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iPod Mania
14jan06
AUSTRALIAN music-lovers from school age to grandparents are joining the iPod revolution, which has Apple singing all the way to the bank.
At its Macworld expo in the United States this week, the computer giant announced sales of the music machines surpassed forecasts, with more than 14 million sold in the December quarter, generating $US5.7 billion ($A7.6 billion) in sales.
While the iPods range in price from $149 to more than $500, the money is in the accessories, which can cost more than the iPod itself.
Analyst Richard Doherty of the Envisioneering Group estimated sales of more than $US1 billion in add-ons, from cases to car accessories to speakers, in the same period.
Apple receives a licensing fee and royalties from companies whose products access the iPod port.
The company also sells its own range of accessories, which includes novelty cases and the crystal coated iBling, but designers normally seen on Parisian catwalks like Louis Vuitton, Dior and Gucci also have gotten in the act.
“It’s the iPod economy. And (Apple CEO) Steve Jobs is the Alan Greenspan of that iPod economy,” Mr Doherty said.
Australians are following the same trend, with Harvey Norman general manager of computers and communication Rutland Smith forecasting stronger sales for Christmas 2006.
“We’re one of the largest iPod retailers in the country. We had forecast very high numbers and we met them,” he said.
Attachments like speakers were popular because digital technology offered a better quality sound from a small portable machine, he said.
Even if the company does not receive direct payments, the more businesses that build creative accessories, the more desirable the iPods become.
At this point, there seems to be no end to the iPod-related business plans.
Chrysler just announced that it was providing iPod-friendly gear as an option in most of its 2006 models – at the Macworld expo, there are autos decked out with iPod equipment – and Levi Strauss said it would sell jeans called Levi’s RedWire DLX jeans with an iPod docking cradle built into a pocket.
Apple shares were trading at around $US84.63 on Thursday (US time).
http://www.couriermail.news.com.au/comm … 53,00.html
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21 Replies
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i can’t stand this ipod thing, anything related to mp3s/downloadable music is now immediately placed with this Ipod tag,
I DO however like the iDuck, which is a rubber duck which lights up in the bath, Classy
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quote Ramj:I DO however like the iDuck, which is a rubber duck which lights up in the bath, Classy:lol1: Oh great… one more person I have to worry about on the boards 😉
not a iPod fan either. They are one of the biggest items for theft here at the mo, a side effect of the populatity.
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Alison bought me a sony walkman MP3 (Sonys answer to the Ipod) for Christmas. It stores 6mb of music (or information). I must admit I’m completely hooked on it. I’m busy transferring my CD collection onto it and take it to work every day now – Plug it into a set of PC speakers and I’ve got a jukebox playing all my favourite songs.
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I have my Creative Zen,which was Creative’s answer to the Ipod mini, which holds more and does more, (orange)
I have my W800i, Sony Ericssons Walkman phone (orange), and 2 X 1gb memory sticks , bout 300 songs each? + a 512mb one which came with it, … 150 songs?
and I have my PsP (not orange, grrr), which I use one of the memory sticks with.
not really lacking in the music playing department??? ah wait…, my CD player is broken and wont play most of my collection,
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I got my girlfriend an iPod Video for Christmas and it’s a brilliant bit of kit. Not only can it store 30Gb of anything (video, music etc) but it holds photos and any computer file. I used it as a portable hard disk for a big printing file that wouldn’t fit on my memory stick thing. Also, it plugs in to the car stereo so you can hold everything on one device without having 8000000000 CDs in the car.
I wouldn’t mind an iDuck though.
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I thought you said you bought it for your girl Andy?
Like I bought Lynn a Radio controlled helicopter…….. 😀
peter
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I have a rule when buying gifts…..always get them something that you yourself would like to own. Next year I’m getting her a Swedish au pair.
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I buy the cheapest mp3 player I can find. I have broken too many snowboarding. I feel naked without it though when riding.
-Marek -
You snowboard??
I’d love to go snowboarding again, I was dire before, but thanks to a recent knee injury (that only flares up in the cold) It’s quite difficult to.
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quote Ramj:You snowboard??
I’d love to go snowboarding again, I was dire before, but thanks to a recent knee injury (that only flares up in the cold) It’s quite difficult to.
I ride just about every monday. We have a mountain about 2 hours away from me. It’s not the best, but they have world class snowmaking equipment so even if it doesn’t snow they have some fresh ..er…snow. 😀
They have a ton of jumps and rails so it’s a lot of fun for me. I have to drive about 8 hours if I want any good powder though.
Here is an old picture of me riding. My buddy took a sequence of me and I just put it together in photoshop. Actually, doing things like this with photoshop is what got me into signs.
-Marek -
that just makes me want to do it more
maybe I should just work through the pain 😀
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well i hope you have improved your sign making since that one!
rather close to the ski thing and they are at the bottom of the poleonly kiddin
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quote Peter Normington:Like I bought Lynn a Radio controlled helicopter…….. 😀
peterhey did she buy you that peter? nice one 😀 have you crahsed it yet :lol1:
nik
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quote Ramj:You snowboard??
I’d love to go snowboarding again, I was dire before, but thanks to a recent knee injury (that only flares up in the cold) It’s quite difficult to.
yep me too…………..i used to ski every year in italy…………but no more dodgy knees…slipped on a banana skin, with a pair of beatle crushers on 😮 end of one knee…..the next one was being a smarty pants going down a black run……lost it mucked the other knee up….. 😮 i cant even walk for more than a few miles…and it they all give in 😀
nik
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quote Ramj:that just makes me want to do it more
maybe I should just work through the pain 😀
I broke my hand when riding a couple of seasons ago. I just wrapped the cast up in a rubber glove and rode for the month I had to have it.
-Marek -
I bought and built one years ago nik.
cost me a fortune, crashed it everytime it took to the air, but us lads like our fun!I have flown real helis when I worked on the rigs in the gulf, but the models are much harder!
Lynn always lets me be a big kid, My recent stuff is flying kites, the ones that get you airborn!!!
Peter
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my recent ‘thing’ is Poi, not the fire ones yet, I’m not completely suicidal,
The thing with those RC planes/helicopters is they seem to zero in on me, scary
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quote Ramj:my recent ‘thing’ is Poi, not the fire ones yet, I’m not completely suicidal,
The thing with those RC planes/helicopters is they seem to zero in on me, scary
Whatsat?
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it’s where people get two wick things, set them on fire on the end of a chain, then swing them around in dangerous proximity to themselves, usually to music
I’ve got nice safe LED ones thank god.
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Just googled it Ramj,
better stick to the leds!!!!Peter
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looks scary Ramj !
re the ipod, i dont have one, but i do have over 18gig of mp3 on here, around 3500 tracks (including a coupld of hundred speech files etc), got stuff from old tv show themes, kids tv shows (80’s), blues, bluegrass, country, rock, trance, dance, house, dub, etc etc etc !! checked the other day, and if i let it play everything no stop, i’ve got nearly 300hrs worth !!
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