Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

First WiFi MP3 Player

I'm wondering about the WiFi sync feature too.

I used to have a Sony CLIE with a WiFi card. When I wanted to get on the WiFi network, I had to turn the WiFi card power on manually, and off when I was done. Otherwise it drained the battery VERY fast.

So I'm assuming that this new player needs either a manual turn-on of WiFi feature everytime you want to sync wirelessly, or constantly plugged into a power source for fully automatic syncing.

PS I think the radio feature is nice. Even if you have gazillion songs on you ipod, sometimes it's refreshing to listen to something unexpected on the radio :D
 
Been there, done that.

The fact of the matter is, any pda with wifi capabilities can do the same thing for about the same price (minus storage card). One additional advantage is that the pda would be able to stream all of the music from the pc's hard drive.
 
Originally posted by topicolo
Been there, done that.

The fact of the matter is, any pda with wifi capabilities can do the same thing for about the same price (minus storage card). One additional advantage is that the pda would be able to stream all of the music from the pc's hard drive.
Click to expand...

Semi-OT, but, is there any software yet for Palm-based (or any other) devices that will play Apple-type AAC files?

Also, back on-topic, lotsa people in this thread have been pointing out how slow wi-fi is for song transfer, but realistically, I wonder how bad it is? Specifically, I get my iPod and on the first day sync 12 gigs of music on it, but after that, there isn't that much to sync. I'm probably not going to get more than a small handful of CDs at any one time, and WiFi, once you disentangle the fact that you get limited download speed downloading songs over the net b/c the servers are slow, wouldn't be that bad for putting in <20 songs at a time....
 
Originally posted by mkrishnan
Semi-OT, but, is there any software yet for Palm-based (or any other) devices that will play Apple-type AAC files?

Also, back on-topic, lotsa people in this thread have been pointing out how slow wi-fi is for song transfer, but realistically, I wonder how bad it is? Specifically, I get my iPod and on the first day sync 12 gigs of music on it, but after that, there isn't that much to sync. I'm probably not going to get more than a small handful of CDs at any one time, and WiFi, once you disentangle the fact that you get limited download speed downloading songs over the net b/c the servers are slow, wouldn't be that bad for putting in <20 songs at a time....
Click to expand...

Check out this forum posting . It should answer all of your questions.
 
I'm confused. What is so great about Wi-Fi in an MP3 player? Especially one that has > 1 Gig of storage.

If you have an MP3 player, worth anything, you have rechargable batteries, which means you have to charge it. No matter what, you have to plug it in. I have a 10 Gig iPod, I have my library on it, and don't need to sync very much at all. I guess if I couldn't have my full library on the iPod, it would still be of very little use to get the songs wirelessly. Personally, I'd rather get extra storage over wi-fi in an MP3 player.

It's not like using the internet over a wi-fi computer connection. It's geting music onto your MP3 player. For example, I see digital photo frames that display jpegs. Why not make it wi-fi so it can access all of your photos? That would seem kinda pointless to me, like wi-fi for an MP3 player.
 
I don't get it.

Pros:
---You don't need to carry a firewire cable with you
---You can sync or access music remotely


Cons:
---Very heavy drain on battery power
---Adds extra weight and cost
---Slower transfer speeds


It seems to me that the battery drain would make streaming impractical, since it would take more juice than your hard drive for the same purpose. Remote syncing seems like an answer without a question to me, since I am never walking around my house when I suddenly remember that I downloaded a new song, and walking to my dock is not a huge inconvenience. Syncing is already amazingly fast and easy, making it wireless creates a whole new set of security issues, and syncing via TCP/IP packets isn't going to be nearly as effortless to configure as plugging in a firewire cable.

They should have used Bluetooth for this. Much lower power usage, designed for peripherals instead of networking, and is easy to configure. However, it is not as fast (but hey, you said you don't care about speed, right?), and is not very common in the PC world yet, and the range is shorter... but if the whole point is getting rid of wires, this would work better.

Tossing in wireless isn't a big benefit, in my opinion. I don't see this as being a popular feature.
 
I think syncing music files via WiFi is OK. I can imagine some people actually using it. But I'd love to see more cool solutions using WiFi.

... like listening to somebody else's MP3 player on a packed Tokyo train and become friends on the spot. If that somebody is a cute girl, that's a big plus!

There was this cool tech "love" device a while ago (in Tokyo?) which beeped on the street when you get close to an opposite sex human who has the same device set to similar matchmaking prefs of your own device. FYI, I've never had one. Maybe I should have :D
 
If you look at their website, they mention syncing overnight to get your whole library (or as much as the player can hold). Thus, you still need to plug it in- to keep the battery charged. So kill the middle man and connect via firewire. I think wireless won't happen till Ultra Wide Band is at the cusp of emerging- which apple will jump on first.
 
I don't see how this device will be a huge hit, although I think it'll do okay through the power of buzzwords. "My mp3 player has wifi!" Sounds great, but when you consider the limits of the player (particularly the small 1.5 GB capacity), it comes off as more of a gimmick. Uneducated consumers are going to look at the 256MB Flash-based players for $200, and the 1.5GB player "with wifi!" for $300 and think the latter sounds pretty cool.

Although it doesn't seem useful to me, it is a first. Maybe a second or third generation version will be extremely cool and useful.

What if you could sync with your home computer while you are at Starbuck's? In fact, maybe you already can with the first gen version, but I haven't seen that capability mentioned in this thread.

Yeah, if I'm at the house, I'd just as soon use a USB cable. But if you can resolve any firewall issues that might exist, there is no technical reason you can't sync from outside your LAN the same as if you're inside your LAN. You can sync your PDA remotely via wifi, why not this?

The memory card slot is a great idea as well, although the hard drive is too small to make much use of it as a traveling photo storage bin, or a home for disc images and large zip files.

Keep an eye on this company, because if they are able to flesh this device out (say a range of 10 to 40 GB versions in a year and remote syncing via wifi), they could become a giant.
 
Hilarious!

I have to admit that although I wanted an iPod from the start, I wasn't overly impressed with its feature set. It seemed like mostly slick packaging.

Thankfully for Apple, I was wrong. The interface from the iPod and iTMS are far and away best in the industry, and until some company actually makes a truly elegant competitor to the iPod (and not just a bunch of features stuffed into a box), iPod will continue to be king.

It stands to reason that Airport Extreme for iPod will make it into some future device, but first, Apple has to make its integration as transparent and easy-to-use as possible.
 
Thankfully for Apple, I was wrong. The interface from the iPod and iTMS are far and away best in the industry, and until some company actually makes a truly elegant competitor to the iPod (and not just a bunch of features stuffed into a box), iPod will continue to be king.
Click to expand...

Check the iRiver iHP-120 and 140.

Interface is a matter of opinion, although most would give the iPod the edge.

Battery life is a huge advantage for the iRiver. It has double the battery life rating.

Size and form factor are similar - 5.6 ounces for 20 GB, 6.5 ounces or so for 40 GB. The iRiver is a bit thicker.

The iRiver has a built-in microphone, as well as a plug for an external microphone; optical input and output; and a built-in FM tuner. It can record directly from any external input to mp3 or WAV, i.e. you can make mp3s out of your LP record collection, assuming your record player has an audio output.

I could go on - but the point is, competition is arriving, in force. For whatever set of reasons (vision, niche marketing, willingness to sell more expensive items), Apple has had the micro-HD mp3 player market almost to itself, with competitors using 2.5 inch laptop HDs. However, that is no longer the case.

I expect the market to get MUCH bigger. And while I think Apple's revenues will go up, I think their market share percentage will go down, perhaps drastically.
 
i thought it was obvious apple was working on an airport dock for the ipod... one that plugs into your stereo/tv/dvd setup and can record tv, recieve quicktime and send quicktime from your computer, synch itunes through wireless, and can be controled through airport as well from your computer... or a dedicated remote...


i thought it was obvious...?
 
Repeat something often enough, and . . .

Originally posted by whyrichard
i thought it was obvious apple was working on an airport dock for the ipod... one that plugs into your stereo/tv/dvd setup and can record tv, recieve quicktime and send quicktime from your computer, synch itunes through wireless, and can be controled through airport as well from your computer... or a dedicated remote...


i thought it was obvious...?
Click to expand...

Given all of SJ's comments to the contrary, I'd say it wasn't, and isn't, obvious. Yet.

Remember the lesson of the non-existent $150 mini: just because a lot of people really, really want something doesn't mean they'll get it.
 
and yet we know he's hired a guy who does video codek's for the new ipod... we know that he hates viewing video on a small screen (for good reasons)...

we have wifi chips that are integrated so that they use less power, are much smaller...

we have a dock which is useless, cept for it's line out feature and it's more complex interface with the ipod...

we have apple's embrace of tivo...

and steve also understands that people interface with computers differently then they do tv/video screens, as well as music....

and we have a movie industry which is getting just as upset over pirating as the music industry is/was.

we have new features on the ipod that let you use the ipod's hard drive as the primary storage for your music, instead of a redundant one...

and everyone knows that a 40 gig (or higher) hd is way too big for 95% of people's music collections...

thats why the mini was introduced. because the white ipod will take up a larger role... the mini will fill in the role of a music only player... it even takes up where the ipod began (4gigs), because the full sized ipod is gonna become more then just a music player.

it's got the potential. all it needs is an airport interface in the dock, not the ipod... and a good method of converting and amplifying the video/audio data to analogue. and a whole lot of fantastic software writing, which is what apple is best at.



r.
 
Originally posted by whyrichard
and yet we know he's hired a guy who does video codek's for the new ipod... we know that he hates viewing video on a small screen (for good reasons)...

it's got the potential. all it needs is an airport interface in the dock, not the ipod... and a good method of converting and amplifying the video/audio data to analogue. and a whole lot of fantastic software writing, which is what apple is best at.
Click to expand...

Your observations and speculations make sense, and I qualified my opinion with the word "yet".

I believe they are "working on it" in the sense that they are playing around with it in R&D, trying to make a product that will appeal to more than a few percent of the population. I don't believe they are "working on it" in the sense that they are readying a product for market that isn't very large. Yet.

Maybe in one year?

Just my $0.02.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back