The iPod: Razor or Blade?

PBS technology columnist Robert X. Cringley has some thoughts on whether the iPod is a razor or blade, in the sense of selling single razors at a loss while selling profitable blades over and over.

According to Cringely, the margins on the iPod Mini are 30% for retail sales and 60% for Minis bought at full price from the Apple site. On the other hand, the profit on a iTunes song is around $0.20. Even though Apple sells millions of songs though iTunes, Cringely still thinks that the iPod is the blade.

While the iPod is most definitely a "blade", we don't exactly agree with him on the relationship between the iPod and iTunes. We're still convinced that Apple very much thinks of iTunes as a blade as well because it wants its DRM system to be the eventual winner against Microsoft's WMA system. We think that this is the reason why Apple cut the iPod's price by $100 last year and is now selling the iTunes-compatible Shuffle for less than $100. [Via Slashdot]

The Story of the First MP3 Player

CNet has an article on what is believed to be the first MP3 player, the Eiger Labs MPMan. It's kind of interesting story about how the MPMan (known as the MPMan F10 and F20 in the US) was eclipsed by Rio's first MP3 player, the PMP300, because of the RIAA suing US-based Diamond instead of Korea-based Eiger Labs.

iPod Rumor Mill Back in Action

The MacWorld show that brought us the new Apple Shuffle was only 2 weeks ago, but new iPod rumors are already circulating. The source, once again, is ThinkSecret. They got the scoop on the Shuffle first (quickly followed by a lawsuit from Apple), so they've got a track record to go on.

The first rumor, according to ThinkSecret, is pretty much a no-brainer for Apple. They predict that the iPod Mini will be updated to include a 5GB Seagate drive, replacing the current 4GB Hitatchi drive. Hitatchi is currently working on 8GB and 10GB drives, but they won't be ready until later this year. Presumably Apple will go with the drive it has now, and maybe drop in the drive it wants later when they're ready.

Besides the space increase, it's not known what else might change with the iPod Mini.

A fifth-generation iPod is also supposed to be in the works for delivery in the 2nd half of this year. The no-brainer for the 5G iPod will be swapping in new drives, namely an 80GB Toshiba drive and a 40GB Toshiba drive that is smaller than the currently used 40GB drive. With the more compact 40GB drive, Apple should be able to shrink the iPod's size even further.

Also, in a departure from the now-iconic white case, Apple may change the iPod casing to match the new Apple Mini computer.

Again with the 5G iPod, no word on what new functionality will be added. Unless, of course, you consider a different case a new feature.

Happy First Birthday PlayerBlog!

Today is PlayerBlog's first birthday! On January 24th, 2004 we made our first post.

One year and over 500 posts later, we're doing great. We've learned a lot and are cooking up new ways to make the site better and more useful, so please stay tuned.

Also, thanks to all our readers, commenters and tipsters who've stopped by over the last year. The number of visitors we get every month has truly astonished us and it continues to grow.

Finally, speaking of traffic, we've become the victim of our own success. We've recently had to upgrade our site hosting to accommodate all the bandwidth we use and it has broken the commenting system. We're working getting that fixed ASAP.

Thanks again from the PlayerBlog team!

Creative Zen Micro Review

Design Technica has joined the pack of reviewers of Creative's compact, 5GB player. Like most reviews, the inevitable comparisons to the Apple iPod and iPod Mini are made, but the Design Technica crew had some strong words for Creative about meeting or beating the iPod:

There is a reason why the iPod reigns supreme; it simply works as it says it will. Apple has made us upset with their unwillingness to support software other than iTunes and we were really hoping the Creative Labs Zen Micro would be a good alternative, but it just left us feeling let down. If you read any other reviews both in print publication and on the web, you will be led to believe that the Zen Micro is the iPod killer we have all been waiting for, but it isn't. We have to wonder if these other publications even tested the Zen Micro before writing a review. After testing two different players and using them for a couple months, the flaws in the Zen Micro were very obvious to us.

Creative Labs has a couple problems they need to address before they can stand to compete with others in this market. First of all, something is draining the battery life from its player at increased rates, both when it's being used and when it’s powered off. Getting four hours of battery life from a 12-hour battery is inexcusable. Secondly, while we love the audio quality from their ear buds, they are too big to use for long periods and will make your ears very sore. Lastly, Creative needs to polish their own MediaSource software and work on software compatibility with other Media Players like RealPlayer and MusicMatch. Here is our suggestion for Creative Labs: make a hard drive based digital audio player with only a few polished features and make sure it works well. Throwing in everything but the kitchen sink shouldn’t automatically mean it’s the best, it has to work correctly first.

Related Links:
Creative Zen Micro Review
Creative Zen Micro Review
Four Creative Zen Micro Reviews

Roundup of Apple Shuffle Stuff

Needless to say, there's been a deluge of information on the new iPod Shuffle since its introduction, so we thought we'd lump some of the more interesting bits together in one place.

First is the ever-dependable Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal:

[T]his is a good product that will enlarge the iPod's appeal, especially with kids, people on low budgets, or people who work out. I imagine some existing iPod owners will also buy Shuffles as sort of add-on players. And the iPod juggernaut will roll on.

The iPod community forum iPodLounge continues its tradition of doing 2 reviews of any new Apple music players with their New User and Power User reviews. Did we mention that iPodLounge really likes the iPod?

We think that Apple knew exactly what it was doing when it picked the iPod shuffle's features and price point. It is looking to utterly slay the competition for new portable digital music consumers by blending the iPod brand name with a fair amount of capacity and an ultra-low price point, yet keep its profits strong regardless of the iPod someone buys. Barring the unforeseeable, we think that Apple will succeed in dramatically expanding the iPod's market share with the iPod shuffle, moving at least four or five million units in 2005, perhaps more.

In fairness, though they did rate it a 'B':

The Good: Apple's smallest, lightest, and cheapest iPod yet, with an industry-leading price point and enough music playback features to satisfy some users.

The Bad: Major compromises on features (especially the absence of a screen) will suit new iPod users more than experienced ones, and force old users to adapt to the shuffle's limited ways of organizing and playing back music. By no means a must-have product for current iPod owners; not an innovative product in any way except bottom line price, size, and aesthetic style, which are of less interest to savvy iPod and competing product owners than new and mainstream buyers.

Here's a review from Russell Beattie that compares the Shuffle with his older Creative flash player:

Soooo... anyone want to take a slightly used Creative MuVo Sport 100 off my hands? :-)

Finally, i4u has video of the actual introduction and demo of the iPod Shuffle from the MacWorld show.

iRiver H10 Review

Pocket Lint is one of the first sites to get their first impressions of the new iRiver H10 up on the web. Certainly more detailed reviews will be coming along shortly, but in the meantime the color 5GB device left a favorable impression:

Overall this player is easy to use and performs well producing a good sound that coped well with everything we played (Crystal Method to Bob Dylan) in our tests. If you weren't happy of course, you could change the phones.

The addition of a good quality screen to view images puts it above the iPod Photo even though it doesn't have the storage capacity to match.

Related Links:
Bad News on the iRiver H10
More on the iRiver H10
iRiver H10 Officially Official

Time to Play Catchup

OK, we're back from some much needed R&R and ready to get back to the MP3 player world. There's a big backlog of stories to post, so bear with us as we play catchup.

Rio Carbon Pearl and Rio cd2100 Update

Rio has updated their website to include their two new models, the color-changed, 5GB Rio Carbon Pearl (shown above) and the size-downgraded, 2.5GB Rio ce2100 (shown below).

If you check out the ce2100 page, you may notice a funny cut-and-paste error. Apparently the text on the ce2100 page was copied from the Carbon Pearl's page, but kept the bit about the 2.5GB ce2100 having "25 percent more memory than iPod® mini". We dropped a note to Rio, so hopefully they'll fix it before someone sues them for false advertising.

Also, previous reports indicated that the ce2100 was "noticeably smaller" than the Carbon. However, the ce2100 page lists the same dimensions as the Carbon, so maybe those numbers are in error as well.

Related Links:
Rio ce2100 First Look
Rio Carbon Pearl and Rio ce2100 Announced

Samsung YH-920GS Review

CNet has published a Samsung YH-920GS review. The 20GB YH-920GS (the name just rolls off the tongue, no?) is co-branded with Napster and their online music store in the same way that the iPod and the iTunes Music Store fit together. Retailing for $249, the CNet crew really liked it:

We haven't seen a high-capacity MP3 player with this much promise since, well, the iPod. While the Samsung YH-920GS has an original look and feel and is littered with useful features, the player's biggest draw is its ease of use. Check back soon to see how we rate it in our full review.

iPod PowerStick Auxillary Charger

Accessory maker Audio Outfitters has created an auxilliary power source for all versions of the iPod called the iPod PowerStick.

Essentially it runs your iPod (and charges the battery) from 4 AA batteries. This could come in handy on that long backpacking trip. The PowerStick retails for $24.98.

iPod Shuffle Photos

The iPod Shuffle is now available from the Apple Store (which is currently difficult to get through to because of heavy usage ) and Apple is offering free shipping on iPod Shuffles.

One feature of the iPod Shuffle we missed in the first post is "Autofill", which fills the Shuffle with all the tracks from a specific playlist.

Also, a number of accessories are available for the Shuffle, each at the cost of $30: an armband, a dock, a AAA external battery pack, a USB charging adapter and a sports case.

HP iPod Photo Officially Official

While this isn't terribly big news, HP CEO Carly Fiorino announced that HP will be offering an HP-branded version of the iPod Photo. If HP remains true to the model it established with the HP iPod, it will be no different than the Apple model, but possibly a little cheaper. [Via MacRumors]

Creative Zen Micro Photo Officially Official

DAPReview brings word that Creative will be updating the Zen Micro will a color LCD and renaming it the Creative Zen Micro Photo. As far as we can tell, the color screen is the only change from the original. The Zen Micro Photo is supposed to be available in a few months and will retail for $299 for the 5GB model and $349 for 6GB.

Incidentally, the Zen Micro Photo was the best-in-show product in the Audio to Go category at the 2005 Consumer Electronics Show.

Apple iPod Shuffle (AKA Flash) Officially Official

• No display
• Smaller than a pack of gum, like a flash drive
• Plays tracks randomly or from one playlist only
• Weighs less than 1 oz.
• Buttons for play, pause, track forward and back and volume up and down only
• USB 2.0 connector
• Can be used as a flash drive
• Compatible with both PCs and Macs
• 12 hour battery life
• Integrated with iTunes
• Shipping TODAY
• Only $99 for 512MB version, 1GB is $149

More details and photos, hopefully, when they're available.

Interactive Creative Zen Micro Review

Jason Dunn over at Digital Media Thoughts has an interesting experiment going on right now. Instead of doing a standard product review, he's conducting a Q&A-style review in their forums. So if you've got questions about the Zen Micro, head over there and get the answers.

Bad News on the iRiver H10

According to information gathered by DAPReview from iRiver staffers at CES, the upcoming iRiver H10 has a number of negative points that may add up to making the H10 a less-than-compelling choice for buyers.

Specifically iRiver said that the H10 will only support Microsoft's new Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) instead of the more common Mass Storage Class (MSC). While the acronyms and geek-speak may not mean much to you, it may make the H10 less useful to you. Older iRiver devices like the H120 and H320 are MSCs. This means that you can connect them to almost any computer (a Windows PC, a Mac, even a Linux box) and access the files on the device without extra software. Essentially they're universal, portable harddrives.

However, moving to MSC may eliminate some of those features. Likely you won't be able to connect to Macs or Linux boxes anymore. Also, older Windows systems not running the latest version of Microsoft Media Player might be out in the cold as well.

Also, even though the H10 supports line-in recording and line-out, you have to buy the $40 dock to use them.

Unlike previous iRiver models, the H10 uses a custom USB cable rather than an industry standard cable. With a standard cable, picking up a spare to connect with a second computer was easy and inexpensive. Now you'll have to buy one from iRiver.

Still no gapless MP3 playback.

Finally, iRiver removed the volume up and down buttons. According to DAPReview, "you must be in the Now Playing screen to adjust volume". Presumably you use the touch pad to raise and lower volume from the Now Playing screen.

Creative Zen Micro Review

Tom's Hardware has posted yet another Creative Zen Micro review:

The Zen Micro can look at its official competitor, the iPod Mini, squarely in the eye. While it may be a little less snazzy design-wise and not as user-friendly when exchanging files with a PC compared to the iPod, the Zen Micro offers a gigabyte more memory and sound quality that's just as good, plus better earphones, a few extra functions (FM radio and voice recorder), and slightly better battery life (10 hours compared to an average of eight for the iPod). All for essentially the same price, depending on where you buy it.

Audiovox iPod Mobile Interface Kit

Audiovox has joined Monster, Dension and others in the iPod-to-car connectivity market with the annoucement of their iPod Mobile Interface Kit. Like similar kits, it lets you play tunes from your iPod through your car stereo. Also, you can play, pause and change tracks on the iPod via car stereo controls or steering wheel controls if they're available.

Like the Monster kit, the Audiovox will retail for $200. [Via Engadget]

Related Links:
Monster iCruze iPod Car Stereo Interface
Dension Updates the ice>Link
Dension ICELink Connecting iPods to Your Car

Keep Your Desktop on Your iPod

One of the nice features of higher-capacity MP3 players is that they can (usually) be used as portable disk drives. However, there are packages, one for the Mac and one for Windows, that let your iPod do quite a bit more as you move from place to place.

The first is Migo for Windows which replicates your personal desktop on whatever computer that you're using. Attaching your iPod to a Windows 2000 or Windows XP machine with Migo gives you access to your email, calendar, address book, Internet favories and your desktop preferences. Also, it will keep selected important files in sync.

Migo for the iPod is currently $70 after a $30 rebate.

If you're a Mac user, the iPod already lets you view a copy of your calendar and addresses. But youPod let's you take this a step further. It can sync not only your calendar and addresses across different Macs, but also Safari, Firefox and Internet Explorer bookmarks and your password Keychain.

youPod for Mac is $12.95

PlayerBlog Newsfeed Improvements

We've just implemented a few improvements to our RSS and Atom newsfeeds that we'd like to make note of. First, our RSS should validate correctly. The Atom feed doesn't yet validate, but we're working on it.

Second, we fixed a problem where some feedreaders wouldn't display images in posts.

Finally, we added a comment link to each post in the feed.

We are by no means RSS or Atom experts, so if the new feeds blow up in your newsreader or you see any bugs, please let us known at feedback@playerblog.com

If you have no idea what we mean by RSS and Atom, take a look here. It will explain it a bit and maybe get you to try using RSS and a newsreader to stay up to date with websites you frequent.

Rio ce2100 First Look

CNet has posted a brief article and video review of the upcoming Rio ce2100 at the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Best of all they got a real, live photo of the 2.5GB device.

As you can see, it looks pretty much like the Rio Carbon with a black shell. However, CNet reports that it is actually "noticeably smaller" than the Carbon.

Related Links:
Rio Carbon Pearl and Rio ce2100 Announced

Creative Expands Zen Micro Line

Back in September, Creative CEO Sim Wong Hoo promised that Creative would introduce 8 new models before years end. He was off by a couple of weeks, but to make good on his vow Creative has announced 3 new versions of the Creative Zen Micro at CES.

The new models are functionally the same as the original 5GB Zen Micro, but now there will also be 1GB (flash-based), 4GB and 6GB flavors as well. So not so much new as slightly different. Prices will be $199 for 1GB, $229 for 4GB and $299 for 6GB.

Related Links:
Creative Declares War on Apple
Creative Gets Busy: MuVo2 FM and More
Creative Zen Micro Officially Official

Up Close with the Sony Network Walkman NW-HD3

The Engadget gang got their hands on a new Sony HW-HD3 at the ongoing CES show and posted their thoughts and a few photos with it and an iPod Mini.

iPod Flash Coming Soon?

Think Secret is at it again with new, enticing rumors on the iPod Flash. Apple is probably the only audio player maker who won't be making an annoucement at CES this week. Their time will likely come next week at MacWorld.

According to ThinkSecret's sources, the iPod Flash will debut in 1GB and 2GB models, rather than the 128MB, 256MB and 512MB models that are common in flash players these days. Also, an LCD screen will be included and will be 2 lines shorter than the iPod Mini's screen. There was some speculation that Apple might have to sacrifice the LCD to conserve space and/or cost of manufacturing, but apparently not.

The most suprising rumor, though, is about pricing. ThinkSecret says that the 1GB model will retail for the very reasonable price of only $150, with the 2GB at $200.

More bits at Engadget.

On a related note, recently Apple has sued Think Secret over reporting leaked new product information.

Related Links:
More iPod Flash Speculation
iPod Flash Editorializing
Flash memory iPod a Reality?
New Apple Flash Player Coming Over for Christmas?

Even More on the iRiver H10

iRiver has updated their website to include the new iRiver H10 line. According to the official iRiver press release, the basic specs of the H10 are as expected: 5GB capacity, color LCD and a touch navigation strip.

The actual size and weight of the device are a little different from what we initially reported: 3.8"x2.2"x 0.6" and 3.4 oz.

Also, the US retail price will be $280.

RCA Lyra

New product sightings are starting to show up en masse from the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that's going on right now. First up is the spiffy looking, chromy and shiny RCA Lyra Mini Photo MP3 player. Apparently it will feature a 1.5" color LCD and a 5GB capacity. Retail is said to be $270, a bit higher than the iPod Mini's $250 price.

Hopefully RCA will really put the photo into Lyra Mini Photo and include USB On The Go (OTG). With USB OTG you can connect a digital camera to the MP3 player and move photos off the camera onto the player's harddrive. [Via Engadget].

Monster iCruze iPod Car Stereo Interface

Monster (they of the million dollar stereo cables) has announced the iCruze, a car stereo/iPod interface. Once installed, the iCruze docs with your iPod to play tunes through the car stereo and will integrate with CD changer or steering wheel audio controls if they're available. At $200 it's not exactly a bargain, but eventually there will be an add-on display of some sort to show track information. [Via Engadget]

More bits at AutoBlog.

Virgin Player Review

CNet has posted what may be the first Virgin Electronics Player review. The 5GB device gets an OK 7.3 out of 10 rating:

The good: Small and light; dedicated function buttons; supports DRM-protected WMAs (PlaysForSure designation coming soon); dual headphone jacks; FM tuner; kitschy, user-friendly interface; comes preloaded with some songs.

The bad: Unimpressive battery life; must install music manager plug-in before transferring tunes; lacks recording features; no on-the-go playlist feature; unorthodox method of transferring playlists.

Related Links:
Virgin Electronics Player Now Available
Virgin Electronics Player

Gateway Photo MP3 Photo Jukebox Review

PC World has done a short Gateway MP3 Photo Jukebox review, but the word isn't so good:

The Jukebox's laundry list of near-miss design decisions would be easier to live with if the unit were simply more fun to use. Unfortunately, the interface is strangely unintuitive (due in part, perhaps, to the lack of any sort of Enter button), and the graphics look a bit cheesy.

Related Links:
Gateway Photo Jukebox Announced

Rio Carbon Pearl and Rio ce2100 Announced

Rio announced one-and-a-half new models today at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The half model is the Rio Carbon Pearl which adds a second color choice to the chromey Rio Carbon.

Also announced was an entirely new product, the Rio ce2100. No photos are available yet, but the ce2100 is said to resemble the Rio Carbon, but with a 2.5GB capacity (instead of the Carbon's 5GB). Battery life is given at 20hrs and will retail at $199. Also, the Rio press release doesn't explicitly state it, but we presume that the ce2100 uses a standard mini harddrive and is not flash based.

Both the Rio Carbon Pearl and Rio ce2100 are supposed to be available by the end of Q1 2005.