ITT I am behind the times

[avi]

earlier this week I joined the modern world by purchasing an mp3 player:

I got a small one without much storage (512mb) because I really only need something for commuting and recording interviews (built-in mic, works perfectly).

 

[TheNewChupe]

oooo, never thought about one with a built in mic for interviews. that'd be handier than the stupid tape recorder i already bought.

jake, you should seriously work that tax write off angle and get one "for the website". if the site makes money, that is.

 

[avi]

I'm totally writing this off, along with my whole LA trip.

The sound quality isn't great, but it really did the job perfectly.

 

[TheNewChupe]

tax write-offs are awesome. i need to give more in the name of charity.

 

[avi]

fyi - I'm pretty sure that all the creative mp3 players have built-in mics. the muvo model just happens to be the small one in my price range.

 

[mindspell]

Good thing about the muvo is the modular aspect of it. Next year you could buy more storage without much hassle.

 

[TheNewChupe]

HM. how much we talkin' here?

 

[avi]

$120 at Cambridge Sound Works + came with free sound-cancelling headphones

CSW = official Creative Labs dealer (I had no idea until I looked it up)

 

[goatschool]

jesus christ it looks like a staple gun

 

[goatschool]

seriously you can strip off a lugnut with that thing: re: perfect electronic for avi

 

[xfer]

my creative nomad zen xtra II thing doesn't have a built-in microphone. would be nice.

irivers have built-in mics, i think.

avi, explain that picture? is your mp3 player thing the little thing, and the big snap-on piece is the charger, or memory unit, or what?

 

[Helm]

Yeah I bought a similar one a while ago for about 100 bucks. Turns out it was a bad time for such purchases because now for about 140 you can get a gigabyte or two of storage. Then again, I too only need about 300 megabytes because I have to take the train to school every day so I just load up 3 to 4 albums every morning.

xfer: if I remember correctly, the unit with the lcd and the buttons has the storage space in it, whereas the other piece has the battery in it, but I could be wrong.

 

[xfer]

exactly when are we going to hit the point that "mp3 players" and casual "digital cameras" and such become mostly obsolete because people finally have their unified cell phone/internet hookup/digital camera/mp3 player/portable hard drive/etc. etc.?

we're on the cusp of it now, especially with things like the sidekicks and cameraphones and photo ipods. but how long until the standard is that people have a single "device" with varying degrees of complexity assigned to each of those functions (and others)?

five years?

 

[xfer]

and what will the slang be that everyone uses to refer to their "device"!

 

[inkybmistro]

"sorry guys, i would have taken pictures at the party but my Greg ran out of juice. "

 

[Helm]

we're on the cusp of it now, especially with things like the sidekicks and cameraphones and photo ipods. but how long until the standard is that people have a single "device" with varying degrees of complexity assigned to each of those functions (and others)

five years?

A good digital camera needs lots of storage space, a hi-definition lens, automatic zoom and whatnot. A good mp3 player needs lots of storage space, enough power to play to earphones without digital clipping, an lcd screen, high-cpu usage software to handle compression. A good mobile phone needs good reception hardware, comfortable design, small dimensions.

All these things cannot be on one single device. It would be too big (if it has a decent HD on it) to be a phone, it would be too akward to be a useful camera, and it would cost so much money, you'd be afraid to handle it at all.

So yeah, five years. It'll be mass produced by Google, and it will be on satellite connection to the google database, so it can promptly fail along with the rest of civilization when they go into down-time.

 

[avi]

like Helm said: the battery is in the colored part, the actual mp3 player is the piece with the LCD. it's really small.

foreign countries like Japan already have devices like that Alex- the US is just waaaaaaaay behind the times (like me). Helm- Alex is talking about "adequate" camera/mp3 player/phone/etc hybrids. of course there will still be specialized gear, but it makes sense to combine the basic elements of them all in one unit.

 

[Helm]

No it doesnt!

 

[avi]

too bad you're wrong dude

 

[Helm]

I'm not wrong! I understand technology. This is UNIX, I know this!