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Mix Wi-Fi and Portable Digital Audio, Get Aireo

Posted by michael on Sun Jan 18, 2004 06:20 PM
from the only-difference-is-that-there-is-not-cat dept.
Media Music Wireless Networking Hardware
Midwestern gadget freak writes "What do you get when you mix Wi-Fi and digital tunes? The Aireo, which syncs with a PC over a high-speed wireless link instead of a cable or dock. It packs in other features not found in an iPod, but has a measly 1.5 gigabyte drive and won't work with any of the top music-download services. Its maker isn't a household name, but Best Buy will sell the things in a few weeks."
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  • Measly 1.5 gig (Score:5, Insightful)

    by HappyCitizen (742844) on Sunday January 18 2004, @06:25PM (#8016119) Homepage Journal
    The summary says it has a measly 1.5 gig hd. Yes, some MP3 players of 20g or 10 or 40, but 1.5 is still a lot for many many songs. Hours on end to be truthful. If you frequently have time to update with your computer, I can't imagine 1.5g being a limit.
    • It all depends on how big of a selection you want to have. I currently carry around 7GB with me on my 10GB Archos player, and I still don't think it's enough sometimes.

      If you frequently change moods and want to listen to different types of music, 1.5GB probably won't cut it.

      • Re:Measly 1.5 gig (Score:2, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        If you frequently change moods

        then perhaps you should check your meds...
    • Well it depends.
      The player has a slot for compact flash card to xfer pics from digital camera to the 1.5HD.
      I mean come on, these days even compact flash cards can do 4 GB., and when u shoot raw, u want lots and lots of space. 1.5GB is peanuts

  • I see a big dissapointment (Score:5, Funny)

    by Savatte (111615) on Sunday January 18 2004, @06:25PM (#8016126) Homepage Journal
    When a female asks if you want to see her Aireo and doesn't lift up her shirt

  • If every mp3 player is dubbed "iPod Killer" (Score:5, Interesting)

    by revolvement (742502) on Sunday January 18 2004, @06:26PM (#8016133)
    Why is it that the iPods are still the #1 seller? Is it brand name recognization, or is it just that maybe Apple's product is better in the long run?

    • Re:If every mp3 player is dubbed "iPod Killer" (Score:5, Insightful)

      by lukior (727393) on Sunday January 18 2004, @06:34PM (#8016175)
      Apple has incredible marketing. I have never seen any mp3 player advertised except the IPOD. Well, actually I've seen magazine ads for Creative Muvo. But advertising for the IPOD is everywhere. The masses will go where they are told.
    • I think Apples product isnt necessarily the best, its just become a fashion accessory, and walking around with white headphones is so this year. I wouldnt be surprised if people just buy white headphones or another mp3 manufacturer doesnt make their product look similar. Until next year ofcourse when it will be all about blue headphones!
      • "I think Apples product isnt necessarily the best, its just become a fashion accessory"

        I'd tend to disagree. I ended up trying out a half dozen MP3 players a few years ago, and ended up giving in and picking up the much more expensive device. I was ready to find faults with it for being so damn expensive, but it just worked and it did it well.

        Now, when I get a chance to see other MP3 players, I pick them up and give them a go. Sometimes I try to con manufacturers into one that I can review from a music

    • Re:If every mp3 player is dubbed "iPod Killer" (Score:5, Insightful)

      by jeffehobbs (419930) on Sunday January 18 2004, @07:26PM (#8016478) Homepage

      It's the best product out there right now. It wins on:

      *ease of use (syncs and charges effortlessly with mac/pc)

      * player UI (you can find any one of 10,000 songs in less than 10 seconds, while driving... so I hear)

      * ease of music procurement (iTunes is a great mpeg3/mpeg4 ripper and it also hooks into the very good iTunes Music Store)

      *good looks (other mp3 players look like a robot's diseased ear that fell off)

      * cool accessories (there's a ton of iPod goodies out there, from car chargers to boom boxes to FR transmitters to...)

      Just my opinions, but sometimes things do well in the market not only because of marketing, but also due to actual quality and resultant word of mouth.

      ~jeff
      • Most non-iPod users aren't even aware of the ultimate feature of the iPod. You can use it for something besides music! You can use it for anything! I have a personally monogrammed 10 GB firewire harddrive that fits into my jacket pocket! I never e-mail family members movies (avis, thank you very much) or completely legal music ; I just bring over the iPod & transfer some stuff in about 2 minutes. Hell, I might finally be able to get all of my old files out of my older computer!

        Quoteth the raven:
        Just

  • Why the cornice drive? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Valar (167606) on Sunday January 18 2004, @06:28PM (#8016148)
    Did they just design the thing before the new 4gb mini drives came out, or could they not get a deal on them? I mean, with a 4gb drive, they could at least compete with an ipodmini on capacity. Right now they are in that awkward place between memory based and drive based players-- too heavy to jog with, but too little to store your whole collection.

  • An Analysis (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ten000hzlegend (742909) <ten000hzlegend@hotmail.com> on Sunday January 18 2004, @06:29PM (#8016152) Journal
    Once again, a contender enters the field with completely different hardware specifications, obtuse pricing and little forecast on who will be dominating the field in 2004 and 2005. From my point of view, it is an innovation of merit, wireless access to your computer, on the fly playlists and a iPod mini-esque agenda to annouce, but... 1.5GB is the bare minimum I would believe for an audio prepherial.

    Apple and HP should't lose too much sleep over this devices redeeming wireless factor, the fact it isn't a household name is becoming irrelevant as more consumers become aware of competing technologies but because it doesn't play buddies with iTMS or even Napster 2.0 is distressing, especially as the music download services enter maturity

    But still, cool technology, useful placement, wrong time

    Kudos to it
    • 1.5GB is the bare minimum I would believe for an audio prepherial

      I disagree. I have a 256 MB iRiver player and I have no plans to switch to another model.

      I dont have a need or a desire to carry my entire music collection around in my pocket. (At least not till all portables are WiFi enabled, and allow you to trade music with the 20 people on your subway car).

      I just want the MP3/OGG equivalent of the original walkman. My 256 MB player achieves this, and gives me the capacity to store four CD's

  • I like (Score:5, Interesting)

    by lukior (727393) on Sunday January 18 2004, @06:29PM (#8016154)
    I like this thing. I don't need 40 gigs or 80 gigs or whatever when dealing with a portable music player. I want it to be small and I need more storage than 128 megs. 1.5 gigs is pretty good. I also don't care if it doesn't work with any of the music services. I don't want that DRM'd crap. Until they get things right I can find all the music I need on P2P. I dissapointed that there biggest sell point is that it is wireless. But I guess I-pod wins design and lots of other players are smaller so you go with your strengths. What is the price I didn't spend enough time looking to find it.

  • Useless use of a good hardware combo (Score:5, Interesting)

    by t_allardyce (48447) on Sunday January 18 2004, @06:35PM (#8016183) Journal
    It doesnt say anywhere (or does it??) that it can link up with other Aireo's so whats the point? sticking a wireless link in it just so you dont have to plug the cable into your computer!? Ok so it could be cool if you want to leave it in the car or something but its not designed as a car stereo box so you would have to be pretty lazy to justify that. What would be really cool is if it could communicate with other mp3 players on the street so you could listen to what others were listening to (like jacking in with headphones but wireless) or even better, swap music with people. Im guessing they didnt do this for "legal" reasons but hopefully someone will come up with a firmware hack.
    • According to the features list, you should be able to listen to what other people are listening to. It contains an FM transmitter, as well as an FM receiver. I suppose they put the transmitter in for use in the car, but you could techniqually search the radio waves for someone elses transmitter.

  • depends on what you call top... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 18 2004, @06:37PM (#8016202)
    won't work with any of the top music-download services

    Sure it does, if it plays good ole' mp3s... because the "top music download services" are always going to be the free ones... perhaps the author meant "top pay services"...
  • OS X users can do something similar with Nicecast [rogueamoeba.com] and an 802.11* connection -- listen to your iTunes music from home at work or a coffee shop, etc.

    You could also broadcast a live audio from anywhere with network access, as well...

  • It's a file server... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by (H)elix1 (231155) <slashdot.helix@nospAm.gmail.com> on Sunday January 18 2004, @06:41PM (#8016224) Homepage Journal
    Think of it as a wireless file server. Too bad about the drive size, but an interesting combo. Looks like the 'mini' computer intel(?) was pushing a while back. I suspect these are being made by the same folks who bought the polaroid name.

    • Re:It's a file server... (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Bizarre isn't it. Just cos it's an MP3 player, everyone's looking at it from an iPod perspective, but if you look at it as a WiFi server, then it's pretty much the first one there.

      I've seen speculative products from Toshiba and Sony (I think Sony's was BlueTooth), so it'd be nice if this got to market - I'd buy one just for its wireless server capabilities. Damn cool for work backup and code transportation!
    • If it has network support, it might as well ESD support. Both client and server. Other useful protocols would be http serving (remote control), NFS(larger file archive), and telnet/ssh for nethack on the go.

      Something like rendezvous for sharing music on the go would be a good idea, though the RIAA would pitch one hell of a temper tantrum.

  • Almost the right idea (Score:3, Interesting)

    by sithkhan (536425) <sithkhan@gmail.com> on Sunday January 18 2004, @06:47PM (#8016278)
    I think that this product is a step toward what the majority of /.'s are seeking for portable audio devices. I am intruiged by this product, primarily for the wireless capabilities it possesses. I have been researching audio systems for my car which would allow me to wirelessly update my musical selections. I had looked at the CAJUN Car Audio Jukebox, but this device comes close as an option. I dream of finding a local merchant that makes custom Mini-ITX cases, and installs them in my vehicle inexpensively. But I will consider this, as an alternative to my dream car audio system.

  • Flash slot (Score:5, Interesting)

    by terradyn (242947) on Sunday January 18 2004, @06:51PM (#8016291) Homepage
    And it has a built-in slot for small flash-memory cards to transfer photos from digital cameras to its hard drive, a feat the iPod can match only with a Belkin add-on. This feature isn't fully operational on prototype Aireos but is scheduled to be available with finished devices for sale.

    I find this to be the most interesting feature it lists. I do digital photography as a hobby and I've always thought this feature would be awesome for an mp3 device. I personally have a hard drive based storage device (the MindStor - discontinued) for offloading my media but it's still rather large and bulky. There are also a bunch of portable storage devices with video screens out that play mp3s but the mp3 functionality is an afterthought.

    I would love to be able to replace my ipod with a device that can function as both which still being compact. I would buy that in a second.

  • Wireless synching is gonna be sloooooww.... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by GrahamCox (741991) on Sunday January 18 2004, @06:54PM (#8016313) Homepage
    Firewire 400 Mbit/s (or 800 if you have the later type)
    Wi-Fi 11 Mbit/s (or maybe 54 if you're lucky enough to get it to work).

    I daresay if wireless synching becomes popular they'll put it in the iPod soon enough.

  • But... You still have to plug it in! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Cordath (581672) on Sunday January 18 2004, @06:54PM (#8016315)
    Wireless synching is a good idea, but you still have to plug the thing in to charge. In that sense, it hasn't gained any physical advantage over any other player. The interface for the iPod, especially on windows, sucks ass. If plugging it in automatically synched it and it automatically un-docked itself when done it would be every bit as good as the Aerio. Now... If someone could just figure out a way to charge these gizmo's wirelessly we'd be set!
    • Actually, iTunes can automatically sync the playlists you select when it sees your iPod.. I don't think there is a built-in way to undock when the sync is finished but I'm not sure I'd want that, especially if I wanted to use the iPod in disk mode..

      The iTunes interface on Windows is the same as it is on a Mac.

      With an dockable iPod you'll still have to "plug it in" but all you really need to do is place it in its dock and a few seconds later it appears on your desktop and begins automatically syncing..

      Geo

  • Why use TCP/IP? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by bitflip (49188) on Sunday January 18 2004, @07:14PM (#8016411)
    If you're interested in music around the house, might I suggest a low-power FM transmitter [ramseyelectronics.com]?

    Then you can buy cheap receivers, and put them all over the place, and listen to the music that's on your server.

    Virtually no server configuration required! And if you time it right, you can have it play your theme music while you pull into the driveway ;-)
  • Where it doesn't matter whether or not the device is connected (ie because it's sitting next to the computer), use a cable and enjoy *significantly* faster syncs. A few years ago I spent some time building a computer for the car which would be connected to my LAN at night by UTP cable and/or updated by CD. It was to be connected to the stacker interface and controlled as a CD stacker would be (complete with track names, etc.). Fine if you've got a garage but I was a student at the time so the car spent most
  • And that's not a troll. The market for portable music players is already crowded with 'almost-there' devices. iPod is slick but doesn't play OGG. Neuros plays OGG and has MyFi (the two things I look for most) but the interface is kludgy and it doesn't work with OS X. The iRiver has OGG capability but no MyFi. All have much larger capacity than this device. Why would I be interested in this if I'm already not buying the competitors' products that are already on the market with better specs? Seriously, why wo
  • My Dell Axim has been doing this for more than a year now, and does a lot more.
  • This device is not revolutionary. It's evolutionary. It doesn't "reinvent" or "redefine" anything. It takes a good idea (portable music player) and adds build in FM transmitter and 802.11 song download.

    Those are two very useful features, but I'm not about to throw away my $300 mp3 player to buy this one.
  • I'd like to get an MP3 player for my Ford Taurus. A problem with the Taurus is that the built-in car stereo isn't shaped like a normal car stereo, it's this large oval thing in the dashboard. There's no where a normal car stereo unit could mount.

    It has controls for a CD changer (which we don't have). I'm pretty sure Ford built the stereo this way so you couldn't buy a stereo from anyone else but Ford. I find it very annoying.

    I admit to not having looked into it too carefully - but is there an MP3 pl

  • Points not discussed yet... no car player? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by iamhassi (659463) on Sunday January 18 2004, @08:45PM (#8016934) Journal
    "Wireless 11mbps isn't fast enough"

    Ok the first time you connect the Aireo it'll take forever to transfer your mp3s, but future connections should only take a few seconds. Why? Because as soon as you download a mp3... or two, or ten... you wirelessly send them to the device. And how long does it really take to send a mp3 at 11mpbs? 3-5 seconds? Do I really need 400mbps to transfer a 4mB mp3? I think not.

    "FM Transmitter is worthless/unnecessary"

    Depends on what you do with it. This is the perfect mp3 player for your car: you can send mp3s to it wirelessly and listen to them through your radio with your stock radio, no wires needed. What could be a better mp3 player for your car stereo? You'd need to keep it powered while in your car though, so you'll probably end up leaving it running 24/7 plugged into the cigerrete lighter, but if it can play mp3s for hours with tiny built-in batteries then it can't suck that much power so your car battery will be fine.

    I really hope they come out with a car stereo version. A car stereo with a 10+ gig iPod drive, mp3 cd/dvd+-rw player with the ability to transfer songs from cd to hd and can play songs from mp3 dvds instead of cds, wireless 802.11 access, and of course FM and all the other features an aftermarket stereo includes.

    That's a lot to pack in a car stereo, but I'd imagine it would be possible. I'd also like to see a way to keep the 802.11 active with the car shut-off, since I don't want to run out and start the car just to transfer some mp3s.

  • this looks quite useful (Score:3, Insightful)

    by ajagci (737734) on Monday January 19 2004, @12:12AM (#8018035)
    For practical purposes, this thing has comparable capacity to one of those mini-iPods: it can hold far more songs than you can play on one charge, but it is far too small to hold one's entire music library. This really looks like a nice evolution of the disk-based player and technically like a great improvement over the mini-iPod.

    The fact that it doesn't work with "major music download services" isn't surprising either: major music download services are proprietary and they are trying to create and leverage monopolies. Their creators have neither the interest nor the engineering skills to support a large number of clients--it's both easier and financially more interesting to them to tie their services to players running their own software.

    Of course, if I pointed out that if Apple released this, people would be falling all over themselves saying how innovative the company was, I'd get modded down instantaneously by Apple's mod-squad, so I won't point that out.

  • Drive-by Piracy! (Score:4, Funny)

    by Tokerat (150341) on Monday January 19 2004, @04:05AM (#8018993) Journal
    • Drive past building with open WiFi network.
    • Download all their MP3s.
    • Profit.
    Warsharing?
    • you work for them don't you?

    • Re:Let's give a warm welcome to the iPod killer (Score:5, Insightful)

      by beswicks (584636) on Sunday January 18 2004, @06:34PM (#8016176)
      This post sounds like and advert, same copy as the site and everything...

      Just a few small points.

      1. How does it get 'wireless' power? I assume it needs a power cable to charge the battery. Maybe incar?

      2. With a mac the ipod syncs when it is docked, so the list would be.
      a. get ipod from car
      b. dock ipod
      c. sleep
      d. put ipod in car

      3. Its a bad idea to leave valuables in the car

      4. The thing that cracks me up most is the 'Pick your playlists' bit. With only 1.5GB vs 15GB in the same price ipod (which has 10x capacity but is 'overpriced'?) many will need to pick the mp3's they want in the software for this thing, more so than any ipod user.

      5. FM transmission is cool, but way lower quality then a wired connection

      6. Syncing over wifi to a car is going to take a long time, 11Mb/s max, prob 1-3Mb/s in reality, bit slower than the 400Mb/s of firewire.

      Just my 2 cents,

    • Re:Let's give a warm welcome to the iPod killer (Score:4, Insightful)

      by kiwioddBall (646813) on Sunday January 18 2004, @06:38PM (#8016206) Homepage
      I don't think this is an 'iPod Killer'. The phrase iPod killer assumes that the development of the iPod will stand still at the current stage of development, which it obviously won't.

      I think if Steve Jobs has any brains at all, wireless will make its way into the next iPod. I don't think that video (rumoured to be in the next iPod) is a killer app on portable units, but I could be wrong. I can see a future for video combined with wireless - the possibilities are endless here, especially with vehicle mountings.

      That said the Aireo is certainly a nice unit. The original postings saying that a 1.5 gig drive is a disadvantage is completely wrong. When you have wireless, you have unlimited storage - it is just remote to the device.

      The only thing the Aireo will have to overcome is the iPods strong branding. Kudos to the Aireo for being the strongest contender yet!!!

      • When you have wireless, you have unlimited storage - it is just remote to the device.

        How do you have unlimited storage?

        Can I add/remove songs when I am 5 miles from my home on a run?

        Can I add/remove songs when I am at the gym working out?

        Can I add/remove songs when I am doing my 28 mile commute to the office?
        1.5GB is a very limited amout of storage for the price. Also, have you ever tried to send 1GB over a 11/Mbs wireless link? Talk about slooooow. I personally see the wireless feature as "neat"

    • Re:Let's give a warm welcome to the iPod killer (Score:5, Interesting)

      by EulerX07 (314098) on Sunday January 18 2004, @06:55PM (#8016325)
      Did anybody ever catch that newscast about people hired by companies to promote products secretly? It was on cbs [cbsnews.com].

      Some of these actors would be on the streets, and keep asking passerbys to take picture of them and another actor on that brand new camera that just came out.

      On the more insidious end of the scale, they would hire pretty women (believe me, those REAL lookers in bars) to go smoke in bars, and give cigarettes/ask for a light. Men would of course be eager to please, and they would see what the lovely lady was smoking.

      And then...there were those that were paid to surf around public forums and do publicity like "I totally saw "whatever" movie, it's really good!, you have to see it!". Basically it's manufactured word to mouth. If parent isn't one of those drones, he's trying to look like one.
    • Your steps are a bit redundant, why not add

      * open the door to you house
      * go inside
      * turn computer on
      * wait for computer to boot

      You dont need to start Itunes, it starts automatically when you dock the iPod.

      You also dont need to pick playlists.

      Unless its the first time docking you dont need to wait a while either its basically instant.

      You want a complaint about waiting to syncing 10+ gigs wirelessly and compare that to a firewire or usb2 sync.

      Yeah I do think the iPod is a bit overpriced and Im not an Ap
    • The fact that it doesn't work with the music download services just shows how useless the music download services are because they sell broken DRMed songs.

      Very true. The average IQ must be dropping. In the '80's, no one would even think of buying a cassette tape that only worked in certain tape players - that was the nice thing about the cassette is that it was small enough to put in your pocket, and you could play it on your home stereo, in your car, or at your friends house.

      Why do people buy DRM'

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