sales of the DJ despite undercutting the iPod
on price.
The debate over whose player is superior is now a moot one as
Creative, Dell, Sony, Rio, iRiver, and Microsoft know. Even iPod
lovers must admit that for the past 2 years iPod's competitors
offered more features, longer battery life, and (slightly) lower
price on their products. But in the past year, the market (with
the help of word-of-mouth and slick commercials) determined
that iPods' ease-of-use and simple design was worth a $20-$40
premium. The market also determined that 6-8 hours of battery
life was enough and the FM transmitters and voice recording
were superfluous.
The window for competing on the basis of tech specs has
closed. Apple now has the upper hand because of economies of
scale; they sell many more units than their competitors now and
have pricing power against the competition. Whereas iPods
initially sold at a premium price, they're now price-competitive
because of VOLUME. Dell's DJ was relegated to the figurative
clearance bin. They were "on sale" - cheaper than the iPod by
about $50 - but still ignored.
The original plan was to undercut the iPod's price enroute to
selling millions and millions of DJs. But Dell couldn't turn up the
volume. R.I.P. DJ

[eewhiz]

Apple has Marketing, others do not try

It is the best marketed player. When was the last time you have seen a Dell DJ commercial on TV or Creative Labs? What lifted iPods were the teen following. If you look at who's buying Creative's, Samsung's, Dell DJ's and iRivers are adults. Sure there are some adults that purchase iPods, but they too were sucked into the hype. iTunes is a very restrictive playcenter, and Apple is still not licensing FairPlay (that's not fair), to anyone else. Real Networks hacked the FairPlay scheme, so now iPod users can buy Music from other than iTunes. Now Apple is filing a lawsuit. You think they would have learned their lesson from the Macintosh vs PC wars (Remember when Macintosh had a 40% marketshare in personal PC's). Ancient History. Let them keep their same arrogance with Fairplay, and you will eventually see buyers shop elsewhere. Hang in there Creative, iRiver, Archos, Samsung et al, Apple will will reap it's arrogance.

"Apple will will reap it's arrogance"...

Let's see... I've been hearing that same line since 1986, when I went to buy my first Mac.

[JuggerNaut]

RE: Apple has Marketing, others do not try

Apple has more than just marketing muscle! And the first person I knew to have an iPod (1st Gen) was an adult. As for the Macintosh and market-share; it never had 40% market-share ever. The best Apple mustered in regards to market-share and the Mac was about 13%, which happened to be the most out of any computer maker during the short stint in the early '90s. Of course no one can hold a candle to Commodore (not even Dell) in regards to market-share champions of old.

And as far as FairPlay is concerned; PlaysForSure is just as proprietary no matter how many Windows-only 3rd party developers you license it to; at the end of the day, you're still glued to Windows when using Microsoft's DRMed WMA format! At least iPod/iTMS/iTunes works on both Mac and Windows, while the other guys (Napster, Yahoo Music, etc...) are Windows-only; locking the consumer in at the computer platform level, giving no real choice in the market beyond 60+ digital media players that provide no significant differentiation in features/function.

The arrogant one would be that of Microsoft maintaining its Windows-only strategy with its PlaysForSure initiative that delivers a falsehood of choice to consumers who should have learned by now that Microsoft only cares about Microsoft and all the licensed roads leading back to Windows!

[nicmart]

iTunes and iPods are flexible

I have over 29,000 "songs" managed with iTunes. All of them
were obtained legally and only about 20 were purchased from
Apple's store. All of them can be transferred to an iPod in
various formats and file sizes. So what is the problem?

You don't like Apple's file protection scheme? Then don't buy
from the iTunes music store. I download MP3s from eMusic,
which are also usually higher quality than Apple offers, cheaper,
and they are not restricted in any way. (On the other hand,
eMusic does not feature many currently popular artists.)

The restrictions that Apple puts on its files is much less harsh
than most of their competitors, whose downloads are not even
available to people who use operating systems other than
Windows.

I think Apple is making a mistake by not licensing FairPlay, but
they stop nobody from buying music from other sites and
loading it onto iPods. Even when the files are initially
incompatible with the iPod, they can be easily altered.

The usually unspoken gripe is that Apple doesn't fully support
Microsoft's file format. Now isn't that a darned shame?

[Earl Benser]

Apple does what it should...

License Fairplay???? why? Every iPod-like device has it's own
proprietary format to go with it's music service. That's no
problem, There is more than enough conversion software
available to solve anyone's format shifting needs.

You don't like Apple? No sweat. Don't buy an iPod. Don't use
iTunes. Don't use the Apple Music store. That should be simple
enough. The iPod competitors should be capable of meeting
your needs without your having to complain about Apple.