MP3 players are letting music lovers take their collections anywhere they want.
By DAVE GUSSOW
Published June 7, 2004
[Times photo illustration: James Borchuck]
Listen up!
MP3 players are letting music lovers take their collections anywhere they want.
A music sampler
Music and teens go together like . . . music and teens always do.
Buying an MP3 player? Consider this...
The iPod may be the best-known digital music player, but it is not alone in the market. And for people who are looking to buy a player, the choices can be daunting.
The iPod personal music player makes Dennis Lloyd's life go round.
"I've turned my life into the iPod," said Lloyd, laughing. "I live, breathe and sleep" it.
The publisher and editor-in-chief of the iPodlLounge Web site in Irvine, Calif., Lloyd, 36, made his passion for all things from Apple Computer into his full-time job.
The site keeps the legion of fans for the bestselling music player up to date on news, reviews and chat. Devotees have posted more than 2,000 pictures of their iPods from around the world ("It's one of the most fascinating way to waste a couple of hours," Lloyd said). The site claims about 5-million page views a month, and about 20,000 members ranging from teens to seniors.
The iPod is "just a cool device," Lloyd said. "It's simple to use, and in combination with iTunes (software), it makes it a very formidable hardware/software combination. It's hard to beat as far as the competition goes."
And there is competition, with dozens of devices available. But the iPod has grabbed most of the sales and attention, particularly with its dazzling ad campaign, and has become a cultural phenomenon.
Yet for all the buzz today, the MP3 portable player revolution got off to a fairly quiet start in 1998 when the Diamond Rio became the first player available in the United States. At $199.95, it could hold about an hour of music.
The Diamond Rio survived a legal challenge from the Recording Industry Association of America, which tried to block its sale, citing piracy concerns, and within a year players were appearing from companies such as Creative Labs, RCA and Samsung.
Sales for the devices were initially slow, partly because people weren't willing to pay for players with limited capacity, according to Stephen Baker, an analyst with the NPD Group research company.
In 2001, Apple introduced the iPod. The first model could hold about 1,000 songs and cost about $400. A similarly priced model now holds about 5,000 songs. Then last year, Apple opened its online iTunes Music Store with cheap (99 cents a song) - and legal - downloads, and the market heated up.
More music stores followed, and more companies entered the digital music player market, including computer giant Dell with its DJ models. Even with aggressive pricing ($199 and $279) similar to what it has done in the PC market, Dell has been unable to knock the iPod off its throne. IPods cost $299, $399 and $499, depending on capacity, and the new iPod Mini goes for $249.
The market is still small, compared with other tech gadgets. But sales will reach about $1-billion this year, according to NPD. And unit sales are expected to double to more than 5-million units, according to IDC, another research company.
Apple claims about a third of the market, selling more than 2-million iPods, including 750,000 in December alone. The company also has had a hard time keeping up with demand for the Mini, which was introduced in January.
"They caught the market at the right time and became the de facto standard," said Eric Dahl, senior associate editor at PC World magazine. "A large percentage of that is that they do a really good job. A certain part of it is ... people just don't know about the cheaper options that are available."
The MP3 player market can be broken into three categories. At the top of the line and costing the most are hard drive players such as the iPod that can hold thousands of songs. In the middle are new, smaller hard drive players such as the iPod Mini that cost less and hold fewer songs. And then there are flash players, which are smaller, lighter and less expensive but usually hold up to a few hours of music.
Prices have remained fairly steady, with flash players generally in the $100-$150 range and hard drive players averaging around $299, according to the NPD Group.
While prices have remained steady, companies are adding features, including voice recording and FM tuners. One from Samsung includes a heart rate monitor, calorie counter and stopwatch for the athletically inclined.
"IPod is the perfect example that something doesn't have to be cheap to sell," NPD's Baker said. "It is priced to be a premium product in the market offering features and benefits, and cool is one of those, that other players don't have."
Cool means prominent display in ads and music videos, and celebrity endorsements, such as Oprah Winfrey putting hers on "My Favorite Things" list. It means a cottage industry springing up to attract iPod owners. According to iPodLounge, about 200 accessories are available, more than 90 cases, including a new one from Gucci that costs a remarkable $195.
Fans are called Podders or Poddicts, and they are discovering and inventing uses for the device that go beyond music. It's being used as an audio book player, a calendar and address book, even an alarm clock, Lloyd says. And people are writing "podBooks" at iPodLibrary.com. Some are modifying their cars to create iPod docking stations in center consoles.
Dan Derasmo, 21, of Palm Harbor pulled himself away from his iPod to talk about his dream music machine.
"I pretty much have it with me all the time," Derasmo said. "I used to carry around all these giant CD cases in my car. It's nice because I can consolidate everything onto one hard drive."
- Information from Times wires was used in this report. Dave Gussow can be reached at gussow@sptimes.com or 727 771-4328.
