Sean Alexander on the iRiver Clix

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://blog.seanalexander.com/PermaLink,guid,bddc1b8e-2dfd-4ed9-9661-6aadcf52b3a4.aspx' target='_blank'>http://blog.seanalexander.com/PermaLink,guid,bddc1b8e-2dfd-4ed9-9661-6aadcf52b3a4.aspx</a><br /><br /></div><i>"I'm happy to say I can finally talk about a project I've been involved in for the past six months. As I've mentioned, I returned to the digital media space at Microsoft after receiving an opportunity to work for my old General Manager reporting directly to the VP of Digital Media at Microsoft on End to End Experiences (the other E3). Part of the job involves picking targeted oppportunities to go deep on digital media product development. One of the first of these projects has just launched. The "iriver clix" - a new portable media player from iRiver. Designed to work great with Windows Media Player 11 and the new Urge music service launching today from MTV, the clix may look similar to the award-winning iRiver U10, but it's so much more. Our team worked closely with iRiver, providing feedback, usability resources, and assistance on interaction design starting with a complete "teardown" of the existing iRiver U10 product. Here's a quick breakdown on what's new/improved with this release..."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/Clix_Animated.gif" /><br /><br />This looks like a great device, but in reading this article, I couldn't help but think "Why isn't this a Portable Media Center device?" - it seems to have copped basically all of the same features. Does it boil down to the licensing fee I wonder?

[Janak Parekh]

Maybe it doesn't have some required hardware elements of the Portable Media Center platform?

Quite frankly, as of this time I think PMC is more of an albatross than a gain. It's relatively limited in the video formats it supports, the devices (with the exception of the Toshiba) seem ho-hum at best, etc.

--janak

[Jeremy Charette]

I agree with Jason that this could be a great PMC device (if they could bump up the screen resolution and playback rate etc), but what's really killing everything except the iPod is 3rd party support. Want to hook an iPod to your home stereo system and stream music anywhere? A dozen solutions. A radio with an iPod dock built-in? A dozen more. Want to hook your iPod up to your car stereo and use the factory radio controls? Plenty of options. Nevermind skins, cases, remotes, docks...the Clix is a great player, but it needs more support to really succeed.