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http://www.macnn.com/articles/01/12/04/new.ipod-like/

New iPod-like music device hits the market

updated 08:45 am EST, Tue December 4, 2001

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e.Digital today introduced the Treo 10, an iPod-like music device for storing and playing MP3s. The $250 pocket-sized device weighs only 9.9 oz and features an 10GB IBM Travelstar drive (for storing up to 3,000 songs), a LCD for browsing/playing songs, a USB interface, a Lithium-Ion battery (up to six hours of playback), and MXP Music Explorer software for organizing and transferring music/data files.

by MacNN Staff

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SiSawat
Junior Member

Joined: Sep 2001

0

12/04, 09:02am | report spam | close Reply |
Treo 10 is USB

It look's cheap, and is USB. Getting those 3000 songs to the thing will take eons. Plus, can you store data on it? AND one aspect of the iPod that people don't give enough credit to is the jog wheel. It's excellerated, is perfect for sifting through soooo many songs. Good try though.

rtamesis
Dedicated MacNNer

Joined: Jan 2000

0

12/04, 09:04am | report spam | close Reply |
Battery life

Only 6 hours, according to their website.

\0

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12/04, 09:06am | report spam | close Reply | delete
Specs are Different

They say 3000 songs at 128kbps.
iPod is 1000 songs at 160kbps.

Plus this thing looks like s***.

Elektrix
Dedicated MacNNer

Joined: Sep 2001

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12/04, 09:08am | report spam | close Reply |
name will have to change

I'm pretty sure Handspring will be upset with this thing being called the Treo....any computer product called Treo would be suspect, but since this is also a handheld device I'm sure it infringes on Handspring's trademark of it.

mm2270
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

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12/04, 09:24am | report spam | close Reply |
Well...

I knew it wouldn't take long for cheap iPod knock-offs to hit the market, but this company loses on several counts:
USB!!! With a 10 GB HD, have fun transferring your music files to it while you watch grass grow! Plus it looks downright crappy comapred to iPod. That LCD screen is garish looking, at least in the photos. Plus it's doubtful you would have iTunes compatibility (if you use a Mac), so you'd be stuck with MusicMatch jukebox, which is the lamest music software I've ever seen.
The only areas it beats the iPod in are capacity and the fact that it has an equalizer built-in, but other than that, there's no comparison.

\0

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12/04, 09:26am | report spam | close Reply | delete
Boy it's ugly

*Shudder*

\0

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12/04, 09:35am | report spam | close Reply | delete
And one more thing

It doesn't seem to have a buffer - meaning the drive will be accessed all the time. Good for running :)

mm2270
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

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12/04, 09:42am | report spam | close Reply |
Oh, and...

it's a bit bigger (1/2" width and height) and heavier than iPod too! So they lost on even more accounts. Geez! I can't believe how ugly it is-- looks like a mutated gameboy with all those buttons! Plus ya gotta love a product coming from a relatively unknown company that only gives you a 180 day LIMITED warranty... hmm, I guess they'll replace the earbuds if they break, huh? ;

dimplemonkey
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 2001

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12/04, 09:51am | report spam | close Reply |
You just don't get it?

I mean c'mon, if you are going to go head to head with the iPod, at least offer USB 2.0 connectivity, a friendlier interface, smaller casing, and make it look stylish, not hideous.

The formula is not that hard, people. Let's get some better prototypes out there so that we can knock down the price the iPod to something more viable.

rtamesis
Dedicated MacNNer

Joined: Jan 2000

0

12/04, 09:55am | report spam | close Reply |
fine for PC users

PC users are accustomed to settling for cheap, low quality stuff that gets them by, so I imagine they'll still buy it.

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12/04, 10:16am | report spam | close Reply | delete
Not competitive

Beside the problems other posters have mentioned (USB, aesthetics, limited battery life, unknown buffering, etc.), the Treo doesn't support uncompressed audio (i.e. AIFF), requires a separate charger connection, has a lousy display (100 x 64 vs. the iPod's 160 x 128), is 50% heavier and 41% larger in volume, and requires a longer minimum charging time.

Relative to the iPod, it's a lousy value.

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12/04, 10:24am | report spam | close Reply | delete
They don't get it

I bet you can't mount it on your desktop.

I bet it doesn't have a remote

You can't hook a digital video camera to it and save pictures to it

You can't hook up a CDR and burn mp3s to an Audio CD without a computer

I bet if you run with it, it skips like a 6 year old girl

What about the interface, I doubt it is anything like iTunes.

Copying 10 gigs of data over USB is going to be painful... but PC users are used to that I guess

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12/04, 10:27am | report spam | close Reply | delete
Treo x?

Funny that they didn't use the 'X' moniker instead of 10.

As mentioned above, I bet Handspring isn't too happy about the exact same name as their own upcoming communicator. There's an interesting website for the HANDSPRING Treo at http://TreoMB.com

--mugwump

Hemingray
Forum Regular

Joined: Nov 2001

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12/04, 10:37am | report spam | close Reply |
Can we say "Rip-Off"?

So it has a bigger HD. Woohoo. Although it's $150 cheaper than the iPod, which is almost enough to make me pause, all I have to do is look at the darn thing and cost goes right out the window.

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12/04, 10:38am | report spam | close Reply | delete
c'mon its not that bad

alrighty here macheads, we dont have to make fun of the thing this much. yeah, its ugly and not as good as an ipod, but it's great for pc users who need an alternative because they can't use an ipod easily. we're mac users, we use better products, we know this. to most pc users aesthetics aren't that big of a deal, this thing holds shitloads of music at a cheap price, so its perfect.

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12/04, 10:55am | report spam | close Reply | delete
riding in iPod's wake

Even if this isn't a ripoff of the iPod, it's definitely...wait a minute, it is a ripoff. They're just using iPod's familiarity by offering a superficially similar product and by pretending to surpass iPod by putting in a mediocre HD that's 2x as big as the iPod's. Everything else is just standard technology which sucks (though for USB they have to put it in for compatibility reasons) compared to the iPod.

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12/04, 11:02am | report spam | close Reply | delete
Umm, iPod was not first..

"I knew it wouldn't take long for cheap iPod knock-offs to hit the market"

Umm, the iPod was definitly not first to this market, and the Treo is not a knockoff of it. Check http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/electronics/mp3.shtml for several different hard drive based players, including the PJB100 that has been out for more then a year.

The iPod is in a class of it's own by ensuring only a small portion of the market will have access to it. The real winners will be the ones that can interface to a consumer electronics MP3 jukebox, like the Compaq iPaq Music Center, or the one that has been hinted at by Rio. Rio will be the only company positioned to give me my music anywhere at home, on the road, or in the car decently.

Hemingray
Forum Regular

Joined: Nov 2001

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12/04, 11:17am | report spam | close Reply |
Missed the Point

Obviously the iPod was not first. Did you completely miss the fact that the Treo has a "brushed metal" surface? Hm, wonder who they're trying to copy there. The fact is, the Treo is the PC response to the iPod. Period. iPod came first. Fact.

jonal

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12/04, 11:19am | report spam | close Reply | delete
Closest you get....

...to the iPod is perhaps the eDigital MXP100 which is using CompactFlash based media - flash memory or IBM MicroDrives. This is when the price police can start to compare prices - a 340MB MXP sets you back $339 and a 1Gig drive $439. Size is a tad thicker and wider than the iPod, weight an ounce and a half less. Memory is only 8MB. Still USB... Claims to be controllable by thumb, but the interface is miles off the iPod's wheel. Only strong point is that the player starts at below $200, making it possible to start off with Flash mem and move onto MicroDrives later. Has voice navigation, but how useful is that in real life? Can record voice to WAV, but can only play MP3 and WMA. No FM radio. Comes with a carrying case... ;-)

Full review at MP3.com

So, if this is the closest they can come, should we worry...? Don't think so...

Hemingray
Forum Regular

Joined: Nov 2001

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12/04, 11:27am | report spam | close Reply |
LOL

"I bet if you run with it, it skips like a 6 year old girl." Now that's funny!

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12/04, 11:29am | report spam | close Reply | delete
iPod gets another rave

review: http://www.washtimes.com/technology/20011203-70361324.htm

It seems there is no end to the people who like the iPod. Perhaps some day, PC users will catch on...no wonder someone is trying to make the xPod software.

dthree
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 1999

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12/04, 12:09pm | report spam | close Reply |
iPod in Windows

The forthcoming XPlay will do it
http://www.mediafour.com/products/xplay/
(formerly xPod)

If you have both mac/windows, you can mount iPod as a drive on your PC with their current MacDrive product.

d3 `-{

Hemingray
Forum Regular

Joined: Nov 2001

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12/04, 12:10pm | report spam | close Reply |
Good Review

That was a very positive review. A few more of those and I just might consider getting one (perish the thought!) [sarcasm to the latter]

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12/04, 12:53pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
wow

WOW that is one ugly piece of S***.

Let along that fact that it would take about 3.5 years to send your music to it

slboett
Grizzled Veteran

Joined: May 1999

0

12/04, 01:00pm | report spam | close Reply |
As a stockholder...

Of both Apple and EDIG, I can tell you that both companies were working on these devices pretty much in tandem (time-wise) and the fact that the Treo is pretty much par for the PC-course is merely a reflection of the lower standards in that world.
The Treo is not even close to the iPod, IMHO.

\0

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12/04, 01:21pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
I wonder...

If you would be able to swap hard drives with the iPod. The main thing that's stopping me from buying an iPod is capacity. 5GB is not quite enough, but 10GB would be plenty.

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12/04, 01:21pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
Wow what features!

Did you notice the feature that lets you browse the song titles while a song is playing!! It's so exciting, they even trademarked the name!! ;-)

Makosuke
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

0

12/04, 03:13pm | report spam | close Reply |
It is a ripoff

Yes, there are plenty of HD-based MP3 players around, but none are in the "subcompact" category that iPod is--it's smaller than its competition, has style, and is the only thing on the block with FireWire. It's similar to other devices, but it is the only device in its class. The Treo is similar enough to the iPod that I'm willing to brand it the first ripoff.

And although I didn't think the Treo was incredibly ugly, it's still in the same category as, say, a remote control, rather than a work of minimalist art.

Oh, and it would take 2.5 hours to fill the drive via USB, assuming you got the maximum possible transfer. Ouch.

\0

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12/04, 04:32pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
Scsi

although Scsi is the dinosaur of connections now-a-days
its actually faster than USB(or from what I understand)
isn't Scsi around 20 mbps
and Usb more like 8-12 mbps
lol imagine an mp3 player with scsi

this treo thing is a total suck a** wannabe iPod rip-off 900, Its always the same, but I GAURANTEE! that in a little while this treo(or an identical iPod ripoff) all the pc nuts will be raving on how much better it is than iPod
the fact that 1,000 songs at 160 kbps on iPod is totally awesome, almost everyone I know ONLY uses 128, so for them thats an extra 100 or so songs

\0

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12/04, 04:33pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
LOL

iPod2 now with a 20gb HD :)

Price $299

sixcolors
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 2001

0

12/04, 05:53pm | report spam | close Reply |
BOOO!!!

Oh my god that sucks!!! The iPod is so doomed, everyone will buy this wonder... 10 GIGS is way better than 5, and it has USB unlike the lame iPod...

Oh wait, no it's a pice of c*** and if you can wait for it to transfer 10 gigs over usb and then use it's horid UI then u deserve to die!

majinbutz

Joined:

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12/04, 06:21pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
USB

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!

retief
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 1999

0

12/04, 08:28pm | report spam | close Reply |
Cheaper, Uglier, Bigger

Let's face it, anything Apple can do, some Taiwanese company can do cheaper, uglier and with a bigger hard drive.

renatomac

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12/04, 10:12pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
it looks like

something you'd expect from one of those bottom-of-the-barrel cheap-a** electronics makers out of Taiwan or Korea, like GoldStar or Recoton.

Like so many have said, perfect for PC users in other words.

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12/06, 11:48am | report spam | close Reply | delete
Hidious

LOL !!! Oh man is that ever ugly!!!
Shouldn't even be mentioned in the same breath as the iPod.

roehlstation
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

0

12/06, 02:05pm | report spam | close Reply |
What makes it an iPod?

What makes an iPod an iPod? A scroll wheel and Firewire connectivity. You don't find that on any other MP3 device.

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New iPod-like music device hits the market

updated 08:45 am EST, Tue December 4, 2001

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Boy it's ugly

And one more thing

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