how-to engineer an ipod-killer

Posted on | July 13, 2006 | 1 Comment

the death of my ipod (4G, about 1.5 year old, refurbished by Apple only a few months ago) seems to be only a matter of days. since weeks it’s crashing while playback almost on a daily basis. since yesterday the device isn’t recognized anymore when plugged into the dock. I’ll try to remove the rockbox-BIOS, update the firmware and format the harddisk later today, but I guess it’s time to move on…

besides adding video-capabilities (at least to some degree), digital media players seem to stagnate since 2 years. innovation is happening only incremental. according to Steve Jobs, a new iPod should be just around the corner. a microsoft-manufactured media player is rumored to appear soon too. I’ll probably try to revive my old ipod until the major players push out new products… here are some features I’ld like to see in my future player:

• gap-less playback of audio-tracks: when listening to ripped albums, the ipod (and most other players I’ve tried) inserts a very short gap when roaming from one track to the next (mabye <0.5 second). most people won't even notice, but I know two groups of users who get the creeps about that behaviour: lovers of classical- and electronic-music. (I belong to the latter, so I sort of know what I talk about). in both cases, music is presented as a steady stream (i.e. DJ-mix) without any silence between tracks (or parts of the symphony etc.). eliminating this unwanted interruption of music will immediately own the hearts of hardcore-music-lovers to the manufacturer who solves this issue.
• direct recording: this is a feature for fans of live-music, DJs, Bands or solo-musicians: they all’ld love a simple device which records 5 or more hours straight away. hard- & software-requirements should be easy: proper A/D-converters, line-in, recording both lossless and mp3. yeah, I could use an iKey to record to my iPod – but carrying around two devices, cable and power-adaptors – hmm, no. other products (f.e. iRiver) can record but are artificially limited to 2 hours recording-time (thats why pro-users try out alternate software like rockbox or ipodlinux).
• wireless connectivity: to kickstart the next generation of portable digital media players, wireless connectivity is a must. automatic sync of fresh podcasts whenever your player comes in range of an open WiFi-hotspot. wireless upstream from your player to your friends’ WiFi-enabled hifi-stereo (think Apple AirPort). and probably most appealing: wireless sharing of tracks with friends or even the unknown guy on the tube who looks like he’s into electro-punk .
  three requirements: it better has to be based on standard WiFi, it has to treat battery life with care, and it has to work independently from digital music stores (the wireless Music Gremlin misses on 2/3 ). agreed, Apple probably can’t enable free sharing without cutting their own profit and scaring off the labels. but here’s an idea: why not let iTunes-customers be your mobile sales-force? integrate wireless sharing with ITMS and smart DRM. lets say I beam my favorite tracks to my friends player. the next time he connects to ITMS he is billed for the music – at the very same time I get a 10% revenue-split credited on my account. of course, your DRM better has to be solid…
• better manufacturing: this is aimed at Apple – please, improve quality of production. at least 50% of my friends who are using an iPod intensely (like, daily) face hardware-defects after about one year of usage. for a 400 EUR-device, this is ridiculous.

Update: the harddisk-format has helped – at least the iPod is recognized by iTunes again

 

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