Comments on: Can anything beat the iPod?

Don Reisinger thinks the iPod is such a major force in the industry, there's no chance it can be beaten. Can it?

[Deekman]

The hardware sucks. It always has. Almost any of the comparably priced alternatives will have better battery life, better compatibility and sometimes even looks nicer. The appeal has always been and always will be ease of use. "Renegade Knight's" retarded family aside, no iPod user would ever complain about getting songs from A to B. Sony's disaster of a music store and Microsoft's joke of an attempt at sharing put the nail in the coffin. Apple understands what these other companies do not. The USER is the only thing that matters. Any tiny annoyance, any limitations, any affront to the user's better judgement will send them packing. Every time. Jobs understands this, if nothing else: THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT.

[yetiTrek]

When I read cyberDJ's comment, I thought he meant something different when he used the word "alternative". So anyway, I put a movie on my jump drive, shoved it up my BIO-USB port and wallah! ......... nothing happened.

A jump drive is no more a music player than steering wheel is a car.

[Aspyr]

Apple is not going to produce a product that tries to meet everyones needs and I hope they never do. The reason behind iPod success has a lot to do with non mac users experiencing an Apple product without the bigotry that has existed in a world dominated by PCs.

Will iPod's lose their market share greatly? No, they won't unless it's to another Apple product or there is a big shift in the overall music experience dynamic, but for now Apple owns this user experience.

For those of you that don't like the iPod then support a company that produces something that meets your needs.. thats exactly what mac loyalists have been doing over these years..

[solitare_pax]

Why are we so fixated on the Zune? Aren't there a few dozen other equally good MP3 players out there which are equally easy/hard to use? Nope? Still fixated on the entire Microsoft vs Apple fight I suppose. Pity. I was hoping for some information.

[bubuschoeny]

Everyone and there IPud's, yes Crapple makes an easy MP3 player. Currently 29 percent of the market share don't want or need an Ipod. Why can't other companies make money off of that. I mean mac takes an extra three percent of the pc marketshare and everyone praises Steve like a turtle neck god. It's simple, 71 percent of the market share are a bunch of brain dead idiots who don't want to figure things out for themselves. The other 29 percent want something they can control, not something that controls them.

[AIH_PSP]

Other companies will have to work extra hard to beat the iPod anytime soon. I bought a 32GB iPod Touch a couple of months ago and I can safely say it's the best MP3 player I ever had. It does everything I need and it's really simple; I just use my finger. Everything is the way I like it, a lot of settings you can change, but it's really simple and easy so that anyone can do it. I honestly think no one can beat the iPod Touch right now. Maybe if they brought out an even better product, but I don't see that happening.

[rthutchison]

wow you can do everything on the ipod with your finger...that is truly amazing. Here to think I have been using my feet to operate my zune

[jwmpc]

As has been stated before, unless the music and video player manufacturers make their product useable on platforms other than Windows Vista, they will fail. It's mostly their assumptions that all they have to to is put out a product that will function on the 'dominant' OS that holds them back. Proprietary DRM is after all what Microsoft, the RIAA and the MPAA want. Apple provided a DRM for music as long as it was necessary, but that seems to be fading. Will the DRM for video disappear also? On-the-go media usage is where the market is heading, and Apple saw this and planned a perfect product. That's what competitors need to do. Break free of dependence on a certain OS, and make the product usable. Oh, and also a bit of cool design helps.

[LunarFlame17]

I'm sure the iPod is a wonderful product, but until Apple adds a subscription option to iTunes, it may as well be dead to me. That's the main reason I love my Zune: unlimited music for a low monthly fee. Unfortunately, the subscription model is so misunderstood by so many people that it's probably more of a liability than an asset to Microsoft. Instead of "hey! I can listen to whatever I want for the cost of 3 CDs every two months" it's, "hey! Microsoft is making me pay a monthly fee for crap that's loaded with DRM!" Sigh. When will people learn?

[PostNoComments]

The subscription model doesn't work for one simple reason: People don't want it. The market dictates its survival and I think the market has already spoken. Sorry, you seen to like it, but as far as me (and several million people), I will NEVER join a music subscription service.

[PostNoComments]

The music industry has salivated for an "iPod killer" ever since Apple became too dominant for agreeing to do their stupid ideas. The music industry still holds on to the idea that people are going to subscribe to a music service like an ex-boyfriend who won't let go. Apple has a better pulse of the industry than they do. They actually were the ones to figure out how to make money out of music downloads when they were still fighting the technology. The Zune was their great white hope. Microsoft agreed to anything the music industry wanted and failed miserably for it. Maybe the music industry and Microsoft should do like Apple does and start listening to the consumer.

[mhatter13]

I'm an Apple fanboy, but I hope the Borg and the other guys don't give up. Competition is good for all of us consumers. I've had 3 iPods, and while they are great, they are NOT perfect... I don't like monopolies, of any kind, and that goes for Apple as well as MS.

That said, the 3% market share stat is so, like, 2002.

[DAMIENKP]

Wow, you're not even trying anymore.

I had to double check the URL to be sure I wasn't on the Apple website. I guess that since this is a blog, (isn't it?), then it is just your opinion. But, I had always thought of c|net as a news website. I guess I was wrong. After reading this unabashedly one-sided article, c|net has lost all credibility to me as an unbiased source for my purchasing decisions.

The thing that really saddens me is that the majority of sources for "news" these days serve up opinions as news, take for example Fox News. I hope that CBS can somehow bring respectable journalism back to c|net.

I love my iPod, and I agree that they are dominating the market. But there is a difference between objectively reporting this fact, and reveling in it.

You've lost a reader today.

[RoamingComedian]

If you want only news instead a mix of it with blogs, just click on the "News" tab. Not all that difficult.

[Composer_1777]

You're acting childish. Having one product dominate a market is bad for consumers and gives us less mainstream options. Product dominance is sort of like a monopoly and forces people to use I pods, or put up with Windows media player. I own two I pods and I?m tired of using them. I am also sad no other big name companies can win over consumers, partly windows media player is the problem. BTW this is not CNN, this is not MSNBC; Journalism has nothing to do with a technology blogger or columnist writer, never does Don claim to be a journalist. Maybe some of you need to get out a Webster dictionary

[Anon E Mus]

"Sadly, it doesn't look like there's any real chance for any other player besides the iPod..."

"Sadly!" Wow, seems hard to take i guess.

Seems to me that Apple earned it's dominance in the iPod mkt. Why not? It's best in class.

(And watch the iPhone dominate the smartphone mkt in the next year.)

I'm happy because I'm long Apple.

[sfbinca]

I had an iPod for a few years and I really liked it. I agree that the Windows software was painful at times - I used Anipod instead - it did exactly what I wanted without surprises. When my iPod died, I waited a few months on the Touch announcement. The memory was too limited when I was used to having my entire library of 8k+ songs with me at all times. I moved to the Archos 605 WiFi and I've been happy.
I like the device showing up as a hard-drive, like most other devices (Sansa clip I use for the gym, etc.) I will think twice about going back to iPod mainly because of that convenience. Their hardware is always beautiful and performs well though, so I won't say I will never go back. Plus third party support (speakers, mounts, cases) is excellent. Advantages of being #1 I guess.
Scott

[Walt French]

"Sadly, it doesn't look like there's any real chance for any other player ... Apple was the first, and to be honest the only real, end-to-end solution for all consumers."

Yes, this is THE point: even a company with the resources of Microsoft hasn't (yet!) created a system with comparable features THAT ENOUGH CONSUMERS WANT. Many companies -- SanDisk more than Microsoft -- make nice devices, but nobody, despite exactly zero secrets about what the iPod offers, has chosen to offer a just-as-good-but-cheaper or clearly better for not too much more expensive product.

Sad that the near-entirety of American business Just Doesn't Get It when it comes to the consumer. If they did, we'd have more competition, and maybe a better selection of products, some cheaper, lighter, with FM, etc., and not a bad bet among the lot.

[Composer_1777]

Zunes problem is functionality and software. Since the emergence of DRM free solutions and catchy marketing ads, i can see the zune starting to make a comeback in consumer demand. The other issue is can MS make Windows media player as user/pc friendly as I tunes...? Consumers always like somehting new and i think I pods are just becomming stale. Yeah, i had 2 i pods and they do work great and I tunes is the best digital jukebox since the original music match, so it makes perfect sense that Apple is on top, but i also just got a walkman because i'm tired of apples trendiness. The Zune can get into this market, I do think the Zune has a chance, its only in the 2nd gen of its life cycle but it has made drastic improvements. If the current rate of improvement continues to the next gen, i think we might see an increase in sales and relitive marketshare. Microsoft needs some ultimate compatibility between the Zune, Windows 7 and xbox 360 to beat out apple and stay on top of sony. On another note, i would love the **** out of Sony if it just came out with some devestating mp3 walkman that had people camping out to buy one at it's launch.