Woz says the iPod will "die out after a while" like radios and Walkmans
By Nilay Patel 
posted October 7th 2008 7:04PM
posted October 7th 2008 7:04PM
Uncle Woz is stirring things up today in an interview with The Telegraph, saying that he thinks "the iPod has sort of lived a long life at number one, things like, if you look back to transistor radios and Walkmans, they kind of die out after a while... they get real cheap and then they are not selling as much." That's certainly an interesting parallel to draw, since the iPod is unquestionably the market leader and the recent updates to the nano and classic weren't particularly overwhelming -- but we've got to disagree here and say that the metaphor doesn't quite work. Walkmans and radios were standalone products that didn't really change over time, while the iPod is clearly evolving into a compelling standalone computing platform -- and it's tied to iTunes, which, hate it or love it, is the most popular content store out there. Sure, things could change dramatically -- competitors like the Zune are getting way better, subscription music could finally take off, and DRM is slowly going away (at least for music) -- but it's hard to see Apple getting baited into a brand-tarnishing price war or simply letting the iPod fade away without putting up a fight. We'll see, we suppose -- any of you willing to throw down some bold predictions?
[Via Wired]
Honestly can you think of a better medium, than the iPod/mp3 player for listening to your music on the go? I remember the days when I was able to upgrade my walkman to a discman. However, it was a huge pain in the rear end to cary around a case full of cds with me everywhere I'd go. Now days it is second nature to carry around one device with me everywhere I go that stores all of my music. If nothing else, cd's are on the way out and ipods have some life left in them. I love my iPhone but c'mon now 16gigs of music is nothing. Long live the 160gig IPod classics!
Bring back the minidisc! Please! I spent $350 on that brick!
Anyhow, HDD / SSD mp3 players are going away in the not-too-distant-future.
It's all about the CELESTIAL JUKEBOX! Every song ever made, in your pocket!*
* --> As long as you have a wifi / wimax / xohm / 3G cellular connection
Seriously, Zune is king. All the music I want for one very low price. It's like NetFlix for music.
ZUNE is the most popular celestial jukebox (besides those damn wifi Sansas on woot), giving access to all the music I want, no matter if I'm at work (wifi), at home (wifi / computer / xbox 360), the cafe (I don't really go to cafes), or McDonalds (I go there often). I can even download while in a WiFi zone, so I can listen OUTSIDE of the WiFi zone!
Give me the Zune service in an iTouch body, and you can win my loyalty.
MiniDisc units have:
1) removable batteries for quick power-ups almost anywhere, anytime.
2) generally sound fantastic (do people still care about sound?)
3) often come with very handy remote controls, and at least the capability for them, often far more usable than the competition (great for using on the bike, too).
3) are great for recording / editing trackmarks, and you can actually delete tracks on the unit... basically do anything from there.
4) come with the ability to record direct from optical inputs, great for when you don't want to use a computer
5) have had gapless playback forever
I would agree, MiniDisc rules (even if you don't ;)
To be fair, they really stuffed things up with their software (NetMD era, which they continued for far too long before they got some sense). Current Hi-MD units are, over-all, quite great and they are STILL my favourite portables.
Ipod's will evolve, not die out. In fact, one can easily make the leap that walkmans evolved into the ipod, no?
sure the iPod will eventually die out but it won't be a zune or other standard PMP that we know of today that does it. It will be some new device that we can't even imagine at the moment, which is why as yet it doesn't exist and the iPod is still no1...
Or imagine is some one got a great PMP on the market with unlimited music rights with the purchase and some incredibly huge storage ability with weeks of power run time bla bla bla...
It all depends on the time frame you consider the context to be taken within because I can't image in 1000 years anything or company from today will remain...
Ixon says Woz needs to get a life and stop publishing or claiming such stupid predictions.
Seriously, I'd be the first person to say, I hate Apple and I think Apple sucks. But even I'm capable of seeing the iPod isn't going anywhere, at least not soon, not until someone comes out with some chrunk enough to own Apple, doggy style, that's right..
Apple isn't just selling a MP3 player but a service along with it, in fact there's even a culture to the iPod now you could say with all the accessories and other crap you can buy.
Sure, The iPod Nano and Classic haven't gotten anything amazingly new or overwhelming in the last revisions, but really what can you add to it, REASONABLY speaking without detouring from the products targeted audience.. The Nano is strictly just a mini/basic MP3 players with video capabilities and lame little games comparable to some of these games on Flash sites, more or less the most affordable and compact iPod with a screen. The Classic is basically the same crap with just a massive hard-drive, obviously targeted to those who don't want all the fancy of the iPhone/Touch and need A LOT of storage.
My prediction is that those models (nano, shuffle, classic) won't get anymore additions, if at all anymore revisions in looks or functions. I believe Apple will phase them out as soon as they decide to price-drop the hell out of the Touch model or come up with a comparable touch like product to replace the older models. Let's face it, the direction the iPod Touch is going is what's gonna be the hottest and greatest thing, dare I say the future of the portable mini-media device. Every new portable device I see come out now is a iPhone mockery with the touchscreen crap. There's no denying it!
Even if someone stepped up and offered a more reasonable and enticing package then what Apple offers, Apple will always have that factor that drives people to buy their products. Honestly, how many times have you said to yourself "oo it's so shiny" and bought it.. Apple nails that every time which is why they'll always attract customers.
So Suck It "Woz"
I think Woz meant iPods as stand alone MP3 players. The mutli-media Touch can double as your PDA with all those new apps. Stand alone iPods will be fazed out, and they already are to some degree. They're being integrated into other devices. iPods will stick around in the iPhone and Touch, and sooner or later Apple will stop producing stand alone players. People want integrated devices more and more.
Bold prediction? Forget iPods, forget carrying a brick around at all. How about two-way brain-computer interface devices directly integrated into your body in the next twenty years?
I may just be talking out of my ass, but my ass can be pretty persuasive.
That's what HE said
Woz stating the obvious. Of course it will fade out eventually but it's up to Apple to 1) keep it on the go for as long as possible (introduce new and exciting upgrades) and 2) Develop the iPod into a completely new device that matches what people want - the iPhone as the cellular and the touch as the handheld gaming/surfing/music device. In a few years something new will come up or Apple will suffer.
He will die out too....
Anyways. Ofcourse the iPod will die out in time, when something comes along to replace it. Question is when. Why state the obvious?
you reinforced woz's comment with you "disagreement": "the iPod is clearly evolving into a compelling standalone computing platform", so yeah, they're becoming just another smart device which happens to play music, ie the ipod as we know it is dying out.
I agree, the iPod will go, and be replaced by the iCob eventually, which does the same but will seem all new.
I think Woz meant to say "As our economy implodes, we will be so poor we will be forced to eat our old technology, such as Ipods, making them extinct."
Although, yes the iPod may eventually die off, the problem with the radio/walkman analogy is that those products were not constantly evolving like the iPod and other handheld devices are today.
Ipod will go the way of the walkman? I believe the ipod is a CONTINUATION of the walkman! Started with the walkman, then came the diskman, and then an ocean of mp3 players (and the best, ipod)... these are all part of the same line of personal audio players (and now video). Same idea, different technologies incorporated into it. The ipod will live on, just like idea of the walkman lives on through the ipod.
I just think phones are going to replace iPods. Now that the iPhone is out - a lot of companies are improving their media playback. Pretty soon Mr. JoBlow on Verizon will want an iPhone, see that's it's AT&T only, get a Verizon Smartphone, and then see that it'll sync his Music flawlessly.
Still waiting for that to happen though, maybe it MS markets the crap out of Zune software for WM.
http://www.theportodiaries.com/
At some point, the analysts get too full of themselves me thinks.
I mean, video killed the radio star.. but nothing has killed the mp3 player yet except for putting a media player inside the cellphones, which has already been done as well.
How does he compare a brand item to a general item like "radio" ?
Walkmans died from Discmans
Discmans died from mp3 players
but mp3 players and radio co-exist.
Woz must have an empty hole in his dash board where the radio "was"
He sings showtunes to himself while driving to work.
I get the feeling he meant stand alone FM radios. Barely anyone carries boomboxes and stuff like that anymore. Internet and satellite radio are taking over. Perhaps he shouldn't have been so general, but I think that he meant old radio.
Well, mp3 players and radios co-exist on Zune. Apple for some dumb reason refuses to put a radio in their Ipod.
I wish Apple or MS would drop an HD radio in one of these puppies. The Zune is really starting to take off and provide a much better platform w/ nice features.
I also agree that it's absurd that the Touch only maxes out at 32GB. Yeah, maybe I'd justify dropping the bills for the thing if it has 120 or 160 GB, so I could load up my entire music collection (yes, I have a lot) and still have enough room to throw games, apps, and some movies or other video....
Oh well, Apple has finally realized that when you have a market share larger than 8% that you're gonna have some glitches as your roll out new shit. The same thing they always mocked MS for with their "It just works" campaign. So far, the iphone 3G has hit glitch after glitch with their updates, email pushing and security loopholes. And, don't even get me started on their less than friendly closed source, our way or the highway attitude towards the 3rd party app developers. They still have a fabulous product, but if they don't address these issues, their going to lose a lot of luster and simply become another IBM, MS, etc... except for the cult fanboy's slurping up everything Apple simply because they've invested so much in the brand that it's become their sad identity.
just a word: envy
I predict uncle woz is an idiot.
when will apple add am/fm radio to their products? its ridiculous! i still love apple. lol.