ipod

05/19/2005, 4:00pm, EDT

Thursday, May 19th

Column: LifeDrive can't replace iPod

Tim Beyers of The Motley Fool says palmOne's new LifeDrive "looks sexy" and is "pretty functional," but cannot replace the iPod. palmOne is billing the new handheld as an alternative to Apple's iPod, and even as a laptop replacement. "Look, I like palmOne, but let's be serious," Beyers writes. "There's little chance that the LifeDrive will displace the iPod or my PowerBook. But I can't blame the company for trying." Beyers speculates palmOne is trying to regain lost market share. The PDA market during the first quarter grew 25% over the same period a year ago, but palmOne was no longer the market leader. Rival Research In Motion shipped more units, grabbing the top spot with more than 20% of the market while palmOne dropped to 18%, a level it hasn't seen since the mid-'90s.

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Detrius

iTunes Music Store

05/19, 6:50pm, EDT

If this thing had access to music from the iTunes music store, I would think seriously about getting one. I'm in need of a Palm upgrade, and I would like to replace my old 64MB MP3 player. If Apple extended support to the PDA company that has long extended support to the Mac, then I'd probably wind up getting one of these nifty little things.

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Joined Apr 2001

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umijin

Lame Article

05/19, 8:44pm, EDT

C'mon MacNN!

Do you guys just quote anything on the net with the words "Apple", "iPod", or "PowerBook"?

This article says nothing, really. It's just a bunch of mumbo jumbo about stocks and Palm's current financial status. That has nothing to do with the function of the LifeDrive.

Furthermore, Palm never positioned this product as a replacement for a laptop. It's a PDA with media capabilities, and the ability to edit/view some Office docs (view only PowerPoint). Yeah sure, it doesn't run iTunes.... SO WHAT? Does all the media you consume have to come from the Apple store or be managed by iTunes?

I dunno, I think if it works as advertised, it's a nice product for people who commute quite a bit to manage lots of info. Having wireless and bluetooth allows you to be connected w/o having to drag around your freaking heavy PowerBook everywhere.

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Joined Jun 2004

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himself

Nice Device

05/19, 9:32pm, EDT

I must admit, I was a little caught off guard by this... I may end up getting one. If it can play unprotected .aac files, and also supports stylus input, it's a done deal.

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Joined Jan 2002

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cyeoh

20GB iPod

05/19, 9:49pm, EDT

I'd totally get this as a PDA alongside my iPod. Oddly, what puzzles me is the claim that it can replace the iPod in handling my mp3 collection. My iPod has 20GB and the LifeDrive has 4GB. Pretty obvious, isn't it?

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Joined May 2005

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klinux

Ditto

05/20, 2:35am, EDT

Ditto on flamebait article.

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Joined Jul 2002

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TheGuyWhoKnows

palmOne STILL PDA leader

05/20, 11:51pm, EDT

I am totally tired of hearing that RIM owns this PDA spot. What is a RIM device? It is a _WIRELESS_ device, outside the realm of PDA. Well, so is the Treo 650 which was NOT counted in this assumption of market leader... and if you add the PDAs AND Treos that palmOne sells, it ESTABLISHES palmOne as the leader. I hate it when incorrect things are cited so many times it seems to become fact!

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