SanDisk didn't have to be an also-ran. But most most of this half-asleep industry is full of them.
Apple continues to set standards . . . because they have them. Rigid ones. Challenging ones. Apple is absolutely maniacal when it comes to interface design and ease of use. No one else is like that. NO ONE. And that's why Apple actually has "fans", not just "users."
Now i have brought a classic, two touches, a nano and a mini over hte last few years. I recently brought a non-apple "mini" player, even though it did not fit with the rest of my investment area.
Why?
because apple was no manical about interface design with their shuffle, not ridged, not even decent standards.
They produced an abomination of a player
and to comment on it selling. Windows based netbooks sell quite nicely, so they must be the best thing ever.
Of course you wouldn't- being hooked up to your kool-aid drip. It's a Windows world- get over it. Mac is a niche market and makes a profit- so what? So is Ferrari.
Why must you continually try to compare apples to cumquats?
That Zune Kool-Aid drip? …because I stated the same thing about the Zune not losing the PMP war just because the iPod is dominate. But I guess being objective and fair-minded in thought is too tough for you to concieve. You’ll claim that you didn’t read that despite that post coming before the one you quoted. I really do wonder what the hell happened to you to make that way. It has to be awful to live in a world where nothing is ever good.
Why do you always have to sound so negative and aggressive regarding just about most things?
Doesn't this frame of mind, and wearing such negativity and agressiveness on your sleeve, affect you in any way?
Despite teckstud being an established troll, not everything he says is automatically wrong. How badly broken down do things have to be before Apple, of all companies, greenlights, develops and markets an MP3 player WITHOUT CONTROLS? The 3rd-gen shuffle is absolutely indefensible; you shouldn't need a Microsoft stooge to tell you that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by razorpit
Even worse than the Cube?
I'm pretty sure you could use standardized controls with the Cube.
Anyway, in regards to the article, I agree that Sandisk needs to get rid of this victimized, defeatist attitude. Apple needs competition to keep it honest, and with iTunes being the Jabba-the-Hutt-like bloat monster that it is, there really need to be players out there that don't require iTunes. Sandisk's players don't even have the negative reputation of the Zune weighing them down; as long as they don't constantly look upon having a small market share as a failure, I would think they'd do fine.
Agreed. The Zune HD is an unstoppable force that may just edge out the Nano.
Seriously though the game is over for smaller players. Only Microsoft has the ducats to plan to setup an app store. Apple's ability to leverage the App store across the iPhone and iPod Touch is a kill shot to any smaller company that simply cannot afford an equivalent entry.
I don't think Zune is gonna do anything to Apple's market share. People already have negative view of it. They need to change the name and market it in a smart way, not the Micro$oft way. But, they can never do that. To kill that zuneHD thing Apple is just gonna put a camera in every iPod. So simple.
Agreed - that new shuffle is a waste of any bother.
Whoever thought that changing tunes is easier using a flailing cord rather than a secured device attached at your hip has either never worked out, an idiot or both.
unfortunately once again you are wrong. It's an amazing record actually, so congratulations!
Sorry to burst your bubble but the cord is far easier to use. I have the 2nd G shuffle and I don't use it anymore when I work out. When you are moving, squeezing is much easier than trying to push the right button.
As for the "flailing cord" anyone with brain would know that slipping the cord under your shirt is the best way to keep it out of the way so it doesn't catch on anything.
I can only assume that the reason you keep up with your obnoxious posts is the same reason that trailer trash keep on showing up on Springer to complain about their bf sleeping with their mother: neither of you care how retarded you look as long as you get attention.
unfortunately once again you are wrong. It's an amazing record actually, so congratulations!
Sorry to burst your bubble but the cord is far easier to use. I have the 2nd G shuffle and I don't use it anymore when I work out. When you are moving, squeezing is much easier than trying to push the right button.
As for the "flailing cord" anyone with brain would know that slipping the cord under your shirt is the best way to keep it out of the way so it doesn't catch on anything.
I can only assume that the reason you keep up with your obnoxious posts is the same reason that trailer trash keep on showing up on Springer to complain about their bf sleeping with their mother: neither of you care how retarded you look as long as you get attention.
unfortunately once again you are wrong. It's an amazing record actually, so congratulations!
Sorry to burst your bubble but the cord is far easier to use. I have the 2nd G shuffle and I don't use it anymore when I work out. When you are moving, squeezing is much easier than trying to push the right button.
As for the "flailing cord" anyone with brain would know that slipping the cord under your shirt is the best way to keep it out of the way so it doesn't catch on anything.
I can only assume that the reason you keep up with your obnoxious posts is the same reason that trailer trash keep on showing up on Springer to complain about their bf sleeping with their mother: neither of you care how retarded you look as long as you get attention.
Teckstud (and his other aliases) has the amazing ability to fully test and rate any Apple product from the confines of an Apple store within a 30-second timeframe. Simply amazing!
Shuffle sucks for workouts? Sure does so he says!! He's probably never entered an actual gym to actually test that theory since it would involve going outside his basement and being scared off by all the stairmaster bunnies that could probably kick his backside without effort.
Teckstud and Jerry Springer? I knew he sounded familiar. However, I do believe he was on the Springer episode "Post-op trannies need love too".
1) What is it with people and WMA? I see no need to use any M$ audio format and by asking for it you only continue its right to exist.
2) Remember Netscape? An 80%+ market share, until M$ really put its weight behind IE. Remember WordPerfect? The standard for word processing until M$ put its Mac (!) product Word against it for 20% of the price and bye bye WP... When M$ really wants, they can put the Zune on the market for a considerably lower price, losing money on it (like the Xbox). but gaining market share. I think the difference is that Apple has the money to sit it out and keep coming up with great products.
Hello? It was selling because it was only just released! What are the figures? Back up your claims. The current shuffle is the worst. It has received some of the worse reviews of any Apple product-EVER.
BS as usual. We have gone through this before. Again, show us the proof. You couldn't do it before and I defy you to this time.
SanDisk boss says his mp3 players can't beat iPods in terms of sales.
Then out come the trolls with no facts or figures, so they have to resort to vague and unsubstantiated claims; I hear iPods give you the clap. So there!
I don't go on Windows forums bashing PCs; I have XP Pro loaded on my MacBook Pro so I can play games and the latest iteration seems stable, if old-fashioned.
Why do these trolls waste their time with constant attacks, even though there's so little to attack? Apple overall make quality products and are a very successful company, within the markets they cater to, which for the most part are high-end.
Could all this trivial back and forth be class warfare skirmishes? Note, for example, the classic sign of a poor education from one of the trolls -- 'loosing' for 'losing.'
Hey, Apple isn't perfect, we all have the right to criticize the hell out of them when they mess up, but there must be deep-seated reasons for this constant knee-jerk negativity the trolls exhibit.
For information purposes only, Apple DID admit they lost the OS war. Can't remember exactly when and where but I think it was somewhere around 97, when Jobs went back to Apple.
No, I believe it was shortly after Bill Gates and company stole Apple's OS back in the 80's?
Amazing how teckstud's Apple "niche market" is driving the rest of the industry forward, single-handedly, for years now.
And change "niche market" to "Premium market." It's narrower at the top of the pyramid, but the stuff isn't crap. Apple has no interest in the lower priced market, and neither do we.
It's still a Windows world. But nowhere near what it used to be, thankfully.
Rgardless of what one might think of the Shuffle or Zunes that don't exist yet, Apple won the MP3 players wars because they actually introduced a better product that people wanted. And they continue to do that. The rest rely on broad and very lucrative licensing schemes in order to offload their junk in volume, and I'm not talking MP3 players here . . .
Someone here said the ZuneHD is "an unstoppable force." ROFL. It isn't on the market yet. And the next iteration of the iPod (out this year) will determine exactly where the iZune Touch is going. And poor MS has ZERO mindshare to begin with, mostly because they've proven time and time again that they don't know how to design, how to brand, and overall, how to create compelling products people actually want beyond a game console and coporate office products. They live off licensing. MS doesn't need to innovate beyond knowing how to operate cash registers from volume sales. MS is a corporate server software provider masquerading as a consumer OS provider. And there are fewer people buying that schtick every year, as we're seeing.
I think that there are two big hurdles for people wanting to compete with Apple.
iTunes. iTunes is a very decent application without an iPod, and the integration with the iPod is very slick, and I think that people quite like using it. iTunes has been in development for over 8 years by one of the best software houses in the world, something which hardware manufacturers will be very hard pressed to match.
The software is done. In terms of playing music, there's not much more that you can do with an iPod. Sure they can play movies and surf the next, but really most people want something to listen to at work. So you have to beat Apple at hardware, which is unfortunately something that Apple does very well.
There are some quality competitors. Cowon makes an amazing MP3 player called the D2 which, paired with some good headphones, sounds quite a bit better than the iPod and also plays formats such as FLAC (lossless, great for jazz). For a while, Sony MP3 players destroyed iPods in terms of battery life. However, I think that the Zune, as much as people joke about it, is the biggest threat to the iPod. Microsoft has software talent to match Apple, and enough money that they don't have to be profitable right away. As the XBox and XBox 360 have demonstrated, Microsoft is tenacious and quite capable of beating the competition (30 million 360s versus 23 million PS3s (versus 5 billion Nintendo Wii's)).
Despite teckstud being an established troll, not everything he says is automatically wrong. How badly broken down do things have to be before Apple, of all companies, greenlights, develops and markets an MP3 player WITHOUT CONTROLS? The 3rd-gen shuffle is absolutely indefensible; you shouldn't need a Microsoft stooge to tell you that.
I'm pretty sure you could use standardized controls with the Cube.
I said nothing about his being right or wrong. I was making a comment about his persistent negativity and relentless aggressiveness.
As to the Cube, I must be the only one I know who thought it was one of Apple's finest products. Ever. (I retired mine only over a year ago).
the sandisk ceo admitted their strategy was to lure those apple-haters with the prospect of owning a non-ipod. That was their main selling point.
Seems to me that every Apple ad I've seen has had the same selling point in regards to luring Microsoft haters.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GTL215
the great part of this article is how the sandisk CEO basically admits that their "iDont" campaign was just that - an ad campaign. Their products truly had very little else to offer besides the sole fact of being a "non-ipod." I mean, "slavishly" following the masses is what the majority of PC buyers do when they buy windows. But if you're gonna claim that your products are for those that think different (irony, much?) then at least have something compelling to offer.
"slavishly following the masses" is dumb for anyone to say about the reasoning behind consumer purchases. People don't slavishly follow the masses when they buy Windows, it's just the only other real option besides OS X (which apple won't let system builders use.)
I don't know why any discussion always ends up in someone bringing up PC's and Windows. This article has nothing to do with that. This article is about MP3 players. Also, as others have posted, they do have something compelling to offer.
Comments
SanDisk didn't have to be an also-ran. But most most of this half-asleep industry is full of them.
Apple continues to set standards . . . because they have them. Rigid ones. Challenging ones. Apple is absolutely maniacal when it comes to interface design and ease of use. No one else is like that. NO ONE. And that's why Apple actually has "fans", not just "users."
Now i have brought a classic, two touches, a nano and a mini over hte last few years. I recently brought a non-apple "mini" player, even though it did not fit with the rest of my investment area.
Why?
because apple was no manical about interface design with their shuffle, not ridged, not even decent standards.
They produced an abomination of a player
and to comment on it selling. Windows based netbooks sell quite nicely, so they must be the best thing ever.
Of course you wouldn't- being hooked up to your kool-aid drip. It's a Windows world- get over it. Mac is a niche market and makes a profit- so what? So is Ferrari.
Why must you continually try to compare apples to cumquats?
That Zune Kool-Aid drip? …because I stated the same thing about the Zune not losing the PMP war just because the iPod is dominate. But I guess being objective and fair-minded in thought is too tough for you to concieve. You’ll claim that you didn’t read that despite that post coming before the one you quoted. I really do wonder what the hell happened to you to make that way. It has to be awful to live in a world where nothing is ever good.
Why do you always have to sound so negative and aggressive regarding just about most things?
Doesn't this frame of mind, and wearing such negativity and agressiveness on your sleeve, affect you in any way?
Despite teckstud being an established troll, not everything he says is automatically wrong. How badly broken down do things have to be before Apple, of all companies, greenlights, develops and markets an MP3 player WITHOUT CONTROLS? The 3rd-gen shuffle is absolutely indefensible; you shouldn't need a Microsoft stooge to tell you that.
Even worse than the Cube?
I'm pretty sure you could use standardized controls with the Cube.
Anyway, in regards to the article, I agree that Sandisk needs to get rid of this victimized, defeatist attitude. Apple needs competition to keep it honest, and with iTunes being the Jabba-the-Hutt-like bloat monster that it is, there really need to be players out there that don't require iTunes. Sandisk's players don't even have the negative reputation of the Zune weighing them down; as long as they don't constantly look upon having a small market share as a failure, I would think they'd do fine.
Agreed. The Zune HD is an unstoppable force that may just edge out the Nano.
Seriously though the game is over for smaller players. Only Microsoft has the ducats to plan to setup an app store. Apple's ability to leverage the App store across the iPhone and iPod Touch is a kill shot to any smaller company that simply cannot afford an equivalent entry.
I don't think Zune is gonna do anything to Apple's market share. People already have negative view of it. They need to change the name and market it in a smart way, not the Micro$oft way. But, they can never do that. To kill that zuneHD thing Apple is just gonna put a camera in every iPod. So simple.
Agreed - that new shuffle is a waste of any bother.
Whoever thought that changing tunes is easier using a flailing cord rather than a secured device attached at your hip has either never worked out, an idiot or both.
unfortunately once again you are wrong. It's an amazing record actually, so congratulations!
Sorry to burst your bubble but the cord is far easier to use. I have the 2nd G shuffle and I don't use it anymore when I work out. When you are moving, squeezing is much easier than trying to push the right button.
As for the "flailing cord" anyone with brain would know that slipping the cord under your shirt is the best way to keep it out of the way so it doesn't catch on anything.
I can only assume that the reason you keep up with your obnoxious posts is the same reason that trailer trash keep on showing up on Springer to complain about their bf sleeping with their mother: neither of you care how retarded you look as long as you get attention.
unfortunately once again you are wrong. It's an amazing record actually, so congratulations!
Sorry to burst your bubble but the cord is far easier to use. I have the 2nd G shuffle and I don't use it anymore when I work out. When you are moving, squeezing is much easier than trying to push the right button.
As for the "flailing cord" anyone with brain would know that slipping the cord under your shirt is the best way to keep it out of the way so it doesn't catch on anything.
I can only assume that the reason you keep up with your obnoxious posts is the same reason that trailer trash keep on showing up on Springer to complain about their bf sleeping with their mother: neither of you care how retarded you look as long as you get attention.
ouchhh!
unfortunately once again you are wrong. It's an amazing record actually, so congratulations!
Sorry to burst your bubble but the cord is far easier to use. I have the 2nd G shuffle and I don't use it anymore when I work out. When you are moving, squeezing is much easier than trying to push the right button.
As for the "flailing cord" anyone with brain would know that slipping the cord under your shirt is the best way to keep it out of the way so it doesn't catch on anything.
I can only assume that the reason you keep up with your obnoxious posts is the same reason that trailer trash keep on showing up on Springer to complain about their bf sleeping with their mother: neither of you care how retarded you look as long as you get attention.
Teckstud (and his other aliases) has the amazing ability to fully test and rate any Apple product from the confines of an Apple store within a 30-second timeframe. Simply amazing!
Shuffle sucks for workouts? Sure does so he says!! He's probably never entered an actual gym to actually test that theory since it would involve going outside his basement and being scared off by all the stairmaster bunnies that could probably kick his backside without effort.
Teckstud and Jerry Springer? I knew he sounded familiar. However, I do believe he was on the Springer episode "Post-op trannies need love too".
2) Remember Netscape? An 80%+ market share, until M$ really put its weight behind IE. Remember WordPerfect? The standard for word processing until M$ put its Mac (!) product Word against it for 20% of the price and bye bye WP... When M$ really wants, they can put the Zune on the market for a considerably lower price, losing money on it (like the Xbox). but gaining market share. I think the difference is that Apple has the money to sit it out and keep coming up with great products.
Hello? It was selling because it was only just released! What are the figures? Back up your claims. The current shuffle is the worst. It has received some of the worse reviews of any Apple product-EVER.
BS as usual. We have gone through this before. Again, show us the proof. You couldn't do it before and I defy you to this time.
BS as usual. We have gone through this before. Again, show us the proof. You couldn't do it before and I defy you to this time.
www.ilounge.com
oh, wait, its bs so it cant exist
www.ilounge.com
oh, wait, its bs so it cant exist
And just what did you prove?
SanDisk boss says his mp3 players can't beat iPods in terms of sales.
Then out come the trolls with no facts or figures, so they have to resort to vague and unsubstantiated claims; I hear iPods give you the clap. So there!
I don't go on Windows forums bashing PCs; I have XP Pro loaded on my MacBook Pro so I can play games and the latest iteration seems stable, if old-fashioned.
Why do these trolls waste their time with constant attacks, even though there's so little to attack? Apple overall make quality products and are a very successful company, within the markets they cater to, which for the most part are high-end.
Could all this trivial back and forth be class warfare skirmishes? Note, for example, the classic sign of a poor education from one of the trolls -- 'loosing' for 'losing.'
Hey, Apple isn't perfect, we all have the right to criticize the hell out of them when they mess up, but there must be deep-seated reasons for this constant knee-jerk negativity the trolls exhibit.
For information purposes only, Apple DID admit they lost the OS war. Can't remember exactly when and where but I think it was somewhere around 97, when Jobs went back to Apple.
No, I believe it was shortly after Bill Gates and company stole Apple's OS back in the 80's?
Skip
If I can buy the sansa clip for 51$ at Amazon, with free postage, how does that mean it costs 80$? ??
Thats in comparison to ~43$ for the 2gb and 33$ for the 1gb
Now if you are talking about the 8gb clip, that is 80$
I went to sandisk to look at the prices....
I'm pretty sure you could use standardized controls with the Cube.
You got me on that one!
And change "niche market" to "Premium market." It's narrower at the top of the pyramid, but the stuff isn't crap. Apple has no interest in the lower priced market, and neither do we.
It's still a Windows world. But nowhere near what it used to be, thankfully.
Rgardless of what one might think of the Shuffle or Zunes that don't exist yet, Apple won the MP3 players wars because they actually introduced a better product that people wanted. And they continue to do that. The rest rely on broad and very lucrative licensing schemes in order to offload their junk in volume, and I'm not talking MP3 players here . . .
Someone here said the ZuneHD is "an unstoppable force." ROFL. It isn't on the market yet. And the next iteration of the iPod (out this year) will determine exactly where the iZune Touch is going. And poor MS has ZERO mindshare to begin with, mostly because they've proven time and time again that they don't know how to design, how to brand, and overall, how to create compelling products people actually want beyond a game console and coporate office products. They live off licensing. MS doesn't need to innovate beyond knowing how to operate cash registers from volume sales. MS is a corporate server software provider masquerading as a consumer OS provider. And there are fewer people buying that schtick every year, as we're seeing.
iTunes. iTunes is a very decent application without an iPod, and the integration with the iPod is very slick, and I think that people quite like using it. iTunes has been in development for over 8 years by one of the best software houses in the world, something which hardware manufacturers will be very hard pressed to match.
The software is done. In terms of playing music, there's not much more that you can do with an iPod. Sure they can play movies and surf the next, but really most people want something to listen to at work. So you have to beat Apple at hardware, which is unfortunately something that Apple does very well.
There are some quality competitors. Cowon makes an amazing MP3 player called the D2 which, paired with some good headphones, sounds quite a bit better than the iPod and also plays formats such as FLAC (lossless, great for jazz). For a while, Sony MP3 players destroyed iPods in terms of battery life. However, I think that the Zune, as much as people joke about it, is the biggest threat to the iPod. Microsoft has software talent to match Apple, and enough money that they don't have to be profitable right away. As the XBox and XBox 360 have demonstrated, Microsoft is tenacious and quite capable of beating the competition (30 million 360s versus 23 million PS3s (versus 5 billion Nintendo Wii's)).
Despite teckstud being an established troll, not everything he says is automatically wrong. How badly broken down do things have to be before Apple, of all companies, greenlights, develops and markets an MP3 player WITHOUT CONTROLS? The 3rd-gen shuffle is absolutely indefensible; you shouldn't need a Microsoft stooge to tell you that.
I'm pretty sure you could use standardized controls with the Cube.
I said nothing about his being right or wrong. I was making a comment about his persistent negativity and relentless aggressiveness.
As to the Cube, I must be the only one I know who thought it was one of Apple's finest products. Ever.
the sandisk ceo admitted their strategy was to lure those apple-haters with the prospect of owning a non-ipod. That was their main selling point.
Seems to me that every Apple ad I've seen has had the same selling point in regards to luring Microsoft haters.
the great part of this article is how the sandisk CEO basically admits that their "iDont" campaign was just that - an ad campaign. Their products truly had very little else to offer besides the sole fact of being a "non-ipod." I mean, "slavishly" following the masses is what the majority of PC buyers do when they buy windows. But if you're gonna claim that your products are for those that think different (irony, much?) then at least have something compelling to offer.
"slavishly following the masses" is dumb for anyone to say about the reasoning behind consumer purchases. People don't slavishly follow the masses when they buy Windows, it's just the only other real option besides OS X (which apple won't let system builders use.)
I don't know why any discussion always ends up in someone bringing up PC's and Windows. This article has nothing to do with that. This article is about MP3 players. Also, as others have posted, they do have something compelling to offer.