A competitive challenge to iPod’s cool label

A competitive challenge to iPod’s cool label
By Paul Taylor in New York
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006
Published: August 18 2006 11:50 | Last updated: August 18 2006 11:50


In less than five years Apple Computer’s iPod portable digital music player has become a classic consumer electronics icon and spawned an entire accessories ecosystem.

Some style gurus and industry commentators suggest the iPod has become so mainstream that it may be in danger of losing its “cool” status. Potentially more serious, Apple has recently faced challenges in several European countries because of its refusal to open up the digital rights management (DRM) system that binds the iTunes software, iTunes online music store and iPod family of players together.

ADVERTISEMENT
Apple has sold more than 1bn songs worldwide since launching the iTunes online service in 2003. But its songs are playable only on the iPod portable music players although iPod players can store and play back non-iTunes music formats including MP3 files.

iPods have also attracted criticism over reliability issues. While iPod battery problems are well documented and led to a class action settlement in the US, some ad hoc surveys and website chatter have identified hard drive failures as another problem. Most of the evidence for this is purely anecdotal: almost all my office colleagues in a straw poll have had to return their hard drive-based iPods for at least one repair.

Finding hard data on iPod failure rates is difficult. MacInTouch special reports (www.macintouch.com), an Apple Mac website, published one of the few iPod reliability surveys last year. Based on res ponses from more than 4,000 readers ac counting for 8,926 iPods, it found an average failure rate of 13.7 per cent, split roughly equally between battery and hard drive failures.

However, it also suggested that one model, the iPod 40Gb Click Wheel, had a failure rate of 29.9 per cent, more than two standard deviations from average.

Passionate iPod supporters wasted no time in pointing out the limitations of such a small, self-selected sample. Apple itself declined to comment on the survey results but noted that the majority of its millions of customers are “extremely happy” with their iPods. It added that “iPods are designed to last for years, but as with any complex consumer electronics product . . . they can be broken if dropped or mishandled”.

Apple does not spell out failure rates for hard drive-based machines compared to flash memory-based members of the iPod family such as the iPod Nano, and there are no comparable figures for rival hard drive-based players such as those offered by iRiver or Creative’s Zen family of products.

However, it seems reasonable to assume that since flash-based players do not have moving parts – such as sensitive fast-spinning hard drives – that they are likely to be more reliable.

I decided to take a closer look at the latest iPod Nano and its rivals including those from iRiver, Creative, Napster and SanDisk.

One obvious difference between hard-drive players and their flash memory- based counterparts is capacity. Most hard-drive players can hold about 15,000 songs while most flash-based players have significantly less capacity and can store typically up to 3,000 songs. Some newer flash players, such as the SanDisk Sansa e270, come in 6Gb versions, and 8Gb players are just around the corner.

Flash-based players are also adding or boosting video playback capabilities – in spite of their generally diminutive 1.5-inch screens, some of which now use low-power OLED (org anic light-emitting diode) technology.

Most flash players also now include voice recording capabilities, an FM radio tuner and the ability to store and display still images. They may be small but they generally produce excellent sound quality.

If you want to sign up for one of the music subscription services choose a player with the Microsoft PlaysForSure logo. These non-iPod players are designed to work with download and subscription services such as RealNetwork’s Rhapsody, Napster-to-go, MTV’s Urge and Yahoo Music Unlimited,as well as non-DRM download services such as emusic.com, audio lunchbox.com, magnatune.com and mp3tunes.com.

If ease of use is the paramount consideration, the iPod Nano is still hard to beat. The latest comes in 1Gb, 2Gb and 4Gb versions – the 4Gb Nano stores about 1,000 songs – and costs from $149.

The super-slim Nano features Apple’s superb click wheel and user interface, but measures just 3.5 x 1.6 x 0.27in and weighs 1.5oz. The Nano, like most flash-based players, charges and synchs via a standard USB 2.0 (Universal Serial Bus) data cable but, annoyingly, uses a non-standard connector. Apple claims the non-removable lithium rechargeable battery will power the Nano for about 14 hours.

The Nano sound quality is among the best from a digital player: there are 22 preset listening modes and a bass booster for rock fans.

Among the alternatives, Creative’s Zen V also delivers excellent sound quality and boasts additional features such as voice recording and line-in recording for recording directly from a CD player.

The forthcoming Creative Zen V Plus will add video playback and an FM radio and will come in capacities up to 4Gb.

The Zen V works with Windows Media Player 10 and PlaysForSure download or subscription service. A 2Gb Zen V player costs $150 and, like the Nano, is easy to navigate and operate with one hand, using a mini joystick. It has straightforward menus although response time appears to be somewhat slower than the Nano and the OLED screen could be clearer.

In contrast, one of the particular strengths of iRiver’s Clix player is its bright clear screen. The small but chunky Clix, which costs $199 in its 2Gb version, yet to be released in the UK, is a rebranded version of iRiver U10 with an updated interface. iRiver worked closely with Microsoft and MTV, the music video channel, to ensure it integrates closely with MTV’s new Urge music download and subscription music service.

Loading the Clix with music using Windows Media Player 10 was easy and the Urge service was a delight to use. The player supports audio files in Windows Media Audio, Ogg Vobis and MP3 formats.

In design, the Clix also stands out. Instead of a slim design, the Clix comes in a boxier package measuring 2.7 x 1.8 x 0.6in and weighs 2.5oz but slips easily into a jacket pocket. The front is dominated by a 2.2in LCD, and the whole faceplate is a four-way rocker navigation button. Overall sound quality is good and the player responds quickly to commands. The Clix also comes with lots of bonus features including voice recording, pre-loaded games and an FM tuner and can be recorded as an MP3 file.

The Napster 1Gb player, which costs $120 and is currently only available in the US, also comes with an excellent FM receiver, supports a wide range of file formats and measures just 1.6 x 3.15 x 0.5in.

This slim player features a polymer rechargeable battery that delivers up to 35 hours of playback time and a standard USB connector for recharging the device and synching music files.

SanDisk is a new entrant to the digital music player market but has won plaudits for the Sansa e270 which includes a number of nice features such as a removable battery that delivers about 20 hours of playback time and a microSD (secure digital) expansion slot.

The 6Gb Sansa e270 costs $280 and will be available in Europe shortly. It is clearly aimed at the high end of the flash memory-based player market with its sleek design, high quality 1.8in LCD screen and long feature list.

The player measures 3.5 x 1.75 x 0.5in and weighs 2.6oz and, like the bigger Nano, comes with a scroll navigation wheel surrounded by four control buttons.

Overall, the SanDisk Sensa family of players are worthy rivals for the iPod Nano and a good choice for those who are looking for an alternative player.

HOW THE COMPETITORS MEASURE UP

iPod Nano

www.apple.com

Pros: sleek, sexy and solid. Very good sound quality.

Cons: limited features, does not work with many download and subscription services.

Creative Zen V

www.creative.com

Pros: small, flexible, relatively cheap.

Cons: a little slow, dull screen.

iRiver Clix

www.iriveramerica.com

Pros: small, nice screen, good value, works with MTV Urge service.

Cons: faceplate rocker control a bit clumsy.

Napster 1Gb Player

www.napster.com

Pros: sleek, simple, good radio, long battery life.

Cons: relatively small capacity.

SanDisk Sansa e270

www.sandisk.com

Pros: feature-packed, cool design, high capacity, removable battery, MicroSD expansion slot.

Cons: pricey, not easy to use.

paul.taylor@ft.com