Bits from Bill
Why Rob Cheng Hates His Apple iPod
Twice a month I write an article for the folks at PC Pitstop. Their bi-monthly newsletter includes tips and wisdom from other tech experts that makes it a must read. Click here to subscribe.
In this weeks newsletter, PC Pitstop’s president Rob Cheng opened up a hornets net when he gave his five reasons why he hates his iPod. You can read his comments at http://techtalk.pcpitstop.com/2010/07/02/5-reasons-i-hate-my-ipod/? but I’ll share my favorite.
“Although we like to believe that Apple invented the MP3 player, it is simply not true. When I began working at Gateway in 1991, our #1 graphics card was made by a company called Diamond Graphics. I quickly became friends with the CEO and Director of Marketing. We had some good times together. Later, they introduced in the late 90's, the industries first MP3 player, the Diamond Rio. Even way back then, it was a run away success.”
Rob continues to describe how the Recording Industry Association of America sued Diamond and how Diamond went out of business. The rest is history and eventually the “iPod” became a term synonymous with a portable digital music player.
As an early adopter I had one and still have it. It doesn’t hold many songs and I have to use scotch tape to hold the battery door closed but it works! So here’s what the father of the iPod looks like.
posted by Unknown | 12:52 PM
2 Comments:
I remember the early daze of mp3 and this was it. So the big dawgs squashed Rio. I always wondered.
George
Apple is not fond of competition, especially when the other product is as good as--if not better than--their own. Lawsuits, blame the poor user, anything but open up their architecture and let users get great quality at a fair (i.e. non-Apple) price. Doesn't surprise me that Apple was using the might of their money in the courts even back then to stifle competition. As for me, I have never owned an Apple product nor would I buy one. Give me one and I'd trash it rather than let some poor schmuck fall into the "Apple is the end-all" ,mind trap.
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