Steve Jobs Disses Mobile Downloading

[Jerry Raia]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://digitalmusic.weblogsinc.com/entry/1234000180060133/' target='_blank'>http://digitalmusic.weblogsinc.com/entry/1234000180060133/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"MacWorld quotes Steve Jobs splashing cold water on a music download service offered by a cell phone provider. ”I’m not convinced that it will be successful. The network providers will charge a lot to download music to a mobile - maybe $3.” Well, he’s right to pronounce doom on high prices."</i><br /><br />Ya think? I honestly still don't get listening to music on ones phone. I know one device to carry etc but really. Now you can get a tiny iPod and put 1000 songs on it. Do you really need music on your phone that bad?

[jk47]

As a guy, I'm not about to buy a european carryall (man-purse) to hold a bunch of electronics when one will do. And it's bad enough I have to stuff headphones in my pocket when I'm not using them...

I have an mpx220 with a 512MB SD card that holds more music then the battery can handle (feel free to insert a joke, but it lasts longer then I need it for). Why would I need an iPod also?

That said, there's no way I'll pay more then $0.99 for a single song, or download it straight to my phone...

[Sven Johannsen]

I just picked up a Creative Muvo Zen Nano for ~$110. It's about 3/4 the size of a pack of gum. Not especially burdensome. Why?, since I carry a smartphone and a PPC? Because I could care less if the Muvo's battery runs dry. I get a new one when I can at the supermarket. If I fall asleep in the airplane with my cell on, I may not have enough juice to make any calls when I wake up, and am stuck until I can get it charged. With the PPC I'm stuck until I can get it charged and restored.

Downloading songs straight to my portable device though does nothing for me. All my CDs are ripped to my PC (Media Center), and it isn't much effort to copy a set to any of the above devices. I can't imagine needing a song so badly I can't wait till, A) I buy the CD and rip it, B) I get home and download it for $1.

[revolution.cx]

Oh come on. With that thinking you should be carrying a Pocket PC for email and pim functions, a cell phone for voice conversations, a pager for receiving text messages and a flashlight for stumbling around at night.

Smartphone's make great music players and the battery life is beyond adequate.

I'm still trying to find a way to integrate my car keys and wallet with my SMT5600!

[subzerohf]

... Because I could care less if the Muvo's battery runs dry. I get a new one when I can at the supermarket. If I fall asleep in the airplane with my cell on, I may not have enough juice to make any calls when I wake up, and am stuck until I can get it charged. ...

On the other hand, when you're listening to music on your Muvo, would you know it when your phone rings? Even if you do, wouldn't you have to remove one of you ear buds to talk on your phone? The beauty of having your phone double as portable music device is that the music will pause automatically while in call, and resume automatically when the call ends. And you don't have to remove your ear-buds

Battery consumption is a concern, I would bring an extra battery with me on the plane. There is no perfect solution, is there? It is all about what makes you tick.

[Jerry Raia]

Oh come on. With that thinking you should be carrying a Pocket PC for email and pim functions, a cell phone for voice conversations, a pager for receiving text messages and a flashlight for stumbling around at night

Well I did get rid of the pager. :lol:

[Kris Kumar]

I'm still trying to find a way to integrate my car keys and wallet with my SMT5600!

Me too. :-)

[Jerry Raia]

There is nothing wrong with carrying a few cool devices with you. Get over it! :)

[Chris Hendriks]

There is nothing wrong with carrying a few cool devices with you. Get over it! :)

I don't disagree. However, if you have to go anywhere for any length of time it sure is a pain to pack all of those chargers. Convergence will occur.

[audinik]

Slightly off topic, but related to the whole convergence argument and too funny to not be mentioned in this context:

"Screw the nano [...] Who listens to 1,000 songs?" - Ed Zander, CEO Motorola

http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?RSS&amp;NewsID=12719
(by way of osviews.com)

Uh, well I hate to break it to you Mr. Zander, but some of us like carrying more than 2 albums at a time, especially when we travel.

[Mike Temporale]

Slightly off topic, but related to the whole convergence argument and too funny to not be mentioned in this context:

"Screw the nano [...] Who listens to 1,000 songs?" - Ed Zander, CEO Motorola

http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?RSS&amp;NewsID=12719
(by way of osviews.com)

Uh, well I hate to break it to you Mr. Zander, but some of us like carrying more than 2 albums at a time, especially when we travel.

I think Zander is having some issues with the way Apple announced the Rokr. It was largly over-shadowed by the Nano, which is what pissed him off. I take his comments as more of a venting session than anything else. 8)

[Mike Temporale]

As for the whole converged device argument, I don't mind having things converged, as long as I'm not limited. I don't use my embedded camera for everything, because my Canon S400 is much better. I don't use my Creative What-cha-ma-call-it MP3 player, not becuase of the loosey 128MB, or poor battery life, but because it's a lot easier to just use my phone and not have to worry about carrying an extra device. :D

[Sven Johannsen]

There is nothing wrong with carrying a few cool devices with you. Get over it! :)

I don't disagree. However, if you have to go anywhere for any length of time it sure is a pain to pack all of those chargers. Convergence will occur.

I'd like to see some charger convergence. Not just the DC connector either. Any of you have a Suunto MSN Direct watch? Can't charge it with a third party USB socketed power adapter (http://www.ziplinq.com/retractable-cable-pwr.html). Got to use their brick or a real USB port WITH their driver loaded. Have any of you tried to charge your SMT5600 with a third party charger? No go. Got to be their AC adapter or a real USB port. Can't even use a battery pack like Socket's, or those with actual batterries and a USB socket.

I wish PPCs had a power socket independent of the sync connector too, like the early iPAQs, Dell X5 with the standard coaxial dc jack. If the sync connector ever messes up, you can still charge, and sync via IR/BT/WiFi (maybe). You wouldn't have a problem if you forget, or loose, that silly adapter that HP and Dell give you. You could go to Radio Shack and get a 5v charger with the right tip.

BTW, the reason I carry a PPC and a Smartphone is because of the darned camera in the Smartphone. I find myself having to leave it outside facilities a lot. The PPC still has all my reference material, PIM, etc. A plain old phone paired with my PPC would serve me just fine, but I wanted a Smartphone. I think I could live with just that, if it weren't for the camera.

[Jerry Raia]

I doubt many here travel more than I do. I just carry the chargers. No big deal.

[Mike Temporale]

I doubt many here travel more than I do. I just carry the chargers. No big deal.

Hey Jerry - Just curious, How many miles you travel in a month?

[Jerry Raia]

Hmmm, don't really keep track of miles. I fly about 70-80 hours a month. A little math got me to about 25,000/mo.

[revolution.cx]

Have any of you tried to charge your SMT5600 with a third party charger? No go. Got to be their AC adapter or a real USB port. Can't even use a battery pack like Socket's, or those with actual batterries and a USB socket.

Actually I do this all the time. I think the only time you get in trouble is when the battery is so discharged that it needs more than 500 ma to start charging. A standard USB charger shouldn't put out more than that, but a "dedicated" power brick with a USB or miniusb connector at the other end can pump out more juice if it wants. I think. It certainly has worked that way in practice.

[revolution.cx]

Jobs' comments sound pretty out of touch with reality.

Users want their music on the devices of their choice. If a particular device is connected to the Internet (a pc, a phone, my tv, etc) then I want to be able to interact with my purchased music on that device.

In other words, if I order it and download it to my phone then it needs to show up on my pc too. And vice versa. Sometimes this is done over USB, sometimes this is done over GPRS (or EVDO or whatever). Duh.

And his comment about reloading the music onto the phone???? How do you think it got there in the first place? He's like the guy in Zoolander who thinks "the files are in the computer".

And as for $3 a song: you don't need the blessing of the carriers to deliver music to a phone. T-mobile unlimited Internet is $5 a month.

[Sven Johannsen]

Have any of you tried to charge your SMT5600 with a third party charger? No go. Got to be their AC adapter or a real USB port. Can't even use a battery pack like Socket's, or those with actual batterries and a USB socket.

Actually I do this all the time. I think the only time you get in trouble is when the battery is so discharged that it needs more than 500 ma to start charging. A standard USB charger shouldn't put out more than that, but a "dedicated" power brick with a USB or miniusb connector at the other end can pump out more juice if it wants. I think. It certainly has worked that way in practice.

I'll have to check this again when I get home, as I don't have that phone with me this week. I had tried it with about every combo of AC/DC/battery and USB to mini-USB cable I own. Didn't matter if the phone was down 3% or 93%. Just didn't work other than with Audiovox's own AC charger, or the USB cable plugged into a USB port..with drivers loaded (i.e. AS). Incidentally most chargers are capable of significantly more than 500ma. That is the standard out of a PC USB port. I don't expect the SMT5600 even needs that as the Motorola charger that comes with my MPX220 is only rated at 375ma. The chargers I was using are rated between 1.5 and 2.5 A and readily charge PPCs while they are on. Current required is of course not driven by the source, but determined by the load, and limited by the sources capability.

[Kris Kumar]

... Didn't matter if the phone was down 3% or 93%. Just didn't work other than with Audiovox's own AC charger, or the USB cable plugged into a USB port..with drivers loaded (i.e. AS).

I agree with you sven, the SMT5600 is finicky about what kind of USB charger you use. It doesn't like most of the third party USB chargers. It needs special wiring. :evil:

[Sven Johannsen]

... Didn't matter if the phone was down 3% or 93%. Just didn't work other than with Audiovox's own AC charger, or the USB cable plugged into a USB port..with drivers loaded (i.e. AS).

I agree with you sven, the SMT5600 is finicky about what kind of USB charger you use. It doesn't like most of the third party USB chargers. It needs special wiring. :evil:

Yea, but revolution.cx seems to be doing OK, and I have no reason to doubt it. I wouldn't mind hearing specifically what charger/cable is being used. Like I said, I have a fairly wide assortment, and no go.

[Kris Kumar]

I am using the Motorola MPx200 (yes 200) USB car charger. And it works with the SMT5600 (or I should say SP3i). I got it for $2.00, when AT&amp;T merged with Cingular and decided to dump the product. :-)

I would like to hear from revolution.cx too. :?

[Sven Johannsen]

I am using the Motorola MPx200 (yes 200) USB car charger. The 200 had a mini usb jack? My 220 sure doesn't. Or are you just talking about an DC adapter for the 200 that has a USB jack and you are using the provided SMT5600 cable?

[Kris Kumar]

The 200 had a mini usb jack? My 220 sure doesn't. Or are you just talking about an DC adapter for the 200 that has a USB jack and you are using the provided SMT5600 cable?

MPx200 had a mini-USB connector. :-) And I am using the MPx200 USB Car Charger. It came with the mini-USB cable.

[Sven Johannsen]

The 200 had a mini usb jack? My 220 sure doesn't. Or are you just talking about an DC adapter for the 200 that has a USB jack and you are using the provided SMT5600 cable?

MPx200 had a mini-USB connector. :-) And I am using the MPx200 USB Car Charger. It came with the mini-USB cable.

The MPX220 sure doesn't. Guess they weren't selling enough proprietary chargers and sync cables :?