Did we see this article from CNET yet?
It was posted on the 12th but don't remember seeing yesterday.
-Senior editor, CNET Reviews
(2/12/03)
For more than a year now, Apple's iPod has been our favorite portable MP3 player. It's more expensive than the competition, but well-designed products usually are. Even more astounding than the iPod's popularity in this country is the fact that the device still enjoys a 42 percent market share in Japan a year after its introduction. What's so odd about this? Well, as anyone who has been to Tokyo can tell you, the Japanese marketplace is usually about six months to a year ahead of its American counterpart. From video cell phones to e-mail-retrieving robots, the Far East gets the new stuff while it's just a glimmer in a U.S. importer's eye. So if the Japanese are still buying more iPods than any other MP3 player, then maybe Apple has lapped next year's competition as well.
This is a nice theory, but from what we saw at CES last month, it's simply not true. Apple is facing loads of competition from multiple sources, thanks in part to the availability of a new generation of Toshiba 1.8-inch hard drives, which cost less per megabyte than the Hitachi drives used in the first round of iPods. Here are a few of the products that will probably give Apple's player a run for its money.
eDigital Odyssey 1000
The hard drive-based players that we've seen from eDigital--the Treo 10 and the Treo 15--seemed like the iPod's clumsy, awkward cousins, due to their large sizes and clunky interfaces. But the Odyssey 1000, as its model number suggests, is about 100 times better than eDigital's previous offerings. While the Odyssey's design clearly borrows from a certain all-white MP3 player from Cupertino, the 1000 has a few tricks up its sleeve that might cost Steve Jobs some sleep:
USB 2.0: eDigital claims a file-transfer speed of 8MB per second (we'll believe it when we see it) over this port, which is likely to be more accepted by Windows users than FireWire. Plus, the Odyssey is backward-compatible with USB 1.1.
20GB hard drive: eDigital plans on offering its model for more than $100 less than Apple's 20GB iPod.
Scroll wheel: The Odyssey's scroll wheel doesn't look enough like the iPod's to warrant a lawsuit, but it's very similar.
Voice recording, FM radio, and WMA compatibility: When the iPod originally shipped, these features were frills, but now that they're almost standard, Apple looks remiss by not including them.
Voice navigation: Using the built-in microphone, you can actually make verbal requests for the songs that you want to hear.
Doubles as a removable hard drive: When you connect the Odyssey to your computer, it shows up as a removable USB 2.0 drive.
Samsung YEPP 900
Samsung's YEPP line has been consistently decent, so when the company announced a hard drive-based player, we had a feeling that its offering would be something of a zinger. Sure enough, the YEPP 900 brings the goods on many fronts, with a wide range of recording- and FM-related features:
10GB hard drive: The 900's capacity is not huge, but it's certainly acceptable.
FM receiver/transmitter: How did Samsung fit one of these into such a small device? However the company did it, its inclusion means that you can play your MP3s on any radio within range, wirelessly.
USB 2.0: As a next-generation, hard drive-based MP3 player, this YEPP needs a fast connection, but due to copyright issues, Samsung might not allow the device to be used as an external hard drive.
Line-in recording/encoding: Connect any line-level analog source--such as a CD player, a stereo auxiliary output, or a powered microphone--to the YEPP 900, and it will encode the audio onto its hard drive in the MP3 or WMA format. This Samsung is the first player to record in two different codecs.
Digital Innovations Neuros
We've written extensively about this newcomer and will post a review soon. Besides holding 20GB of MP3 music, the Neuros takes FM-radio compatibility as far as possible; in fact, I can't think of any FM-related feature that it doesn't have. I haven't yet heard Samsung's YEPP 900 broadcast through a stereo system, but I've heard the Neuros do so with aplomb. Here are the player's main features--I think that the song-identification option is pretty mind-blowing:
20GB hard drive: You can also buy a 128MB flash backpack and swap the control console between the hard drive and the flash memory. For example, you can switch to the flash memory for jogging and use the hard drive while you commute.
FM reception, recording, broadcasting, and identification: Like the YEPP 900, the Neuros can receive FM stations as well as transmit radio signals to stereos. But you can also use this player to tag radio songs with the push of a button, then identify the tunes when you connect the device to your PC.
Two-way syncing: The iPod syncs to only one computer, but the Neuros syncs to multiple machines and transfers files from computer to player and back. The record labels won't like that, but consumers sure will.
Deltron Cinema Disk
We love the Archos Jukebox Multimedia 20, which lets you watch videos portably and listen to audio. The Deltron Cinema Disk takes a different approach, functioning as a dedicated video display and storage device that can be used only with a television. A remote control and an S-Video connection sweeten the deal. The Cinema Disk also has some pretty impressive digital-photo capabilities. If you regularly download movies from the Internet or need to provide portable video for professional reasons, you'll be all over this player. The Cinema Disk is not coming to a theater near you--it is a theater near you. Here are a few key reasons why movie fans might choose this gadget:
20GB, 40GB, or 60GB capacities: Video takes up more storage space than audio, thus the massive 60GB option.
S-Video connection and remote control: The Archos isn't a slick device, but the Deltron is literally ready for prime time.
CompactFlash slot: Digital photographers will appreciate being able to dump photos onto the compact Deltron while on the go.
Apple iPod (20GB, 30GB, 40GB): Faster file transfers and larger buffer (for better battery life)
Ironically, the biggest iPod killer of them all could be Apple's next-generation models. Apple rumor sites have been abuzz with talk of new iPods shipping within the next month or so, containing Toshiba's new 1.8-inch drives in 20GB, 30GB, and 40GB flavors. Evidently, these drives will help prolong battery life while increasing file-transfer speeds. Rumor also has it that the new breed of iPods will look the same as the old models but will perform better. Here's why:
Same top-notch design: Although several of these upcoming hard drive players will be as small as the iPod, the jury is still out on whether they'll be as user-friendly. Apple's ace in the hole might be its award-winning design.
Larger capacities: With 40GB of space and a faster connection, people will be more likely to use the iPod as a second hard drive.
New wish-list item
A few months ago, I posted a column listing the features that my dream MP3 player would have, and you responded with your own ideas. The above products include some of my wish-list items, but while writing this article, I thought of one more. Since so many players have an external microphone for voice recording, how about building a noise-cancellation system into the device? If the microphone sampled the outside noise--such as sounds from a subway, a bus, a plane, or other consistent sources--the device's processor could attenuate those frequencies in the audio signal the same way that noise-canceling headphones do.
MP3 Nugget: Create a text list of your MP3s
If
AI
