“Ever since it was introduced in October 2001, Apple’s iPod digital music player has been the unquestioned leader in its field. Its slick physical design, clean user interface, and great capacity and sound have won nearly universal raves from critics. And the public has agreed, buying more than 1 million iPods,” writes Walter S. Mossberg for The Wall Street Journal.
Mossberg continues, “Other companies have tried to follow suit but failed. Their entries were lower priced, and some had higher capacity. But they were too bulky and had complicated user interfaces. Now, two of the dominant players in portable digital music players, Rio Audio and Creative Labs, are back with a new round of potential iPod killers that are slimmer and easier to use than their predecessors. I’ve been testing two of the new models, to see how they compare with the latest iPods.”
After looking at such factors as battery life, storage capacity, weight, useability and more, Mossberg concludes, “Rio, Creative slim down [their] players, but can’t beat iPod.”
Full article here.
wait until Rio’s Karma player comes out. Compare that thing to the iPod and it’s going to be a battle.
And just for what or whom or where will that battle be fought? And with which iPod? The first Gen? Second Gen? No way can it touch any of the 3G models – not even close. And the battle sure won’t be anywhere or with anyone who owns a Mac and an iPod. I’m having trouble seeing any potential battle here at all, having taken a look at the Karma’s info on the Rio website. Have you seen a pic of the “docking station” for the Karma? Couldn’t find it on their site… hmmmm… probably just as clunky and unattractive, especially since it must be large enough to have an ethernet port built-in. Blech. And double-blech.