Wouldn't it be easier to just get a CD player or an iPod/digital music player instead of using a PDA as a jukebox?
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HP's Blue iPod Revealed
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They offer it as a service http://www.colorwarepc.com/content.aspx?id=16
They also paint powerbooks (don't know why somebody would want to paint over the Al) and iBooks (maybe if mine wasn't in the pooper with a logic board problem)
Originally posted by edesignuk
So I take it the Apple iPod looks like sh*t as well?It's the same damn thing in a different colour!!!
So you don't think color has anything to do with how good or cheap something looks?
Would you rather carry around a hot pink/fucia iPod, or a 1983-Beige? How about 24k gold (plated)?
Color is a major component of how something looks.
OTOH, I don't find gray with a blue-ish tinge to be a ghastly color for the iPod. Makes it much less noticeable, and much less classy, but it's not too altogether bad. At least it's not silvery-plastic-on-black-plastic as was the rage for PC makers last year (Dell and Gateway primarily).
I don't know...something about this...I just don't like it. It's like Apple is in cahoots with the enemy or something.
i'd say, wih HP and Compaq as a single entity, they have probably innovated in more areas in the past year than Apple has innovated in it's entire history...
however, Apple innovate in more visble areas and are much more media savvy thn any tech company in the world... however, that is not innovation.
The "HP branded" thing just give the creeps...
There should be an Apple logo in it!!
(I know there's one on the startup screen...)
There should be an Apple logo in it!!
(I know there's one on the startup screen...)
Ummm, because Apple has a much better record with regards to fair use and general consumer rights than Microsoft? Because Apple is actually culpable for bad decisions, whereas Microsoft's monopoly-driven revenues wouldn't budge an inch if they screwed you over for an RIAA payoff?
Did you really need to ask?
I secdon that... even better would be for the logo at the back to not have that hideous surround on the letters 'hp'... it looks terrible jut floting there like that...
just the letters would be so much more attractive.
hey, it's the little details that count!
Very interesting. However, I must point out that their accounting department needs to look at their web site. If I buy a 40GB iPod for $499, then pay them to apply a color coating to it, say 'Carbon', for $49, I'll spend a total of $548. Now, if I buy a Carbon iPod from them, I now have to pay $565. Where does that extra $17 come from?
Re: WMA on iPod
No. Bottom line: supporting WMA on iPod is aiding Microsoft continued dominance in the encoding format arena.
Your friends have their music in WMA? Pity. They can either re-encode from their original CDs or use a cross-coding applet to convert their WMA to AAC. If they've been foolish enough to be buying from Napster, MusicMatch, et al ... well, there's just not much to do for them!
I can see Apple possibly supporting RealAudio's Helix/AAC DRM, but not WMA. You don't feed the enemy when you have no reason. The iPod is the dominant player. FairPlay/AAC is the dominant DRM and format.
No. Bottom line: supporting WMA on iPod is aiding Microsoft continued dominance in the encoding format arena.
Your friends have their music in WMA? Pity. They can either re-encode from their original CDs or use a cross-coding applet to convert their WMA to AAC. If they've been foolish enough to be buying from Napster, MusicMatch, et al ... well, there's just not much to do for them!
I can see Apple possibly supporting RealAudio's Helix/AAC DRM, but not WMA. You don't feed the enemy when you have no reason. The iPod is the dominant player. FairPlay/AAC is the dominant DRM and format.
Re: WMA on iPod
I will withhold my kneejerk reaction but say this instead. If one format takes over, be it AAC or WMA, you can be sure that DRM rules will become stricter. That said, I think that an alternative to WMA has to be not only promoted but protected as well.
It's not so much that the DRM for Windows based systems is bad now, but more that if WMA becomes the norm then whatever Microsoft decides to do with its monopoly codec will affect everyone. If they decide to clamp down on the DRM associated with WMA and their codec is the most widely used then we can all eat a ***** sandwich.
Therefore, it is critically important to support multiple codecs and choices so that there will always be a competitive alternative offering a different DRM.
I will withhold my kneejerk reaction but say this instead. If one format takes over, be it AAC or WMA, you can be sure that DRM rules will become stricter. That said, I think that an alternative to WMA has to be not only promoted but protected as well.
It's not so much that the DRM for Windows based systems is bad now, but more that if WMA becomes the norm then whatever Microsoft decides to do with its monopoly codec will affect everyone. If they decide to clamp down on the DRM associated with WMA and their codec is the most widely used then we can all eat a ***** sandwich.
Therefore, it is critically important to support multiple codecs and choices so that there will always be a competitive alternative offering a different DRM.
does apple really NEED HP to help them to develop WMA on an iPod??? I think Apple would be able to do it themselves...
but i doubt it will happen anyway.
but if it did, wouldn't it make more sense for Apple to go to MS?
but i doubt it will happen anyway.
but if it did, wouldn't it make more sense for Apple to go to MS?
itunes worldwide
I really would like to see Apple be the only vendor for ipods, but business is business and this really looks like a smart move.
Gee, M$ and Dell seem genuinly worried, have you seen their childish reactions to the news.
Anyhows my reason for posting is surely this will mean a worldwide itunes, I can't see HP settling for a US market only for very long.
I really would like to see Apple be the only vendor for ipods, but business is business and this really looks like a smart move.
Gee, M$ and Dell seem genuinly worried, have you seen their childish reactions to the news.
Anyhows my reason for posting is surely this will mean a worldwide itunes, I can't see HP settling for a US market only for very long.
Quite simple. This is an HP "vanity project". This is not about offering something "new" to the consumer; it is about offering the same thing in a package marked "New and Improved!" with another company's logo on the side.
Look at Dell's printers page. See all those Lexmark printers that say they're Dells? Compaq did the same thing. HP does essentially the same thing with monitors (I don't believe they have any of their own monitor production facilities, although I may be wrong there).
HP likes to ship a box to your doorstep that says nothing but "HP" on it.
IMHO, I always shook my head in wonder at the people who bought rebranded printers (often at prices higher than they could have gotten from the original manufacturer), especially when they kept going back to Dell or Compaq for supplies at twice the going rate ("because that refill doesn't say it goes with the Dell EP57; it only goes with the Lexmark EP57!")
Computer manufacturers use rebranded components like department stores use mattresses: you can never find the identical item in a different store, so you don't know (unless you're relatively savvy) that you're being ripped off, or that the "FREE PRINTER!" is only worth $49 and you had to overpay $99 on memory to get it ...
I don't see much of a parallel. Not much HP can do to the iPod, as I understand it, they will be buying them from Apple, not manufacturing their own.
The reason clone makers sucked away Apple market share and profits were because they were pretty free to build what they wanted to. They hit price points and configurations Apple never did. They only paid Apple for the OS license and kept all the hardware profits.
Hmm. Odd. My DeskJet 952C was plug-and-play with Panther. My Windows box needed to find and install drivers, but the Mac knew it from birth and prints beautifully to it.
Although the iPods are what make the money, this seems to be more of a pitch for itms. If they lock people into aac now, regardless if its with a apple/hp player, they will get more business down the line. A few million hp apple players with lower margincs is much better then a few million hp napster players. Also, if apple locks in a large user base, they can pull the plug on hp and force people to buy the iPod directly(Unles the contract says thats a nono)
I will stick to buying mine direct, but this cant hurt. I wonder if the hp players are only compatible with the windows version of itms. sure hope not.
I hope Apple wont loose the iPod in this. Maybe people will think, wow HP sure is a great company making such a cool music player next time I'll buy a HP computer.
That would be sad.
That would be sad.
Apart from the body of HP DMP being blue/grey, did anyone notice the screen seems to having a blue hue to it as well? wonder when lit-up if it's going to be blue as well (as oppose to white-sh blue found on 3G iPods)?
I think that makes a bit of difference as bright blue is not as legible as white in the dark.
And what colour would the buttons be when lit-up?
I think that makes a bit of difference as bright blue is not as legible as white in the dark.
And what colour would the buttons be when lit-up?
Man, it's like Zippy the Clown is going to walk out on stage.
Isn't that a bit odd, it boots with an Apple logo but has an HP logo? Won't people go "huh?" I'm thinking anyone that's not been hiding under a rock is going to just call it the HP iPod, right? And they know Apple makes them.
It'd probably work out that HP will sell them at exactly Apple price point, call it a hunch.
Isn't that a bit odd, it boots with an Apple logo but has an HP logo? Won't people go "huh?" I'm thinking anyone that's not been hiding under a rock is going to just call it the HP iPod, right? And they know Apple makes them.
It'd probably work out that HP will sell them at exactly Apple price point, call it a hunch.