[MdRex]

The interesting units on the list IMHO are the Gigabit and the Clix. The rest will prolly end up in the pile of "random DAPs"

I mean like HELLO!? who doesn't want a DAP which tells you your BMI?

 

[skaggers]

.

 

[audio_al]

the Meizu Mini player has just been launched in China. Any feedback from chinese forum users would be great!

 

[Skylab]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spaceage I count on this site for the opinions of its users. Over the months I have come to especially trust the opinions of certain users who have exhibited a great deal of objectivity and detail. My comments towards you were not intended to be rude. I was merely stating that anyone who would look at all of those players and pass the snap judgment that they are all "lame" and "crappy" should not be relied upon for any kind of reliable advice on the subject. If you are simply an incredibly satisfied customer who loves his current product to death, perhaps you should simply state that.

OK, it may not have been clear enough in my post that there was an intentional bit of overstatement there in an attempt at humor. Sorry that didn't come through. I was attempting to:

1. Poke fun at the fact that the name of the site is "Ipod Killers" when, in fact, most of what I saw there seemed to be a re-hash of previously failed attempts to better the ipod, or offerings that appear (again from a reading of the site only) not to be advancing the state of the art, or offering any form of price/performance advantage.

2. Make the point that there is still, to me, a REASON that the iPod has 75% market share in this product category, and that is that it remains the best product out there (IMO) in this category.

I have tended on head-fi to keep my detailed reviews (of which I have penned more than a few here) to headphones and amplifers which I have actually owned and used. My comment here was no attempt at serious commentary, and I expected everyone would realize that.

In any case, it seems to me that my comments were about PRODUCTS, and yours at least came off as a personal attack, which is against the ethos of this site. If that's not how you meant it, then great.

 

[bangraman]

I have / had some of them and some do get pretty close in terms of overall product, as wel as being better featured, etc. But as far as I can see, there's still no definitive "iPod Killer" in that pack. It seems to me that Apple are running out of room to move in terms of the iPod (will it be a PVP next? Is there any point really to that?) so who knows, next year might be the year of the actual "iPod Killer". I'd welcome something new which actually works better. So far though, none have matched the iPod, only beaten it in non-core features.

 

[D555]

The Viliv P1 looks kind of interesting -- on paper. It's available in silver also. The look is uncluttered and I like that. If the screen is the same as the Archos AV500 (480x272) it could be winner. I downloaded the P1 manual. Has OGG support, a remote pacckage, built in FM.

Paul

 

[K2Grey]

There's stuff that might be better than the iPod for certain situations or certain people but that doesn't let them kill anything.

 

[Lacene]

I agree with a lot of the comments posted here: there are a number of DAP's being offered to the market that meet or exceed the iPod in features, and are fast approaching the ipod in terms of build quality, form factor & styling, but IMO they are simply not going to knock the iPod king off of the mountaintop until they at least TRY to formulate some sort of US national marketing strategy, much less an international marketing strategy.

That's not to say that all it takes is a sound marketing plan, & the DADA mp3 sneakers will become the market leader, lol. Good, consistent marketing goes hand-in-hand with exceptional quality of product, no matter what consumer product you're talking about. If you make a lame, poor-quality product but run a nation-wide ad & TV campaign for it, you'll get some attention initially for the product, but with that attention comes the realization that it was all hype, & the product becomes a one-hit wonder, or a "flash in the pan".

On the other side of the coin, as we see quite often in the DAP market, if you actually offer a quality product that is feature-rich & has great form-factor, but the only "advertising" that prospective buyers see of it are the occasional vague spec-sheet disclosures prior to product release, or the random blog-site postings, and the market demographic is (for the most part) just going to fall back into line with what they know the most about, & what they are most comfortable with: the iPod.

The marketing of the product, IMO, is more key than a lot of the competitors seem to realize.....

 

[Skylab]

All that is true, but there is more -- you generally cannot gain market share with a parity product and parity pricing if you are the new entrant. To gain market share against a dominant competitor you need to offer a much better product at the same price, or a parity product at a much lower price, or ideally, a better product at a lower price.

 

[azncookiecutter]

Quite sad to say, but nothing is going to outsell the iPod. That being said, probably only the Clix and Gigabeat are going to do well. Now, iRiver, if you release a 4GB Clix, I'm interested...

 

[D555]

If iriver would offer a 100GB with Clix-type functions and features and widescreen, I'm in! I have the 1GB U10 and think it's great.

Paul

 

[PeeeMeS]

Dada code M and the $10 mp3 player were my favorites

 

[MD1032]

I actually like the looks of that Samsung Samsung YP-Z5. It not only looks as small as a Nano, it looks nicer. More rugged, actual buttons. The Sandisk Sansa e200 looks like the same story, both look like very nice players. And as has already been done many times, the Samsung YP-U2 looks like it walks all over the Shuffle with features like a screen.

 

[Cjattwood]

I prefer the other offering by Samsung:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...816573-7657236

It's slightly older, but has OGG support instead of an FM radio.

 

[Febs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skylab All that is true, but there is more -- you generally cannot gain market share with a parity product and parity pricing if you are the new entrant. To gain market share against a dominant competitor you need to offer a much better product at the same price, or a parity product at a much lower price, or ideally, a better product at a lower price.

This fits in nicely with my theory that anything that is labeled an "iPod killer," is not an ipod killer.