[blessingx]

See Iomega's new offerings here.

 

[grawk]

I don't see what would make that a compelling alternative to the shuffle.

I guess the ability to play AAC is more important to me than WMA, fm radio, or an LCD panel, and I prefer rechargable built in to needing yet another replacable battery.

Edit: Not to mention, the SQ on the shuffle is a known good.

 

[Filburt]

Looks interesting, although I prefer my little MP3 player still. Some people will prefer the ability to play AAC, too, since they've encoded to the format and/or they find they are achieving better sound through AAC. Looking at relatively recent subjective double-blind tests, I'm not sure AAC is *really* outperforming the high performance mp3 profiles in LAME in many cases, but, AAC does have better resolution in the frequency domain than MP3 - though, still seemingly not in the time domain. Not surprising, though.

 

[cire]

Quote:

Originally Posted by grawk I don't see what would make that a compelling alternative to the shuffle. I guess the ability to play AAC is more important to me than WMA, fm radio, or an LCD panel, and I prefer rechargable built in to needing yet another replacable battery. Edit: Not to mention, the SQ on the shuffle is a known good.

this has a screen and is 10 or 30 dollars cheaper.

 

[DJGeorgeT]

wow that thang is ugly!

 

[jparris1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cire this has a screen and is 10 or 30 dollars cheaper.

How so? The 1 GB versions are the same price (well actually the Shuffle is 95 cents cheaper but thats inconsequential.) The 512 is 10 dollars cheaper though.

 

[cire]

did the shuffles drop in price? wasnt the 1gb 150$?

 

[DLP]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cire did the shuffles drop in price? wasnt the 1gb 150$?

Indeed it was, it is now $129. Must've happened with the minor update they did recently ($300 20GB iPod Photo now).

 

[AlanY]

Although this new Iomega DAP plays WMA files, it doesn't appear to support Microsoft's PlaysForSure technology, so it probably doesn't work with NapsterToGo and similar services. That's the only feature I wish the Shuffle had.

 

[Aschlon4]

god... i dont understand how people even allow themselves to fall into the "shuffle" trap by apple ?!!!!
this player is the kind you buy on the flea market made in 1998 by some cheap chinese workers in a crack house..the shuffle is defenetly one of the worst chinese piece of hardware ever made... it has absoloutly no advantage what so ever over any other competitive player in the market ! i dont get it ! because it can play aac ?! because it has the apple logo ?! because it can barely play 6 hoours of continious playback ?!
give me one good reason to buy it !!!

 

[EdipisReks]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aschlon4 god... i dont understand how people even allow themselves to fall into the "shuffle" trap by apple ?!!!! this player is the kind you buy on the flea market made in 1998 by some cheap chinese workers in a crack house..the shuffle is defenetly one of the worst chinese piece of hardware ever made... it has absoloutly no advantage what so ever over any other competitive player in the market ! i dont get it ! because it can play aac ?! because it has the apple logo ?! because it can barely play 6 hoours of continious playback ?! give me one good reason to buy it !!!

it's simple, intuitive, and integrates perfectly with iTunes. it also has good sound quality and has a decent integrated amplifier. it has many accessories from third party makers. it is durable. it is elegant. it plays songs from the iTunes music store.

 

[Salt Peanuts]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aschlon4 i dont get it ! because it can play aac ?! because it has the apple logo ?! because it can barely play 6 hoours of continious playback ?! give me one good reason to buy it !!!

You just stated one reason youself - it plays AAC. Like it or not, there are many, many, many people out there with songs in AAC format and Shuffle is the only flash player capable of playing AAC format.

 

[blessingx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aschlon4 god... i dont understand how people even allow themselves to fall into the "shuffle" trap by apple ?!!!! this player is the kind you buy on the flea market made in 1998 by some cheap chinese workers in a crack house..the shuffle is defenetly one of the worst chinese piece of hardware ever made... it has absoloutly no advantage what so ever over any other competitive player in the market ! i dont get it ! because it can play aac ?! because it has the apple logo ?! because it can barely play 6 hoours of continious playback ?! give me one good reason to buy it !!!

Ahhh like listening to Prairie Home Companion on a Saturday, this post takes me back to a magical place. In this case distant January when only "idiots" and "fools" would buy the just announced Shuffle (do a search - the personal affront - and it was nearly universal - members had was quite funny). Listen the biased hatred - 'it's gotta be the Apple logo', really belittles the iTunes integration that you may have no use for, but others certainly do. For most people (whether it's EAC, Foobar or iTunes) the physical player is just part of the picture - and iTunes helps with the chores far more than most. As for AAC playback, I never understand why that request gets made fun of, but the nearly equally performing (though greater battery hit) Ogg Vorbis requests are considered normal (maybe the lazy ignorance that AAC is 'owned' by Apple and thus the companies WMA)? As for sound quality, I have to admit I'm a little puzzled there too (it sometimes seems a little inflated the way the Karma is also), but several members have tried it and are surprised (often coming from higher up the food chain DAPs). Starting to make a tiny bit more sense?

The turn from near universal hatred (stupid stupid no screen!!!!) to near universal praise of it's sound, will be interesting to watch if the rumors are true (sales have been disappointing, eventual new models will have LCD). Course there will always be a percent of the general public who want to ride the popularity wave (Apple now, though could turn tomorrow) as there are members here who hate all things popular (must maintain 'independence' by going with smaller market share items - its own trap).

 

[bundee1]

Quote:

sales have been disappointing, eventual new models will have LCD

Really on both statements? Every kid I see has a shuffle. Theyre probably not outselling the regular Ipods but Im sure theyve sold millions.

 

[blessingx]

It's not number of sales as much as expected sales. See here as but one report. Been mentioned on several sites.