[ricola_pak]

Why can't the manufacturers in the MP3 player industry design the "perfect" machine?

There is always one that has replaceable battery and another one that doesn't. Then there's always one that does gapless playback and another one that doesn't. The list goes on and on but there's never one that has everything in one!

It's no secret to anyone what one player has and what another player doesn't have. Why can't a company just smarten up and design a player that has every feature its rival has? I personally don't think increased cost can be an excuse - for example if Creative can afford to add FM radio to its micro players, why can't Apple do the same?


Another question is: why don't companies like Creative and Rio learn from Apple's designs? The iPod and iBook etc are all very simple - white, rounded corners, no fuzzy chromed rims around the screen etc. Why do companies like iRiver have to "purposely" make players that simply don't look good?

 

[gregr507]

I agree with you about the features thing, but as far as the style of them goes, everybody has different tastes. Personally I don't think the i-pods look that cool, I prefer the look of the iriver.

 

[sony_man]

its their uniqueness i guess. if you want such a bulky machine then thats your choice. if you truly want portability, than you must sacrifice some luxuries such as the FM radio. i live fine with out one in my ipod. plus, if you ran alkaline batteries on the ipod or the ipod mini, it'll be twice the size. also if you think about it, to recieve an 8 hour battery life out of that little lithium battery is a miracle itself (it has to run an HD, light a giant 2 inch screen, amp headphones, power headphones, recieve control commands, open hard drive to search it....etc).

 

[ricola_pak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sony_man if you want such a bulky machine then thats your choice. if you truly want portability, than you must sacrifice some luxuries such as the FM radio. i live fine with out one in my ipod. plus, if you ran alkaline batteries on the ipod or the ipod mini, it'll be twice the size.

The Zen Micro has replaceable battery, FM radio, and is as small as it gets, wouldn't you agree?

 

[Beethovenian]

Good thread. Indeed, there's nothing remotely close to perfect. To me, the perfect would be one that had the integration software/player of the iPod, the design and size of Sony's NW-HD1 and the features and sound quality of the Karma. Player's UI could be a mix of the three. Oh, and preferably with 60 or more gigabytes.

 

[dosun]

Quote:

Why can't the manufacturers in the MP3 player industry design the "perfect" machine?

Because everybody's conception of the perfect machine is different. Person A may be willing to sacrifice the radio for smaller size. Person B might want to sacrifice portability for the ability to take and view pictures.

 

[remilard]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dosun Because everybody's conception of the perfect machine is different. Person A may be willing to sacrifice the radio for smaller size. Person B might want to sacrifice portability for the ability to take and view pictures.

Exactly. I want digital out and gapless, many people don't care about one of those but want fm or voice recording, which I don't want. You could build a DAP with all features, but it would be too bulky and expensive to be perfect.

 

[BowerR64]

All i want is 1 gig flash and a camera all built into my phone and thats it. When it rings i push a button my music mutes then i can send a picture to my gf of my crash because she just called me in the middle of the best rail slide ever!

 

[D555]

No person is the same as another person. One person's perfection is another's annoynace.

Still, it would seem that if the company's marketers and researchers did their jobs properly, a set of useful "minimum requirements" could be developed. No doubt "building to a price point" figures heavily into what products/features are being offered.

Paul

 

[sc53]

I agree with everyone who stated the obvious fact that everyone's taste is different. I think the Zen Micro looks clunky and dumb but think all the iPods and the Rio Carbon look super cool! I wish the Pod batteries were better; after about 9 months my 3G 40gb only plays Lossless files for about 2 hrs before battery is dead. I guess I need a new one (battery) but not sure how easy it is to replace on my own. I don't want or need FM radio and would be afraid that it would interfere with/degrade my audio files playback. Digital out would be cool but not if it made the Pods any bigger than they are or the battery life any worse. To me 5 gb is ridiculously small; the players should all be 20 gb or more.

 

[raymondlin]

Contentment is what you need for a perfect machine.

Just think back, 5 years ago if someone had given you a Ipod mini for $200, you would have snapped it up in a heartbeat. It's just things moved on so fast now, what's decent one minute is superceeded by a newer and better product. just because one company introduce a new feature, it doesn't make the other models less good without that feature, you knew full well it wouldn't do those things when you bought them.

Personally i want something between a ipdd cross over with a dvd/divx player in the size of my mobile phone with a flip screen.

it'll be here one day, just one day !

 

[Aman]

Don't forget to mention multiple codec playback!

One thing that bugged me for a LONG time was that none of these mainstream HD MP3 Players had support for Ogg Vorbis accept for the iRiver, but I feel that it was a bit too big for my tastes.

So, I hear this new mp3 player, the iAudio, is supposed to be fantastic. (No, this is not anything from apple, just some sort of japanese company). It has support for all 3 major OSes, Linux, Mac OSX, and Windows. It has multi-codec playback. The battery life is supposed to be fantastic, interface clean and easy to use, "stylish" if that's your thing, (it doesn't even have a screen, the remote control has the screen on it!). I don't know about gapless playback, but it seems to me that this player is the most "perfect" player on the market now, and it does have an incredibly small formfactor for all of these specs. Oh, did I mention it DOES have the FM radio tuner?

 

[Krishna]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aman Don't forget to mention multiple codec playback! One thing that bugged me for a LONG time was that none of these mainstream HD MP3 Players had support for Ogg Vorbis accept for the iRiver, but I feel that it was a bit too big for my tastes. So, I hear this new mp3 player, the iAudio, is supposed to be fantastic. (No, this is not anything from apple, just some sort of japanese company). It has support for all 3 major OSes, Linux, Mac OSX, and Windows. It has multi-codec playback. The battery life is supposed to be fantastic, interface clean and easy to use, "stylish" if that's your thing, (it doesn't even have a screen, the remote control has the screen on it!). I don't know about gapless playback, but it seems to me that this player is the most "perfect" player on the market now, and it does have an incredibly small formfactor for all of these specs. Oh, did I mention it DOES have the FM radio tuner?

Iaudio is Korean based company actually. I don't have one but from what I have read the control is fairly good, not great, but the remote only operation can get annoying. Also it has nearly gapless playback, but not gapless. Finally is supposedly sounds extremely good, like Karma/Zen good.

They are coming out with with two new models in the coming months, the M5L and the X5. Both have screens on the unit, but the X5 has color one, and the M5L has a proposed 36hr battery life. These are both on the top of my list for my next DAP.

 

[phasion]

Wow 36 Hrs of battery life! I look foward to the releases of these 2 new Iaudio products. Is the firmware for the M3 upgradable?

 

[easypeasy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by raymondlin Contentment is what you need for a perfect machine. Just think back, 5 years ago if someone had given you a Ipod mini for $200, you would have snapped it up in a heartbeat. It's just things moved on so fast now, what's decent one minute is superceeded by a newer and better product. just because one company introduce a new feature, it doesn't make the other models less good without that feature, you knew full well it wouldn't do those things when you bought them. Personally i want something between a ipdd cross over with a dvd/divx player in the size of my mobile phone with a flip screen. it'll be here one day, just one day !

Except the small flip screen, iRiver's already plays movies with a firmware upgrade. This is surely amazing