Virgin Digital has announced their own “iPod mini killer,” the weirdly-named “Virgin Electronics Player 5GB” which features 5GB of storage (which Virgin bills as capable of holding over 1200 songs), a built in FM tuner, weight of 3.1 ounces, and dual headphone jacks for $249.99. Virgin’s site states, “We’re making these as fast as we can! Should be in stock within 2 weeks.”
In a veiled dig at Apple’s 4GB iPod mini, Virgin’s site reads, “5GB means you’ve got room for over 1200 songs or 80 CDs – give or take a few. No matter how you slice or dice it, we’re talking 25% more space than 4GB.”
In a totally unveiled stab at Apple, Virgin’s site reads, “Buy your music from any download service… well, almost any – The Virgin Player 5GB rusn [sic] music purchased from: Virgin Digital, Real, MusicMatch and coming soon, any Plays For Sure compatible service. Songs downloaded from iTunes are not supported. Its their choice, not ours.”
Virgin’s specs pages states, “Compatible with Windows XP/2000 (Mac support coming)” and “Plays MP3, WMA formats 64 to 320 sampling rates.”
“‘No one else has the same sort of brand energy that Apple or Virgin has. Plus, our heritage is music,’ said Greg Woock, chief executive of Virgin Electronics. ‘Apple is dominating, yes, but the market share that it has today is not going to last,'” AP reports.
More info, photos, and specs here.
MacDailyNews Take: Attention to detail? Perhaps they should get basic English words spelled correctly and fix the typos on their introductory page first. Is this really an “iPod mini killer” or will it be just another slow-selling player that can’t match Apple’s iPod mini?
Related MacDailyNews article:
Apple iPod grabs massive market share, leaves also-rans in the dust – October 12, 2004
Apple iPod dominates with 82 percent market share in U.S. retail stores in August – October 11, 2004
the virgin brand and company is shite….
over here in the uk, they are viewed as a “budget” company bit like easy jet, car. ect
you know the cheap and cheerful kind!!!
all they are good for is making ballons that fail to get accross the atlantic…
Why spend $249 for something that makes you look like a welfare recipient?
This looks like the mp3 player for people that line up for free cheese, but costs the same as an iPod mini.
I knew Branson. Branson was a friend of mine. Branson, you’ve got no iPod killer.
Hey Mr. You’re Kiddin’
My brother was a motorcycle courier and met Mr. Branson on his house boat on the Thames (for you windows users, that’s pronounced ‘tems’). He seemed like a very nice chap. I did the same job and met a Mr. Uri Geller. I also saw Graham Chapman from ‘Monty Python’ and Midge Ure of Ultravox. Plus I also took the script for ‘Aliens’ to Heathrow Airport from Ellestree Studios near London. The package said. ‘To: Sigourney Weaver, c/o Brown Agency. New York, New York. Whilst at the studio I saw the ‘007’ sound stage and the funky ‘tank’ thing they used in Aliens.
Oh sorry, I’m on the wrong site.
Cobb is wrong above: this is not a commodity market. Not exactly, not yet. Apple is insulating the iPod from competition by giving it unique properties (AAC/Fairplay, iTMS compatibility). So there are two markets: the AAC market, in which the iPod is the only choice, and the WMA market, in which there are a handful of choices, none as nice as the iPod. Now, right now lots of people like the iPod better (it’s nice that nobody seems able to undercut Apple’s prices anymore) and are opting for the AAC market.
Call me alarmist, but I do not want to live in a world where WMA is the standard. Fine, you say, it’s not. But I think it’s really worth asking: would all the money and creative effort Apple uses to drive people to the AAC/iPod market not be just as effectivein driving people to the iPod if it existed in a shared, commodity-style AAC market? Rephrased: if the iPod’s design and usability and inherent greatness, rather than the benefits of AAC, is what’s pushing iPod sales, then wouldn’t sales remain the same if the competition was using AAC as well?
Look at the numbers: Apple has 70% of the digital download market and 82% of the digital music player market. Unless I’m not reading the numbers right (which is possible, we’re not considering the flash-memory player market) that suggests that there are more iPod owners who don’t use iTMS than iTMS users who don’t own iPods. So if Apple licensed Fairplay, we’d be more likely to see iPod owners using different music stores than iTMS users buying other players. And we know the money is in the players, not the store.
Malice –
Those tricky bastards. In the past, they attempted to lure me in by handing me a brochure….
“Here.. take one.. Yeah.. no commit.. HAH! I HAVE YOU NOW!”
Now I’m going to have to worry about whether my iPod will be used as bait for a sales pitch for a cellphone. Dammit…….
Nice design – I like it better than the iPod mini, but then again I passed on the iPod mini in favor of regular iPod.
Nice to see some alternatives to the iPod coming out. Looks promising!
Nice design – I like it better than the iPod mini, but then again I passed on the iPod mini in favor of regular iPod.
Nice to see some alternatives to the iPod coming out. Looks promising!
Very bad tast the compare page.
http://www.virginelectronics.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/WFS/VirginElectronics/en_US/-/USD/ViewProduct-Compare;sid=kMKPryuOhSaP8mridvJPB0KbUxCLpehclMg=?CatalogCategoryID=&ProductID=zN.sHgcaJqoAAAD_Zjp6F4jB&ProductSKU=VM-0500
i think its cute really.
Cute? Yeah, looks like a cute blood sugar analyzer for a diabetic! Whate a piece of $HIT!
Cute? Yeah, looks like a cute blood sugar analyzer for a diabetic! What a piece of $HIT! And what a great name… Player 5GB… really rolls off the tongue!