Interesting story from MacCentral about the reaction of competitive flash MP3 player makers to the iPod Shuffle.
I think they are missing the point. The players these folks have made are solid products, but they are geek products - heavy on the features, not so heavy on simplicity or coolness. Whereas Apple's no-screen, oh so primitively simple player will likely be popular because it's just so freakin' easy - plug it into the USB port and be done with it. And it's really tiny and looks really cool.
That said, Apple has yet to solve their biggest problem in the music space, the one that I think decides whether they are the initial big guy who fades away to being a sideshow, or actually stays in it for the long term. That's the whole digital rights management (DRM) issue. Apple is using a very nice DRM scheme that was better than anybody's when they first came out with it; you buy songs from their store, you can play them on up to 3 computers and associated iPods and pretty much burn to CDs at will (You can't burn the same playlist containing a protected track more than 10 times, which is not an issue for anyone not stealing music.)
Since then others have fallen in line with similar systems (notably the Microsoft music store) but... they are similar but different.
Eventually, if music bought at different stores can't be played on different players, there is a problem. What happens when some music is only available online from Microsoft, and other music is only available online from Apple? The whole thing becomes a headache for consumers.
At some point there needs to be some interoperable DRM scheme that lets consumers choose their software and portable players and still buy everything. Apple, dominating the market for now, may be tempted to keep things as they are, but in the long term I believe it's a big mistake. There would be a real advantage to making it possible for someone with a non-iPod player to buy music from them and play it on that device.
What's more, if they don't do it, eventually software to crack the DRM will just show up all over, and then you start to get a real mess.
Popular Posts
-
If you have a good body, don't be afraid to flaunt it! Here are some tips to use jewelry such as belly button rings to highlight your be...
-
The smarmy little troll with the bow tie is gone, with his particularly unenlightening show soon to follow. It can't be good to be fired...
-
Geography is an often misunderstood subject, it focuses on developing skills beyond just knowing where individual countries and regions are,...
-
The agenda is the key to a successful meeting – it is the roadmap, the guide, the plan. Studies have shown that up to 70% of meetings either...
-
The idea of purchasing a personal computer may be appealing to a lot of people, however they may feel undecided as weather to go for a tradi...
-
I was born a city boy moved more to a rural setting almost 2 decades ago. The idea of fishing to me was for those who drove pick-up trucks, ...
-
When you splash out on a new mobile phone you need to ensure that you are buying the real thing as copies and fakes simply will not last! Ph...
-
Singapore Scotts Tower is one of the scariest and at the same time good looking buildings in the world that will be built in Singapore in th... -
If we think in terms of eating healthy, not filling- up with junk food, then perhaps grocery costs are out of control. A couple with kids co...
-
The feature set included with your home VOIP phone varies greatly from carrier to carrier, so as you are comparing different offerings, mak...
No comments:
Post a Comment