What do Handel and Eminem have in common?

[Entsuropi]

I own a mp3 player that is the same size as a box of matchsticks (thinner, but longer and less wide) that cost £70 and can hold an hours worth of music. Its a two part system - a memory stick (64megs i think) which plugs into a music playing unit. Trust me jeffe, thats already here.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

does it cost 5 pounds? No, then its not already here.  Im talking affordable... I know the technolgy is here... Im not stupid. I have a Keyring MP3 Player that cost 100 dollars, but the cost isn't and wont be close to what cd's are at for a while.
When MP3 players become as cheap as CD's then it'll be here.

[Entsuropi]

There can be no comparison between the cost of a CD and a MP3 player. A better comparison is the prices of other recordable media players - tape players, CD players, minidisk players.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

And why not?
Seriously.
I realize that its beyond current capacity for mass production but its not impossible.

Im talking about a MP3 player album. One you cant write on that holds about 30 songs by a band or a label. Price it around 10-15 bucks and allow someone to jack in special headphones and cram in a USB port for quick transfer to your harddrive and your set.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

actually, if you compare the price of mp3 players to the cost of CD players when they were first released you're looking at very similar prices.  You're not going to see mp3 players at the price of CD players EVER. Because CD players will continue to decline. Like how tape players were at $5 a pop before the started disappearing altogether.

Why is non-recordable such a great virtue? I think it'd be great to be able to delete the one song I hate and fill it with something I like.
And why is 30 songs a good target number? A CD can easily hold 200 songs of roughly average radio play length. Isn't that compact enough? And yes, those already have started to become available. I have one.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

Well I was talking CD's not players but ok.

Eric, your right 30 songs isnt so great, but im talking about ultra small mp3 cubes or something...

Heck the type im thinking of would be the size of a matchbox and transmit a signal to headphones or an IR sensor. You could put it in your pocket, or build it into clothing.

Of course we are all jumping the gun since a huge number of people don't even have computers.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

The more you add to this idea, the less I find it relevant to what consumers will need to make mp3 a dominant format over CDs.
The way I see it, you need three things.
The compact size of a CD
The affordability of a CD/player combo
The quality of CD play back
Mp3s already improve on the first, they're approaching it in the second, and they match the third. You have a situation where mp3 format is as easy and available and close to as affordable as CDs. I don't think the player accessibilty has anything to do with how mp3s will come to dominate a music market.
That IR technology already exists for CD players, there is no technical complication applying it to an mp3 player, but even ignoring the problem with line of site when you're jogging for the connection, I don't think that would have anything to do with mp3s needing it to replace CDs, which was, after all the original point you made: that mp3s need media and/or a player that matches CD playback.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

oh I know, im just arguing for no reason right now anyway while I write my over the edge review...

I seem to write my best reviews for Atlas Games products.... go figure...

[Entsuropi]

So jeffe, you want the RIAA to replace CDs with... CD style MP3 albums? Uhhh, that pretty much misses the whole point. MP3's (am i supposed to add an aprostriphie there? Ownership and all... i guess so...) are lower quality (but lower megabyte size) than WAV (CD format). The only virtues they have is a) small size b) ease of attaining a track (loadsa mp3s). Trying to make them out to be some replacement to the CD like the CD was a replacement to the tape is stupid. MP3 players are merely another way of playing your music.

And i told you already, my mp3 player is the size of a matchbox. Want me to photo it and show you? Stop saying that in the future tense.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

Actually, you can get cd quality out of an mp3, it takes more space up, but it's still a saver.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

Geez Entropy I know what size your MP3 Player is... I have one too. but it also doesnt cost the 10-15 dollars I laid down as a criteria.

And before you say again its not a good comparison, let me say that it would be if the production of MP3 players was big enough.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

the 10-15 dollar criteria doesn't make sense for more reasons than comparison. At that size it's a superior product to anythign CD players CAN do, so the cost being 4 or 5 times higher is not at all unreasonable. 8-10 times higher since it's a new tech that can be utilized now. Again, mp3 player prices do not compare all that unfavorably to CD players when they were the same age. Face it, mp3 is a very practical format with the existing, easily available tech. Which is why so many radio stations use mp3s instead of CDs now.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

incidentally, what ARE you making criteria for? I think that has been lost.