After seeing the Creative Nomad Zen Mini (A name itself is could use work) makes me wonder “Does Apple have a monopoly on style?”
http://www.creative.com/zenmicro/welcome.asp?w=main

Then there’s the Rocbox by Roccafella, which is even worse. You’d think being by a music label (now purchased entirely by Def Jam) that bred the fashions of Jay-Z one would see something more exciting.
http://reviews.cnet.com/Roc_Digital_Rocbox_20GB/4505-6490_7-31137628-2.html

The Napster…. which looks like a wanna be consumer electronics techiwhore from AWIA or Pioneer barfed up a MP3 player
http://reviews.cnet.com/Samsung_Napster_YH_920GS_20GB/4505-6490_7-31232892.html?tag=pdtl-list

Or the Virgin “It looks like a cellphone” MP3 player
http://reviews.cnet.com/Virgin_Electronics_Player_VM_500_5GB/4505-6490_7-31164323.html?tag=pdtl-list

Archos is a rather odd design. Its not terrible but it just doesn’t have a lot of sex appeal.
http://reviews.cnet.com/Archos_Gmini_XS200/4505-6490_7-31151949.html?tag=pdtl-list

These are all NEW MP3 players, less than 2 months old.

It’s a shame that because there are still so limited stock of iPod minis and iPods in the UK all those competitors are getting all the sales. Dixons opened a flagship store in Canterbury near where I lived and they had literally _3_ iPod minis for sale. This store is huge, like rivaling the downstairs of the Apple Store on Regent Street. Having only 3 iPods is pretty useless. It made me wonder whether Dixons isn’t purposely holding back on iPods so that it can sell off cheaper rivals in larger quantities. I guess more people are willing to spend £120 on a crappy iPod mini copy rather than pay £180 for the real deal.

I suspect that the rival companies are trying not to get too close to the style of the iPod for legal reasons.  There is only one king in this market though, which is good news for all of us.  Anything that boosts Apple’s finances means more stability, and a better chance of a G6 tower in the future….

The Zen just looks like an extremely ugly IR car remote key. And as said, it doesn’t get much better after that… odd that good design is so hard to find really, you would think that all design schools out there didn’t teach their students anything if you look what pops out of high profile companies like Creative.

If only Apple could integrate some of those features whilst maintaining the style. I’d love an integrated audio recorder/FM recorder, 12 hour batt. life on the mini, 98dbi signal/noise ratio with an iPod mini or normal iPod. Although you can get add-ons that do some of the above, none do it at the same time. Apple is really lagging in features.

These are ugly for the same reason every cellphone made in the last 5 years have been ugly. The designers put all their effort into making it look “cool” rather than “good”, and that’s when you get something that looks like a prop from Star Trek: The Hip-Hop Generation. Good visual design is hard to create, but these guys are just clueless.

BUT FOR $500 IT CAN DISPLAY PICTURES! THATS WHAT I WANT FOR WHEN I LISTEN TO MUSIC!

Yep, and if you do the currency conversion you pay $818 US Dollars in the UK for features that are present on $150 players. Like a 15 hour battery life…

BUT THATS ALL OKAY COS WE CAN DISPLAY PICTURES!!!

The currency conversion should be taken with a pinch of salt - the dollar is as weak as a day-old kitten right now…

Why is it every time Apple comes out with something, other companies steal the idea for their own profit? Not necessarily the concept of the iPod but the idea of what it can do. I know what all of you are thinking. “Marketing strategy. Make our own product to compete with what Apple has.” Well, don’t you think that the company who had the original idea will get the sales? Clarification, please. I’m not really versed in the intracies of marketing.  :?

Nor me, but I guess the lazy marketeer just looks round to see what is selling well and assumes that a cheap rip-off will sell even better.

I think Apple are supreme at inventing and designing new things - they don’t always get it right, but they always try.  That’s what raises them above the average…. 8)

My new concept:

The iGod…. 

This is a portable desktop shrine with a 4 inch TFT screen.  It has speakers built in, as well as a small prayer wheel. 

Images of the selected god will be displayed at regular intervals, along with an arrow pointing to Mecca (GPS built in) 

The Koran, Bible, Tanakh, teachings of Buddha etc will be available on variable speed scrolling text, with searchable index. 

The built in calendar, motion sensor, and web cam will warn of Holy days, and sound and sound an alarm if it detects people working on the Sabbath.

Call to prayers will be sounded 5 times a day via live webcast when the unit is in the docking station, or using preset mp3 files when away from the base station.

The iGod - Any religion, any time, anywhere….

Buy today! don’t let your busy lifestyle spoil your chance of nirvana.

While I do enjoy sex appeal (ahem) I don’t think it’s integral to an MP3 player. Where does your iPod spend most of it’s time? Mine at least is either in it’s case or in my pocket. It’s not like a watch or piece of jewlery that is meant to be critiqued on visual prowess.

[quote author=“Clave”]The iGod - Any religion, any time, anywhere….

Buy today! don’t let your busy lifestyle spoil your chance of nirvana.

That will be a password-protected secret religion…..along with a couple of others :twisted:

When I bust out 250 bucks on a piece of hi-end electronics I sure as fuck expect it to look the task. If it looks like some repugnant picture-phone I just won’t get that jolt of pleasure and pride I do everytime I hold my iPod.

Looks. Are. Important.

Personal electronics such as phones or MP3 players should recognize that aethetics do matter as you’re forced to carry, hold, and view while you operate them. Its not like a home theater receiver or DVD player, which sits in your AV rack/TV stand that looks fine with just medocre looks (in fact, I like the fact my Yamaha and Denon Recievers are plain black). Primarily I want my iPod to do what its supposed to, but the fact its easy on the eyes really is nice. My point here is that while looks aren’t the first seller, it amazes me someone can’t produce MP3 players as cool as the iPod. There were a few Flash cart players like the Nike ones that had some real style back in the day but the HD players really are uggo for the most part.