"The Alternative" to iPod is SanDisk e200 ???

[halfadder]

The news today has been buzzing about the corporate-fueled, counter-culture backlash against the iPod, often referencing idont.com, which is a marketing website put together by SanDisk to promote their e200, "The Alternative to the iPod".

So, let met get this straight, iPod owners are "iChump" sheep and the SOLUTION is to buy the SanDisk e200 instead? Isn't that just as bad? I could *maybe* understand this if SanDisk wasn't already a huge flash memory company, or *maybe* if the e200 was radically different looking.

No wonder I don't own a SanDisk player, or an iPod.

On a side note, I sort of like the anythingbutipod.com website... but I wish it was "anythingthatdoesntlooklikeipod.com". It's amazing how many MP3 player look like the iPod, or have a GUI that resembles the iPod *or* Apple's Front Row media interface.

 

[fredhe12]

From a marketing standpoint, Apple has such a stranglehold on this category, that competitors (SanDisk in this case) need to come up with these obnoxious and over-the-top campaigns to avoid being disregarded as just another entrant into the digital audio player market. One way is to capitalize on some of the backlash that Apple is getting. For every product that becomes a "me too" product, there is another bandwagon company that tries to capitalize on the "not me" backlash and produce a corresponding product. It's simply good marketing. When there's a huge #1 that can't be toppled, being #2 is usually a good thing.

I have an iShuffle simply because I tried others and they were crap. The iShuffle works and works and works. That's all I care about. What it really comes down to is making a good product. iPods aren't bad. Some people feel that they have to have one, others feel that they have to have something else. Personally I could care less about anyone else, I just want something that works good and if it looks good, all the better.

 

[mamisano]

Problem is there were many MP3 players out on the parket before the IPOD. Unfortunately, everyone calls every MP3 player an IPOD and thinks they are the best and only choice to purchase.

Personally, I had a RIO Cali 128mb + 256mb SD until last week. It did EVERYTHING I needed it to do and has lasted me over 3 years. The only reason I replaced it is the fact that I use XP-64 and RIO will not develop drivers for an old model (don't blame them).

So I was looking for a replacement for the RIO and ended up with the Sansa e250. Really nice device and in my opinion better than the Nano for a lower price. The Sansa has a larger 1.8" TFT Screen, Plays videos, additional capacity via Mini-SD, replaceable internal battery, Listen to and/or record FM Radio, Voice recorder, SCRATCH RESISTANT.

 

[WackyDan]

There are better, cheaper alternatives to iPod out there. Don't knock one company's creative marketing against the iPod. There are iPod killers out there, and have been for some time. That's why I own an iRiver HD based player.

But iPod fits the bill for people who are just getting into mp3's and buying music online. The accessory market for iPods is impressive and further markets iPod as the player to have. Discerning consumers will look elseware though.

 

[TerryMathews]

Okay, I hate this topic every time I see it.

I've got an Archos FM Recorder 20, a USB 2.0 MP3 player, and probably the best of the pre-iPod generation players. I could list the different ways the iPod kills it, but I'd be sitting here most of the night.

Hindsight being 20/20, it's easy to see what companies should do right. Problem is, prior to Apple, no one was doing it. There were big, big companies doing MP3 players, but the UI wasn't there and the media management certainly wasn't there.

Things Apple did right:
-You can have a HD-based player that is small and has decent battery life
-Your UI can be more intricate than a flat presentation of the directory structure on the player
-Your player management software can be more than a simple driver, or a vendor lock-in tool

People also love to hate on iTunes. I don't know why. It takes up a fair amount of memory, sure. With my iPod docked and the Library browse window open without a song playing, it's reading ~40MB. Considering the amount of info it keeps handy from the ID3 field, that's pretty darn good. Especially considering my library is 1690 songs. I've got 4 processes that consume more RAM (Internet Explorer at 48MB, my UPS software at 70MB, Java - Azureus at 90MB, and Exchange at 412MB).

The simple fact that people use iTunes who do not own an iPod or a Mac should be enough to demonstrate that it's a pretty well designed media management program. Heck I use the same iTunes library for my Empeg (more on that below). The way iTunes manages the music directory is just about perfect for what I do. 🙂

I know that I could download Winamp plus this and that plugins and configure everything just right to get (marginally) better functionality, but what's the point in investing that much effort? I roll my own solutions for enough problems (TV streaming, PVR, etc.) that don't have decent out-of-the-box solutions without torturing myself with another one. Streaming is Orb and PVR is SageTV, BTW.

And if you want to talk about features that are missing, let's talk about the Empeg. It's got a feature that I'd love to see other players have, but it's not going to happen. I know there's one or two Rio players that have the same feature, but it's because they're all based on the same codebase. The Empeg supported having "playlists of playlists". Heck, it was required. Everything on the main menu for selecting a song was based on a playlist. Hit play from the top menu and you've got a playlist of every song. Or you can whittle down and step in a level or two. You can even emulate the iPod's interface if you want, assuming you're willing to basically create the menus three times over. That's the downside - no (or limited) automatic menu generation. It also had T9 (or close to it) text input for searching for songs or artists. Enter '2522' and you'd probably get Alabama if you were searching for artists.

And lastly "Anybody but iPod" sounds too much like someone's Presidential campaign to really work. 🙂