1. Uh, the iPod is awesome because it is a portable way to carry around all of your music. Unless the xbox 2 is portable then it can't really be an iPod killer. Yes, even if it includes a hard drive.

Posted at 5:50AM on Dec 19th 2005 by dustin

2. Maybe you should have clicked the link and read the scoop:

"Anyway, we were talking about the Xbox 2 and he said their current plan was not to include a hard drive in the Xbox 2 itself, but to offer a portable hard drive as an accessory you could buy separately. Here’s the kicker: He said what they were trying to do was to incorporate MP3 (and WMA, obviously) functionality into the portable hard drive and turn the thing into an iPod killer.  Basically, the idea was to come up with an MP3 player that was as good or better than the iPod that would also serve as the hard drive for the Xbox 2. And he said they planned to sell them as a loss leader at $100 each. "

Posted at 5:50AM on Dec 19th 2005 by sean bonner

3. People seem to have forgotten there were plenty of Mp3 players before the ipod arrived.

They were/are all crap - I should know. I bought two after reading many reviews and they were just plain bad. They were designed by engineers to be used by engineers not by people who just wanted just to listen to music - not understand the inner workings of a time machine.

The ipod and itunes combo was the FIRST and pretty much the only one that is 98% designed by people who have a clear understanding that I JUST WANT TO LISTEN TO MUSIC.

The fact that it's nice looking and compact seems to throw people off in that it's well designed in all aspects - maybe because they've been using non-Apple crap all their life and have no expectation or understanding of when something just works.

That's not to say someone can't come up with a better ipod but so far, the emulate the shape and or the size without understanding that it has to be easy to use or they fall back on the scariest combination of marketing-engineering -damn it, they got us beat on design, usability and functionality - we'll give them the most checkmarks in the brochure! Like the Dell unit having a recording function but no way to copy that file out of the unit - that's brochureware at its finest example.

After several attempts, the only areas they have are size (for flash memory fanatics - are there people who really just want 20 tracks and that's it?) and on price - Dell's mantra - when in doubt, slash the price - it works for WalMart.

So, while it's fun to say anything is an ipod killer you have to really examine it. At the mini ipod 4 GB drive and presuming prices drop by year's end, you're still talkinga bout $125-150 for the drive itself - never mind the rest of components & design of this Xbox portable HDD (which has also got to have some proprietary interface) - you are talking at least $200 in costs EACH - and yes, MS has plenty of money but they will already and still losing money on each XBox and XBox2, they are not going to undercut this by a lot. So, instead of a 4 GB drive, they might be able to lose only $50 a unit (at $100 retail) by putting in a 1 GB or 1.5 GB version - so it's a mini Mp3 player and a Xbox file transporter device. Useful - sure - they will sell some but to the average person who just wants a music device? Why not just buy a regular Mp3 player? How complex is the MS XBox DRM going to be to keep the XBox files from the music files?

And sure, MS could sell a 4 GB version for $200 bucks (at cost or a small loss) but to most people, why buy a device that's for files & ALSO for music.

Plus, you also have phones & the Sony gaming device which also promises to be Mp3 able (though with the stupid ATRA thing, that's a non starter).

Or what about MS cannibalizing themselves with their video ipod killer or their Pocket pc ipod killer or their CE phone ipod killer ... or maybe people who wants to listen to music will buy an actual Mp3 player?

Posted at 5:50AM on Dec 19th 2005 by jbelkin

4. That link references a patent filed in the spring of 2001, which was prior to the release of the first Xbox. The patent is for the first Xbox, if you look at the screen shots and diagrams filed with the patent description, it is clear that it applies to the first Xbox. That's a poorly written article with no research and purely unfounded speculation.

Posted at 5:50AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Eric

5. Uh, the iPod is awesome because it is a portable way to carry around all of your music. Unless the xbox 2 is portable then it can't really be an iPod killer. Yes, even if it includes a hard drive.

Posted at 5:50AM on Dec 19th 2005 by dustin

6. Maybe you should have clicked the link and read the scoop:

"Anyway, we were talking about the Xbox 2 and he said their current plan was not to include a hard drive in the Xbox 2 itself, but to offer a portable hard drive as an accessory you could buy separately. Here’s the kicker: He said what they were trying to do was to incorporate MP3 (and WMA, obviously) functionality into the portable hard drive and turn the thing into an iPod killer.  Basically, the idea was to come up with an MP3 player that was as good or better than the iPod that would also serve as the hard drive for the Xbox 2. And he said they planned to sell them as a loss leader at $100 each. "

Posted at 5:50AM on Dec 19th 2005 by sean bonner

7. People seem to have forgotten there were plenty of Mp3 players before the ipod arrived.

They were/are all crap - I should know. I bought two after reading many reviews and they were just plain bad. They were designed by engineers to be used by engineers not by people who just wanted just to listen to music - not understand the inner workings of a time machine.

The ipod and itunes combo was the FIRST and pretty much the only one that is 98% designed by people who have a clear understanding that I JUST WANT TO LISTEN TO MUSIC.

The fact that it's nice looking and compact seems to throw people off in that it's well designed in all aspects - maybe because they've been using non-Apple crap all their life and have no expectation or understanding of when something just works.

That's not to say someone can't come up with a better ipod but so far, the emulate the shape and or the size without understanding that it has to be easy to use or they fall back on the scariest combination of marketing-engineering -damn it, they got us beat on design, usability and functionality - we'll give them the most checkmarks in the brochure! Like the Dell unit having a recording function but no way to copy that file out of the unit - that's brochureware at its finest example.

After several attempts, the only areas they have are size (for flash memory fanatics - are there people who really just want 20 tracks and that's it?) and on price - Dell's mantra - when in doubt, slash the price - it works for WalMart.

So, while it's fun to say anything is an ipod killer you have to really examine it. At the mini ipod 4 GB drive and presuming prices drop by year's end, you're still talkinga bout $125-150 for the drive itself - never mind the rest of components & design of this Xbox portable HDD (which has also got to have some proprietary interface) - you are talking at least $200 in costs EACH - and yes, MS has plenty of money but they will already and still losing money on each XBox and XBox2, they are not going to undercut this by a lot. So, instead of a 4 GB drive, they might be able to lose only $50 a unit (at $100 retail) by putting in a 1 GB or 1.5 GB version - so it's a mini Mp3 player and a Xbox file transporter device. Useful - sure - they will sell some but to the average person who just wants a music device? Why not just buy a regular Mp3 player? How complex is the MS XBox DRM going to be to keep the XBox files from the music files?

And sure, MS could sell a 4 GB version for $200 bucks (at cost or a small loss) but to most people, why buy a device that's for files & ALSO for music.

Plus, you also have phones & the Sony gaming device which also promises to be Mp3 able (though with the stupid ATRA thing, that's a non starter).

Or what about MS cannibalizing themselves with their video ipod killer or their Pocket pc ipod killer or their CE phone ipod killer ... or maybe people who wants to listen to music will buy an actual Mp3 player?

Posted at 5:50AM on Dec 19th 2005 by jbelkin

8. That link references a patent filed in the spring of 2001, which was prior to the release of the first Xbox. The patent is for the first Xbox, if you look at the screen shots and diagrams filed with the patent description, it is clear that it applies to the first Xbox. That's a poorly written article with no research and purely unfounded speculation.

Posted at 5:50AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Eric

9. Uh, the iPod is awesome because it is a portable way to carry around all of your music. Unless the xbox 2 is portable then it can't really be an iPod killer. Yes, even if it includes a hard drive.

Posted at 5:50AM on Dec 19th 2005 by dustin

10. Maybe you should have clicked the link and read the scoop:

"Anyway, we were talking about the Xbox 2 and he said their current plan was not to include a hard drive in the Xbox 2 itself, but to offer a portable hard drive as an accessory you could buy separately. Here’s the kicker: He said what they were trying to do was to incorporate MP3 (and WMA, obviously) functionality into the portable hard drive and turn the thing into an iPod killer.  Basically, the idea was to come up with an MP3 player that was as good or better than the iPod that would also serve as the hard drive for the Xbox 2. And he said they planned to sell them as a loss leader at $100 each. "

Posted at 5:50AM on Dec 19th 2005 by sean bonner

11. People seem to have forgotten there were plenty of Mp3 players before the ipod arrived.

They were/are all crap - I should know. I bought two after reading many reviews and they were just plain bad. They were designed by engineers to be used by engineers not by people who just wanted just to listen to music - not understand the inner workings of a time machine.

The ipod and itunes combo was the FIRST and pretty much the only one that is 98% designed by people who have a clear understanding that I JUST WANT TO LISTEN TO MUSIC.

The fact that it's nice looking and compact seems to throw people off in that it's well designed in all aspects - maybe because they've been using non-Apple crap all their life and have no expectation or understanding of when something just works.

That's not to say someone can't come up with a better ipod but so far, the emulate the shape and or the size without understanding that it has to be easy to use or they fall back on the scariest combination of marketing-engineering -damn it, they got us beat on design, usability and functionality - we'll give them the most checkmarks in the brochure! Like the Dell unit having a recording function but no way to copy that file out of the unit - that's brochureware at its finest example.

After several attempts, the only areas they have are size (for flash memory fanatics - are there people who really just want 20 tracks and that's it?) and on price - Dell's mantra - when in doubt, slash the price - it works for WalMart.

So, while it's fun to say anything is an ipod killer you have to really examine it. At the mini ipod 4 GB drive and presuming prices drop by year's end, you're still talkinga bout $125-150 for the drive itself - never mind the rest of components & design of this Xbox portable HDD (which has also got to have some proprietary interface) - you are talking at least $200 in costs EACH - and yes, MS has plenty of money but they will already and still losing money on each XBox and XBox2, they are not going to undercut this by a lot. So, instead of a 4 GB drive, they might be able to lose only $50 a unit (at $100 retail) by putting in a 1 GB or 1.5 GB version - so it's a mini Mp3 player and a Xbox file transporter device. Useful - sure - they will sell some but to the average person who just wants a music device? Why not just buy a regular Mp3 player? How complex is the MS XBox DRM going to be to keep the XBox files from the music files?

And sure, MS could sell a 4 GB version for $200 bucks (at cost or a small loss) but to most people, why buy a device that's for files & ALSO for music.

Plus, you also have phones & the Sony gaming device which also promises to be Mp3 able (though with the stupid ATRA thing, that's a non starter).

Or what about MS cannibalizing themselves with their video ipod killer or their Pocket pc ipod killer or their CE phone ipod killer ... or maybe people who wants to listen to music will buy an actual Mp3 player?

Posted at 5:50AM on Dec 19th 2005 by jbelkin

12. That link references a patent filed in the spring of 2001, which was prior to the release of the first Xbox. The patent is for the first Xbox, if you look at the screen shots and diagrams filed with the patent description, it is clear that it applies to the first Xbox. That's a poorly written article with no research and purely unfounded speculation.

Posted at 5:50AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Eric