Slashdot Log In
2004 Digital Media Winners and Losers
Posted by
CmdrTaco
on Sun Jan 09, 2005 11:39 AM
from the stuff-to-read dept.
from the stuff-to-read dept.
An anonymous reader writes "MP3 Newswire has just released Richard Menta's annual digital media winners and losers list. Apple tops the winners list for the second year in a row as does eDonkey and last spring's Grey Album protest. Losers include the term iPod Killers, Winamp, and the WMA format. BitTorrent made both lists. Menta also released a 2005 wishlist. Topping that list is an iPod in-dash unit similar to the old Rio Car. You can see Menta's previous years winners and losers lists."
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
What about CPU? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:What about Real? (Score:2)
Not a stock investor... (Score:3, Interesting)
Did the author forget Tivo charges for DVR when most of us that are tech saavy can get it for free?
Re:Not a stock investor... (Score:5, Interesting)
Sure a technophile can do all this stuff, but the cost is normally a lack of social skills from all the time it takes to learn new techonology. Sure I've known people who can program their own stuff but that's not your 'normal person'.
Despite all the problems TIVO has due to competition it did brink to the markeplace something that the vast majority of people can use easily.
I think the ratio of 'normal people' to 'tech savy' is a fairly big difference. Just think of all the people that have no clue what SpyWare is, or how to use WindowsUpdate (Normal people don't use *nix. So don't flame me lol).
Just my 2c
"can get for free" (Score:4, Interesting)
Most maps are available online -- yet ADC and other companies still exist, who package and distribute maps. People still buy TV Guide, and yet again, it's something that people could get online for free, if they knew where to look.
I've written code to parse the NOAA's collection of METAR information, because my boss didn't want to pay some service provider for them to supply us with the information that had been converted to a more readily understood format.
But that's not to say that there is no sustainable market for those people who sell the information. In the case of TiVo, they're selling more than just the information, as you're also paying for the rest of your system, and continued R&D. [and of course, lining someone's pockets, but we'll just assume that part isn't a significant number].
There are plenty of things that are sold where the initial sale results in a loss, but additional money is made over time to justify the cost. Cell phones are a prime example -- they give the phones away, so they can make a profit by selling service. If TiVo wasn't selling service, they'd have to charge you more upfront. [and in fact, there's the 'lifetime' charge, which takes this into consideration, however, they're still losing money in the expense of their modem banks, and whatever else it takes for them to supply to information and distribution infrastructure]
Just because you aren't willing to pay for the service, doesn't mean that no one else is willing to pay for convenience. We live in a commercial society where people are willing to pay extra for time savings (prepackaged meals), and to show off (luxury vehicles, oversized homes)
I'm not going to claim that I can predict that TiVo is going to flop, or not, and I did work with my roommate on building a TV-connected game system that was also a PVR a few years ago, and I thought the process was a pain in the ass. I do know that I don't bother using it with the current software, and I haven't gone to the trouble of rebuilding it. I'd probably pick up a TiVo, and recycle that system, rather than go to the process of updating it.
Thanks to EMI... (Score:4, Interesting)
or mainly their bitching, I heard about the Grey Album and downloaded it to see what the fuss was about. Had they not done anything I would of been none the wiser, now I posess an albums worth of good music.
Btw, I don't own any other illegal mp3s. Just the Grey album because EMI moaned rather than marketed it. Given a chance, I'd still pay for the cd however, the bit rates are lower (192kbps) than what I rip at (256kbps).
Re:Thanks to EMI... (Score:2)
Exactly my experience too. Downloading MP3s is a pain in the butt and I h
Re:Thanks to EMI... (Score:2)
Re:mnb Re:Thanks to EMI... (Score:4, Funny)
Flawed feature (Score:5, Interesting)
Think like Microsoft for a second. All it wants to do is dominate without any concern for security. It's trying to get the content industry to use its WMA format. Some lackey speaks up at a meeting:
"I have a great idea. Let's add a feature to WMA so that it'll open up web content. So if EMI wants to distribute an WMA song it'll open an option to buy the whole CD."
Of course all the brainless other lackeys at Microsoft agree that it's a great idea and implements it, completely oblivious to any security concerns.
My question is whether Microsoft will be smart enough to disable this feature in future releases.
ipod in dash (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:ipod in dash (Score:2, Interesting)
Wishlist for 2005: Ogg (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Wishlist for 2005: Ogg (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Wishlist for 2005: Ogg (Score:2)
The Real Losers (Score:5, Insightful)
WMA = FLAC? WTF? (Score:3)
How about NOT like the Rio Car? (Score:2)
A ra
Re:How about NOT like the Rio Car? (Score:2)
MP3 in-dash unit (Score:2, Insightful)
Ive not had the pleasure of an iPod or 'iPod Killer', but most of my music is MP3-based and I use a car
The top of my wishlist? (Score:3, Interesting)
For one thing, you have to be at the "Now Playing" screen for volume to even be available. Now, imagine you have the unit in your shirt pocket, walking down the street. The next song comes on way too loud (or way too quiet). Quick - reach in and try to find the right spot on the wheel and rotate it in the right direction, without hitting any of the other buttons. Or, try to press the pause/next/previous buttons. Not too easy, is it?
Ideally, there would be a volume slider and the three playback buttons on the top of the unit, between the hold switch and the remote adapter on the Mini. The hold switch is too big anyway, and could be rotated 90 degrees so so that it moves front-to-back, with no loss of usability.
Yes, I know you can get an aftermarket remote-control dongle from Apple that does this, but have you looked at those? Big, ugly, heavy things that dangle from the headphones like a tumor. Couldn't they have made something that fit flat against the top of the unit - you know, kind of an elegant design?
Anyway, I love the unit, but hate the annoyance. It's a small annoyance, but it makes an obvious wart on a really clean design.
Oh, and the ability to randomize a playlist/album would be absolutely fantastic.
Considering their lousy competition? No. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:sold out website (Score:5, Informative)
To outdo the iPod you need to outdo the concept -- not just make what amounts to an iPod with way-too-small video playback and no iTMS compatibility. There are basically three companies that I believe could not only outdo the iPod in quality but then move the merchandise: Sony (if they get their act together), Microsoft (with their massive R&D potential), and Apple itself (Where do you think the iPod profits and the interest from that $4bn bank account are going? Most likely into research, the lifeblood of any company that depends largely on innovation).
It's my personal theory that the halo effect was just what Apple had in mind when they went full-bore with iPod and iTunes for Windows -- what may be the world's first self-sustaining itself-profitable ad campaign, with the intention of getting an iMac onto every desk and a PowerBook into every briefcase, with far higher margins than the iPod and a greater potential for sale of software.
This is particularly true for the iTunes Music Store, which is run at break-even -- its purpose is to provide iPod filler and introduce people slowly to Apple software. Why do you think the Windows version looks a lot like something out of OS X, when they could have easily made it look more like a regular Windows app? So when people go to the Apple store to get an iPod accessory, they stop to look at the G5 -- who could resist? -- and everything looks "just like iTunes" and they take one home. So it's not just a self-sustaining profitable ad campaign, but a multitiered one -- iTMS draws people to the iPod or vice versa, the iPod draws them into the Apple store or to the rear right corner of CompUSA, and then they buy a Mac.
That's why all the other online music stores are failing -- Napster isn't a hardware company, but they have to compete with Apple, which is running a superior product at just over even for the purposes of selling more hardware. So if anything is more "loser" than a theoretical iPod killer, it's an iTunes killer -- the Music Store business model isn't designed to be necessarily profitable (at least not to the extent of being a company's main business), but rather to transfer a low cost to the consumer to increase the likelihood of purchasing hardware.
Re:sold out website (Score:3, Insightful)
Nope, reporting the news as accurate as the market (Score:3, Informative)
6 million iPods sold, possibly 8.
You also have some strange history there. Apple didn't create the first mp3 player. Or the second,