With all the cell phones to come out in recent times packing video players, mp3 players and a whole host of other media functionalities, its not hard to see why MP3 players as well as PMP’s (Personal Media Players) are taking a real hit. Recently Apple announced (no surprise here), that its iPod line was getting steep competition from the iPod Touch and iPhone, and while sales of the latter were up, sales of the former were on the decline. However there is still a market for dedicated music devices because there are those who know that most devices that are “jacks of all trades” usually perform at subpar level for each feature they sport.
Take the iPhone and Palm Pre for example, both have iTunes syncing, video and music playback, picture viewer as well as YouTube support. But owning a Pre and iPod Touch myself as well as using iPhone’s has taught me that a media player on a cellphone is more of a novelty for the music lover, rather than a necessity.
For one, there has yet to be a phone that lives up to the quality of music one would expect from an MP3 player. Just by doing a simple test with an iPhone vs. iPod Classic, Palm Pre vs. Zune or Sony Ericsson X! vs. Sony X-Series Walkman you will notice the difference not only in fidelity but also bass and range. For a casual person this might not be a biggie, but for those of us whose hard drives are stacked with albums it might be a difference like day and night.
Another problem with cell phones and music is functionality. Imagine a DJ carrying his iPhone to a party stacked with all the nights jam and half way through “Turn Me On,” he gets a ring from a friend who can’t find the parties location. While most of us are not DJ’s I’m sure those who dock their iPhone’s to their stereo system, no how frustrating it is when half way through the song someone calls, worse when it’s a telemarketer or some other person of shady character.
So yes, having a cellphone with an mp3 player is a nice novelty but for those who are concerned about battery life and music quality, it just cannot cut it. Thankfully technology is advancing and if we start seeing more phones with Snapdragon and Tegra processors, things might change. But for now, I’ll keep my mp3 player and cell phone as two separate devices thank you.
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3 Responses to “Why Dedicated Media Players are still cool”
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I’m very happy with my N95.
BTW, I can turn off incoming calls whenever I want for just listen music.
:-)
Well said Orrett, and I agree on all points.
The process of ripping, converting, tagging,
as well as deciding what to make portable
is a focused effort as is the listening to
the music you care to listen to and
because you care quality matters.
Having a dedicated mp3 player
facilitates this process and
is the preferred player
for quality sound.