[Jokieman]

Little News article about Creative. Apparently they're not doing too well at all. If the information in the article is true, then most of their profit this quarter came from winning the lawsuit against Apple, that's not really a good sign for Creative. hehe.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070204...reativemusicit

 

[The_X]

Creative needs to freaking start supporting Mac instead of Microsoft's MTP protocol. I most definitely would have switched over to Creative or Toshiba or Zune if they supported Macs. Unfortunately there's no way I'd ever get a PC just to use an MP3 player because I like my Powerbook too much, so I have little option except to get an iPod. Cowon is one of the last companies that supports the Mac but they have pretty much abandoned HDD players.

I'm sure it would take very little effort to get their players to work on Macs (UMS support would be fine) and would definitely get them some new customers.

 

[nineohtoo]

If i'm not mistaken there's freeware out there that will allow Zen use on a mac by a student from the UK.

 

[Lacene]

just how many digital audio players support Macs, by the way?? By that I don't mean players that are MSC-compliant, and therefore are recognized as external drives, but players that are either recognized by iTunes, or have other media managers that will operate on the OS X platform and recognize the player(s)?

I always understood that it was Apple that didn't want other players' support on their Mac PC's.....

In any regard, Apple PC's make up what, about 5% of the computer market? There's nothing irrational about making sure your player works with 95% of the personal computer market......

edit: I guess it's irrelevant, but I like how the article implies that Creative was only making players since it's "line of Zen digital music players has had limited success since its introduction in 2004", whereas Apple was making the iPod since 2001. Creative was making mp3 players well before 2001.........

 

[blinx]

creative doesnt just make mp3 players. i would assume most of their money is made in sound cards. I just recently found out that creative makes both EMU and x-fi... dang..

 

[Gonz]

Creative really owns the consumer level sound card market for PC. They've had a tight grip on it for a long time too... anytime a competitor tries to move in (like nVidia soundstorm) they get squashed, somehow.

As for players, I bought a Zen Vision W, and I like it quite a bit. I don't feel there are any flaws at all, besides the dongle/dock line-out situation... which I believe I've just fixed.

Thing with the digital player market is that... it's iPod - versus 8-10 other companies. I believe if it was iPod versus Creative, the division and profit spread would be alot different.

Further... Creative really screwed up with the Zen player. It looks like a toy.

That might sell great in Japan or China, where they like "cute" things... but in the US, consumers like our gadgets to look cutting edge, and high tech... not like a Fisher Price reject.


This, I like. And the picture doesn't do it justice.

Creative has some really bad decision makers in marketing... must be the wife, brother, or sister-in-law of a higher-up... because theres way too much influence coming from that misdirection.

 

[Gonz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lacene /img/forum/go_quote.gif just how many digital audio players support Macs, by the way?? .

Too funny. The only support for Mac is Mac.
PC leads the way in advancements.
When Mac finally catches up, 5yrs later...
The marketing machine kicks in, and this "development"
suddenly becomes revolutionary.

 

[kuden]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_X /img/forum/go_quote.gif Creative needs to freaking start supporting Mac instead of Microsoft's MTP protocol. I most definitely would have switched over to Creative or Toshiba or Zune if they supported Macs. Unfortunately there's no way I'd ever get a PC just to use an MP3 player because I like my Powerbook too much, so I have little option except to get an iPod. Cowon is one of the last companies that supports the Mac but they have pretty much abandoned HDD players. I'm sure it would take very little effort to get their players to work on Macs (UMS support would be fine) and would definitely get them some new customers.

http://www.wentnet.com/projects/xnjb/index.html
enjoy your new zen ^^

 

[D.Holmes]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gonz /img/forum/go_quote.gif Too funny. The only support for Mac is Mac. PC leads the way in advancements. When Mac finally catches up, 5yrs later... The marketing machine kicks in, and this "development" suddenly becomes revolutionary.

Could you give me an example?

By PC do you mean Microsoft? I'm confused.

I thought Creative was going to start making ipod accessories as part of some agreement with Apple? Maybe they already do.

 

[goldenratiophi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gonz /img/forum/go_quote.gif Too funny. The only support for Mac is Mac. PC leads the way in advancements. When Mac finally catches up, 5yrs later... The marketing machine kicks in, and this "development" suddenly becomes revolutionary.

You seem mistaken; Vista is made by Microsoft, not Apple!

Seriously, just having more hardware support doesn't constitute advancements in technology and the operating system. OS X has been constantly developing and expanding since its first release. Vista is just XP with a new UI.

 

[blessingx]

Among the various Creative blunders (how many simultaneous DAPs models do you need?), they bought Cambridge Soundworks several years ago and instead of pushing the superior CSW speakers instead of their own, effectively ceased R&D as far as I can see and now shutting down most of the CSW brick and mortars. Nice move Creative. I swear Sim Wong Hoo's reality distortion field is stronger than even Steve Jobs.

 

[Gonz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by D.Holmes /img/forum/go_quote.gif Could you give me an example? By PC do you mean Microsoft? I'm confused. I thought Creative was going to start making ipod accessories as part of some agreement with Apple? Maybe they already do.

No, I don't mean Microsoft... thats actually the evil part of PCs. We have to hack around their software to make it work good... but once we spend that time tweaking, it does work extremely good. Mac crashes too. I used to have occasional problems with Win9x, but XP hasn't crashed on me once. I'd say after having and using both, that XP is more stable than OSX.

What I was referring to is things like webcams, iPods, and friggin' cell phones that can play videos and mp3s

I also heard all about how people can now make and edit their own movies and websites with Mac! (this was 2-3yrs ago) Next thing you know, Apple will reinvent VoIP.

What Mac seems to miss is that PCs have been doing everything they are doing, for years. Oh... for example... using multiple instruction sets, running dual CPUs (are PCs not up to four cores now?), their bus speeds were surpassed long ago, memory capability, etc... How about proprietary, limited lifespan due to limited upgrade path proprietary hardware? Lets not even begin on that. Everything compatible with Mac, has to be BY Mac, and as such, costs 10x the PC equivelent.

Quote:

Originally Posted by goldenratiophi /img/forum/go_quote.gif You seem mistaken; Vista is made by Microsoft, not Apple! Seriously, just having more hardware support doesn't constitute advancements in technology and the operating system. OS X has been constantly developing and expanding since its first release. Vista is just XP with a new UI.

You want to talk about developing and expanding, you'd talk about Linux.

But I can list thousands of Windows applications, how many can you list for Mac? I mean, hardware aside... you guys don't even get games!

Advancements in technology, that would be SATAe. Hot swappable Terrabytes of hard drives, for a few hundred bucks, burst transfer rates of 3Gb per second. You guys have that yet?

It would be 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM 533 (PC2 4200) Dual-Channel Desktop Memory.

It would be a Quadro FX5500 1GB GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Video Card.

Or maybe a pair of GeForce 8800GTX 768MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 (with HDCP) Video Cards in SLI mode... if you're a gamer instead.

Or maybe you want to talk about motherboards? Like the new Asus, which supports 8Gb of DDR2 RAM, a 1333MHz FSB, SLI (dual) video, and a 3+Ghz dual core processor.


Thats technology.
Computers didn't get to where they are now, because of pretty translucent colors, or for looking like table lamps. Note Mac now has to turn to INTEL for processors... have to get themselves un-stuck from the muck somehow, I guess.


How about that HDCP, HDMI, and HDTV on your computer? Got that yet?
Do you even have TV tuner cards? How about HAM radio or scanner interfaces? Weather station interfaces? Telescope navigation? Anything cool like that? Probly not.

It ain't about XP or OS-X, it's about AutoCAD, or gaming, or video editing. Things people actually use computers for. When you're rendering or editing, the PC's hardware, i.e. graphic processor speed and SATA RAID hard disk array transfer rates blow Mac's doors off. Even if you got all of this suddenly tomorrow, not only would it cost you two kidneys and a liver, but we've already had it for years.

Your monitors don't even compare!!!

 

[zip22]

have you looked at configuring a Mac Pro? you can configure it with up to 16GB DDR2 (8 x 2GB), a Quadro FX4500, 2 3.0Ghz dual core processors, and 4 750GB sata 3.0Gb/s hard drives (which you can configure in a RAID away if you wish).

 

[goldenratiophi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gonz /img/forum/go_quote.gif Everything compatible with Mac, has to be BY Mac, and as such, costs 10x the PC equivelent.

DAPs are a sad case for Macs, I know. Now name a camera or printer that doesn't work with OS X. I'ver certainly never experienced one.

So you say that Microsoft is what's wrong with PC's, and that Linux is better. Sure. Then you talk about AutoCAD, gaming, and video editing. On Linux? Surely you jest! Linux is great for servers, and all the new "technology", but have you ever seen anyone seriously/professionally use Linux for video editing, gaming, etc. or even anything that isn't servers or basic office stuff? They don't even have a good Photohsop clone! I rarely see professional computer graphic artists using anything but a Mac.

You also compare what Apple advertises in their consumer computers to what your top-of-the-line computer does. "I also heard all about how people can now make and edit their own movies and websites with Mac!" You don't seriously believe that people weren't making movies on Macs until 3 years ago, do you? Again, Macs are a staple in graphics/video production everywhere. I don't hate Microsoft because their commercials don't appeal to professional movie companies.

You also said that Apple is making their OS so that they can't be used with old hardware. I don't know where you're getting this; I have a friend who is running Tiger on a G3 Powerbook with no problems.

I accept some of your claims of not being able to use the newest most expensive video/graphics cards in a Mac, simply because I've never opened mine up to see what I can stuff in it.

But you clearly haven't done any real research, either: You brag about how a Mac can't fit your 8 GB of RAM or 3 GHz processor. Just go to the Apple Store website and you can buy a Mac with 16 GB of DDR2 RAM, two 3 GHz dual core Xeons, etc.

The "Mac is more expensive" thing is totally a myth made up by Mac-bashers. Just go to Dell's website and customise a computer with identical specs. Barely any difference in the low end, and Dell is more expensive in the high end! Of course, I'm sure you build your own computers, because everyone has the time and knowledge and will to do that.

You see, you can pack as many expensive toys into your computer, but without a good OS it's still pretty useless. A system is only as good as its weakest part, in this case the OS. Linux works for servers and geeks who care more about what their computer can do than what they do with it (though I do admit it has come a long way in the desktop world and is certainly better than Windows). Microsoft certainly hasn't done anything new for a long time; just making more money off the fact that they are already preinstalled on every computer and supported everwhere. Mac OS X is really the only one left that is really good for professionals and home users.

Side-note: This topic needs split or something, as we are way off topic.

 

[blessingx]

Gonz, I'm not going to get in a fight with you, but besides 3-4 points, the rest is hogwash. Seriously do your research before those blanket claims. You're resorting to HAM radio apps? You've got to be kidding me. Yes OS X is even there too.

Anyway what the hell does any of this have to do with Creative?