Rebellion against an invasion of gadgets...

[Azalin]

You know, I am a geek inside, and love technology. I own a PS3 and an XBox 360 (which is hacked, yes yes, hacked, I can play, er... backed up games on it), and have a super duper arcade joystick with imported parts from Japan. I have a computer, a laptop, and an HD TV. I received today Guitar Hero 3 and two wireless guitars.

But... I recently needed a new MP3 player because my old one had "only" 1GB and I wanted 4GB or more. I wanted something that would be very small and do only one thing: play music. I found out, to my disbelief, that about 95% of MP3 players are also video players and some of them even take pictures! It took me a whole week of shopping to find an MP3 player with 4GB that was very small, without the bigger screen the other players have so that you can watch videos. Even Sony doesn't make them above 2GB, above that, there comes the Walkman with video screen etc.

What is it with technology today? Everything is now a gadget! Can you even find a cell phone that doesn't take pictures and play MP3s? The iPod Touch and iPhone are so similar it's unbelievable, and one is supposed to be a phone, the other an mp3 player!

Am I gettting too old, or are things totally out of control? Is it really what consumers want, "useful" devices that do 15 things at the same time? Sometimes I believe it's a strategy from electronic, to add up stuff people don't really need, just to justify a higher price.

[Thomaston]

It's all about consolidation. Right now, when I get bored at work, I have a laptop, an iPod, and my phone w/ camera. It would be very convenient to it all in one device, like an iPhone.
The deal breaker for me is that I don't want to surf the web on such a small screen. Yet, a device big enough for my internet needs would be too big for my phone needs. I don't see how a complete integration of the technologies would ever work.

[emmline]

It's all about consolidation. Right now, when I get bored at work, I have a laptop, an iPod, and my phone w/ camera. It would be very convenient to it all in one device, like an iPhone.
The deal breaker for me is that I don't want to surf the web on such a small screen. Yet, a device big enough for my internet needs would be too big for my phone needs. I don't see how a complete integration of the technologies would ever work.

Agreed.
(Those ½ size laptops I've seen people with are cute though.)
As for the Smartphones--I found, a couple years ago, that it's useful for me to keep multiple types of notes and reminders on one device, so I'm not complaining. Being able to make a note when I'm away from home, and attach an alarm to it so I won't forget to add it to the wall calendar later is a great benefit to a slightly absent-minded brain. I use the calendar, the address book, the note-making features, the list-making features, texting kids, a budget tracking program, dictionaries (foreign and English,) Googlemaps, and occasionally look something up on the browser.
The only problem I'm finding is that Palm Centro has a very small screen relative to my changing middle-aged focusing abilities. Hence I am eyeing Palm's new Pre with great interest, and comparing it with iPhones, as both use most of the front of the device as a display. Not a move to make now. Mobile companies are not very forgiving when you try to upgrade or change carriers too soon.

But there is no question. My mind does feel boggled at times.

[Doug_Tipple]

Tuesday evening, pouring down rain, you would think that Walmart in my neighborhood would not be busy. Guess again. The rain seemed to bring out the shoppers. I let my wife out at the door and proceeded to find a parking place near the end of the row.

Inside, while my wife looked for clothes for our granddaughter's vacation trip, I snooped around in the electronics department. I ended up buying a Sony Walkman mp3 player with 4 gigs of memory for $69 (on sale). I got good use from my old Sony walkman with a cassette tape player and radio. I also have a Sony walkman CD player, which I still use quite a bit. I never thought that I wanted/needed an mp3 player, but after using my wife's little Sansa player, I decided that I would get my own player and see what music I could find online. However, nothing is that simple anymore. The player came with a 126 page manual. My usual reaction to a complicated manual is to not read it and limp along the best that I can.

I do have a question about getting music for the player. I don't want to buy songs. Instead, I would like to know what is available as a free download. Other than Bearshare, what other music sites have music that I can download to my player?

[fearfaoin]

What is it with technology today? Everything is now a gadget! Can you even find a cell phone that doesn't take pictures and play MP3s? The iPod Touch and iPhone are so similar it's unbelievable, and one is supposed to be a phone, the other an mp3 player!

It's the market. Someone comes up with an
innovation, one or two companies make devices
with said innovation exclusively for awhile, then
everyone else catches on and makes cheaper
models. Now the original companies have to
drop their prices to compete with the thousands
of cheap copies (even if they still make a better
product).

So now they have to come up with yet another
new innovation to stand out in the market. That
way they can start charging enough to make
money again. Such is capitalism.

Sometimes convergence just makes sense. A cell
phone already has the capability to play sound. All
you have to do is write some MP3 decode software
and, boom, you have a new feature practically for
free...

Am I gettting too old, or are things totally out of control? Is it really what consumers want, "useful" devices that do 15 things at the same time? Sometimes I believe it's a strategy from electronic, to add up stuff people don't really need, just to justify a higher price.

But yes, convergence is something of a consumer
desire, too. Why buy 15 items at $100 each, that
only do one thing when you can buy 1 item at $300
that does 15 things? Plus, that's 14 fewer items in a
landfill in 5 years when they all are obsolete... Heck,
I would think convergence would mean less gadget
invasion, since fewer gadgets are needed.

Besides, why's an extra feature so upsetting? I have
an iPod that sits in one of my car's hidey holes. I got
it because my radio has an attachment for it, so it
is essentially a hard drive for my radio. It can play
videos, but I never even see the device itself so why
should I care that it can play videos I'll never see?
Just because I never listen to it using headphones
doesn't mean I should be annoyed that it has that
capability...

[Thomaston]

I tell you, I honestly couldn't give two poops about having an iPod that surfs the web, plays video, or takes/stores pictures. But if they came out with a model could pick up AM/FM stations, I'd be all over that. I know there's some other brands that have this, but I have brand loyalty to Apple from my positive user experiences.

[Azalin]

Besides, why's an extra feature so upsetting? I have
an iPod that sits in one of my car's hidey holes. I got
it because my radio has an attachment for it, so it
is essentially a hard drive for my radio. It can play
videos, but I never even see the device itself so why
should I care that it can play videos I'll never see?

The reason I do care is that I'd like to have the smallest, unintrusive device. A very, very small MP3 player so that you actually forget it's on you. All MP3 players that play video are close to twice the size as MP3 players that only play music. The problem with convergence is that it makes the device bigger and heavier.

[fearfaoin]

The reason I do care is that I'd like to have the smallest, unintrusive device. A very, very small MP3 player so that you actually forget it's on you. All MP3 players that play video are close to twice the size as MP3 players that only play music. The problem with convergence is that it makes the device bigger and heavier.

See, but that's not the history at all.
iPods were that size before they played
video because they had to harbor a hard
drive to hold more than 4Gigs. The first
models that played video were actually
a little smaller than their predecessors.
The screen was there because there was
already that much real estate, why not?
And it gave then more options for user
interface. Since the screen was already
there, why not show some video? Same
goes for the iRiver and others. The size
was due to the limiting factor of the hard
drive. Video just came along for the ride.


OK, here's an actual solution:
One option is to get a small player that
accepts microSD cards and then buy an
8Gig (or bigger) card...

For example:
SanDisk - SlotMusic Player
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp ... ku=9077517

+ 8GB microSD card
http://affinityshop.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=2844191

[fyffer]

Repost, but apropo.
This is really what you need: The Pomegranate Phone

[fearfaoin]

Here's a freakin' tiny one from SanDisk. 8Gigs for $99.

SanDisk Sansa® Clip MP3 Player

[The Weekenders]

I would add that home computer printers are overburdened with features with the trend to "all-in-one." I don't want an all-in-one. I want an ultra-simple printer that doesn't burn through or dry out cartridges or clog. When I look at sale flyers, everything is an all-in-one. They are still offering fax's though I would argue that the technology is on the way out. They offer scanning as avfeature, but anyone who works with computers and "stand-alone" scanners know that the key in any scanner is the accompanying software and there is a bundle of bad software out there. Will it work with photoshop and will it survive system updates? Even Epson, who is pretty mainstream, bundles crap software with their products. My computer is loaded with Epson drivers and such that no longer work and its more trouble than its worth to find the updates.

Yeah, gadgets, with extra features, most done poorly to keep the price down.

[MTGuru]

Am I gettting too old, or are things totally out of control?

Both!

[The Weekenders]

The only difference regarding the onslaught is that younger people didn't witness the steps leading up to this current dynamic. It's all they know. Geezers like me went from a rotary phone to seeing these blackberry-iPhone things. From single function to "there's an app for that."

[mutepointe]

Hey Doug:
I ripped all my CD's on to my computer. Then I transferred all my favorite CD's on to my MP3 player. I have my computer's windows media player to automatically rip any new CD that I place in the CD player. I borrow a lot of CD's from my local library. Does that answer your question?

[Doug_Tipple]

Hey Doug:
I ripped all my CD's on to my computer. Then I transferred all my favorite CD's on to my MP3 player. I have my computer's windows media player to automatically rip any new CD that I place in the CD player. I borrow a lot of CD's from my local library. Does that answer your question?

Thanks for the info. Yes, I have done that too on my wife's mp3 player. Some of the free music that I have downloaded directly from Bearshare seem to be on temporary loan, as they are timed to quit playing after a length of time, pretty much like a public library. You can borrow them and listen to them, but if you want to keep them, you have to pay for them or pay a penalty fee if you bring them back late. That's fair enough, though.