HP iPod description @ walmart.com:
Familiarity of a PC? Oh, right, because the regular 4Gs don't work with Windows.
Familiarity of a PC? Oh, right, because the regular 4Gs don't work with Windows.
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HP iPod To Appear September 5?
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JDOG_ said:
That's the whole point, though. It's a small example, but it's still an example. Most of the colorful descriptions they throw around, if not taken directly from Apple, are uninformative, vague, or just extremely obvious. It's marketing aimed at the hordes of midless drones that stick up for with Windows as if it actually had any footing in the OS competition.
AliensAreFuzzy said:
I thought this would be apparent to everyone, but I guess not...
It's simple...
One company does not have the ability to supply the entire world with portable music players. One company neither has the manufacturing capacity nor would be willing to take on the risk of investing in billions of dollars of raw materials to manufacture players to supply the entire world.
Because Apple is not licensing its FairPlay technology to the world (and as a result, only iPods can play FairPlay tunes), by the laws of economics alone, Apple and the iPod are guaranteed to lose out if Apple remains the sole supplier of iPods.
This is also the reason why the Macintosh, however great it is, will never replace the PC as the dominant personal computer... Apple simply doesn't have the capacity to supply the world's population with computers.
In fact, it's amazing that it has taken Apple so long to learn this lesson. The creator of the Mac (Jef Raskin) pointed this out to Apple way back in 1979!!! (http://humane.sourceforge.net/published/millions.html)
Yay for stickers!
[sarcasm]Those stickers look awesome![/sarcasm]
I just put a sticker on my $400 iPod... now I just have to find my helmet and my drool cup.
[sarcasm]Those stickers look awesome![/sarcasm]
I just put a sticker on my $400 iPod... now I just have to find my helmet and my drool cup.
Mr_Ed said:That said, I think they can put a dent in the on-line music sales without much effort. All they have to do is release a new version of their Windows Media Player that hooks up to their store and BAM! In no time at all, every "not so aware" Windows user out there (you would agree there are just a few of those
Is the iTunes download free also? Sure. But someone looking to download iTunes is specifically looking to manage music and is at least aware enough of what they are getting to make a decision on the app. The Windows Media Player is already installed in most, if not all Windows machines out there. Most Windows Media Player users do not use that app for music so M$ can quickly tap into a vast number of users who might not even have considered buying on-line music yet, and "hook" them while they are still relatively new to the whole on-line music thing. Crappy situation? Yeah, but it is typical of the kind of advantage M$ has enjoyed for years due to the pervasiveness of its software/OS in the installed base.
This is what I am talking about, where MS will not be able to leverage their market share. It's true that if they come out with a service that some people will use it by default, but, the numbers will be very small for several reasons:
1. Apple's deal with HP means that even more PC users will have iTunes as the "default" player, not too mention the mind share.
2. Apple's deal with AOL and the integration of iTunes with their service gives Apple access (by default) to millions of PC users. What I mean by default is that clicking on a song link in AOL launches the iTunes player and music store.
3. Apple is getting A LOT of buzz regarding the iPod not too mention the fact that they are selling them like crazy.
4. Anyone who uses Media Player and iTunes will use iTunes. Media Player is buggy, it's user interface is very PC like, and a MS music store won't be any better.
5. BUT most importantly, time to market is a very relevant issue regarding digital music stores. Most people who are now using iTunes will continue to do so; they will not switch. No one will really like the idea of managing multiple DRM accounts for their music. They will pick one service and stick with it. Right now that service is Apple's iTunes music store. Every day that MS delays in releasing a service hundreds of new customers are signing up with iTunes. The game is over already. There will only be a few online music stores in the end and the ones who are playing right now stand the best chance of surviving. MS may release a store but will kill it with their proprietary stance and it will ultimately be too little too late. They will loose money on it and with all their other troubles will just kill it. Throw it in the trash can along with Real. Control Panel > add remove programs > are you sure you want to delete? Yes.
oingoboingo said:
OK. You've peaked my curiosity. I need to see this. For those who've seen it. Which be funnier? Ballmer or HP? I didn't think it was possible to outdo Sweat boy.
Object-X said:
Simple statement. Windows is the biggest advertising billboard in the history. MS has millions of system to advertise to.
Doing this is as simple as rolling an UPDATE into Windows XP SP3 next year. Or having it listed under a critical update that thanks to Windows XP SP2 will be enabled on EVERY XP system. So if I were MS I would roll out a new version of Media Player that has X, Y, and Z security update that the previous version didn't have and oh by the way. It now has this gosh cool feature that directly accesses their music store. So in one evening MS could roll out their music store to millions of users in a heartbeat. Of course this would probably violate their antitrust agreement by resetting the default player back to Media Player but we've got shrub in office. No lawsuit for you!
SiliconAddict said:
OK. You've peaked my curiosity. I need to see this. For those who've seen it. Which be funnier? Ballmer or HP? I didn't think it was possible to outdo Sweat boy.
Actually its 'piqued' not 'peaked' and I only know that because I got ripped for using it incorrectly on a maslash thread once.
But anyway, I want to see this too. Does anyone know if it is available somewhere?
I agree that the MS music store will not go far, nor would they get anywhere if they released a portable music player or enorsed a particular music player. The iPod is a household name now. It's name is synonymous with music player, much like Band-aid has become synonymous with adhesive bandages.
SiliconAddict said:Simple statement. Windows is the biggest advertising billboard in the history. MS has millions of system to advertise to.
Doing this is as simple as rolling an UPDATE into Windows XP SP3 next year. Or having it listed under a critical update that thanks to Windows XP SP2 will be enabled on EVERY XP system. So if I were MS I would roll out a new version of Media Player that has X, Y, and Z security update that the previous version didn't have and oh by the way. It now has this gosh cool feature that directly accesses their music store. So in one evening MS could roll out their music store to millions of users in a heartbeat. Of course this would probably violate their antitrust agreement by resetting the default player back to Media Player but we've got shrub in office. No lawsuit for you!
Just putting the player and store on the computer doesn't guarantee it's use. IE comes by default on all Windows computers but because of it's problems, lack of features, and security issues people are switching to other browsers in record numbers. So, yes, MS has the ability to get it's player and store to millions of it's customers, but will they use it? Meanwhile, Apple has been acting wisely in negotiating agreements with AOL and now HP to get their player and store on millions of Windows boxes. Once it is there people will try both and when it comes to real time competition MS can't compete.
Object-X said:
All good points and I only have small issues with #1, 4, and 5.
This is great for buyers of new HP systems but ignores the legions of installed MS users out there, which was the crux of my concern about MS' potential role in on-line music.
It's no secret that WMP is not what you would call a "great" app. But once the users are hooked on to a music store, by your own analysis, they are not likely to switch. If they are buying music already from MS' store, they will need to stick to WMP for playing it. What's more, those tracks (if protected WMA files) won't play on the iPod so they are less likely to consider the iPod. My concern is that they can still "hook" MANY users who are uninformed or uninitiated in the on-line music arena very easily with somethng like a WMP update. Not very hard to do.
While Apple reportedly has 70% of the on-line music sales business TODAY, that represents a TINY fraction of the music industry as a whole, and a small fraction of what the on-line sales business could become in the next few years. There is still plenty of room for a company with the installed base of apps/OS that MS has to come in and hook a nice chunk for itself. I hope you are right about MS getting in, testing the waters, then getting out, but I am not ready to count them out yet.
well
iTunes music store still has some issues to work out.. For example, if you search for Cristian... You get one set of albums, if you search for Cristian Castro you get a diff set.. Yet, both are the same artist. btw, alguna vez is a good song from him.
iTunes music store still has some issues to work out.. For example, if you search for Cristian... You get one set of albums, if you search for Cristian Castro you get a diff set.. Yet, both are the same artist. btw, alguna vez is a good song from him.
haha more irony
http://www.hpbroadband.com/program.cfm?key=B3Launch27Aug2004EXT
it says to attend u need a peecee with wmp.. wait, this is a deal between apple and hp right?
http://www.hpbroadband.com/program.cfm?key=B3Launch27Aug2004EXT
it says to attend u need a peecee with wmp.. wait, this is a deal between apple and hp right?
HP now beats Dell.
I'm not a huge fan of HP, especially now that they have combined with Compaq especially. But, this was a smart move, I doubt that HP will make much or any profit from reselling iPods. What it will do for HP though is give them the popular edge over Dell. Dells MP3 player is awkward, cheap and ugly. MP3s seems to be here to stay, and that makes sense since they are the best way yet to carry music.
I imagine that MP3s will eventually become a fashion acessory, especially at colleges. So when selling laptops(or anything, laptops are popular with students), HP now offers it's own version of the iPod while Dell only has it's piece of junk. For college students who are looking for a good laptop and a cool fashion piece, HP is now the best choice.
Purists are still going to like the Apple iPods, they look better. I imagine just about everyone that has an iPod now will be a user for a long time. Hopefully this will guarantee iPods place at the top of the MP3 heap.
I'm not a huge fan of HP, especially now that they have combined with Compaq especially. But, this was a smart move, I doubt that HP will make much or any profit from reselling iPods. What it will do for HP though is give them the popular edge over Dell. Dells MP3 player is awkward, cheap and ugly. MP3s seems to be here to stay, and that makes sense since they are the best way yet to carry music.
I imagine that MP3s will eventually become a fashion acessory, especially at colleges. So when selling laptops(or anything, laptops are popular with students), HP now offers it's own version of the iPod while Dell only has it's piece of junk. For college students who are looking for a good laptop and a cool fashion piece, HP is now the best choice.
Purists are still going to like the Apple iPods, they look better. I imagine just about everyone that has an iPod now will be a user for a long time. Hopefully this will guarantee iPods place at the top of the MP3 heap.
[/QUOTE]
it says to attend u need a peecee with wmp.. wait, this is a deal between apple and hp right?[/QUOTE]
I ran into this problem also...but I found this in the source code:
http://wmbcast.hpmediasolutions-glo..._hpmediasolutions-global_aug272004_0555_62638
put that into the open url option in Windows Media Player. Enjoy the cheesiest, laggiest, "streaming" product announcement thinga-ma-jig I've ever seen. Couldn't HP taken some pointers from Apple on streaming video. WMP really is garbage when it comes to playing any type of video.
it says to attend u need a peecee with wmp.. wait, this is a deal between apple and hp right?
[/QUOTE]I ran into this problem also...but I found this in the source code:
http://wmbcast.hpmediasolutions-glo..._hpmediasolutions-global_aug272004_0555_62638
put that into the open url option in Windows Media Player. Enjoy the cheesiest, laggiest, "streaming" product announcement thinga-ma-jig I've ever seen. Couldn't HP taken some pointers from Apple on streaming video. WMP really is garbage when it comes to playing any type of video.
