I don't doubt that this will be a nice DAP, but I'm not going to 'admire' this choreographed publicity offensive.
Putting glossy, pretentious ads in 'Absolute Sound' basically sums up what this is about - employing an advertising agency, at great expense, to attempt to 'condition' the minds of the DAP-buying public into believing that a product is worth substantially more than the hardware actually is. And that all began with creating a contrived 'posh'-sounding name.
The big joke of all this is that while iRiver are trying to charge the earth for their DAPs, their engineers are producing, for the most part, some really nicely-engineered hardware that could make iRiver a small fortune if only they'd stop being greedy and sell it at fair market value. They'd sell like hotcakes, iRiver's customer base would expand dramatically, and both iRiver and customers would be in a happy situation.
Before anyone accuses me of 'sour grapes' - that would be both incorrect and missing the point. There are plenty of very wealthy individuals who refuse to pay inflated prices for goods, but you just don't notice them because they're not the ones 'flashing the cash'. Many a millionaire buys secondhand cars, for example, but you only ever hear about the ones flashing the cash for new ones in fancy dealership showrooms.
Will I look at the AK240 and wish I had one? - Maybe.
But will I look at it and think "If I had the money, I'd buy that" - No, not necessarily.
No matter how much money a person may have, it is not nice to be overcharged, just because of expensive, orchestrated, glossy marketing of a supposed 'High-end brand name'.
I'm not knocking the DAP - I'm sure it will be a wonderful piece of engineering, and congratulations to the engineers working behind the scenes to produce a mini masterpiece.
What I'm knocking is the pretentious marketing and probable exorbitant price tag. ...and if, by some stroke of genius, iRiver surprise us all and offer this at a fair price, I'll very happily eat my words. Really, I will.
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