I forgot something...
You queried/stated..."Second, people have to want to buy portable file-playing musical devices. A walkman with a "memory stick," or maybe another home stereo component, or maybe for the car. Will they want to buy them? And, if so, how long will it take? Perhaps several years, perhaps several generations of product"
I believe you answered this in the first portion of your post..IE:people are buying the heck out of MP3 players..which are file players..750,000 to date, if figures are to be believed. This number in a matter of months, not generations.
Perhaps you meant copy protected file players.
RE: copy protection vs non protected, well, all I can think of in response is that free tapes, cds, vhs tapes, beta tapes, not to mention bootleg records are available world wide, and not a few people still buy the legitimate source material. Guess there are some honest folks out there yet, some that don't want to go to the trouble to find the illegal sources, and some that don't know about them.
Couple that thought with the sound quality issue, high dollar marketing, and folks that buy things from high name recognition companies and IMO I think people will buy a substantial number of these gizmos...but what do I know?
Best, Savant
PS..Don't neglect the dictation devices (which you are aware of)just think how many tape recorders there are out there..and the recording is linear vs non-linear with the digital units..a big advantage.
PSS..you sure raised a ruckus on RB...jeepers, some of those folks are paranoid. To be fair, a few good posters too.
===========================
just the opinion of a "loose cannon" |
