ITUNES PHONE LAUNCH EXPECTED NEXT WEEK

[Guest bretto]

Are they serious! a phone that can store and play digital music :shock: Now why didnt we think of that... :roll:

ITUNES PHONE LAUNCH EXPECTED NEXT WEEK

Apple and Motorola are expected to team up with Cingular Wireless next

week to introduce an iTunes mobile phone that can store and play digital

music.

http://www.digitmag.co.uk/news/index.cfm?email&NewsID=5108

[Guest fraser]

iTunes phone == phone with mp3 player rebranded with Apple logos.

Wow!! Probably spent more time on a graphic artists desk than a programmer/engineers desk. Apple, crap products, great marketing!! Let's all pay 50% over-the-odds for less functional stuff just because they have funky adverts! Yay!! Am I trendy now??

[Guest bretto]

mp3 format is like flared jeans...

wma is the way to go and based on the latest news today I bet that wma wont be getting downloaded to apple device.

[Guest fraser]

wma is the way to go

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You are joking, right? WMA is most centainally the one to avoid the most!! It will play on the fewest players out there. I've got 4 or 5 mp3 players, only one can touch WMA files (my phone). Converting your media to WMA is very short-sighted; you'll be stuck to "Microsoft Approved" devices for ever.

On the other hand, mp3 works anywhere. It will always work; you don't need "permission" (aka DRM) in order to play media you have paid for. If iTunes or Napster go out of business or cease to exist, your media won't work. Yikes!!

[Guest mike-oh]

iTunes phone == phone with mp3 player rebranded with Apple logos.

Wow!! Probably spent more time on a graphic artists desk than a programmer/engineers desk. Apple, crap products, great marketing!! Let's all pay 50% over-the-odds for less functional stuff just because they have funky adverts! Yay!! Am I trendy now??

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Oooooohhhh so true!

You are joking, right? WMA is most centainally the one to avoid the most!! It will play on the fewest players out there. I've got 4 or 5 mp3 players, only one can touch WMA files (my phone). Converting your media to WMA is very short-sighted; you'll be stuck to "Microsoft Approved" devices for ever.

On the other hand, mp3 works anywhere. It will always work; you don't need "permission" (aka DRM) in order to play media you have paid for. If iTunes or Napster go out of business or cease to exist, your media won't work. Yikes!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I don't think WMA is at fault, it's lack of support, there's no reason why other manufacturers can't add support aswell (the Pioneer head unit in my car supports WMA and MP3 :o). WMA gives better quality at lower bit rates....fact. DRM is optional if you're ripping your own CDs, i don't know about purchased music.

[Guest bretto]

Well they released it today (Wednesday, September 7th I think..its a timezone thing :o) anyway it holds 100 songs downloadable via usb.

"Its really more of a very small iPod Shuffle than anything else."

Picture and story here

Surely a windows powered smartphone or ppc would blow this out of the water in every aspect! As fraser pointed out we even have format choice not just quaility choice. Not to mention storage capacity and style, etc, etc, etc.

Could someone, somewhere please, PLEASE!!!, market our phones against the more traditional brands more effectively. I know in the phone shops over here they have the windows phones at hand but you nearly have to put the sales guy in a headlock to drag him away from the nokia, erricson and motorola, etc, and then tell him why he should sell you the device.

[Guest TigerNet]

...not spectacular is it?...and it has been launched with a bit of a whimper...

...I think I'll stick to my C550!!!

Cheers

Nick

[Guest bretto]

Had all the pazaz of a garden sprinkler.

[Guest ricardo the fish]

Oh wow, an iPod phone which holds - wait for it 100 yes 100! songs. please what is the point. I'm not sure as to to what my C550 could hold, but I've got a nice spanking 1GB miniSD, so a good couple of hundred tracks should fit.

The Moto Rokr E1 memory(for music at least) cannot be upgraded the way a smartphone can.

see this article from the BEEB:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4225496.stm

Not to mention it does not look pretty!

[Guest mupwangle]

>>The Moto Rokr E1 memory(for music at least) cannot be upgraded the way a smartphone can.

From what I've read on it - it can be upgraded easily. There is apparently a media player on it - independant from the apple crap - that can play all media. The 100 song limit was apple's demand. They originally asked it to be limited to 25 for "licencing issues".

Don't know why they bothered.

[Guest Tunney]

The ROKR E1 is just a slightly upgraded E398 (a phone released over a year ago). Even in non-smartphone terms it's very out-dated. It's a very cheap-looking and ugly phone too. It looks like they rushed it to market as quickly as they could.

$249 on a 2 year contract seems like a lot of money too.

I don't think WMA is at fault, it's lack of support, there's no reason why other manufacturers can't add support aswell (the Pioneer head unit in my car supports WMA and MP3 icon_biggrin.gif). WMA gives better quality at lower bit rates....fact. DRM is optional if you're ripping your own CDs, i don't know about purchased music.

WMA is bloated, inefficient and proprietary. You'd be much better off with AAC.

AAC is an internationally recognised standard and is supported by almost all modern devices that will play MP3s (mobile phones, DVD players, portable music players including iPods, PSP, etc). It also has superior sound quality to both WMA and MP3.

[Guest bretto]

What this all means to the listener is better and more stable quality than MP3 at equivalent or slightly lower bitrates.

Sure this sounds good but what about the size of the file? You say wma is bloated but Im getting better sound from a wma half the size of a mp3 so how does ACC stack up to this? If its better than wma and fully supported with sync lists, etc, Im in :o

[Guest camille]

Are they serious! a phone that can store and play digital music :shock: Now why didnt we think of that... :roll:

ITUNES PHONE LAUNCH EXPECTED NEXT WEEK

    Apple and Motorola are expected to team up with Cingular Wireless next

    week to introduce an iTunes mobile phone that can store and play digital

    music.

    http://www.digitmag.co.uk/news/index.cfm?email&NewsID=5108

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

hi bretto :o weeeew....... i hope that would come out soon cuz it's really cool!

[Guest bretto]

hi bretto :o weeeew.......  i hope that would come out soon cuz it's really cool!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

you could knock me over with a feather at this point....

[Guest confused and hungover]

hi bretto :( weeeew.......  i hope that would come out soon cuz it's really cool!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

what kind of phone do you have camille? :o

[Guest stevie_bhoy_2005]

sound very expensive to you ....don't really like apple products i have a 60gb ipod and it's been sent back 5 times since i got it...thats anough for me :o