#11: Santa busy making media players

Sigh. When will they get it? The iPod isn't just a piece of hardware. It's hardware+software+service -- a complete package, integrated at a level most of these manufacturers simply aren't equipped to appreciate. These "iPod killers" are doomed before they leave the factory.

Next they'll be selling TVs without any inputs. Good luck with that.

There will never be an Ipod killer. Maybe the market will change and devices will change, but I have a feeling Apple will be on top for awhile. In the meantime, M$ (I know we are not suppose to talk about them) can do a exclusive deal with Sony and DRM the hell out of the world.

Wow, most of those are just hideous. I have qualms with the shiny metal back of the iPod, but these things just look like they've been hit with the ugly stick a few too many times.

how can they be ipod killers when most of them look like a IPOD?

Comment by Splashman

"It’s hardware+software+service — a complete package, integrated at a level most of these manufacturers simply aren’t equipped to appreciate."

So why can't MS do the same? To me when you say "It’s hardware+software+service" its like you are spelling MONOPOLY? Why does Apple not get spanked for having the biggest Monopoly on music to date?

Why does MS get all sorts of flack when then want to mimic this success, is that fair, you say manufacturers simply aren't equipped or get it? Not so I think it is all the trolls out there that if suddenly there was

CREATIVE+MSMEDIAPLAYER+MSNMUSIC you guys would all be like NO NO YOU CAN'T DO THAT! NOPE MICROSOFT CANNOT DO THAT, IF THEY DID THAT IT WOULD NOT BE FAIR, WAA... WAAAA... NO THATS NOT FAIR.

well why is it fair for Apple?????

Monopoly? Don't make me laugh. Give me a friggin break. And ditch the caps lock so you look less of a fool.

For one, Apple does not have a monopoly on anything. Music they certainly do not. There are tons of other music players, tons of other music software, and even plenty of music download services. Monopoly? My god, I hate to be an ass, but that may be the most absurd thing I've ever seen posted on this blog.

Man, I could go on and on. If Scoble said something like that, Coulter and Goebbels would be on him about that for YEARS. I wouldn't be surprised to see them posting in here soon as well.

I no longer think of iPod "killers" as killers at all, but as sacrifical lambs offered up to Apple.

This needs to stop, what we need to kill the ipod is a totally new class of device. Not just another MP3 player, because that's what all these "killers" are. Just another freaking mp3 player!

We need a new device, in a new catagory, that will take off with the sucess that apple has had with the ipod.

Mark my words, that device will be a mobile phone. But not just any mobile, one that everyone from buisness men to consumers would love to own. Just as a treo is indispensable to anyone working as a pro, and a sidekick that teens love, there will be one device to rule them all. A smart phone so attractive that it will be craved by the market in no time.

The design needs to be executed right, as well as the software, as well as the input method (both the treo and sidekick have qwerty keyboards)

The nokia internet tablet is nice but it just isn't there yet. there will be something out on the horizon, the ultimate smartphone that will have a killer app, probably video playing, sharing, recording.

2006 will be an interesting year, and like I said Scoble, I don't think 2006 will be the year of HD, for early adopters we've been enjoying HD for a while now, but HD won't take off until you see movies and players avilable for reasonable prices.

I highly recommend anyone into this sort of stuff check out and subscribe to engadget and gizmodo. 2 very nice technology blogs!

Stefan, it won't be a phone. If you could use any phone with any carrier, then yeah, maybe. But cluster**** that is the mobile carrier market insures that won't happen.

The whole concpet of an iPod killer, is, of course, bankrupt at this point.

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