Nickname: Breeze

Review: IPod is a hugely hyped up product. Sony started the portable music revolution 30 years ago. IPod is another derivative of the same. Its "coolness" factor cooked up by teenagers is what made it a hit. Its fit and finish still needs refinement, not to mention Toshiba makes those tiny hard drives for iPod, which makes them small. I would pick up a Sony anyday. It oozes quality "like no other." I am not bait to coolness factor, I believe in good engineering, good fit and finish, and to top it off, the Sony name behind it. As one user above said: PS3 is not plagued by Blue Ray "problems," but rather by some part of the movie industry hesitating to accept the format for its going to be costly manufacturing Blu-Ray DVD's. But Blu-Ray is one of the highest density DVDs and to watch a movie uncompressed 10 times than what we are watching now, will only spring the TV industry into introducing higher definition standards.

Date reviewed: Apr 11, 2006 2:21 AM

Nickname: Dave-o

Review: Design is important to function. This can be seen in the iPod's success--the sleek form-factor makes it more portable and the lack of buttons makes the use of the interfaces easier. Sony's music players (and their other products) lack the combination of form and function, which can be seen in the cancellation of most of Sony's portable music lineup. Hopefully, Sony will get its act together and we'll see this phase as Sony's rebirth as opposed to its slow decline. Most of that will hinge on the success (or failure) of Playstation 3, which is largely expected to have a delayed release due to Blue-Ray problems.

Date reviewed: Feb 22, 2006 8:58 PM

Nickname: giorgio

Review: The iPod success is not due to design but mostly to a system approach to a certain problem.How to deliver music to people?A portable device with the maximum possible capability and a sales organization that at affordable prices can supply all types of music.Ipod and itunes were the answer. Now the same can happen with video and books. The Apple system success is due to system engineering, the device can only get better, smaller and with mnore capacity, in the future the hard disk be substituted by a flash drive, simplifying the system itself.Sony to compete must propose a better system, not a lower capacity one.The same can be said about written media, books, magazines etc.Sony by proposing its reader may be successful but again the entire system must be in place, the reader, really prtable and efficient with enough capacity, the book sale organization as well.When the winning idea is a system, the final design look, while important, is not determinant.

Date reviewed: Feb 22, 2006 10:25 AM