[LINK] Respecting Jobs

[Fernando Cassia]

On Sun, Oct 23, 2011 at 08:18, Kim Holburn <kim at holburn.net> wrote:
>> Apple didn’t invent the iPod, they stole the idea and made the music industry their own. The way we buy and listen to music is now shaped almost entirely by Apple’s vision.

And that vision is good?. Some of us have another idea of what the
experience should be like:

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1047335/mindawn-role-model-digital-music-purchases

And on another subject...

Oh-oh, IPod sales declining from 2008 to date
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ipod_sales_per_quarter.svg

OK, OK, some might say that there are other reasons (besides
competition) for this...

http://technology.canoe.ca/2011/10/05/18786161.html
----
"But where there used to be a massive glut of MP3 players all vying
for market share, I now found a desert. With MP3 players now being
worked into car stereos, shower radios, and pretty much every new
cellphone model, demand seems to have plummeted for separate players.
In the days leading up to Apple's keynote speech on Tuesday, rumours
swirled that the venerable iPod classic, now standing alone in the
market with 160GB of space, was on the chopping block; however, it
appears to have been spared. Just hours before that address, Microsoft
announced it was officially sending its Zune MP3 players -- including
a roomy 120GB model -- to that great electronic recycling depot in the
sky."
----

So, back to the last myth "APPLE knows what customers want. Does what
customer wants."

" I have this huge library of Ogg Vorbis files I want to listen to,
but for some really(!) strange reason there is no Ogg Vorbis support
for the iPod? Why? It is a free file format (as in no patents) and
offers better sound quality pr. mb. Please, help me get my iPod
playing my Ogg Vorbis files!!"

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1808000?start=0&tstart=0
Archive: http://pages.citebite.com/o1k1b5x5u6cwi

Answer:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPod#Software

"Alternative open-source audio formats, such as Ogg Vorbis and FLAC,
are not supported on IPods without installing custom firmware onto an
iPod (e.g., Rockbox)."

Luckily, as the Apple religion fades, there´s hope:

SanDisk Upgrades MP3 Player Series
http://www.twice.com/article/472813-SanDisk_Upgrades_MP3_Player_Series.php

"The Clip Zip and Clip Plus both offer FM radio, voice recording,
MicroSDHC card expansion slot, rechargeable battery delivering 15
hours of music listening, clip to secure the device to clothing while
running or walking, and compatibility with multiple major music, audio
book and podcast formats, including MP3, WMA, WAV, FLAC, Ogg Vorbis,
and Audible files."

"SanDisk lays claim to being second in U.S. MP3 and MP3/video player
market share in units and dollars in 2010 and for the year-to-date."
---

Oddly, I have been unable to find 2010 or 2011 stats for
*global* shipments of mp3 players... (I suspect that Apple´s iPod
supremacy is narrower outside US/CA/AU borders).

FC
-- 
"The purpose of computing is insight, not numbers."
Richard Hamming - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamming_code