iPod Shuffle Look-Alike

[crimsonadam]

Hooray the bar has been set.

Luckily it's low enough that it only takes about a month to reach it.

http://www.dapreview.net/news.php?item.978

Plusmore Fly-04

• Plays MP3
• No LCD
• USB jack, male
• Flash memory, 32mb - 2gb
• MSC, no drivers needed
• internal battery: 8 hours

 

[daphox]

That didn't take long.

 

[Chef Medeski]

Yet, which one will sell more.

 

[Anarchris]

Quote:

Yet, which one will sell more.

umm.. the one that is not a direct ripoff.

Though, I must say that Plusmore is definately the name to beat in Portable Audio

 

[Jmmmmm]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anarchris umm.. the one that is not a direct ripoff. Though, I must say that Plusmore is definately the name to beat in Portable Audio

lol

yeah, but it has nothing to do with which one is the ripoff. it has to do with which one is the ipod, regardless of whether it's the first or 376th in the market

 

[yyoo]

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Apple can begin worrying when nobody copies their products.

Moreover, if quick, cheap knockoffs are the standard by which you judge the original product, PCs and anything by Sony is a POS, no?

 

[crimsonadam]

Quote:

Originally Posted by yyoo if quick, cheap knockoffs are the standard by which you judge the original product, PCs and anything by Sony is a POS, no?

You can't cheaply and quickly knockoff a quality product and it pass for the original. No one is ever fooled by a knockoff Rolex, you can tell the difference, no one makes knockoff Bentleys. In either case a competing product is instantly recognized as being inferior. The Ipods were top notch for a while, the shuffle is run of the mill. But more important, the mass consumer will think that it's top notch, which makes the products which are better than the shuffle, merely a waste of money to Make/R&D/Market, since such a huge market share is diverted to the Shuffle. Why make a superior product at a high cost for a small market, when you can make a run of the mill product for cheap and steal some of the massive market share that the Shuffle has.

The Shuffle itself is essentially a knockoff.

If tomorrow Sony came out with a CD-ROM drive that could read CD-ROMS at 24x and that's what it was putting in all of it's computers and all of IBMs, Dells, Toshiba's and HPs computers, the computer community would be annoyed because that lowers the bar for all the manufactuers to work down to and simply (artificially) charge extra for for any sort of (in reality) upgrade.

Why isn't anyone annoyed that Apple didn't come out with the product that they could, a product that lives up to the standards that Apple has created for itself.

What a con.

 

[aeriyn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by crimsonadam Why isn't anyone annoyed that Apple didn't come out with the product that they could, a product that lives up to the standards that Apple has created for itself. What a con.

That's why I'm annoyed with them at the moment. -.-'

 

[easypeasy]

Bet the manufaturers love the cost saving not having to include a display

I think they forgot about the ergonomics when the controls are in the centre

 

[yyoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by crimsonadam The Ipods were top notch for a while, the shuffle is run of the mill.

What makes it run-of-the-mill? Simply the lack of a display? Why isn't the market already inundated with 1 gb players retailing at $149? Or even 512 MB players at $99.

It seems to me what Apple is now offering is a good compromise in price versus features. It also has good sound quality and looks nice. It's not a full-fledged BMW or Mercedes. It's more of a mini-Cooper, still sexy but smaller and cheaper and FWD.

But what do you expect for $99?

Well...I can tell you what the big competitors weren't expecting for $99...512 MB USB2 drive, rechargeable Li-ion, and weight under an ounce.

 

[crimsonadam]

Quote:

Originally Posted by yyoo But what do you expect for $99?

I suppose i hoped for more than a Honda Civic from a company that can and should be making BMWs or Mercedeses. I hoped for more from a company that could produce a BMW or a Mercedes and still charge a Honda Civic price, instead of just slapping a sticker on it, painting it white and inflating the price.

I have a display in my watch small enough to fit on the Shuffle, i've got buttons, small enough to fit, how many tubes would they need to fit into the shuffle to give it an EQ function?

How much energy will the Shuffle suck away from the rest of Apple. The Ipod could include just a few more features (EQ, battery, FLAC/Vorbis, Radio, Recording) and it would blow away the competition. Instead we got something that's already been done.

 

[Thisp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by yyoo Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Apple can begin worrying when nobody copies their products.

Then Philips should be very flattered.

It's not who made it first, or who implemented it first, it's who marketed it the best.

 

[Underdog311]

Who needs a LCD anyway?

 

[yyoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thisp Then Philips should be very flattered. It's not who made it first, or who implemented it first, it's who marketed it the best.

Yeah, right. Read this description of the Philips. No amount of marketing would have helped it, though some folks here might swear that it's just as good or better than the Shuffle because it's not made by Apple.

"limited remote control (stop, start, pause ONLY) and the remote control is the only method for controling the playback. There is no volume control anywhere! There is no way to skip tracks either forward or backward on this unit. If you accidentally turn the unit off the wrong way you must start at the beginning of your audio files again. Additionally the USB is very picky. Although it would charge on the front USB ports on my less than year old Dell computer it would not allow me to download files that way."

 

[yyoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by crimsonadam I suppose i hoped for more than a Honda Civic from a company that can and should be making BMWs or Mercedeses. I hoped for more from a company that could produce a BMW or a Mercedes and still charge a Honda Civic price, instead of just slapping a sticker on it, painting it white and inflating the price. ... The Ipod could include just a few more features (EQ, battery, FLAC/Vorbis, Radio, Recording) and it would blow away the competition.

A $99 iPod loaded with unnecessary features? It sounds like you're asking BMW to build a Hyundai. When BMW builds a cheaper BMW they don't make it feature-rich, but they do build in their legendary handling. And that's what you get with the iPod shuffle. Apple builds in its core values: ease-of-use, style, and quality. You can buy a Hyundai if you like and tick off all the features that your Hyundai has that a low-end BMW doesn't; but in the end it's still a Hyundai and drives like a Hyundai.

Apple built something that people can use and enjoy, and something that they want. And they built it, finally, at a price most people can afford. Apple is to be applauded.