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Super shuffle - FM Radio and Recorder

I'd like an FM tuner in my iPod. It would be another bullet point to be satisfied about, and I'd even turn it on at least once a year for SOMETHING.

But some people seem to REALLY REALLY want another FM radio in their lives, alongside the ones already in every vehicle and building where we go. I'm wondering what that market really is?

Is it just sports fans who want to be outdoors but NOT in a car during a big game? That's all I can think of. Of course that only applies if your coverage is on FM instead of AM, and only during games. I thought about news possibly, but I have no shortage of chances to get radio news: unlike a game, it's not just played at one time. If anything, AM might be more useful.

Beyond that, the radios already all around me do the job just great.

Now, the quality of AAC vs. MP3... and little things like AUDIOBOOK support... those are rarely found in a non-Apple player and those are a little more vital than yet-another-FM-radio :)

Who wants to bet this clone has no audiobook playback? And no auto-fill?
 
wow...it's even got the same headphones.

Somebodies about to get SUED BAD. lol. It's one thing to copy the iPod and give it a new name, but to knock off all the branding and advertising? I mean the silloettes with the white headphones and iPod(err super shuffle) in them.
 
Of course it's cheaper...

When you operate outside Europe/US/Japan and spend a lot less on R&D by making a knockoff, usually your product will be cheaper.

Aside from perhaps the FM tuner (which will be pretty damn hard to use without a display), the level of innovation is miniscule. That's one way to cut costs...
 
Chaszmyr said:
Obvious "OMG WHAT BLATANT THIEVES!" comments aside, how do they manage to fit so much in the tiny little enclosure? And if they can fit that extra hardware in there, howcome Apple's isn't smaller?
Click to expand...
Theirs is actually a bit bigger.
 
Chaszmyr said:
Obvious "OMG WHAT BLATANT THIEVES!" comments aside, how do they manage to fit so much in the tiny little enclosure? And if they can fit that extra hardware in there, howcome Apple's isn't smaller?
Click to expand...
The chip in the iPod shuffle supports voice recording and FM radio, I think. Apple has just not chosen to use the features. I'm not sure why, but I guess they have their reasons. I'll throw in some wild speculations:

I've heard that radios that use the earbuds as antennas never get a good reception. I don't know how true that is, but if it is, that could be one of the reasons why Apple don't choose to add FM.

Personally I don't need or want FM and certainly not a voice recorder.

It would be a very Apple kind of thing to do to reduce the number of features to make the user interface more friendly to "anti techies". Especially voice recording which would be useful for like 1% of shuffle users, a toy for maybe 5% of shuffle users and would never be used by the rest.

What about tax on radio receivers, that sound like something EU would implement. I don't think they have, but maybe some other part of the world has?
 
hahahahaha lol lmao lol hahahaha lmao lmao.. ok got the picture.. this is really stupid.. like people WHO WRITE IN CAPS LOCK.. are they really so stupid to see that apple is going to sue thier ass off if they did somthing like this? honestly.. what morons.. it seemed like a joke (hence the laughing), but if they honestly made them, thats just really funny. ok. ive talked
 
It's definitely a way to attract attention, like my 4 year old nephew would try on me... with a small difference...

Apple is going to suit the $%&^ out of them... :D

On the other hand, if they get to produce it and actually sell it, I'm sure it could reach high prices on eBay once they are out of business.
 
Record function looks pretty cool. If it can record Stereo 48KHz aiff or mp3, that would be awesome and I hope Apple doesn't sue. FM function? Not too interested, although...
 
gekko513 said:
It would be a very Apple kind of thing to do to reduce the number of features to make the user interface more friendly to "anti techies".
Click to expand...

That's my guess. No radio = more simplicity. That philosophy doesn't work for everyone, but Apple does have some success with it!
 
TheT said:
They can sell this (with FM-Tuner and voice recorder) for less money (65 Euros for 512MB, 97 Euros for 1GB, compared to 99/149).
Click to expand...

They'l won't make a penny with that price, stil can't beleve it :mad:
 
Lacero said:
I hope Apple doesn't sue.
Click to expand...

Hello? Apple has to sue!!! If Apple lets this one through the gate, then they lose the right to challenge the "identity theft and market-place confusion" issues that will certainly arise. This product is NOT about competition: this is theft of Apple's identity. There are laws in place to stop crap like this from happening. Good heavens: the advertisement looks like an iPod commercial.
Where might it end..? never, if Apple sits quietly by.
 
I have laid down the law.

Steve decides not to integrate FM with the shuffle or any other iPod for reaons that everyone's mentioned. Radio is trash, with payola and etc, and I have an iPod in the first place b/c i think that radio sucks. Shuffle is basically a radio station that onnly plays songs that you like in a random order. Sadly enough, with the exception of classic rock stations, it has a larger playlist too.

This product breaks just about every design and Intellectual copyright law that we have a law for. The design is clearly a blatant rip-off. They didn't even i-ize it and make the little turd pink and purple. The marketing campaign is not even parody, which usually doesn't get the ol' boot in the arse, but even if it were, in this case it is too much the same. And to call it the shuffle anything is their biggest mistake. name-infringements will usually get your hind end cooked. This thing will definitely go down in flames.
 
Bonte said:
They'l won't make a penny with that price, stil can't beleve it :mad:
Click to expand...

But look at all the cash they save on R&D and the design of a marketing campaign.
 
Its those taiwan and china makers again..... :mad:

I am all for competition but that super shuffle is definitely a blatant rip-off (come on, even the name and the ad is the same). Can't they just come up with their own original design. It's little wonder that you can't trust them to respect copyright.
 
Might be a good thing that this product is out there. Whether or not it actually gets to market doesn't matter. What might matter more is the message behind it all. Yes it is possible to get more for less. Hence, Apple might need to rethink there pricing.

WE all want a luxury car but it's not really realistic for most people, so we go for something that looks close and way cheaper. That's life.


~e
 
You nailed it... not much of a market...

nagromme said:
I'd like an FM tuner in my iPod. It would be another bullet point to be satisfied about, and I'd even turn it on at least once a year for SOMETHING.

But some people seem to REALLY REALLY want another FM radio in their lives, alongside the ones already in every vehicle and building where we go. I'm wondering what that market really is?

Is it just sports fans who want to be outdoors but NOT in a car during a big game? That's all I can think of. Of course that only applies if your coverage is on FM instead of AM, and only during games. I thought about news possibly, but I have no shortage of chances to get radio news: unlike a game, it's not just played at one time. If anything, AM might be more useful.

Beyond that, the radios already all around me do the job just great.

Now, the quality of AAC vs. MP3... and little things like AUDIOBOOK support... those are rarely found in a non-Apple player and those are a little more vital than yet-another-FM-radio :)

Who wants to bet this clone has no audiobook playback? And no auto-fill?
Click to expand...

And it won't hit the streets in big numbers without some action by Apple.

You nailed it about the radio. It's the product feature syndrome. More features means more reasons to buy. Generally, FM quality sucks compared to AAC in my iPod.

I checked with Apple Store folks and they said they sell audio recorders and FM receivers for the iPods but not even 100 to 1. Steve is sure disciplined these days (applause).

Interestingly, NO ONE has managed to understand the "features game" the way it's played at Apple. iTunes, iTunes Music Store, iPod, instant sync, liberal music use, works on Mac and Windows with ease.

Nobody else does that. Hmmmmm. Maybe the old model of "feature-creep" doesn't work anymore. Microsoft? Are you listening?

-
 
eclipse525 said:
Might be a good thing that this product is out there. Whether or not it actually gets to market doesn't matter. What might matter more is the message behind it all. Yes it is possible to get more for less. Hence, Apple might need to rethink there pricing.

WE all want a luxury car but it's not really realistic for most people, so we go for something that looks close and way cheaper. That's life.


~e
Click to expand...

It's easy to offer "more for less" when you don't have to spend money on R&D or hire an advertising firm to design an ad campaign. Apple designed the product and paid for an ad campaign; that's why it costs more for Apple to sell the product than it might cost of LuxPro to sell their ripoff with more features.
 
Seems like every time some well known company releases an innovative product, someone rips it off, but at least most of the time they make it look different. This company didn't even try to make theres not look like a ripoff
 
Apple doesn't include an FM tuner in their iPods because more people will listen to the radio, and less people will buy from the iTunes music store.

Fishes,
narco.
 
RHutch said:
It's easy to offer "more for less" when you don't have to spend money on R&D or hire an advertising firm to design an ad campaign. Apple designed the product and paid for an ad campaign; that's why it costs more for Apple to sell the product than it might cost of LuxPro to sell their ripoff with more features.
Click to expand...

And more importantly, it cost more money to do anything East of LuxPro due our higher salaries and higher costs of living. Don't you just love democracies :)
 
I see this a blatent marketing - getting the company name out - they can't be that stupid. They are 'Madonna' marketing at Cebit and will reproduce the same specs in a different casing later - why pay all sorts of $$$ for advertising when Apple can do it for you. This was a calculated move by this company...
 
Mantat said:
i think this is just a marketing plot to get some attention. The copyright infrigement is too obvious.

I dont think this product exist, if it did, there would be more than just a banner picture, we would have seen some repport of its use.

On the other hand, this company is from China (read somewhere that its owned by the gov) and we all know that chiness dont know the meaning of copyright at all.

Personnaly, I try to boycot product made in china as much as I can, the first step being to never go to Walmart...
Click to expand...

I read an article about a year ago regarding the exploding car ownership in China. One of the most common vehicles on their roads was the JEEP Cherokee (old shape). JEEP investigated and found a number of unconnected factories that had taken one of their vehicle apart copied it and were producing clones for local consumption. I don’t think the idea of copyright means much to them. I wouldn’t be surprised to find that these MP3’s don’t roll out of the same factories (or factories owned by the same people) as Apple’s iPods.
 
To those who say that this sends a message that Apple should be selling it cheaper, did you think about quality, not to mention research and development. This company reverse engineered the shuffle, and there is no guarentee that they are concerned with quality. But of course, they will likely be paying a hefty legal fee, and will have wasted all the money they did spend on reverse engineering and initial advertising.
 
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