Registered: Jan 2000
Location:
Posts: 434

Is MP3 a vital PDA feature? I'm one of the ones who doesn't think so; but, until now, there has been little to back this up. A poll on PDABuzz asked the following question: "Which PDA feature is most important to you?" The range of available responses includeded a fairly complete list of PDA capabilities, and MP3 was chosen by fewer than 2% of the more than 1000 folks who participated. Participants were more than twice as likely to choose "games" over MP3! As an aside, this should be great news for PDA game developers - almost 5% of those taking this poll actually thought that games were more important than traditional PDA features. For the full monty, see - http://www.pdabuzz.com/ [NOTE: this link won't get you these particular poll results as soon as PDABuzz publishes their next poll results!]

Now, I'll be the first to admit that the above poll is hardly definitive. Just because MP3 grabbed less than 2% of the vote, it doesn't follow that MP3 is irrelevent. On-line polls, like the ones here and on PDABuzz, are neither terribly representative of the folk interested in PDAs, nor even representative of web site visitors. Also, poll results for a topic such as this would be more useful if the poll taker were allowed to rank order their choices, if the poll allowed one to categorize the capabilities (essential, useful, interesting [if I don't have to pay much for it], not useful, etc.), or if the poll allowed one choose how much more one would be willing to pay to add a capability to a PDA.

Anyway, this should at least encourage "the Visor sucks because MP3 modules are too expensive" crowd to be alittle less strident.

Registered: Jan 2000
Location: Twin Cities, MN
Posts: 1683

I'd like to hear from people that actually use MP3 players...are they really that practicle to take with you everywhere? It seems like the most music you can get on these things is maybe 2 hours...I'd get tired of that limitation pretty quickly.

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Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Redwood City CA
Posts: 472

quote:

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Originally posted by homer
It seems like the most music you can get on these things is maybe 2 hours...I'd get tired of that limitation pretty quickly.

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Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Metro Station, Hollywood and Highland
Posts: 1018

quote:

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Originally posted by yucca
A poll on PDABuzz asked the following question: "Which PDA feature is most important to you?" The range of available responses includeded a fairly complete list of PDA capabilities, and MP3 was chosen by fewer than 2% of the more than 1000 folks who participated.

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Registered: Jan 2000
Location:
Posts: 434

Originally posted by Gameboy70

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What distinguishes the poll is that the query was done as an open-ended question. I'm sure that if you asked people if MP3 was an important feature to have in a PDA, the "yes" respondents would've fallen somewhere between 30-40%. Ditto for a multiple-choice poll. The open-ended approach is much more telling than asking loaded question

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Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Metro Station, Hollywood and Highland
Posts: 1018

quote:

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Out of curiosity, where do you get that 30-40% figure? Perhaps your coming from the angle of those who would want MP3 if the additional cost were small?

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Registered: Apr 2000
Location: St Petersburg Fla
Posts: 224

Also throw into the mix:
http://www.iomega.com/hipzip/index2.html
Priced at $299.95. Also serves as an external storage device.

Registered: Jan 2000
Location:
Posts: 434

Originally posted by Gameboy70

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My point was that there's a world of difference between asking someone, "What's the most important thing to have in a PDA?" and, "Is having MP3 in a PDA important to you?"

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I've never disagreed with you on this issue. If you reread my original message, you'll see that I recognize this as well . . .

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Besides, I seem to remember a VC poll of anticipated modules that put the MiniJam as the #2 most coveted module, just after the SixPak (I think the MJ scored something like 44%).

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http://www.visorcentral.com/news.php3?id=343

The MiniJam was #1 at 33%. However, this was before the howls of dismay over the cost of the thing (and the missing capabilities!!) . . . the poll being done in April. This was another poll where you only had one choice (so it is subject to the same criticisms as the PDABuzz poll), and it only concerned modules that hadn't been released yet. So it didn't include the modem module, backup module or the 8MB flash memory module.

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Redwood City CA
Posts: 472

quote:

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Originally posted by yucca
[QUOTE]The MiniJam was #1 at 33%. However, this was before the howls of dismay over the cost of the thing (and the missing capabilities!!) . . . the poll being done in April. This was another poll where you only had one choice (so it is subject to the same criticisms as the PDABuzz poll), and it only concerned modules that hadn't been released yet. So it didn't include the modem module, backup module or the 8MB flash memory module.

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Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Beavercreek, OH 45434
Posts: 29

Maybe we should reverse this

Maybe we should reverse this idea. Instead of using PDAs that flash memory style cards (CF, Memory Sticks, Sprinboards) and use the external storage cards to store MP3s, ebooks, etc maybe the PDA manufacturers should look to making the smallest, lightest hard-disks possible and using them has the basis of the device.

The fact is that now that MP3 players with hard disks have arrived the MP3 market will fragment into two sections:

1) Smaller, and smaller walkman-style players for running, exercising, etc. They should store an hours worth of music and from their downloadable cousins the

2) personal library, hard-disk MP3 players. Some will be small, some will be large depending upon the capacity needs. Almost all will use Lithium-ion batteries because using disposables will not provide enought battery life.


The problem is that a PDA is probably too large a form factor for #1 and really who wants to take a PDA out while exercising. So I think that eventually PDAs will start having hard-disks so they can add more functionality. PDAs might start to morph into portable library devices.

Registered: Sep 2000
Location:
Posts: 39

ibm makes 340meg hard drives that will fit in compactflash slots with an adapter.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Beavercreek, OH 45434
Posts: 29

About the microdrive

Yes, IBM does have the Microdrive but anyone who has used it for extended periods knows that it can really drain the battery if you keep using (like you would if you used it for MP3s). Besides the Microdrive's maximum capacity currently is 1MB. That is 1/6 the capacity of smallest hard-disk based jukebox players.

PDAs are going to have to have rechargable, lithium-ion style batteries and are going to have to be able to compete with the portable, hard-disk based MP3 players. How they will beat those players are by offering more than these players have. The ability not only to offer music but e-books and to save documents. PDAs are going to be squeezed on two sides, telephone PDAs (Microsoft Stinger) and the large jukebox style MP3 players. People are going to carry all this stuff and eventually they want to cut down the amount that they carry.

Registered: Jan 2000
Location:
Posts: 434

Re: About the microdrive

Originally posted by [email protected]

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Yes, IBM does have the Microdrive but anyone who has used it for extended periods knows that it can really drain the battery if you keep using (like you would if you used it for MP3s).

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