Was that really the best they could come up with? The "Microsoft" of music? Don't they know how much that bothers us nerds?

Couldn't they call them the "Jell-O" of music. Or the "Kleenex" of music? How about the "Coke AND Pepsi" of music?

See, there are so many better ways of saying it.

Get a life!

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Small White Car wrote:
Was that really the best they could come up with? The "Microsoft" of music? Don't they know how much that bothers us nerds?

Couldn't they call them the "Jell-O" of music. Or the "Kleenex" of music? How about the "Coke AND Pepsi" of music?

See, there are so many better ways of saying it.

How about the Crap of Toilets?

sounds right to me, microsoft dominates its business; coke and pepsi are neck and neck

WOW. THREE guest in a row with no sense of humor. Let me ask you something, did you not UNDERSTAND my joke or did you just not think it's funny?

I dunno... #1 doesn't give much clue we'll just say he thinks it's not funny.

#2 is tricky...he's making his own joke...but does he think it's continuing my joke or does he think his is the first joke? I'm just not sure.

And #3 seems to analyze it in a very technical way so I'll have to go with "didn't understand" that it was a joke.

prepare for the blues screen of death

ipod will never be the "defacto standard in digital music."...(what idiots come up with these taglines?)... because hmm.. let's see...they partner with motorola, we assume in a move towards market share.. but they may SUE another major company for having the nerve to make their software compatible! It's the long history of brain dead moves like this that will always make Apple/Mac "the third world country of computers"... now THAT'S a tagline! Thank you...thank you very much

what an awful statement. if everyone wrote software as poorly as microsoft does, the network would be beat. every virus, and trojan etc has exploited crap MS security holes. why do so many people use it? because so many people use it. x-box is neat, yippee. give me my mac any day.
thank you
good night

The only Joke is that you think mac is a computer

i completely agree to disagree.. Mac needs to keep standards and let real and even wmas play on there iPods. They have the best technology out there. Let everyone use it!!

Here! HERE!

Maybe I do indeed have no sense of humor, but the title is appropriate. I think the difference between calling Apple the "Jello of Music" vs the "M$ of Music" is that the reporter believes that Apple would be willing to do whatever it would take to own the market, kill competition, using the threat of legal action, as opposed to placement of a superior product, to achieve its dominant position. The tricky thing with the iPod is that it truly is the superior product in the portable music/legal music buying space. Unfortunatley most people are sheep (with Humans innately being herd animals), so a lot of the power of system is enhanced by the number of people adhering to the system. The Mac world was a hold out of free thinkers... even if it cost them a little more to do so.
I guess the good news is, if Apple is going to be the "M$ of Music" then at least the future will be well designed, aethestically pleasing and overbearing as opposed to ugly, disfunctional and overbearing.

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Small White Car wrote:
WOW. THREE guest in a row with no sense of humor. Let me ask you something, did you not UNDERSTAND my joke or did you just not think it's funny?

I dunno... #1 doesn't give much clue we'll just say he thinks it's not funny.

#2 is tricky...he's making his own joke...but does he think it's continuing my joke or does he think his is the first joke? I'm just not sure.

And #3 seems to analyze it in a very technical way so I'll have to go with "didn't understand" that it was a joke.

Man, speaking of someone with no sense of humor...

Let it go man.

What a thoughtless post.

First you are arrogant enough to explain what the author of the story "believes" with the title, as if you have insight into his personal thought process. He never said those tings that you attribute to him in the story.

Then you are uneducated enough to call mankind a "herd" animal. Man is a predator and I believe demonstrates some "pack" tendancies as most primates do. You might have written about the "network effect" of products like Windows that enocurage the risk adverse in our society to purchase them but that is a different argument.

It is so sad to read posts on sites from apparently uneducated people critiquing what Apple does and what Analysts report as if they actually know better. (Which I do not presume to do myself).

Why is iPod a superior product, when I can get other players cheaper, that has both usb, firewire and the ability to work as an external hard drive. And the sound quality really isn't all that either...

He has a point, and all the Anonymous Cowards need to register.

His point was, Microsoft has so many negative connotations, it was a bad attempt at using shorthand to explain a market position.

His other point (Kleenex, Jell-O) was about product names that become synonymous with the product category. "Zipper" is actually the brand name of a fastener, just as "Q-Tip" is one brand's name for a "cotton swab." However, everybody calls them Q-Tips, Kleenex, Zipper and Jell-O, because they're so ubiquitous, they've taken over the category's idnetity.

Feh - you're probably not following me, either (any Marketing people out there? Hello).

Let me put it this way - when people stop calling them "MP3 Players," and just start calling them all "iPods" - like every personal cassette player is now a "Walkman."

Bah. Nevermind.

Hello? Read much? ;->

Every major review has stated the iPod's superiority over all players to challenge it to date. Including Walt Mossberg's review of Sony's player today.

It is the iPod's unique combination of great design, good size, innovative features, amazing ease of use, etc. Add to it the supriority of both iTunes and the iTunes Music Store to their competitors and how well they integarate with the iPod and it's an easy win for Apple so far.

Get one and you'll understand.

oh no, the author used the word microsoft to describe something! the word has negative connotations for me, so please be tolerant and use other words to describe dominance and power.

Get over your power/money inferiority complex already you babies.

Thank you Billy. I'm glad someone gets what I was trying to say.

And as for "getting over it" ... well NO. I make a post and then get followed up with 3 NAMELSS posters who critisize and belittle me and I'm not supposed to respond to that? Maybe if they had names I could treat them with a little more respect, but for all I know it was all one person coming up with different ways to make fun of me. I see no reason to "get over" that and I'll continue to mock people who mock me.

I'm sorry if you think that's humorless. I think it's kind of funny, really, but that's just me.

A phone with music in it? We've been there. But back then it was all for free. We called it radio! And guess what they played music you didn't know existed. And they gave news every hour.

That's what drives change, not repeating what you heard before. That's autism.

and i-pods can be used as external hard disks.

Isn't this the same iPod that runs out of battery power in 18 months, forcing you to buy a new one because the battery cannot be replaced? Sounds like "Micro$oft of Music" is pretty much dead-on.

The battery can be replaced. It costs $100. That may seem like a lot but that's what the batteries for my camcorder cost so it's a pretty normal price for that kind of battery.

When's the last time you had to send your camcorder to the manufacturer to replace the battery? They don't think you're an idiot, why should Apple?

What the hell is going on today? Did we get linked by some MS/Dell fansite? I've never seen so many nameless trolls in one day. Maybe RealityCheck lost his account privileges.

Is that you, RealityCheck?

And, OK, I'll give the troll a snack...

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Guest wrote:
When's the last time you had to send your camcorder to the manufacturer to replace the battery? They don't think you're an idiot, why should Apple?

You don't have to send it in. If you know your way around a screwdriver, you can do it yourself. But common sense (look it up at dictionary.com) tells us, in order to make a device as small and compact as an iPod, the battery is probably pretty well integrated into the guts, so a lot of people wouldn't want to do it themselves.

Now go away, nameless troll cowards

Let's see.. I:

* Made a joke about Jell-O
* Got annoyed at people who didn't like my joke
* Said that you can replace an iPod battery.


Whoo, guess one of those really pissed you off. I wish I knew which one, but alas, none of them seem very offensive. Oh well, who knows?

Most definitly since the iTunes music store is getting acolades from everybody and the iPods just keep getting better. It's only a matter of time before they jump into movies as well but will a movie store also come with an iPod for movies as well? Apparently there seems to a huge demand for such a device but I personally wouldn't buy it since I just watch dvds on my laptop and I find the idea of watching movies on a tiny little screen appalling.

this page was on the front page of news.google.com today.
_guest_

Although I hate the Yankees, they are the best organization.

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Guest wrote:

How about the Crap of Toilets?

Crap of toilets is immanently clever! Bush's speech writer couldn't have done better <gryn>

This was linked on the Google News page, that's probably why you're getting a lot of visitors.

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Small White Car wrote:
Was that really the best they could come up with? The "Microsoft" of music? Don't they know how much that bothers us nerds?

Microsoft is quite precize description of what Apple does now. It is using anticompetive moves in order to monopolize market. The only difference is that Apple has that fancy image, so many actually don't mind about this.

Apple could at least licence it's music format to others so that they can build their players that are compatible with Apple. If Apple is better, he would still keep its market share. Also this would allow other stores to sell their music for iPod. There are different people and it is quite obvious that they may want to shop different music through different shop interfaces. But Apple does not do that, as it does not want any competition!

I don't understand the big deal. Apple is using an open format. They have applied no anticompetative measures (contract that prevent other companies from selling competitor products). The ipod does not prohibityou putting any format of music on it that the processor can handle. Apples music format is open, their DRM is propritary, but that has nothing to do with what will play on the ipod. It is also trivial to strip out the DRM from any site's files and play them on the ipod. The best sites have no DRM anyway so everything they sell will play on the ipod.

I followed a link from yahoo finance just because the title is sexy. "Staff" sure has an eye for a catchphrase even if the Merril Lynch guy who coined it may not have had a clue.

Now I'm headed to acronymfinder.com to find out just what a 'TMO' is.

Your friend,
Guest

i still think that anyone who markets a portable player, a desktop player, and a download service will trap the masses. i have 8,000 legally ripped mp3's for my personal use and for DJing, yet no one has convinced me to buy their MP3 player yet. i still have the impression that people with iPods dont have anything good to spend their money on, and the everyone i see will NEVER come close to using the full capacity of those things. i know people who have the Zen, the Dell player, or the ipod, that have MAYBE 500 songs on them...so wasteful!!

stupid mindless masses...

Last I checked, iPods support mp3, aac, aiff, and wav formats, none of which are used exclusively by Apple.

Don't bother feeding the trolls. What do trolls eat? Crow, eventually.

Microsoft made it's empire on Software, where Apple tries to monoplise both. Perhaps this is why they are not as "successful" as Microsoft.

Apple should license their format as suggested, or, better yet, open it up. iTunes will florish, and if the iPod is so good, it will still sell just as well, or more so BECAUSE of iTunes' popularity. They can even pull a real MS trick and give it special features that no one else can use. MS sells an aweful lot of mice/keyboards, though I am pretty sure other people make those...

Oh, and yes, I am only here because of "The Power of Google"

Oh contrar Coke actually kicks the crap out of pepsi if you check their numbers. Pepsi makes a lot of extra income off its other subsidiaries like Pizza Hut, Frito Lay, etc.

So straight up soft drink sales Pepsi gets drowned.

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Guest wrote:
i still think that anyone who markets a portable player, a desktop player, and a download service will trap the masses. i have 8,000 legally ripped mp3's for my personal use and for DJing, yet no one has convinced me to buy their MP3 player yet. i still have the impression that people with iPods dont have anything good to spend their money on, and the everyone i see will NEVER come close to using the full capacity of those things. i know people who have the Zen, the Dell player, or the ipod, that have MAYBE 500 songs on them...so wasteful!!

stupid mindless masses...

You are totally right. That's why I got a mini iPod. 4 GB is more than enough space. I don't even use all of that.

But I make good use of it. I ride the subway 2 hours every day. Even with newspapers and books it can get boring. My iPod has kept me entertained and that's all I ask of it.

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Small White Car wrote:

You are totally right. That's why I got a mini iPod. 4 GB is more than enough space. I don't even use all of that.

But I make good use of it. I ride the subway 2 hours every day. Even with newspapers and books it can get boring. My iPod has kept me entertained and that's all I ask of it.

I've filled my 30 GB iPod completely and have thousands of AACs and MP3s to spare. I may not be the average user (don't know), but I just don't get this argument. I would suffocate and die under a 4GB cap.

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ivanii wrote:

Microsoft is quite precize description of what Apple does now. It is using anticompetive moves in order to monopolize market. The only difference is that Apple has that fancy image, so many actually don't mind about this.

Apple could at least licence it's music format to others so that they can build their players that are compatible with Apple. If Apple is better, he would still keep its market share. Also this would allow other stores to sell their music for iPod. There are different people and it is quite obvious that they may want to shop different music through different shop interfaces. But Apple does not do that, as it does not want any competition!

Apple has no reason or obligation to license its proprietary format they spent time and money developing. You want to sell music for an iPod - sell it in MP3 format. And you apparently didn't notice that they HAVE licensed their product to HP and Motorola. They also have no obligation to support WMA (although iTunes will now convert it). They've played fair (no pun intended), but the "competition" can't compete. Apple has no ingrained advantage over their rivals. In fact, in the case of Sony, they're at a disadvantage.

You say Apple "doesn't want any competition,' well, guess what? There are dozens of music download services and hundreds of MP3 players. That sounds like competition to me. They haven't done anything to quash their rivals - aside from make a better product.

You mention 'anticompetitive moves.' Well, name one. Go ahead.

Even your puns are uneducated. The play on words was centered on "Music" so your pun should have at least related to that like .... Microsoft's music service is like the Michael Bolton of music it does nothing original and makes its fame off of other's original thought. Like Windows is the Milli Vanilli of interfaces.... See you get the idea.

"Crap of Toilets" just proves the juvinality of your attempt. Someone once said "Better to stay quiet and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt." This is a prime example of that.

So remember when attempting to have a battle of wits please remember to come armed.

Look at it this way: The quote comparing Apple with Microsoft is no worse than calling Mercedes the Cadillac of automobiles.

how about the bmw of the digital age v. the irobot of mindless conformity?

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Guest wrote:
i still think that anyone who markets a portable player, a desktop player, and a download service will trap the masses. i have 8,000 legally ripped mp3's for my personal use and for DJing, yet no one has convinced me to buy their MP3 player yet. i still have the impression that people with iPods dont have anything good to spend their money on, and the everyone i see will NEVER come close to using the full capacity of those things. i know people who have the Zen, the Dell player, or the ipod, that have MAYBE 500 songs on them...so wasteful!!

stupid mindless masses...

You need to get out more, apparently. I've had my 20Gb iPod for 6 months and it's filled. I'm not even close to finished ripping my CDs. That was perhaps the best $400 I ever spent. I use my iPod more than anything I own. It wasn't a waste, and it wasn't easy to come up with the money.

So, if you use your 8,000 MP3s for DJ-ing, what do you do - bring your laptop along? You realize iPod DJ-ing is where your craft is headed, right?

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Engine Joe wrote:

I would suffocate and die under a 4GB cap.

Well maybe if you go on week-long vacations...

Look, 4 GB carries about 2 DAYS worth of music. I listen for 2 hours a day so I doubt I'll ever listen to all of it.

Each night I can sync to a different playlist so I have different music every day. And it's not like my playlists are segregated by type of music. I have a wide variety no matter what I up-load.

Like I said, maybe you're taking long trips or something...but for me it works just fine.

Anyway, I think you are a bit above average in terms of the amount of music you own. And that's why the make the larger iPods. I know the mini isn't for everyone and you're a perfect example.

Just a word from somebody who read the brief article- I can't believe you are posting on this thing. That was the worst conversation I've ever had the misfortune of reading.

Ummmmmm...last i checked my radio (portable or not) doesnt let me talk to people or choose the music I want....plus who cares about hourly radio news.....its like 10 sec of something not important usually