News Archive for 05/03/08

Choose an article from the archive listing on this page or refine your selection using the controls in the gray box below.

Apple vs. Sony vs. Napster

03/08, 6:05pm

Analyst: Sony, Napster will not impact Apple

Despite new challenges by Sony and Napster, Merrill Lynch maintained its 'Buy' rating on the stock, says that it does believe that either announcement will impact Apple. In a research report released today, analyst Steven Milunovich believes that Sony's new MP3 device will make it a "serious competitor," as they are priced similiarly to Apple's iPod shuffle line, but also offer a small LCD screen and battery life of up to 70 hours on AAA batteries. "We believe these are likely to be solid sellers, but they don't support iTunes and do not have the cache of an iPod....We view Sony as the most serious competitor, but since Apple will be supply-constrained on shuffle it will be difficult to assess the impact in the near term."

DLO VoiceNote

03/08, 5:25pm

DLO VoiceNote allows direct recording to iPod

The DLO VoiceNote is a voice recorder and microphone for the iPod that lets users record meetings, lectures, thoughts, ideas, conversations, and so on. The included external Lapel Mic provides direct, clear recording capability. The level settings can be adjusted on the iPod, allowing users to optimize the quality of recordings. Recordings are played back through the built-in speaker or they can be downloaded to a computer. There is no software installation required- just plug the device into the top of your iPod. The DLO VoiceNote is available for online purchase for $40.

Sony flash music devices

03/08, 7:10am

iPod faces new challenges from Sony, mobile phones

Sony has launched a new line of flash-based MP3 players. Designed to counter Apple's recent entry into the low-cost music device market, Sony's new music devices store up to 1GB of music, offer up to 50 hours of music playback, and feature a small LCD screen. The players are expected to cost between $150 and $180. Meanwhile, another article titled "Mobile music challenges 'iPod age'" looks at the challenges posed by cell phones--which are expected to incorporate mini hard drives and higher-capacity flash storage in the near future and will soon leverage higher speed networks for downloading music: "The seamless experience of mobiles and PC downloads is approaching, he predicted. Mr Babinet said the mobile phone had a number of advantages over PCs which would see it become the focus for music downloading in the future."