iPod Killers For the Holidays

An anonymous reader writes, "MP3 Newswire has an excellent rundown of 29 new digital portables for the upcoming season. From the article: 'We have run the iPod Killers for Christmas/Summer series since 2004. In that time we [have] reported on 149 portable players and NOT one iPod killer from the bunch. That said, [this time] we may actually have a couple of genuine challengers to Apple. This holiday season will see Microsoft pump tens-of-millions of dollars to hawk their new Zune portable, and SanDisk's 8GB e280 flash unit is compelling high-end users. Both can realistically grab double-digit market share from the iPod... Whether they do or not waits to be seen.' The article also makes a good case as to why the Sony PSP should be included in market figures for digital media portables."

Re:Nothing can kill the iPod

[Sillygates]

Since the Zune can't even play videos, that's a moot point. Yet another reason why Zune won't supplant the iPod.

"Technical Details
* 30GB digital media player stores up to 7,500 songs, 25,000 pictures or 100 hours of video" - Amazon.com

Re:Nothing can kill the iPod

[Grave]

Really? That's odd, because I very definitely held a Zune in my hand as it played a video.

This is what you do.

[Ayanami Rei]

Find a refurbished iRiver ihp-140 or H340.
Install Rockbox.

Load up with (FLAC, SHN, MPC, WAVPACK, OGG, MP3, M4A) and enjoy lossless playback with pure-integer decoders and a really nice DAC to boot
Oh, and the iHP-140 has an optical output which is _very_ useful if you have digital inputs on a custom DAC or amp.

Re:The Archos 504

[dal20402]

You'll fall down the stairs if you carry one of these... while it's a neat gadget, at 11.15 ounces [archos.com], it's not exactly a direct competitor to any iPod. Using a 2.5" hard disk necessarily compromises the size and weight.

(Your claimed battery life for the iPod is also way too short [apple.com].)

Re:The Archos 504

[Anonymous Coward]

I have this player below. 20GB drive, 7 hours video playback(I tested myself), 3.5" screen, built in camera, an FM tuner, works on non windows platforms, contains a video recorder, even has a microphone. The cost is 149USD. This is what I bought, and its WAYYY better than the ipod. I even used ipodder and have it convert every video to the player's resolution and format. Oh, and the player supports many more formats than the ipod.

I can record from the microphone, fm tuner, camera(still or video), and video input!!! The ipod is a toy compared to this player.

I repeat, the cost is 149USD. Bite me apple!!!

description...

The SP-PMP is the perfect size for viewing your favorite movies, TV shows or home videos. With its huge 20 GB hard drive you'll have all the storage you need for all your favorite media, plus with its built-in FM tuner you'll never miss a beat! Share your movies, photos, music with friends and family on the TV or stereo via the audio and video out cable.

# 640 x 480 (30fps)/ 320 x 240 (30fps) video recording
# MPEG4, AVI, DIVX, MP3, WMA, ASF, OGG, JPEG, BMP, GIF file support

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=SP-PMP51C [geeks.com]

Re:SanDisk fails immediately

[Anonymous Coward]

the SanDisk DAP brand comparable to iPod is Sensa, the product name is Sensa e280. and to many people it's iPod vs. Sandisk. The naming is there, its just up to SanDisk to beef up the brand value.

Re:Slanted review. PSP is overrated

[shimpei]

UMD is not the storage media you would use to play MP3s on a PSP--there is no consumer-writable UMD disc or drive on market today. MP3 and video files go on a Memory Stick Duo, which--though still a Sony format--is widely available from non-Sony vendors. I do agree that PSP does not make a good competitor to an iPod, though, unless you are solely interested in playing movies, in which case the bigger screen definitely helps. (By the way, the battery life should improve significantly if you play video off of the memory stick, since the UMD drive stays turned off.)

Re:Why exactly is the Ipod cool????

[sirket]

You can't change the battery because adding a removable cover for it would make the iPod far larger than it currently is. Considering the 24+ hours available from a single charge on some models, and the much larger number of charge cycles available from lithium ion batteries today this becomes a moot point. You don't need to change it so don't worry about it. (This isn't the 1st generation iPod).

iTunes is a simple, easy to use interface. That said- there are third party interfaces including ones that run under Linux.

What conversion are you talking about? The iPod groks mp3 natively- it doesn't do any conversions. AAC is the format Apples sells songs from iTunes in- but that's only songs you buy from iTunes. Perhaps you are thinking of the cracked conversions Sony did with their moronic ATRAC format.

Your dragging question is the same as the iTunes question. Either use iTunes or use a third party app. I use iTunes even without an iPod. I used winamp 3 (IIRC) and never seriosuly considered winamp after that. Is iTunes perfect? Hardly- but it does the job and gives me no grief.

Looks are purely subject and up to you. That said- ever held an iPod? They feel solid. Everything about them feels right. The interface is simple, the buttons and scroll wheel are perfect, and the screen on the newest models is gorgeous. It isn't just about looking cool- they are beautifully designed, inside and out.

-sirket

Re:Why exactly is the Ipod cool????

[Craig Davison]

Some features that make the iPod great:
- The click wheel and the UI are well-designed
- The output quality and bundled earphones are good
- The design is classic, and it feels solid and well-made

You can't just drag files onto the ipod because it maintains a database of the songs in your collection. If you don't like iTunes, you can use a number of programs to maintain the collection, like Winamp.
A database is better than using the filesystem for your music collection because it allows you to find your songs with multiple indexes - artist, album, genre, etc. Using the filesystem, you have to pick a sorting system and stick with it - say, one folder per album. Every music player app made this decade uses a music collection database. If you haven't organized your music this way, it's your loss.
The iPod isn't cool any more than a cellphone is cool. It's just another device you carry around with you. It happens to be both a very popular device and a best of breed device. If that doesn't sit well with you, I guess that's sour grapes.

Re:The Archos 504

[iocat]

I've gotten better than expected performance from my Nano 4GB. Flying to Bangkok from LA (~17 hours), I turned it on, turned the backlight off entirely, shuffled, locked (to prevent the temptation to skip songs) and didn't turn it off till we landed. It was sweet. My ears hurt like hell (from the ear-buds -- i was sleeping on them a lot of the time), but the Nano went 17 hours with ease.

Re:Nothing can kill the iPod

[ericdano]

Yeah, and Amazon had it listed as an Apple product for a while as well. The original poster was right. The Zune store is not scheduled this year to sell videos. So, unless you want to spend time ripping DVDs, your not going to get videos on it as easily and effectively as an iPod.

Video Ipod battery life

[Space cowboy]

Um, I regularly fly LHR SFO. I always get 2 movies-worth out of my Ipod.

That is all.

Simon.

Re:The Archos 504

[Anonymous Coward]

Or better yet, the GP2X.

Not only can you wath video & listen to music, but you can play games as well.
Supported by any operating system that supports SD cards.
Uses the Linux kernel as the operating system
Uses simple AA batteries, either alkaline(not recommended) or NiCD or NiMH, not some expensive battery system.
Supports TV Out

Also when you purchase this, you are supporting the open source movement, and not the Micro$hit movement as the SP-PMP requires Micro$hit Winblow$

http://www.dynamism.com/gp2x/pricing.shtml [dynamism.com]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GP2X [wikipedia.org]

All of this for the same price as the SP-PMP 'which by the way is $199, not $149' and will cost less in the long run as changing the batteries just requires to remove the old AA batteries and placing the new ones in there. This also allows for more battery life as someone could take 8 2500 MAh rated AA batteries with them and will last them quite a long time. The SP-PMP uses a Li-Polymer which would be difficult to remove when the battery is no longer capable ofd holding a charge and will cost a hell of a lot more than 2 AA batteries as you must go through Support Plus for any new batteries. You are also tied in to the cradle and Winblow$ to sync the unit. The GP2X uses SD cards that only requires an SD Card reader and can be used in just about any Operating System. At least the ipod can be used with a Macintosh.

Re:iPod...

[jsebrech]

Apple, apparently in a concession to the music industry, obfuscates the file names of mp3s as it transfers songs to the device. "James McMurtry--Iolanthe.mp3" will become OTKO.mp3 on the device, stored in the folder F47 (and yes, there is an F01-F46), all with the express purpose of making it difficult (though not impossible) for you to find a song and copy it back by hooking up your iPod like a hard disk.

You can get the files back onto the desktop and into a sensible naming structure quite easily using itunes. Just copy the ipod's music folder (which can be accessed if you show hidden and system files and mount the ipod as a disk drive) to the desktop, and import it into itunes, with the itunes option to reorder the library to its own format enabled. Instructions can be found here [playlistmag.com].

I once read an interview with someone who worked on the ipod (no idea where or when), who claimed that the renaming and folder structure has nothing to do with the recording industry, but rather with the limitations of the early hardware and the requirement that playlists of thousands of files "open" instantaneous. Limitating filename lengths and the number of files in a folder apparently helped, as did storing the files' information in a central database. I don't know if this is true, but it sounds reasonable.