In a viral marketing move that's sure to draw the fire of Apple
fanboys enthusiasts (probably right here in the comments, if history is any indication), SanDisk has posted a website called "iDon't" that encourages people to flee the closed iPod universe (the "iTatorship," they call it) -- and to pick up a SanDisk
Sansa e200 while they're at it. While we certainly won't go into the pros and cons of each company's products here (mainly for fear of getting flamed), we must say that the iDon't site features little compelling content other than a few cheesy wallpaper downloads and some links to anti-iPod sites, and mostly comes across as sour grapes from
the runner-up in an industry being dominated by a single player. Still, other manufacturers need to do
something in order to gain market share, and R&D is, like, really expensive, so if you can convince a couple of kids to sport t-shirts and buddy icons featuring your propaganda, who knows, maybe a few consumers will bite.
[Via
iLounge forums]
posted May 22nd 2006 1:30PM
This is great. I'm sick of iPods. I have looked at them and even considered one...but when a company can release an easy to scratch player that you have to have third party voice recorders, FM radio, etc I'm going with the someone else. In the 80's you could get the Sony Walkmans and pay twice the price or get more functionality and equal or better sound for less....those who wanted status got the Walkman...those who seriously considered functionality...usually ended up with something else.
iPod is a great little device...but to say it's the only and the best is just bunk. For me subscription service is the #1 function that I want. So I absolutely recommend the Sansa e200 series. Mine isn't buggy and I've never had a problem with it. I'd take it over any of my friends iPods....the Nano doesn't even come close. I only hope Sandisk will put out a 60 GB drive player!
Wow, people sure like to argue this point.
Regardless of whose side you're on, you have to admit that this isn't exactly the most effective way of marketing a product. I don't use a SanDisk player at the moment, and I don't really plan on getting one. My sister used to have one, however, and I remember it being pretty decent.
Anyway, insulting the iPod fanbase isn't going to get me to buy one of their players, even though I'm not really included in that base.
I don't use an iPod. Not because I'm staunchly opposed to them; the reason I don't use one is because I don't want or need one. I have a dusty old Zen Xtra that I got for Christmas in '03. It has worked splendidly ever since I got it, and still holds plenty of charge, much to my surprise. The sound quality is great, the UI is fairly intuitive, and, despite its relative size, fits just fine in my pockets.
Would I buy an iPod once this one dies? Probably not, unless they start supporting more file formats. I really don't like to have to convert if I don't have to, and since a good deal of my songs aren't in MP3 format (and none in AAC), I'd like to see wider support going on (in all players). The iPod has a great interface, but that's not really enough to get me to buy it.
Recently, the iAudio has caught my attention. It supports all the standard stuff, plus WMA, OGG and FLAC (and since I don't use AAC, there's no problem there, either). I'm looking forward to seeing some larger capacity models for this player.
I guess there's the whole movie thing goin' on, too. Haven't gotten into that much, myself. If I had a video player, I might, but as it stands, I don't care right now.
Finally, to round out my slightly off-topic opinion-giving, I don't much care for iTunes, either. Nothing personal, I just like Winamp (it's the only player I know that supports .psf ;) ).
Perhaps they're trying to reach people who *haven't* sucked from the teat of t3H j0Bz0R?
BEFORE I START CHECK OUT SANDISK'S KNEW MARKETING CAMPAIGN: THE LIL' MONSTA!!!!!!!!
www.lilmonsta.com
what are you guys talking about. i think SanDisk is just doing what everyone else is afraid to do: take on apple full force and head on. this is a creative way to rmeind people of other options because lets face it; we all know people buy ipods because of the brand name when you could save money while gaining features with players like sandisks sansa.
and if the rumors are tru then snadisk will have the largest flash player out there. nano comes in 2gb and 4gb. sandisks come in 2,4,6,and now hopefully 8!!! take that apple!!!
check out their sites and say iDon't!!!!!
www.idont.com
www.lilmonsta.com
Though I don't think Sandisk's advertisement campaign is that great, I love my Sansa e260. I haven't had any bug issues with it (though there are places for added functions).
I look at my bro-in-law's little $250 4gb Ipod Nano and just laugh. Its $250. Its 4gb. It plays music and does some photos. I bought my sansa for $150, it has FM and FM recording, voice recording, plays movies, shows photos, has a microSD slot for more storage, and did I mention I got it for $150? Just because it has an Apple logo on it doesn't mean you need to bow down and worship it. Apple has done a superb job of capturing the MP3 world with their advertisement campaign and making iPod a household name for any MP3 player (i call my little Sansa an iPod half the time, just so people know what it DOES). The iPods have been hugely successful. But I don't care if its the most sold MP3 player...for an extra $100 and a lot less functions than the Sansa, i'll keep my Sansa thank you.
These comments are especially funny now that Apple has produced their own "smear" ads against PCs; as if they hadn't in the past.
Ah, human fallacy...where would the humor in life be without you and your finger pointing?
this is pretty funny, this post is 2 months old, and people are still saying the same thing: "iDont cuz apple is teh suxx0rs and i like my subscription service and my sansa box." that's about all they say.
I'm personally an apple/iPod guy, and I prefer buying(read:stealing/ripping) music over having a subscription service. Most of my songs are un DRM'd, so iDon't feel locked in and not free. I dont hate any one for what mp3 player they have, I'm just annoyed that don't realize how non restrictive itunes can be.
Funny is the guy thats fighting every step of the way just to say HELLo to abunch of people that I don't know but not to bad battling a server loaded trojon [aol loves me] two in there setup programs and one upgrade program called backdoors then wait even the other s/n being help by aol on my account like 75 plus names not mine using my aol account see what happens when one says no to there ads.then blocked from my friends for over a year.Hey to make everybody feel better tieing rope around my ankles and standing on a ledge with a pond below me atleast 30 ft deep.say push please!! smiling I lub u
IPODS are the best digital music player in the world..... simple to use, minimally designed without 12thousand buttons, and features... it is like digital jewelry, my ipod is my rolex, your sandisk just turned my ears a funny green color!!!!
I've read comments from people above saying that people only buy Ipods to be trendy, and that the SanDisk products are equal competitors. That's weird, because I bought my 60gb Ipod because it was the only one on the market that I could find with that capacity hard drive which also weren't a huge brick in your pocket. I wanted that much space, and the SanDisk mp3 players don't provide it. It's pretty simple really.
I don't want removable memory cards - I don't need them when I can store all of my mp3 collection on one disk and not even fill it.
The whole fanboy thing gets really old really quickly, whichever side you're on. If there's a product released by an Ipod competitor which is better, I would definitely be in the market (if I didn't already have one, but you get the idea). It just seems that a great deal of the extremist comments in either direction are coming from people whose tone implies that they would NOT EVEN CONSIDER Brand X over Brand Y, no matter what. I think it's the lack of careful consideration on the part of we consumers which causes undeserved market dominance, or undeserved market shifts, and potentially we end up with worse products at higher prices. I guess I'm just saying that to get the best products, you have to ignore the branding, the advertising and the market (which a lot of fanboys seem unable to do), or ultimately we all lose.
I've been saying no to iPOD since they have come out. For those of you whom are interested.... Any ipod has a 1.8" harddrive in it. The difference between a 20gb and a 40gb is the harddrive and the marketing. I have seen many of these hit the ground once and stop working, for the same reason your computers harddrive stops when you slam it on the ground. A replacement harddrive is $60 for used and over $100+ for new. I have a flash memory based MP3 player (RCA Lyra model 1076a) and have droped it many times on purpose to prove a point. Yes, it still works like a charm. Plus I have unlimited storage with the memory card slot. The memory card cost is hardly nothing compared to the harddrive cost of the ipod. 10 8gb memory cards and the player are still lighter, tougher, and has more storage than any ipod will ever be. Finally a company backs what I've been saying for years.
I've been saying no to iPOD since they have come out. For those of you whom are interested.... Any ipod has a 1.8" harddrive in it. The difference between a 20gb and a 40gb is the harddrive and the marketing. I have seen many of these hit the ground once and stop working, for the same reason your computers harddrive stops when you slam it on the ground. A replacement harddrive is $60 for used and over $100+ for new. I have a flash memory based MP3 player (RCA Lyra model 1076a) and have droped it many times on purpose to prove a point. Yes, it still works like a charm. Plus I have unlimited storage with the memory card slot. The memory card cost is hardly nothing compared to the harddrive cost of the ipod. 10 8gb memory cards and the player are still lighter, tougher, and has more storage than any ipod will ever be. Finally a company backs what I've been saying for years.
yes i agree
Well it has worked because its got you all discussing it and getting taking sides and discussing the relevant benefits for an against their player without them having to say anything about it.
Congrats to their marketing guys who even if you don't like their advertising style have done exactly what they set out to do and got sheeple up in arms discussing and evangelising one way or the other based around the advert.
I personaly have held both the nano and the e260 in either hand, side by side, and like the tactile wheel better. The touch wheel is just too..... sparodic. And its like its just asking to be worn out by all that friction on it. People are always saying "I like da ipogedy thingy cuz' jo shmuk haveds one, and I sinks it hav nice simpleated GUI". WHO CARES!!!!!!!!! JO SHMUK CAN HAVE HIS PLAYER AND I'LL HAVE MINE!!!!! iPod's are nice systems, I really don't "hate" them, but the Sansa's just nicer! It has a much nicer User Interface, I like its general aesthetics better than the Nano's, and the nano's touch wheel just dosen't feel like it will last. And you iPod fan's expect me to shell out extra cash just so I can bear the prestigous "iPod" name!?! Did I mention the Sansa has MORE features and a BETTER battery and a BIGGER display!?! Forget it! If the nano were cheaper than the sansa, then I'd consider it a valid opponent. But the fact of the matter is that the Sansa is better constructed, has more features, a bigger display, an EXPANSION SLOT!!!, a user replacable (and upgradable battery), nicer aesthetics, and nicer GUI, and is backed by a company that is at least trying! Need I remind you that its only been out for a little while, and SanDisk's already made efforts to fix the bugs and get OpenSource attention!!! And not only that but have you even LOOKED at the specs on the PortalPlayer chip its got!?! ITS GOT HARDWARE MPEG4 30fps VIDEO DECODING AND JAVA MIDP CAPABILITIES TO NAME A FEW! Not to mention that it may be possible to swap out the flash chips that are on the board for more aftermarket memory (Like what is occationaly done with PDAs). So lets see here... we've got a better constructed player thats got more features than the ipod... and better hardware... and better GUI... and better aesthetics... AND the capability for even MORE phenomonal features with a simple firmware update... thats cheaper than the ipod... and has a microSD slot... or just an ipod. I'm sorry but I say iDont to iPod.
Look at Apple's crappy anti-PC ads. They're so much worse and distasteful than this
I've had a Zune for 3 years now. IMO, the problem with anything other than an ipod is that you will never find any compatible devices for it, and even if you do it will cost you 3x as much. I'm all for being an independent thinker, but I believe having an ipod, and being an ipod "chimp" just makes your life a little more convenient.
Well at least they're thinking out of the box to try and dethrone apple
http://www.laptopbatteryclub.com/