Comments on: iPod dying? It's already dead

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak says the iPod will go the way of the Walkman and transistor radio. But in terms of innovation, the mantle passed to the iPhone more than a year ago.

[M C]

The CNet click bait continues.

Hopefully CBS can get them back on actual news and away from all the faulty opinion stuff.

[open-mind]

I guess the author is not aware that the iPhone is also an iPod. The iPod is far from dead ... it's just emerging in more form factors.

[RenoDavid]

Not to mention the Touch being an iPod also. Thing are morphing, but there will always be room for a device that just plays music.

[basraw]

Archos 605 is leading the way.

[cephalis]

The iPod sacrificed ease of use in order to lock owners into the iTunes Store. This doomed the product as far as I was concerned. I also take issue with the claim that the iPod is for music lovers. True music lovers give full attention to listening to their music, without distraction. Most of the iPod users I observe appear to be using it as background noise for whatever they are otherwise occupied with at the moment. Walk into any Borders Bookstore and look at kids sitting at a table, with a latte, doing homework or reading from the screen of their laptop, while tapping their pencil to the rhythm of whatever tune is coming through the "buds" in their ears. Music lovers? I don't think so.

[Tim_Liao]

So your definition of a "true" overall music experience just happens in your living room with a HiFi system you probably had since the days of Welcome Back Kotter.

[daftkey]

Geezus - "true" music lovers are more pretentious than "true" wine lovers.

[ef0411]

I have to agree that that is a fault of the fashion statement attached to Apple products nowadays. Many young adults nowadays use iPods (and iPhones) as an accessory to their "look".

Sadly, for every product out there, there will be people who deserve it, and people who don't. Personally I believe it's those who truly appreciate a product that deserve it. I have a friend who is on her third iPod and had no idea iPods have a Screen Lock option until I pointed it out to her. For every product (and concept and idea), there will always be that group of people (we like to call them wannabes) who don't actually deserve the it, but believe or pretend they do.

[nowimcool]

name another mp3 player that has been 'innovative' since 1998 ... that's what I thought ... and yet you don't speak of their deaths.

i hate all these [enter product name] killers, [enter product name] death stories. How about a blog about an mp3 player with out mentioning the ipod.

That's probably why the ipod is so popular because when they talk about the ipod they don't typically mention other mp3 players, but when they talk about the other mp3 players they always mention the ipod. Let's face it, when something becomes the 'standard' it's the standard for a reason.

[rjt_65]

hahaha as i sit here and listen to my 80 gig ipod playing on the portable logitech pure fi anywhere

I am 42 and do not want to have my phone be my everything.... i want my phone small and fitting nto pocket--want to have bigger form factor to read screen and see song rating etc...on my music player

to be able to consolidate my cd's onto one library sort them and play them in playlists at gr8 quality sound--I have no want for satellite radio...

3500 songs and a few thousand more to add. just listening to my 4 and 5 star songs is 2-3 weeks---(about 1.5 hours in gym and depending upon conf calls 2-3 hours in my home office)

guess what i am/want the songs playing while i talk on my cell phone....

[RenoDavid]

Have to agree with you regarding satellite radio. The sound quality is so bad when compared to the iPod (and I realize that there are plenty of people who will argue that the iPod's sound quality isn't the best) that XM and Sirius are best relegated to talk shows.

[saspurillie]

I have a iPhone G1, and while it is a great device the battery life is a major issue even after turning off the WiFi and lowering the backlight I still could only squeeze out 5 hours of music listening time, with occasional phone use, and heavy texting and App use. I wound up getting a iPod as well so I could conserve battery on my iPhone. The iPod will still have its place because of its much longer battery life.

[Tech Diva XXX]

I posted this on another board and would like to know what you all think over here on CNET.

To some degree, Woz could be correct.

1. STAND ALONE iPods look like they're declining already. Some people viewed Apple's changing the hard drive iPod to only one capacity as a start before they quit selling hard drive iPods altogether.

2. Because the iPhone basically serves as an all-in-one and people were chucking their stand-alones, I believe that's the reason the Nano got so low in price(as compared to previous models). Stand alone iPods(even hard drive ones) are being sold left and right on my local Craig's List and no. 1 reason is "I got an iPhone".

3. Phones of all types are now becoming media powerhouses. I also saw the SanDisk is close to coming out with a 16GB card for phones(it may even be out already but at too high of a price now). I have already seen the 8GB cards. When flash memory in high capacity comes down a little more, people will just use their phones. Plus if Apple eventually releases a 32GB and 64GB iPhone, they themselves could kill off a lot of their stand alone business.

4. The Touch is a little different. It's a stand alone iPod but also a PDA, sort of. I think that one will stick around for at least a couple more rounds, since people who don't have an iPhone still want it's features. But the fact that it is not just a basic iPod, but one with quite a few NON-iPod type features built-in, also proves Woz's point to some degree. People want more out their devices now, and the stand alone iPod that just plays music, vidoes and photos won't cut it anymore.

The original stand alone iPod will indeed die out. The writing is already on the wall. I don't think iPods themselves will die entirely, just evolve into other devices, like they already have been. The only exception could be the Nano since it still gets good reception, but a phone with a good media player and a high capacity memory card look awfully tempting if you carry multiple devices.

[Tim_Liao]

For many of us who often take our iPods while leaving the cell phone at home or in the car, we can appreciate the concept of escaping from the world with music and not being contacted by a dam phone. In fact look at it this way. Go back thirty years ago and think about what a phone was. A phone of 1978 was just a utilitarian tool to communicate with, in fact you couldn't even own a phone personally because phones in 1978 were leased from the phone company. That is what many people tend to forget about phones, people don't have personal connections with their phones - what a stupid concept. People however do have personal connections with their music and the machines that deliver their beloved music. Seriously think about it.....

[Tim_Liao]

I also think the iPhone is incredible waste of money. I refuse to spend that amount of money on a device that for the functionality to work and keep working I have to keep paying a monthly fee. That to me is one of the biggest reasons why it is stupid to spend more money on a cell phone than a MP3 player. When I spend $200 to buy a MP3 player, I own that player for life and its going to function whether or not I pay the cell phone company a monthly fee. When you buy a $200 iPhone you are obligated for 2 years and many years after that - to pay a monthly fee to keep the functionality of that device running. Does this make any sense?

[n0th3r3]

It's dead on the cutting edge, but in the mainstream it's still very much alive, with room for growth even. You've gotta remember that most Americans, especially in these tough economic times, don't have the money for a luxury phone, and until that technology is ubiquitous the iPod will remain relevant.

[james4585]

What about applying the brick manufacturing process to the iphone/ipod line? In order to maintain their price premium on the competition, Apple has to continuously be ahead of the game not only on features (i still think there are many other better price/feature sets out there) but also design. I like the idea of combining a flexible OLED screen into of a single piece case for an iphone. Thanks, Robert J Loomis III

[Mako5]

I think one key that works in favor of the single user music device vs. the multifunction phone is that I don't want to burn up my phone batteries listening to music only to not be able to receive a call. Given that the one cannot cannot change batteries in the iPhone only exacerbates the situation. Given how small my 2G iPod Nano is, I have no problem carrying both devices especially when I am traveling.

[scweezil]

MS has always been a knock off company. Nothing new here. Someone else bulds it does all the hard work of figuring out the foundation & then MS builds the same thing of lesser quality & adds "features". Then they call that innovation. No ground work. Someone else always does that.

[nahedh12]

Nice response, Matt. I couldn't agree more.

[JohnLudlow]

@scweezil: And Apple are any different these days? After all, they weren't the first to create a large-capacity MP3 player, just the most successful.

[e3lphaba]

iPods are unique in their ease of use and end to end expeirience (find music, acquire music, load music, backup music) - and the fact that it's all, for the most part DRM free can't be underestimated.

Apple invented more than a player with the iPod - they invented a music SYSTEM. The high end iPods will change and evolve - as we've seen with improvements like Wi-Fi and applications. The low, disposeable end will always be needed as well - and will also evolve (Genius).

Design and the SYSTEM are things that make the Apple products hard to beat. You'll always be able to buy cheaper players - or get MP3 players in phones, shoes and refirgerators but they won't be iPods and won't offer that unique experience.

[gefitz]

I'm in TOTAL agreement with professionaladventurer. People nowadays tend to think "Making cash hand over fist" or "selling lots of product" equates to "innovation". They think that "taking features that everyone already has a use for and stacking them into one device" equates to "innovation".

Innovation is not finding new and better ways to package services or content that has already been around for years and years. That is not "innovation", that is "marketing". Apple, Microsoft, and all of their ilk are loaded with experts that can take other people's ideas and refine them...if that's "innovation", it's a sad statement on the laziness of society and business as a whole...

[tketcher]

The thing that has always amazed me about the IPOD generation is that they are still listening to Compressed Sound (Diminished from Original Recording). And they don't seem to Mind ! And why would I run out and buy inferior copies at .99 a song? IPOD was dead to me first time I listened to one.
As for 2000 songs, yeah I have that at least in my CD changer.

[yabaa]

No matter how good a piece of hardware may be, it utlimately becomes commoditized. And in reposnse to the demands of the free market system we enjoy, production of it shifts to low cost providers, leading the high margin manufactureres moving on to more profitable pastures...

While Steve Jobs has been more successful in creating a standard for ease of use, a cult following and devoted customers, Microsoft hasd been more successful in building a business. Why? Many factors of course, but a big factor has been the focus on software rather than hardware.