Kind of interesting regarding pricing issues. The best selling "mini" hard drive player has been the Rio Nitrus. Now... when that came out only about six or seven months ago... it was released at a price of $299. That was for a 1.5GB drive. Shortly after, the 20GB Rio Karma was released for $399... the prices on both have drastically dropped over the past months. The Nitrus can now be had in the $170 range... and the Karma in the $280 range. People will say... "Why spend $250 when for $300 you can get a 15GB player"... Someone could just as easily say (if we dare venture from the Apple lineup)... "Why spend $400 on a 20GB player (i.e. iPod) when you can get one of the same capacity for well over $100 less (i.e. Karma). And personal preferences aside, the Karma is as good a player as the iPod (and has some features not found in the Pod). You justify it in that you're not buying it to be "economical" (you don't buy a Ferrari if you're worried about how much you're going to spend on gas). There are considerations other than the cost per MB. The Karma happens to be my favorite high capacity player... and now, the Mini is by far my favorite mid-capacity player. The design is excellent, the "feel" is excellent, the audio is excellent, and, as with the original, the interface is excellent. If you want the coolest thing out there... ya pay for it... simple as that. If you're going to talk about the cost per MB, you shouldn't even be talking Apple... but rather something from Creative (Zen).
Somewhat on this subject, Sony has announced that the Aiwa MP3 mini Players they anounced a month or so ago with great fanfare are cancelled due to technical problems. Story here.
Somewhat on this subject, Sony has announced that the Aiwa MP3 mini Players they anounced a month or so ago with great fanfare are cancelled due to technical problems. Story here.
I dont get why people get so worked up about FM tuners in their mp3 players. The music quality is bad, you dont get to listen to what you want, you have to listen to commercials, and you have to listen to people with annoying voices. Maybe its because Im from a small town in BC, but I just dont see the whole radio thing. Digital radio is ok, but its still nothing compared to what you have on your computer. Even when I am in Vancouver or Seattle or Portland, I still would rather listen to my mp3 player hooked up to my car speakers than whats on the radio. All I know is by April I will be treating myself to a brand new iPod mini. But hey, thats just my two cents.
Mass appeal, sure. But I would not bet on any sales around here.
I look at Apple Store Finland and see the original iPod 15GB base model going for 350 euros (441$ with the current rate). The Finns' buying power is significantly less than Americans' ($25,800 to $37,600). If we took that into consideration, the "equivalent price" in the US would be about $640.
No, I still just find it stupid to pay $50 less for 11GB less storage, regardless of size.
um unless youre like me and barely have over 1000 songs, 400 of which i hardly listen to more than once every couple weeks or so... i never plan on being away from my mac for more than about a day.
um unless youre like me and barely have over 1000 songs, 400 of which i hardly listen to more than once every couple weeks or so... i never plan on being away from my mac for more than about a day.
edit: i dont own a mini, but i want one
You could always use the storage for backup...
I'll go to the Apple Store tomorrow, I went to the gym tonight instead. Working out with my regular iPod was fine
The target for the mini is not for geeks like us who will use excess space for backup and so on. They don't care about tons and tons of space. They care about *some* space Gigs verus tens of gigs. And style. And size. And color.
The target for the mini is not for geeks like us who will use excess space for backup and so on. They don't care about tons and tons of space. They care about *some* space Gigs verus tens of gigs. And style. And size. And color.
This is true, but I must add another target for the mini...geeks who must have ANY gadget remotely cool as the mini
This is true, but I must add another target for the mini...geeks who must have ANY gadget remotely cool as the mini
Well, that goes without saying....
I just think our focus is myopic --- I never would have pegged my wife as an iPod-wanter, but the mini pulled her in on 20lb test line. 'Course it turned out that we got her a 10Gig 3rd Gen, but that never would have happened w/o the mini getting her interested. I think a lot of the pull/appeal/worth of the mini is the much more rectangular shape --- it sits in your (90% of all people's) hand perfectly, and your fingers on that hand can hit the buttons. "Big" (OK, it's relative, right?) iPods require two-handed operation, unless you are a wookie or something.
Comments
Originally posted by MacsRGood4U
Somewhat on this subject, Sony has announced that the Aiwa MP3 mini Players they anounced a month or so ago with great fanfare are cancelled due to technical problems. Story here.
Originally posted by Messiahtosh
Hard to believe that 23 people or so think the iPod mini will be a flop.
"No, the initial sales just show how dumb Mac users are".
My opinion has changed a little, but I still think that's the main reason.
I look at Apple Store Finland and see the original iPod 15GB base model going for 350 euros (441$ with the current rate). The Finns' buying power is significantly less than Americans' ($25,800 to $37,600). If we took that into consideration, the "equivalent price" in the US would be about $640.
Not surprisingly, I have never met an iPod owner.
Originally posted by EmAn
I'm glad to see I'm still the only one that voted:
"No, the initial sales just show how dumb Mac users are".
My opinion has changed a little, but I still think that's the main reason.
How sad.
Functionalist perspective vs the Conflict perspective, I guess.
Originally posted by Messiahtosh
How sad.
Functionalist perspective vs the Conflict perspective, I guess.
No, I still just find it stupid to pay $50 less for 11GB less storage, regardless of size.
I'll tell you what, Chris, I'll go to the Apple Store later or tomorrow and check them out for myself. Then we'll see.
Originally posted by EmAn
No, I still just find it stupid to pay $50 less for 11GB less storage, regardless of size.
um unless youre like me and barely have over 1000 songs, 400 of which i hardly listen to more than once every couple weeks or so... i never plan on being away from my mac for more than about a day.
edit: i dont own a mini, but i want one
Originally posted by ipodandimac
um unless youre like me and barely have over 1000 songs, 400 of which i hardly listen to more than once every couple weeks or so... i never plan on being away from my mac for more than about a day.
edit: i dont own a mini, but i want one
You could always use the storage for backup...
I'll go to the Apple Store tomorrow, I went to the gym tonight instead. Working out with my regular iPod was fine
Originally posted by EmAn
You could always use the storage for backup...
I'll go to the Apple Store tomorrow, I went to the gym tonight instead. Working out with my regular iPod was fine
Wait til you hold it man, come now Eric.
Originally posted by machem
The target for the mini is not for geeks like us who will use excess space for backup and so on. They don't care about tons and tons of space. They care about *some* space Gigs verus tens of gigs. And style. And size. And color.
This is true, but I must add another target for the mini...geeks who must have ANY gadget remotely cool as the mini
Originally posted by filmmaker2002
This is true, but I must add another target for the mini...geeks who must have ANY gadget remotely cool as the mini
Well, that goes without saying....
I just think our focus is myopic --- I never would have pegged my wife as an iPod-wanter, but the mini pulled her in on 20lb test line. 'Course it turned out that we got her a 10Gig 3rd Gen, but that never would have happened w/o the mini getting her interested. I think a lot of the pull/appeal/worth of the mini is the much more rectangular shape --- it sits in your (90% of all people's) hand perfectly, and your fingers on that hand can hit the buttons. "Big" (OK, it's relative, right?) iPods require two-handed operation, unless you are a wookie or something.