Some of you might not remember, but some of us were ambivalent about the iPod when it first came out. (I didn’t participate in that thread, but when Apple announced the iPod, I was disappointed. I was looking forward to a new style of iMac or something, and all we got was this pissant little MP3 player? Bah!)
I am not one for portable music devices (my portable CD player that plays MP3 CDs is enough), so I am not in the market for an iPod. I will eventually get one, but probably not this year or next. I don’t know how it compares to other music devices, but I know it’s more expensive (but with a much better design, according to reports). I don’t think I’ve even seen an iPod in action. I’ve seen it on displays at stores, but that’s it. This whole portable MP3 player thing is out of my realm right now.
I am thrilled for Apple (being a big Apple fan) and I’m thrilled that the iPod is doing so well. But I am stunned that it’s doing so well. I never saw it coming. Never. I still don’t quite understand how it got to this point. There was just a news story about how the iPod is one of the most popular things to give as a Christmas gift.
I just can’t believe it. It’s great, but bizarre. I just had to share that. I guess I’m hoping that someone will explain it to me.
There are many mp3 players with similar functionaly for less money. However, the iPod is still a good product, and it has obscene name recognition. I think the NR is its best asset, and the reason for its continued success.
Apple’s marketing certainly deserves some kudos. Now matter how good the iPod or new Macs are, they’d be nothing without white backgrounds and dancing silhouettes and Jeff Goldblum.
yeah, old Steve’s gotta be rubbing his hands together, giggling.
IMO, success is due to:
1.) hitting the market at exactly the right time, more or less inventing the high capacity mp3 player niche.
2.) great design that allows you to stroll through even 7000 songs pretty damn quickly.
3.) good branding and marketing
There are others out there that are almost as good, but you will never read a review from one that doesn’t mention the iPod (usually the phrase “…not quite as good as the iPod…”)
After many many cool products that hit the market at the wrong time and failed miserably, only serving to spawn a huge host of successful copycats (Newton quicktake camera, laserwriter), apple deserve a hit.
Aside from the ad campaigns, savvy marketing and name recognition, iPod just gets it right.
Ignoring the Photo version that came out about a week or so ago, iPod basically does one thing, and does it very well and easily. When I was looking for a player, I went out and tried using the things. iPod was the only one I could lay hands on that I didn’t need to read the instructions to use.
Then, there’s its industrial design - it doesn’t look like a piece of consumer electronics gear. With its smooth, ultra-shiny surface and utter lack of itty-bitty buttons and itty-bittier wording, it’s more a piece of art that you can pop in your pocket.
I just wish makers of other devices would take a lesson from Apple. <glares at cell phone> I don’t want a phone that plays games, makes polyphonic noise, has a color screen, browses the web and takes pictures. I want to be able to understand the person at the other end. The classic Nextel phone I had three years ago was the best phone I ever had, despite the walkie-talkie frippery.
I’m thinking of getting one for Mr. Cookie. I’m just a little confused as to what they actually do. How does one actually play music on the thing? Can he copy his CDs onto it?
You use a computer (mac or PC) to convert the CDs to MP3s, then transfer them to the iPod. So if you want to put 40 gigs worth of songs on the iPod, you need 40 gigs of hard drive space on your PC.
If your computer is attached to the internet, it will get the album name, artist, genre, and the tracknames for you, and these will be available to the iPod. You can also set up playlists of your favourite songs, sort them into genres, etc, then these are available on the iPod as well.
Imagine a 1000 disc cd player with a brilliant interface for selecting just the songs you want to hear right then. Imagine it’s small enough to fit in your pocket.
I wasn’t surprised at its popularity. The Walkman and Discman were both big sellers when they came out. People like taking music around with them. The iPod is just a Walkman that can store a million times more songs.
I am a little surprised that it’s still so popular in comparison to its competitors, when many of them do just as well (or even better) than the iPod. I think the name recognition is the reason for that. iPod is a much more smooth phrase than “hard disk mp3 player.” My mom calls my non-iPod mp3 player an iPod. It’s just like how everyone calls tissues Kleenex even when they’re not Kleenex brand tissues. And it’s just natural that when people are in the market for an mp3 player, they’ll take the one that matches the colloquial phrase. I think iPods will become less popular once the competitors start advertising more and start getting endorsed by celebrities. And maybe make their players a little less ugly, to appeal to the consumers who care about that kind of thing (I don’t).
You don’t need all that space on your computer. You can just put some mp3s on the iPod, delete them, and then rip more from CD if you don’t have the space. It’s not as simple, but you can get by with less space.
I was surprised at how popular they are too! I own one, and I’m still surprised.
I don’t understand why Ipod is doing so well either. You can get a portable DVD player for $150 or less that plays mp3s. A DVD holds quite a lot of mp3s (almost 5 gigs on a single layer DVD). Plus the DVD player will do a lot of other things.
I really like my portable DVD player. When I purchased it, I thought, “This is something I really, really do not need.” Now I think of it as my entertainment security blanket. I know I’ll never listen to all the mp3 DVDs I take with me on an outing or watch half the movies I take (like I even watch half of a movie). But knowing that I have the option stored in a few small disks is a great comfort. ------the horror, the horror of being caught bored in a car -----who can face that??
True, but a portable DVD player is hardly as easily portable as an iPod. You can’t just slip that DVD player into your pocket (and if you can, then either you are some sort of video game character with infinitely expandable pockets or I feel sorry for whomever tries to watch movies on it).
I believe that Rio actually came out with a hard disk based MP3 player before Apple did, but Apple cornered the market on the tiny hard drives and combined it with a super slick marketing campaign to become the powerhouse it is now.
Personally, I love my iPod, and I bid fond farewell to the days when I had to rip my pockets on my sweatshirt to hold my (relatively) massive CD/MP3 player.
And what you say is true too, audiobottle. The issue of the DVD player being too large to fit in a pocket is not such an issue with me. When I listen to music I give the music my undivided attention. I do not enjoy cleaning house and listening to music, or jogging and listening to music, or any-other-activity and listening to music. My mind is torn between the activity and wanting to ponder each musical line in the music. So a portable DVD is just fine for me, allowing me to sit and enjoy a few tunes. I concede that if music is the secondary activity, one is probably better served by getting a more portable device.
Being the center of my universe, I often forget that other people have other requirements and expectations.
What about when you’re out and about, though? I’d never get through riding the bus and walking to class every day without music. The goal being, of course, to not notice the twenty-five minute bus ride and twenty-minute hike to class.
Just wanted to weigh in on one detail. While the Marketing/Branding is superb and the timing and technology is just right, I think you’re under-estimating the consumer a little. Te first generations success could be chalked up to those factors, but IMHO the main factor in its ongoing success is how ingenious the user interface is. Thats it’s biggest advantage over the competitors. They have surpassed Apple as far as technology goes in many respects, but they haven’t been able to come close to matching the ease of use and efficiency of the UI. Not to mention the gorgeous styling.
If I had to pin point the most powerful factor, it’d be the UI.
Well **rjung ** pretty much nailed it in the other thread with this statement
I have to agree with the interface people. Even with good marketing, lots of people buy based on reviews, and if the product is poor, the good reviews just won’t be there.
Hey, Excalibre, I live in Alabama. You pretty much have to drive everywhere you want to go. My personal DVD player is about the same size as a personal CD player. I have no concept of riding a public transportation bus. If the bus is packed, I suppose that might present a problem. If the bus has room for you to sit, listening to a personal DVD player would be quite manageable. The player plays fine with the screen locked down, though you would have to open it to select the folder of music you wanted to play. I’ve never tried to walk with it; so I don’t know how it would handle the shock. One caveat, there doesn’t seem to be a standard interface between personal DVD players for playing mp3 DVDs. One player I’ve seen has a very rudimentary folder structure with short file names. My current player presents an MP3 DVD like a MS windows explorer. It’s just a folder system that presents the DVD with sub-folders that I create on the DVD on my PC when I burn the disc. As a matter of fact many of the personal DVD players that play mp3 DVDs don’t even mention it in their documentation. I hope they don’t go the way of some component DVD players where they only play mp3 CDs, not mp3 DVDs.
