The Apple iPod has dominated the mp3 player market for the past two years, but even with technology companies such as Archos, Rio and Creative Labs trying to compete with their own hard drive-based music players; they cannot achieve or match iPod’s success.
“The reason the iPod is more popular and talked about than others is because it can hold thousands of songs or an entire album collection while still being portable,” said Stewart Bobbit, education sophomore. “And people associate this ability with the iPod.”
A Jan. 12 article in The New York Times on iTunes said Apple sold more than 30 million songs in 2003 and 730,000 iPods in the last quarter of 2003. Since 2001, Apple has sold more than 2 million iPods.
In November, Dell emerged as the competitor to Apple’s command of the market with the release of the Digital Jukebox. This mp3 player is similar to the iPod and comes in 15GB and 20GB hard drives. It can use most music files, including ones from file sharing sources.
However, the iPod is not without flaws. Consumers recently noticed that Apple was not replacing dead batteries, but telling customers that they had to buy a new iPod instead.
“Carrying around thousands of songs on one small device is a nifty idea, but not if you have to recharge it every few hours,” a Dell press release stated, taking a jab at iPod’s battery life.
Brothers Casey and Van Neistat created a movie and Web site www.ipodsdirtysecret.com in response to the company’s refusal to replace iPod batteries. The movie features one of the brothers spray-painting “iPod’s un-replaceable battery lasts only 18 months” on iPod posters in Manhattan.
There is also a pending class action lawsuit against Apple for alleged false advertising and deceptive business practices. Apple recently changed its policy and now offers new batteries for $99 and an extended warranty for $59.
However, Apple’s domination of the digital music industry continues to extend its reach.
According to a joint press release from Hewlett-Packard and Apple, the companies announced a partnership in which HP computers and notebooks will come with the iTunes jukebox software and a desktop link to the iTunes Music Store pre-installed.
According to Apple’s Web site, the company will give away 100 million free songs under soda bottle caps from Feb. 1 to March 31 in a partnership with Pepsi.
Colorful commercials featuring silhouettes of people dancing to the music of the Black Eyed Peas and Jet have marked the arrival of the iPod mini, Apple’s new contribution to the mp3 player market. Coming in five colors and holding 1,000 songs, it will not be released worldwide until April. But Apple’s Web site deems it “the next big thing,” and at $50 less than the 15 GB iPod, it just might prove to be.
Sudents have mixed opinions about iPods.
“I think all of the iPods are overpriced, including the iPod mini,” said Samantha Lutfi-Proctor, an international studies junior. “It’s ridiculous that they make you pay for the songs as well. I would buy a Dell mp3 player over an iPod.”
John Holmes, a psychology sophomore, looked into purchasing an iPod but declined because of the expense.
“The cheapest one is almost $300,” he said. “But I would not mind paying 99 cents for the iTunes songs because CDs are $18 for 12 to 14 songs.”
Other non-hard drive digital music players, such as Samsung’s Yepp product line, can play or support mp3 files, including free files obtained from illegal swapping services, such as Kazaa or Morpheus. The cost is usually under $200, but these devices cannot hold as many files as the iPod, the largest of which, 40GB, can hold up to 10,000 songs.
Holmes said the downside of the iPod is that, although it can hold a lot of music files, they are in a specific format that makes it difficult to use them for anything else, such as burning CDs.
“There are ways to get around [the formatting problem],” he said. “But that is extra work.”
David Ao, a manager at CompUSA in Baton Rouge, said the iPods are popular among college students because they are user-friendly and reliable. Ao said that to his knowledge, CompUSA is the only retailer of Apple computers in the area.
Dell only sells the Digital Jukebox through its Web site, as they do most of their products.
Peter Browne, a studio art sophomore, received an iPod for Christmas and uses it to “rip” his CD collection into his computer and iPod. He said he would not pay for music from iTunes unless it was songs from a CD he does not have and would buy anyway. Browne said the partnership with HP is a good idea for Apple.
“If I bought a computer that had [iTunes] pre-installed I might use it,” Browne said. “It is good software, but I like to have actual CDs, not just music on the computer.”
“The bad thing is, if the files do not come from iTunes or actual CDs, like files from Kazaa, then they screw up,” he said.