Creative CEO talks about the iPod

[Disheveled DrFreeze]

I will relent to Dr Freeze about the pricing in Europe, I forgot that Apple screws everyone outside the US.

I've heard a lot of people complaining about that, but I don't think its true. For example, the 512MB version of the iPod Shuffle costs $99US in America and ?69GBP over here. That is pretty much exactly the exchange rate of a few years ago.

Now, of course, the exchange rate is a lot different, because the dollar isn't very strong at the moment. Why should Apple lower their prices in every other market just because the US dollar is performing poorly?

You can change that "apple" into "everyone" the same goes for games, software, pretty much everything, take the gba sp for example, it costs $79 in the US, but it costs ? 99 in europe, which works out to 120 dollars, its actually a lot cheaper for me to import a US gba sp then to go to a store over here and buy one, i think thats pretty fucked up right there

[Nyarlathotep]

I will relent to Dr Freeze about the pricing in Europe, I forgot that Apple screws everyone outside the US.

I've heard a lot of people complaining about that, but I don't think its true. For example, the 512MB version of the iPod Shuffle costs $99US in America and ?69GBP over here. That is pretty much exactly the exchange rate of a few years ago.

Now, of course, the exchange rate is a lot different, because the dollar isn't very strong at the moment. Why should Apple lower their prices in every other market just because the US dollar is performing poorly?

You can change that "apple" into "everyone" the same goes for games, software, pretty much everything, take the gba sp for example, it costs $79 in the US, but it costs ? 99 in europe, which works out to 120 dollars, its actually a lot cheaper for me to import a US gba sp then to go to a store over here and buy one, i think thats pretty fudge up right there

It's not *really* Americas fault that their economy is pretty horribly screwed up at the moment.
Only just over half of the people who bothered to vote voted for the guy in power at the moment, which is, what, 10% of the population?

[Disheveled DrFreeze]

well, im not blaming americans, im just saying every single company out there is just screwing us europeans with a 1:1 conversion even when the euro is worth quite a bit more then the dollar

[Nick]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... otohosting

You can get a 512 MB USB Drive for like $40.

A few years ago, the dollar was worth around .10 to .15 cents more than the Euro.

[DeAthWaGer]

can you use the ipod shuffle as a regular flash drive as well? If so, I think it's not bad for people like me.

I LOVE hard drive MP3 players, but I don't like the interface or features of most of them. I really don't like the i-pod because of the wheel (yes I know there's a button relocator now) and the fact that you can't simply store files on it (well, that's what everyone who owns one says, so I doubt them slightly). The i-River stuff is decent. I'd probably buy Sony's one but I hear it's STILL just adtrack. I'm not about to sit through that same process I did with my minidisc player of all that MP3 to adtrac conversion.

My solution (for myself), is use SD cards that I dedicate for music on my Zodiac with pretty much random songs for the week. Good interface, fast transfer. The price of SD cards will improve... eventually... I hope... because I'd really like a nice big one...

but until I find an HD MP3 player, that I really like, that can hold ALL of my music because I'm insane like that, I won't bother with a hard drive based one for now. I have thousands of CDs worth of music, if I put it all in 192kbs mp3 format it'll be ridiculous and amazing... putting that on random at a party would be insane.

[az_bont]

A few years ago, the dollar was worth around .10 to .15 cents more than the Euro.

When was this?

When the Euro was first introduced, it started at a 1:1 ratio with the $USD. It stayed roughly the same for ages, and I don't ever remember it changing a great deal until the dollar started dropping quicker than a whore's drawers a few years ago.

[Nick]

When I went to Italy two years ago, the Euro was around .90 cents or so of a dollar. It might not of dropped to .15 cents, but I do remember it being .90 cents. Of course, after exhanging money and all that crap, it ended up being 1:1...damn banks.

[mkjones]

What put me off was how a guy at work got one, then one of the IT training department people asked to have a "play" to see if they liked it and would get one.....

She couldnt use it, at all, she had no idea, first question was: "where is the screen?"

Its an un-usable overpriced peice of crap, sub 1gb media players will all be pointless soon anyway as most mobile phones are coming with SD slots that can reach this capacity and have media players built in. Why carry 2 things?

[Nick]

And those mobile phones will probably come free (if they don't already) from your service too! And SD is cheap too.

[mkjones]

And those mobile phones will probably come free (if they don't already) from your service too! And SD is cheap too.

Yes much like my Orange SPV did which sadly only takes MiniSD cards that can only reach around 521mb at the moment. 1gb is out there but try finding a UK suplier if you dare

[BlackAura]

and the fact that you can't simply store files on it

You can, actually. But you have to use iTunes (or some other specialized program, there are a few of them available now) to put songs on it and have the player recognize them.

[atf487]

What put me off was how a guy at work got one, then one of the IT training department people asked to have a "play" to see if they liked it and would get one.....

She couldnt use it, at all, she had no idea, first question was: "where is the screen?"

Its an un-usable overpriced peice of crap, sub 1gb media players will all be pointless soon anyway as most mobile phones are coming with SD slots that can reach this capacity and have media players built in. Why carry 2 things?

Am I the only person who doesn't want my cell phone playing mp3's?

either it'll sound like sh*t or it'll be really weird to run with and such.

[az_bont]

Buying a mobile phone to play MP3s on is always going to be silly. You will never get the same battery life out of a phone as you will a dedicated MP3 player - and, even worse, once you've used up all the battery playing MP3s you'll no longer be able to make phone calls. They're more fiddly to use - you can't just grope around in your pocket and immediatley find the play button. They're also bigger and heavier, because of all the phone features they require. And when you're listening to music on a phone, its hard work texting/talking to someone whilst remaining in control of your music.

Multi-purpose devices aren't all they're cracked up to be. Instead of getting lots of single-purpose devices that work well, you get a device that does a host of different things but in a rather mediocre way. Plus you've got a single point of failure, too.

[Orange_Ribbon]

Considering the fact that the closest Creative competitor is $30-$50 more expensive, how exactly is the iPod Shuffle too expensive?

Admittedly there are more features on the creative version, but it's not that great a difference in sheer part cost.

As for your old school Muvo, how large was it (physically and capacity wise), and how much did you pay for it then? Something tells me unless you got it used, it wasn't like the cost of the shuffle now...

I bought my little brother (ok, so he's almost 14) a 512MB shuffle for his b-day (coming in April.) It's perfect for him, small, no screen to crack / break, if he loses it, it's not that big a deal, and can hold a reasonable amount of music.

Value is a question depending on your needs, and as evidenced by the amount of sales Apple's had thus far on the shuffle, I'd say that the rest of the world believes Creative is a little less so than their CEO would like to think

4 years ago I got a Achos 6 gig Mp3 player and I paid 140ish for it. Sorry but the Shuffle is overpriced. When ever you buy a product by a well known name brand it is going to be WAY over priced.

And how big was that thing? What was the battery life? What did it weigh? Did it interface as seamlessly as an iPod (read: Could your mother / grandmother use it?) Not to mention by your logic, any of the creative items are overpriced because they're not 6 gig...

I will relent to Dr Freeze about the pricing in Europe, I forgot that Apple screws everyone outside the US.

My main comment is that it's not overpriced for what it is, a simple usable larger capacity flash interfaced music player. Considering the capacity / cost of some USB Memory sticks by themselves (that can't play music), it's not all that bad.

Less than a LB, It is not in front of meso I can't relay size, but it is NOT that much bigger than an Ipod. My mother has used it, my grandmother hasn't mainly because I don't live with her, but I am willing to bet she can because it uses the standard symbols for play, foward, and backward and stop. And when I got it the batteries would last my about 4 to 5 hours. Now they don't But they gave me replacment batteries so that can be easily fixxed, and the fact the batties are 4 years old.

Also yes I agree with the creative, but not the Achos players. They are decent price wise.

[toastman]

What put me off was how a guy at work got one, then one of the IT training department people asked to have a "play" to see if they liked it and would get one.....

She couldnt use it, at all, she had no idea, first question was: "where is the screen?"

Its an un-usable overpriced peice of crap, sub 1gb media players will all be pointless soon anyway as most mobile phones are coming with SD slots that can reach this capacity and have media players built in. Why carry 2 things?

My friend has the Motorola MPx220 (or something like that). The speaker is shit. It sounds like you are listening to it on a poorly received FM station. And I've seen him take a few pictures, and from the judge of things, either the screen or the camera isn't too hot either. And it's huge. Huge. Bigger than my old phone.
He just went in and bought Best Buy's most expensive phone. Meh.

[pixel]

the fact that you can't simply store files on it (well, that's what everyone who owns one says, so I doubt them slightly).

Don't listen to them anymore.

[mkjones]

My friend has the Motorola MPx220 (or something like that). The speaker is poop. It sounds like you are listening to it on a poorly received FM station. And I've seen him take a few pictures, and from the judge of things, either the screen or the camera isn't too hot either. And it's huge. Huge. Bigger than my old phone.
He just went in and bought Best Buy's most expensive phone. Meh.

Sounds like a crap phone, he should have shopped around

Give mobiles time and they will replace media players, its certain.

[Disheveled DrFreeze]

Buying a mobile phone to play MP3s on is always going to be silly. You will never get the same battery life out of a phone as you will a dedicated MP3 player - and, even worse, once you've used up all the battery playing MP3s you'll no longer be able to make phone calls. They're more fiddly to use - you can't just grope around in your pocket and immediatley find the play button. They're also bigger and heavier, because of all the phone features they require. And when you're listening to music on a phone, its hard work texting/talking to someone whilst remaining in control of your music.

Multi-purpose devices aren't all they're cracked up to be. Instead of getting lots of single-purpose devices that work well, you get a device that does a host of different things but in a rather mediocre way. Plus you've got a single point of failure, too.

my exact reasons for not getting an ngage, sure its a phone, sure its a mp3 player, sure its a game machine, but they all run of the same battery, add to this the fact i listen to my mp3 player easily 2 hours a day, some days even up to 6 hours, and you will come to the conclusion i would end up with a dead phone somewhere on the road way to often

with the games draining my cell phone, i wouldnt feel comfortable playig games

[Nick]

Well, in Japan they're pretty good, but over here we get f'ed with stupid sh*t like the razor.

[sixteen-bit]

And when you're listening to music on a phone, its hard work texting/talking to someone whilst remaining in control of your music.

Speaking as someone who's tried that out, it's not so hard. You just use the phone equivalent of alt-tab to switch between apps. Sure, you have to pause message composition for a second or two but that's not too taxing. Of course, the sound quality is usually pretty miserable; battery life does suck (listen to 4 hours of music and you've taken your phone out of action until your next dock / charge) and some phones use that stupid 2.5mm stereo jack, requiring an adapter.