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I've read enough already to not only frustrate
me further, but also convince me that it is all about the brand that makes or breaks a product. In this case, I'm
referring to products we all have grown to love over the years...MP3/PMP
players. For the past several years, there is no doubt that the Ipod
has dominated the market. So much in fact, that many small companies that have
attempted to bring a competitive product to the market are now gone without
a trace. However, despite that fact that many other established companies have
offered a number of products to compete fairly well with the Ipod, I find
they are all left in the dust at the end. Why? Well, as this
article states, it's all about the brand. The purpose of this short
article is to not only show just what an impact a brand has on a product,
but also show you all that there are indeed alternatives out there that are
not only highly competitive, but equally as impressive.
We begin with non other than Apple. The
Ipod, frustrations aside, is one of the most successful products to ever hit
the market. Due to their excellent marketing techniques and timing in
terms of its introduction, it has led
many to think that MP3 = Ipod. There's no if, then or buts about it.
However, does this really make it a better product? My honest answer
to that question
is no.
Even in its fifth, or should I say fifth 1/2 generation, it is
a product that has failed to offer features that many audiophiles truly
crave and those that other products have offered for quite some time now.
For one, they can't seem to get their on-the-fly playlist feature right.
Instead, they focus more on a majority of other features that many don't
care for at all. On top of that, they still fail in providing an FM
tuner out of the box. Instead, they leave this to many respected
third-party companies such as Griffin Technology. It is almost as if
they are all working together in a way. Let's not forget its lack of
recording capabilities out of the box. Again, they leave this to
third-party manufacturers. Unleashing its full capabilities will
require a bunch of add-ons that are not only expensive, but your Ipod will
not longer be the sleek and sexy device you fell in love with when you first
took it out of the box.
As an IT professional, I'm approached by many looking
to buy such a product and I can say that the first thing to come out of
their mouth is "Ipod". Many of these people do not know much
about technology and think that it is the only product out there. However, I'm not entirely one who hates the
product and do at least offer them not only comparisons between other
alternatives, but also take the time to educate them in order to make an
informed buying decision based on their needs. I say this because it is quite sad that many
who don't take the time to research are drawn into this deep hole that they
might regret at the end. In short, the techniques from Apple are pure
genius. Buy and Ipod, and your quickly drawn into iTunes. So much, that
you may find yourself purchasing a number of tunes over time. What
many do not know is that they will not play in any other player, should you
decide to switch at any given time. Most music download services, while
enticing to many, should at least be researched prior to jumping into them.
Yes, there are hacks out there to remove their protection but in most cases, you are better off just buying the CD and ripping it
yourself rather than get lured into this money pit.
Durability and long term use
The Ipod is a product that has been
questionable in terms of quality. Sadly, many don't find this out until
they have owned the product for some time. This was apparent with a number of
product releases. Let's not forget the fiasco upon the release of the
first gen Ipod Nano (reviewed here). Yes, the product was impressive in terms of
design and managed to offer this highest flash storage of any other product,
thanks to Samsung choosing to deal with them over any other company, a
decision that
outraged many other manufacturers. However, it was followed by a
number of complaints and even lawsuits as to the quality of the product
itself. I'm one who happened to be part of it, as I had to recommend a
number of third party products to many who chose this particular player in
order to keep it scratch free. In my opinion, they focused too much on
design and neglected to take durability into consideration at all.
While the second generation Nano now sports an all aluminum design to help
prevent scratches, it is still without its flaws. There had been a
number of complaints on overheating, scratching, discoloration, crashing or
some other problem that develops after extended use. With their hard drive based players,
there are a number of reports that the hard drives do crash shortly after a
year of use. While I do not personally believe a number of these, I
don't find such complaints on a number of other competitive products on the
market and therefore does raise some sort of concern.
Third-Party Support
This is where the Ipod has an upper hand over
all other products. Walk into an electronics retail store, and chances
are you'll find a full section dedicated only to Ipod accessories. You
name it, there is an accessory for the Ipod, some of which are quite absurd.
I've seen some pretty wacky accessories like thongs, toilet paper docks,
laser pointers, disco balls, bullet proof cases and even apparel such as
jeans and shirts. Sadly, do to its success, many third party companies will jump on production
of some useful accessories before even considering the release of products
to support other popular
players. Heck, car manufacturers now make a pathetic attempt at luring
a potential buyer by either including an Ipod with the purchase of a
vehicle, or emphasizing full support for the product in their vehicle. Yes, it has gotten
to this level and it is honestly quite sad.
The Microsoft Zune was the sole
purpose of taking the time to write this article in the first place.
I've followed the release so closely, that it is sad as to how much hype
this particular product has gotten, despite the fact that it is no better
than many other products available today. The 1st gen Zune, for those who do
not know, is nothing more than a re-badged Toshiba Gigabeat with a much
fancier interface. You can't even give them credit for its design. This
apparently makes no difference, and many feel that the only true competitor to Apple's
product is the only other company that does not only have the resources, but
the only other major competitor in general.
The Zune is not a product primarily designed by Microsoft. It is only one
that has been introduced in an avid attempt to "finally" take a stronger hold of a market,
one that
apparently has been unreachable by all others over the years.
Let's take a look at the broad picture though
and see just what an impact this product has made since its release...
**click to enlarge**
Not only has the Zune spawned a majority of
new tech sites focusing primarily on the the product, but it has also given
many a very pathetic attempt at making some money from it. Think of just
about anything, and it is very likely you will find it on Ebay. Ebay,
the largest online marketplace on the net, is where most look to in order to
make a buck. Whether it is legal, illegal, or just a pathetic attempt,
these are the extremes some people take in order to make some money. I've seen Zune domain names on Ebay TRY and sell for as high
as 15K.
The Zune is big, bulky and ugly. It
comes standard in three colors, one of which is brown, a color Microsoft
hoped many would find more appealing and one chosen to at least make their
product stand out a bit from the rest. This attempt, for the most
part, has failed. There are even some extremely rare Zunes in pink
that have sold for just over a $1,000 on Ebay. Yes, people are willing
to pay this much for such a product...it is sad.
WiFi Built In? Yes and No!
One of the features of the Zune is its
built-in Wifi. However, it is not what many may think though!
Its Wifi capabilities, for the most part, are just an avid attempt at
promoting and selling more of them. Why? Well, this feature only
supports Zune to Zune file sharing out of the box. Does this really
make this feature useful? I don't think so. What's the point of
having Wifi is you can only share music files with those you know who happen
to own one as well? What are the chances of that? Very slim.
This feature is completely useless. Keep in mind that even if you have
friends with the device, and want to take advantage of this feature, the
downloaded tracks are limited in terms of playback. Basically, in my
short time playing with the Zune, I found that the downloaded media is limited to 3 days
or 3 plays. Think of it as like a trial download. After it has
expired, the song will get deleted, but will stay in the device as
reference. Unfortunately, there are many that are not too clear about
both its WiFi capabilities or its song sharing limitations.
The Interface
The interface, for the most part, is quite
decent and the player does have some features that are well implemented.
The first and most important is its on-the-fly playlist support. In
the Zune, they are defined as "quick lists', which you can easily create and
even save them for future playback. I will give them high marks
in this area, as it is the only other player other than a select few from
Creative that have implemented this feature well. Another area that
will impress is its video playback. While it doesn't support a wide
range of formats, at least it does offer support for MPEG4 video files.
What was impressive was its playback quality and how well it handles videos.
Most impressive for me was how fast it will seek through your vides and the
option of skipping ahead by about 30 seconds or so as well. However,
there are other players out there that have higher format support. The
rest of the interface is fairly standard and not much to brag about.
Let's not forget its lack of recording capabilities either!
Third-Party Support
Despite its recent release, there are already
a number of accessories for the Zune on the market. Goes to show you
how quickly a company is to jump on a product they feel is the only one
worth competing with the Ipod. This is honestly quite frustrating for
owners of other products that are equally as good.
Oddly, companies like Griffin Technology, which have dedicated themselves in
providing only Apple related products, has also joined one of many in the
production of Zune accessories. Belkin happens to be another company
already offering a number of accessories for the Zune. Like the Ipod,
the Zune also has an advantage in this particular area. You can
definitely expect
a higher level of support over any other alternatives.
Now that I've shared my opinions on both the
Ipod and the new Microsoft Zune, let me get right to the alternatives, some
of which are honestly better products than both of these highly popular
products.
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