5 ms·

That's just it, being first to the market is sometimes more important than worrying about competitors. They killed it so hard with the ipod that even if the zun

That's just it, being first to the market is sometimes more important than worrying about competitors. They killed it so hard with the ipod that even if the zune was a better device at the time people wanted the ipod.

snom380 4y ago
The Zune came quite a while later, though (2006 vs iPod in 2001). The main competitors at the time was Creative (Nomad) and frin 2003 (IIRC) iRiver, and they typically had slow USB ports at the time and were more bulky.
- kevstev 4y ago
  I had a Creative Nomad, which I bought around the end of 2003 and I was scoffed at by Ipod owners at how big it was. Doing a little digging, this was the model: https://www.cnet.com/reviews/creative-nomad-jukebox-zen-xtra-review/ https://www.cnet.com/reviews/creative-nomad-jukebox-zen-xtra... 4.4 x 3 x .86" bigger than the original Sony Walkman. It had much larger capacities and was outside the Apple ecosystem, which was an absolute feature at the time. Itunes was horrid. USB Speeds weren't that big of a factor, though YMMV depending on the user. With the larger capacities of HD based players, you loaded once, which took some time, and then topped up with new additions which was not a big deal. My particular Nomad model had USB 2.0 though
dhosek 4y ago
It didn’t help that the Zune was sold in a fecal shade of brown. Apparently the product designers never watched Reservoir Dogs.
flatiron 4y ago
people forget that the first ipod was firewire only and firewire was a very apple thing at the time. it wasn't until they gave in and changed it to usb (and released iTunes for windows) that it really set the world on fire.
- Eisenstein 4y ago
  When the iPod came out USB 2.0 had just been created. USB 2.0 wasn't in widespread use for at least a year or two after. USB 1.1 was 12mbits/s -- that is 1.5MB/s. Firewire was 400mbit/s. Accounting only for bus speed, filling up a 5GB iPod would have taken 54mins[0] for USB 1.1 vs 1.6mins[1] for Firewire 400. [0] 1000MiB/1024MB * 5000MB = 4,883MB / 1.5MB/s = 3255s [1] 4,883MB / (400mbit/8) = 98s
  - ProfessorLayton 4y ago
    It's also worth pointing out that Firewire had the ability to charge and sync the iPod simultaneously. USB ports didn't output multiple amps like they do today, so not only did it take longer, but one would also end up with a warm iPod with even less battery life left after adding music via USB. Apple even made dual Firewire/USB cables to allow the (Firewire) charging brick to be used while syncing.

snom380 4y ago

The Zune came quite a while later, though (2006 vs iPod in 2001). The main competitors at the time was Creative (Nomad) and frin 2003 (IIRC) iRiver, and they typically had slow USB ports at the time and were more bulky.

kevstev 4y ago
I had a Creative Nomad, which I bought around the end of 2003 and I was scoffed at by Ipod owners at how big it was. Doing a little digging, this was the model: https://www.cnet.com/reviews/creative-nomad-jukebox-zen-xtra-review/ https://www.cnet.com/reviews/creative-nomad-jukebox-zen-xtra... 4.4 x 3 x .86" bigger than the original Sony Walkman. It had much larger capacities and was outside the Apple ecosystem, which was an absolute feature at the time. Itunes was horrid. USB Speeds weren't that big of a factor, though YMMV depending on the user. With the larger capacities of HD based players, you loaded once, which took some time, and then topped up with new additions which was not a big deal. My particular Nomad model had USB 2.0 though

dhosek 4y ago

It didn’t help that the Zune was sold in a fecal shade of brown. Apparently the product designers never watched Reservoir Dogs.

flatiron 4y ago

people forget that the first ipod was firewire only and firewire was a very apple thing at the time. it wasn't until they gave in and changed it to usb (and released iTunes for windows) that it really set the world on fire.

Eisenstein 4y ago
When the iPod came out USB 2.0 had just been created. USB 2.0 wasn't in widespread use for at least a year or two after. USB 1.1 was 12mbits/s -- that is 1.5MB/s. Firewire was 400mbit/s. Accounting only for bus speed, filling up a 5GB iPod would have taken 54mins[0] for USB 1.1 vs 1.6mins[1] for Firewire 400. [0] 1000MiB/1024MB * 5000MB = 4,883MB / 1.5MB/s = 3255s [1] 4,883MB / (400mbit/8) = 98s
- ProfessorLayton 4y ago
  It's also worth pointing out that Firewire had the ability to charge and sync the iPod simultaneously. USB ports didn't output multiple amps like they do today, so not only did it take longer, but one would also end up with a warm iPod with even less battery life left after adding music via USB. Apple even made dual Firewire/USB cables to allow the (Firewire) charging brick to be used while syncing.