[SoulSyde]

2010 will be known as the Year of the Tablet.  In an amazing turn of events we also saw the mighty iPhone fall from its pedestal, taking 2nd place to the Android OS (in terms of U.S. sales).  It's no coincidence that very few new DAPs were released in 2010.  Manufacturers spent a ton of their efforts creating and marketing phones, tablets, mids - just about anything other than dedicated music players.
 
I remember when portable equipment manufacturers were racing to one-up each other on features, capacity, types of alternative storage, UI tweaks and battery life.  Now it seems that the "upgrades" for dedicated music devices are few and far between.
 
Is it me, or are manufacturers focusing too much of their efforts on cramming tons of features into phones and in turn leaving audiophiles and the like left out in the cold with rehashed technology?  
 
Heck, I'm evening thinking about purchasing a 7" Android tablet as my primary portable device.
 
It saddens me to have to ask the following question, but could this be the death of the DAP as we know it?
 
Discuss...

 

[BotByte]

We need to wait for a new BIG improvement, like what happened with touch screens
 
Still, I will never buy something to fit into my big pockets. If I need to, i have 150gb on my Eee Pc

 

[a_tumiwa]

nope.... tablet is not as portable as DAP , i dont want to bring something big that cannot fit my pocket like ipad to my office 

 

[buffalowings]

Ipod classic forever...it's classic, only dedicated DAP left in the apple lineup minus the shuffle...I was pretty distraught when they didn't make any revisions at all, not even a capacity bump or new color scheme

 

[romeyp]

I have a 7" Nook Color which I reviewed in another post, and I can tell you that as much as I enjoy it, it is not going to replace a DAP just due to size if you are concerned about it being portable.
Sound quality wise it is still not there yet, but I feel with the correct apps and more manufacture focus they will get there.
I can see them nearly wiping out laptops. They are almost able to perform all of the task that a laptop can do. Once they increase in storage size or we start to rely on cloud computing more we will be ready to leave physical keyboards behind.
Not there yet, but we can see it coming.

 

[cowjuan]

i hope not. i really hate phones. hopefully some groundbreaking technology for daps develops... but that seems unlikely.

 

[BotByte]

Quote:

i hope not. i really hate phones. hopefully some groundbreaking technology for daps develops... but that seems unlikely.

Well, there is always, ALWAYS ways to improve on things.
 
example:
.....
Well,....
....
.

 

[Mad Max]

lol
 
I still see plenty of people out and about with mp3 players, but I see more often people using their cellphones for music playback.  I've seen iphones and HTCs or HTC-looking phones most, but that's just people whom I have observed.  I know all of my friends use their phones for music playback, I'm the only one with a DAP at all.
 
I don't think it may necessarily be the death of the dedicated player, but rather a drop in its popularity, perhaps.  I wouldn't know for sure.

 

[SoulSyde]

More material to possibly spark additional debate and/or constructive discussions:
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/534630/an-open-letter-to-sony#post_7211005

 

[estreeter]

- I am astounded that Apple are still making several different models of the iPod : clearly, there is still a market for the dedicated DAP. From the glowing reviews that the SQ on the iPhone (and at least one Nokia model) receives here, it doesnt seem to be a big deal for manufacturers to build decent sound into a phone - its a logical progression that the DAP *should* go the way of the cassette walkman.
 
- at the other end of the market, I suspect you might have forgotten the kiddies who cant necessarily afford an iPhone. Go to a market anywhere in Asia and you will find rows of iPod Nano clones - crap, but cheap crap - and who can ignore the Clip+ for sheer value over even the most basic smartphone ?
 
- finally, if the HiFiMan/Colorfly/TLS players are any indication, dedicated portable music players aimed at the audiophile *should* get better over the coming years. Unlike the smartphone and the cheapie DAPs, these have a very specific market, and one which values sound quality of touchscreen geegaws.

 

[Somnambulist]

Quote:

2010 will be known as the Year of the Tablet.  In an amazing turn of events we also saw the mighty iPhone fall from its pedestal, taking 2nd place to the Android OS (in terms of U.S. sales).  It's no coincidence that very few new DAPs were released in 2010.  Manufacturers spent a ton of their efforts creating and marketing phones, tablets, mids - just about anything other than dedicated music players.

This wasn't really surprising given how many different handsets use the Android OS. I'd say about 90% of smartphones run Android at the moment, with a handful of W7 ones out/coming out. Only 2 versions of the iPhone on sale (3GS and 4).
 
But yeah, single-use devices are a bit 'old fashioned' for most since joe public expect devices that do everything reasonably well (which they do, to be fair).

 

[SoulSyde]

Quote:

But yeah, single-use devices are a bit 'old fashioned' for most since joe public expect devices that do everything reasonably well (which they do, to be fair).

I agree... but I've never been one to adopt the "do everything well and master nothing" philosophy.  

 

[yifu]

Most people generally like to carry just 1 device around for camera, DAP and phone needs so for general consumerism the DAP age should be over mostly, unless you are that jogger who uses a ipod shuffle or a clip on for running. Even for audiophiles, many of us are happy to just carry a phone and an amp for portable use (maybe thats just me) since outside the details that are available in better DAPs are lost in the noise. 

 

[Somnambulist]

Jack of all trades, master of none, yeah. It's not black and white though, just shades of grey (i.e. depends how many compromises you're willing to live with), e.g. that iPod portable DAC I keep prattling on about in threads; finally a way to get a true digital out from the iPod... should mean a marriage between the great UI and super sound quality... BUT it's a) expensive b) quite big.
 
Same for anything really. I'd love a guitar that did everything amazingly well, but it doesn't work like that - specific woods, construction, pickups, neck shapes and all sorts of things have strengths and weaknesses.

 

[estreeter]

Quote:

I agree... but I've never been one to adopt the "do everything well and master nothing" philosophy.  

Again, I believe that many of us over-estimate the impact of audiophile wishlists on the majority on mass market electronics. Most of us will recall when you bought a dedicated soundcard as a matter of course when upgarding a PC for gaming - I suspect that we both know gamers who will spend anywhere up to 1K on a new graphics card yet settle for onboard sound. Rip open a box of Logitech speakers and they are into it - I'm not saying that there arent gamers out there who will spend up big on audio, but generally its 'good enough'. The smartphone is 'good enough' sonically for Average Joe.