Microsoft's Tips for Buying an MP3 Player 784
An Anonymous Reader writes "In another extension of Microsoft's 'Plays for Sure' campaign, the company has launched a web page with six tips to help consumers purchase the 'correct' MP3 Player for them. Among the insights of the article hard drive-based players suck and a stopwatch is a useful feature to have on your player. Unsurprisingly, the iPod meets none of Microsoft's criteria. A humorous commentary is available, of course." From the article: "6. Don't get locked into one online store. Have you ever been on the hunt for a particular song? Some obscure indie rock tune or rare jazz performance you heard on the radio? You might have to shop at more than one store before you find the song you're looking for."
Why? (Score:1, Interesting)
I went to the site, and it doesn't look as bad as the leetspeek one, so I skimmed through it.
It's nice to see there isn't any obvious bias in the information, and it's pretty straight forward - I can fathom why they'd want to make a page like this, but it wouldn't stop anyone from purchasing that ever-so hip iPod/mini/shuffle/gumstick. However, what irks the hell out of me is the amount of songs that fit on the player is given using music in their proprietary format, wma @ 64kbps. Given that, it is a good way to suck in the novices (are there any left in the world?) and make them look for players that support WMA and such.
Harbl my harbl? Harbl.
why isn't there a Linux mp3 player? (Score:4, Interesting)
one thing that always bothered me (Score:5, Interesting)
how come mp3 players with fm radio are so hard to find?
doesn't it occur to manufacturers/ consumers how much functionality is added with so little effort by adding fm radio?
i have an iriver IFP-180T solely on the basis of it having an fm radio
how much does the fm radio circuitry add to the cost of an mp3 player? 50 cents?
will someone please enlighten me then how come fm radio is so hard to find in mp3 players?
Re:why isn't there a Linux mp3 player? (Score:5, Interesting)
CD Quality? (Score:5, Interesting)
"*Approximate figures based on CD-quality WMA (64 Kbps)"
Am I the only one who don't think 64kbps WMA is "CD quality", or is it because the quality of todays recordings on CDs are quite a lot worse than they used to be, of could I just be insane?
Make me doubt one fact, and I'll start doubting all facts...
Re:Well, in all fairness (Score:1, Interesting)
I guess what really moved me onto the ipod wasn't that it was sexy, or that it was an Apple, but it was the fact that I can scroll through the interface lightening quick. I haven't found anything even remotely close to its ease of use, and before lambasting me on being an Apple freak, I cross shop all the time, my 15gb ipod doesn't come close to holding my collection now, and if I could find something else that does the same things as easily I would buy it, assuming a price advantage.
I don't need the newest, fastest... I don't need it to play movies, show photos, reheat my cheese sandwich... I want to hear my music, and I want to be able to hear it when I want to, and I want to be able to find it intuitively and quickly. Until everyone else figures that out, Apple will get my money.
Re:why isn't there a Linux mp3 player? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Well, in all fairness (Score:4, Interesting)
Anyone know if this is true?
Re:Well, in all fairness (Score:2, Interesting)
agreed... my not-so-k00l, but fully functional, rca lyra http://www.rcaaudiovideo.com/Cultures/en-US/Model
but alas, i have yet to figure out if unca' bill's stopwatch is in there. i'd hate to not have one handy should bill want to use one next time i'm at the house (maybe to time how long it takes for his home pc to blue screen? i dunno).. oh, wait... there's already one of those stuck to my arm.. it's got TIMEX written on it.. fancy that.
the new sony walkmans are nice and small, has an even longer battery life than rca's, but lack memory expandability...
the THREE things i looked for were
a) memory expandability using off-the-shelf cards;
b) use a single standard battery (AA or AAA), and
c) mp3 & wma/drm (better selection of compatible online stores w/o having to burn and re-rip to mp3).
in a small package costing US$75. coulda got one for about 45, but i opted instead for additional internal memory. is it worth double the cash for white headphones and a stupid choker rope to hang it(me?) from? nope.
Tips for "Sane?" (Score:0, Interesting)
Before I answer your 5 criteria, I will say that it holds 5 Gigs, which is more than I ever will need (about 1800 songs at 128 kbit). Now:
1. It connects to the PC, and when synced, you can play music off of it through the simpl USB 2.0 connecter. (No bulky base station required) from which you can do anything wirelessly. As to easy access, while it takes about 2 seconds to write a song on USB 1.1, or less than a second with USB 2.0 (I only use 128kb) it takes VERY little time to load a song
2. having a CD player built into the base station would be costly and inefficient. The software that came with my rio allows you, if you wish, to rip music directly from a CD into the player (Unlike the ipod, although someone might tell me if this is possible to do with a mac to an ipod. It is not possible with a PC)
3. They do build car stereos with RCA inputs.
4.I agree with you here, and won't point out the obvious economic solutions...
5. For wireless headset, you can buy http://www.bigfrogmountain.com/soltronixsolarradi
Off topic: I also want to say that buying an MP3 player with a built in FM radio seems kind of pointless, unless it has a built in recorder that can upload to my PC. I could then edit out static/advertisements, etc. but I doubt any portable MP3 players on the market are capable of this.
Re:Tip #1: Buy tiny 20GB Archos (Score:4, Interesting)
It's small, it's cheap, but... does it suck?
Re:why isn't there a Linux mp3 player? (Score:2, Interesting)
People here should like Linux because it's open and hackable. That's a very geek specific selling point, but guess what site [slashdot.org] this is? To us geeks, the iPod Shuffle is as interesting as a pair of shoes: We might need it if we have to leave the house, but it's not worth paying attention to. An mp3 player with a proper OS, though
Re:why isn't there a Linux mp3 player? (Score:1, Interesting)
RTXC Architecture [quadros.com]
Glaser from RealNetworks on Plays for Sure (Score:2, Interesting)
Microsoft is making a mess of "Plays For Sure," its effort to provide an umbrella brand for non-Apple music players and download sites. "It makes the marketing for Microsoft Bob look masterful," he said. Which is not to say that he thinks marketing is the only issue. "They're taking a bunch of online sites that aren't that good, a bunch of products that aren't very good, and putting a logo on them. Every nickel they spend on this is a wasted nickel."
For a split second I thought about Baghdad Bob, but then, here's what his reference to Microsoft Bob means:
You may have heard jokes about some old failed Microsoft product called "Bob" or seen that big yellow smily face wearing nerdy glasses, and wondered "what the heck was that all about?".
Well, in early 1995 Microsoft released a software program called "Bob" designed to replace the desktop of Windows 3.1 and 95 with an interface designed mainly for novice users.
Microsoft held a big advertising campaign and loaded up stores with copies of Bob expecting huge sales. It totally flopped.
Found that at: Toastytech [toastytech.com]
Which makes me wonder, was Baghdad Bob named after Microsoft Bob after all?
CD Quality? (Score:5, Interesting)
What does that makes 128kb/s? Or 192kb/s? Sooperdooperaudiophonicbeyondcompare quality?
The only thing that is CD quality is...a CD. And while 128kb/s AAC is fine (and somewhat better than MP3 and WMA), it isn't even close to CD quality.
64kb/s? That isn't even FM radio quality. I'm not talking Clear Channel 99.something playing the top five hits over and over FM. I'm talking real FM quality (i.e. WGMS in Washington DC, or hundreds of PBS/NPR stations across the U.S.). Heck, I've not heard a WMA that I would compare to CD, and I'm not talking expensive stereos; I'm talking about listening on a stock car stereos.
I realize this is a silly rant, and there are people who listen who really can't tell the difference. But lets stop pretending on audio quality. It reminds of the 60's when every amplifier manufacturer was claming the most ridiculous power outputs until the government stepped in and made them stop.
All Stores, All the same music! (Score:3, Interesting)
Do the different "stores" actually have significantly different content, other than artificial differentiation (like Apple Records hating Apple Computer)? Should they? I mean, there's no significant overhead for online stores to carry every track out there.
In practice, online DRM-protected music distribution will tend to become a "natural monopoly" like operating system software. You'd have your choice of half a dozen Clear Channel Radio equivalents all with he same content and all tied together behind the scenes to Microsoft. Choice would become the choice of buying your copy of Windows XP from CompUSA or MicroCenter.
Meanwhile, the "obscure indie bands and rare jazz performances" can be found without DRM on a CD from the band's own website or Amazon. I buy individual tracks from iTMS, but when I go to buy an album I pay a bit more and wait a bit longer to get a "clean" version.
I've bought more CDs in the past couple of months, since I got my iPod, than I've bought in the past couple of years before it. This makes me wonder about the industry. I sometimes wonder if they're not pushing DRM-protected music so hard they're trying to hurt CD sales...
Re:Well, in all fairness (Score:2, Interesting)
I still have no reason to stop using my 2 year old Philips Sports CD/MP3 player/thingy which holds 700 MB per CD. In most cases, that's enough to hold any given artist's or band's complete works. And yes, I still drag around one of those CD casebooks (that multiplies my portable music holdings x 21, or 14 GB making round numbers) in my bag and I carry my own ready to go rechargeable batteries (another MAC fuckup, or so I have heard). The player never skips - and I mean never. It won't skip when you run or even if you hit it.
What I am missing is the size factor. That's right, the Shuffle kicks my player's ass for size. I guess the Shuffle is the size of a lighter. But my system has other features I find useful...
Then again, I go straight from personal player to car stereo with my burned MP3 CDs in EAC/LAME/VBR format. I don't need any extra devices (or cost for same) to negotiate between players because the players do not have talk to each other. The media they play is common between them. For that matter, I can take these burned CDs to any computer and still get joy from them. It is my habit to burn the install for Foobar 2K on each disk and close the disk session (making it readable on more drives). So I am covered with my personal Sport player, most DVD players (which also connects me to most stereos nowadays), most computers, and I also have a player in my car.
More than once I have had a friend listening to some rarer examples of my music holdings say something like, "This is good stuff. I never got around to buying anything by Foetus - but man, is it ever great." I turn right around and say: "Here, take this CD disk. It's his complete works to date. If you like it, support the artist."
This generosity costs me $0.15 or so for the media and I can go straight home and burn another identical CD from my music server. BTW, my 300 GB music server is duplicated offsite, away from my own home, and in the keeping of my nephew. Every six months I update my nephew's copy via a removeable drive, and at the same time I take away the latest Linkin Park tunes because he rips all of his music using my exact strategy to a particular directory.
Now before one of you corporate cocksucking copyrights assholes tries to whine about giving away another artist's complete works I have two things to say about that:
1] People have traded stuff like this since forever, we just did it on other media (cassette tapes, CDA CDs, etc) - remember in the movie "High Fidelity" when the protagonist keeps making those kick-ass tapes for his pals? Same deal here.
2] Catch the part where this isn't a music sale anyway, that's what "I never got around to buying anything by XXXXXXX" means. Given this new exposure, the artist might still gain a reward at his next concert or with his next music release. Given the specific example of Foetus, I'd say you do really want his album artwork and lyrics to hand - he does it all himself.
3] In the case of sharing my complete server contents with my nephew (indeed, the whole networked household over there) my purpose is to maintain a usable backup offsite. If they get use from it I consider it win-win. My nephew seems to like the directories for Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, Carlos Santana, and Astrud Gilberto.
Yeah, I know - the Linkin Park things defies all logic...
Re:Be sure to get that FM... (Score:3, Interesting)
Be sure to get that FM receiver option so you can listen to higher-quality music when you get tired of your 64 Kbps WMA collection.
Or rather, when there's quality programming you like to hear. Contratry to popular belief, there are plenty of things worth listening to which aren't music.
Radio is one of the key things I miss from my IPods.
Re:Well, in all fairness (Score:3, Interesting)
While colour screens add so much to the price, I think it's better to focus on monochrome screens, whilst doing R&D into colour.
Re:My advice for buying an mp3 player (Score:3, Interesting)
I really don't know where you are getting your information from, but I have a CD based MP3 player and I have never had it skip. You can jog, bike, and hike with the thing and never have a problem. Probably because with the internal cache memory in the player, it doesn't really have to hit the disc that much for more data once it is prebuffered. Plus, if you make sure to keep all of your songs in a library somewhere on a computer the size issue really isn't an issue, considering you can put enough songs on a 700MB cd to not have to worry about needing a new one until you can get to your car/house/tent/hotel or wherever else you can keep a CD wallet. I've had my player for 2 years now, and never had a real complaint with it. I use NiMH batteries in it and they last forever when im playing MP3's. It even sounds great, and I can burn to real cheap media, and make a million different combinations of songs without ever having to worry about deleting anything. As far as the size, the thing may not fit in your shirt pocket without looking funny, but it is the round super slim one so it will fit in just about any jacket pocket, or pants pocket. Provided your pants aren't super tight.
I just think you should look at all the pros and cons of things, not just the cons of one and the pros of another.
Re:Question everything you read (Score:3, Interesting)
It may be an ad, but it is disingenuously presented as information... Microsoft does this masterfully... their web site is a source for knowledge base articles, a source for patches and updates, AND it is a kiosk for all their wares. But the lines blur here when compared to an ad in a normal context, e.g., a magazine (granted, some play fancy tricks to make magazine ads look like news but apparently there's a requirement they MUST put a disclaimer), a TV ad, etc.
To the ad-unaware, this looks like a "howto" on purchasing mp3 players, not a shill for Microsoft.
(Still, all of your points are valid... good post.)
Do You Get the Shuffle? (Score:4, Interesting)
Here is how I use the shuffle. Load up the device with songs for your mood. Then excercise, but that might take 45 minutes or an hour and a half. Repeat for six or seven times. At the end of the week reload with new songs.
If you don't like the shuffle, well the shuffle is not for you. It is for me for people who literally count the grams that they have to carry when they are out and about.
Re:Tip #1: Buy tiny 20GB Archos (Score:4, Interesting)
The Gminis do support a proprietary database format, ARCLibrary. If you create the database and enable this functionality you can use it as well as the directory structure. Archos tells you that you need to use MusicMatch Jukebox to create the library but now there's an open source program [sourceforge.net] that does it.
Regarding navigation, scrolling through a long list like a list of all albums is kind of annoying. However I organize my music in a more intelligent hierarchical way and I don't have any complaints about navigation.
I do have some complaints about other things though. The Gmini 220 sometimes ignores button presses while the hard drive is being accessed. The FM remote crashes once in a while and needs to be unplugged and plugged back in. The player also sometimes skips for no good reason.
Re:Well, in all fairness (Score:3, Interesting)
Seriously, I don't need 40GB of space, I just want to play my songs from itms. The shuffle is finally an iPod at a price point "normal" people like me can afford. While the Photo iPod is way cool, I can't justify paying that much for a what amounts to a "toy".
iPod Shuffle works great for it's intended purpose. I keep my autofill on "top rated" and 1 mouse click "shuffles" the music and I'm on my way. It's not that it has more features than the other players, it's that the few features it does have work perfectly...out of the box. It took me longer to do the "paperwork" [i.e. register and install software] than it did to actually put the songs on the iPod. I keep mine in my coat pocket and it plays for almost a week between work and home...and I've only gotta push 1 button to start and stop it!
Re:Well, in all fairness (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't think any HD based player since the iPod (and probably models before it) are even capable of skipping for the same reasons.
Re:Well, in all fairness (Score:5, Interesting)
Of course, you refer to using recordable CDs as an "utterly disposable format" so I guess you're one of those folks who thinks that plastic comes from the magic plastic tree and that when you put things into the trash can, they magically "go away".
Unfortunately, in the world I live in, we have landfills, batteries and plastic require raw materials and energy to create and are difficult to actually degrade into their components.
But hey - why consider anything but your own convenience when buying a product?
And for those ready to complain about Apple's "proprietary" battery, I think $100.00 every couple of years for a thin-pack L-Ion battery, proper disposal of said battery, and a product that doesn't eat little toxic sausages constantly is a pretty fair price to pay. YMMV.
Re:Do You Get the Shuffle? (Score:3, Interesting)
You spent 100usd on a 512 shuffle. You get a
I spent 110usd(shipped) on a muvo micro n200 512mb player. I got a
Same Weight. Mine came w/ armstrap, earbuds, usb cord, line in converter(smaller form factor) and a few other things.
Which was the better buy for "your" situation considering my n200 has shuffle mode also?
I looked at the shuffle when i looked at what to buy; but its just not there. Overpriced for what you get. This is all IMO from looking the flash player market over closely about 2 months ago by the way.
Music Player ... or Pocket PC? (Score:2, Interesting)
1) The basics - my PPC uses (64 MB) SD and (512 MB) CF memory to hold a lot of 256 kbps MP3 files. I can take it jogging, in the NYC subway, and at work, and attach it to my belt with a nice hard plastic clamshell to protect my Dell Axim.
2) All the goodies - you mean you have FM radio and included speakers? I can have GPS, games, and develop MY OWN PROGRAMS for my music player. Oh, and voice recorder, notes ability, and Office sync. And this other thing called WiFi. Woohoo!
3) My display is more intuitive than yours! And I can view web pages on mine...
4) I can access and stream online (ad-free) radio stations using a free player with the little wiFi available...or pay for an FM-enabled CF upgrade.
5) Pick the right size, eh? And upgrade at a whim...using my mix of 32, 64, 256, and 512 MB CF and SD cards, I can fit a iPod shuffle's worth and then some...oh, and would you believe WMP on the PPC actually has this "shuffle" feature. STOP THE PRESSES!
6) Online store...whatever. I can use iTunes to "buy" songs if I wish or get them free through various promos (Paypal, Pepsi, etc.) and burn them from to a CD. Then, using Musicmatch, burn them to hi-quality MP3s and copy to my PPC. DRM...oh that! Oh, and I can play WMAs on my PPC...can you do that on your iPod?
And the funny thing is these PPCs when there's a Slickdeal [slickdeals.net], can be cheaper than the 20GB iPod and much more useful as an all-in-one device. Which is why I canceled my order for an iPod shuffle...twice, because I couldn't live with myself if I bought that rip-off. Anyway, with computers so ubiquitous today, how often do you really use the full 12+ hours of music on YOUR device without "plugging in"?
And what else is cool...I wear my Axim in a sexy silver clamshell and turn more heads than an iPod because it is...different. They ask, "You mean...that's a computer? Cool!" Otherwise, "Oh, another iPod - that's SO 2004!"
Re:Do You Get the Shuffle? (Score:2, Interesting)
[Disclaimer: I'm a user who enjoys the Apple experience, and was recently given a shuffle (my first iPod) as a present, and I'm very happy with it.]
Rule 7? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Do You Get the Shuffle? (Score:2, Interesting)
The shuffle. If I wanted to listen to FM radio, I'd already have a FM radio. I got a music player because I think FM programming sucks--too much repetition, too much talk, etc. And it doesn't work in the subway.
A screen simply takes up space, adds cost, and is one more thing to go wrong. I own a 20GB iPod, but I never use the screen at all; I run it exclusively in shuffle mode.