MP3 Players Take On New Features

[Kent Pribbernow]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2004/05/03/200405030026.asp' target='_blank'>http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2004/05/03/200405030026.asp</a><br /><br /></div>"Following the manufacturing model for multitasking mobile phone, the makers of MP3 players are transforming their device into an all-purpose information tool. Apart for basic function of compressing and replaying Internet music file, the new models include a range of features, including digital photography and language study. The MP3 player is expected to evolve into a handy entertainment device that forecasts the competition among Korean manufacturers that lead the international industry in flash-memory MP3 player."<br /><br />This isn't entirely news to those of us who watch this space. We've seen more features added to digital audio devices with each generation. Microsoft will possibly set the market on its ear later this year when Personal Media Centers hit the market. I hate to use dot com era cliches like "convergence" but that's what we're seeing take shape across a broad spectrum of digital devices, not just MP3 players. More is more I guess.

[Felix Torres]

When you get down to it, all these kinds of info-appliances (Digital music players, ebook readers, digital photo frames, PDAs, game units, DVD players, whatever) all are *exactly* the same thing; a microcomputer.

All are built around:
1 - a microprocessor (general-purpose and/or DSP)
2 - working memory
3 - storage memory
4 - a display of some kind
5 - a control panel of some kind
6 - usually with some form or external connectivity and/or sensor

Pretty generic definition, no?
But the fact that the core definition *is* generic is why the manufacturers of one type of device can leverage their expertise and manufacturing capabilities in one area (say, PDAs) into others (say, phones).
And this allows for crossover devices like PocketPCs, iPODs, PSP, MPx, the funky Panasonic Digicams, and a flood of new device to come.
Some will work.
Some won't.
(Like the cellphone in the commercial. Cheeze grater is probably *not* a desirable function for a cellphone...)

What really defines each device are two things:
1- The human factors engineering
2- The software

And these in turn define how the device can be used.
And how well the diferent functions integrate with each other to add user satisfaction.
As a certain phone manufacturer that should remain nameless (okay, Nokia) discovered, just sticking a phone and a game player is one box isn't enough; the device has to be usable as both a phone *and* a game player and be good at *both* functions.

Whether Sony pulls it off with the PSP or not remains to be seen, but at least the human factors engineering of the two main functions are compatible; you hold the device in the same general manner and look at the screen from about the same distance, regardless of whether you're watching a video clip or playing a game.

At a minimum, crossover products that don't work might leave you with a compromise product that is neither fish nor fown and with a tendence to leave face oils or make-up on your PDA screen... ;-)

Still, integrating otherwise disparate functions *does* lead to product evolution (after a suitable Darwinian weeding out of the real turkeys; or should that be Platypi?) and is a long establish product design technique widely used (despite what trustbusters may think) that often results in real winners.
Like the ubiquitous boombox.
Or the minivan.
Or the baby SUVs.
Then again, the boat-car has never quite found a niche, so far...

Anywaaayyyyy...

The question at this point is which permutations of these "I'm not really a PC" devices will provide real value and become long-term viable products.

Of late, we've been hearing a lot of buzz about how PDAs as we know it will be marginalized by the evolution of Smartphones and TabletPCs.

There are also rumblings that TiVo-like dedicated video recorders will be squeezed out by connected DVD-players, media terminals, and cable set-top boxes (especially the latter), which looks quite plausible. We also hear every once in a that cable set-top boxes will evolve enough game-playing capacity to kill the console market, but to date those are just speculation; the potential exists but the gap between what your basic cable box can do and what even the least of current-generation consoles, the PS2, can do is way too big at this time.

In general, I think the form factor is key.
(You're not going to play DVDs with a thumbdrive, after all.)

A fun drill might be to try to visualize a specific form-factor and then see how much functionality can be crammed into it and still meet a reasonable price point.

Me, I'd buy a dedicated personal display shaped *exactly* like a DVD case, with a 10x6 high-res color screen, a jog dial and four buttons, plus WiFi and a small onboard HD, that served as an auxiliary PC display (like the failed Mirra effort), an ebook reader, webpad, and portable media Center. 1 pound maximum weight, for say $500-600, street.

I'm thinking 5 years before OLEDS become cheap enough to make the price point doable.

Any other ideas about viable crossovers?