iPod mini challenger

[kimchicowboy]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...m_041222170908

South Korea company launches new digital music player to target Mini iPod
SEOUL (AFP) - ReignCom, a South Korean pioneer in digital music players, released a new device to challenge the iPod Mini, one of the world's best-selling products from US electronics giant Apple.

ReignCom's new music player, called the iRiver H10, is similar to Apple's in features and designs -- the rectangular shape with a one-inch hard-disc drive inside and almost the same size.

However, the iRiver has extras the iPod does not, like a 1.5-inch color display screen, higher capacity storage and a longer playing time.

The H10 is capable of storing five gigabytes of music files, compared with the Mini's four-gigabyte hard disk.

The Mini features a 1.67-inch gray screen above a circular control dial and a removable eight-hour battery, while the H10 offers a 12-hour battery, a built-in FM radio receiver and a voice recorder.

Key distinctions come in the use of touch scroll controls that permit the H10 to store, download and find songs easier and faster than the Mini which uses touch pad controls, according to the manufacturer.

At 363,000 won (342 dollars), however, the H10 costs about 10 percent more than the Mini.

"The H10 is our first hard-disk player to challenge the Mini," ReignCom spokesman Kim Dong-Hwan said. "What differentiates our device from the Mini is the better level of functionality."

ReignCom plans to release the H10 in the United States next month.

"The iPod is cheaper than the H10 but we turned our attention to developing a device with a comfortable user interface to attract customers," Kim said.

Trying to compete with the iPod on price would not sway US consumers, he said, adding ReignCom would step up efforts to boost its brand recognition abroad.

Flash-memory music players accounted 60 percent of the world market last year but the market for hard disk based devices has increased rapidly with its advantage in storage capacity and a steady drop in hard-disc prices.

With its popular iRiver series using flash-memory chips, ReignCom is the world's second-largest digital music player maker after Apple, which was the first company to use a hard disk for data storage.

Analysts say Apple's market share seems in no danger of shrinking anytime soon. Nonetheless, ReignCom hopes to increase its share in the global hard-disc market from six percent this year to 15 percent in 2005.
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i always thought iRiver made excellent products and thought the iPod mini was crap, just marketed really well. back in the day when CD/MP3 players were hot, iRiver had the best ones. iRiver came out with the first HDD-based MP3 players with a color screen and can display photos (which apple later copied). yeah, they look uglier, but they definitely have better features.

[bachviet]

It's cool but I can't afford it.

[shocky123]

I'd be Happy to not buy an Apple product, especially when the level of functionality is far superior. I'm curious as to how well the device interfaces with computers and other iRivers.
I've been told that Apple goes to a great deal of trouble to attempt to make it impossible to transfer files from the iPod to another iPod or to another computer. So they force all of their customers to 'hack' their iPods in order to get acceptable transfering.
iRiver has the potential to completely avoid this issue, as it is based outside of the united states where the RIAAAAAAAArgh cannot extend their fiendish claws.

[eSDee]

If that's true shocky then I think they would have the advantage over the iPod for sure. However my roomate has an iPod and it is a great little device. I am looking to get an mp3 player sometime soon to use for running, but other than the iPod mini I was thinking maybe a RIO flash drive or something else I can drop and not worry about it too much.

I also heard that Gateway is going to come out with a iPod competitor early next year. The more competition the better.

[mcs328]

I think the scroll wheel is the only thing that will convert me. If another company had the scroll wheel I'd jump. I'm not too excited over a scroll bar.

[ribitch]

I'd be Happy to not buy an Apple product, especially when the level of functionality is far superior. I'm curious as to how well the device interfaces with computers and other iRivers.
I've been told that Apple goes to a great deal of trouble to attempt to make it impossible to transfer files from the iPod to another iPod or to another computer. So they force all of their customers to 'hack' their iPods in order to get acceptable transfering.
iRiver has the potential to completely avoid this issue, as it is based outside of the united states where the RIAAAAAAAArgh cannot extend their fiendish claws.

The anti copying feature dates back to the original RIO. Apple doesnt make it difficult, all they do is hide the files and change the name so a user cannot easily decipher it.

There are tons of people writing code to get past this "feature" and I have yet to hear about apple trying to stop such software development.

check out http://www.versiontracker.com/php/se...macosx&x=0&y=0 There are tons of programs that can extract these songs. These programs are in no way a "hack" to their iPod. Its just a supplemental program. Thats like saying a third party registry viewer is a windows hack.

iPod to computer is easy to do. iPod to iPod is a different story because apples iPod OS doesnt have an interface to allow you to connect 2 ipods together without a computer.