Feature Articles

Enjoying a Decade of Portable Entertainment

By Seow Tein Hee - 16 Apr 2009

Timeline: 2003

2003


  • Though the MiniDisc (MD) format has been introduced a while back, it has not received the mainstream support that came with the MP3 format, despite being introduced earlier. Nonetheless, Sony made it a point to support their own format with a lineup of devices that included the Sony MZ-E10 MiniDisc Walkman . But it'll be soon all for nothing, as we saw the major players like Creative and Apple having a bigger and stronger presence in the years to come with non proprietary formats.

The Sony MD Walkman players did bring itself into the limelight, but only for a short period as they were slowly and surely replaced by the MP3 digital audio format that garnered more support from manufacturers such as Creative and Apple.

  • The MP3 format would only gain greater popularity, and this was aided tremendously by the introduction of the iTunes Store back in 2003. With a legitimate online avenue to purchase music tracks at a nominal cost, the sharp decline in CD and MD sales would soon be evident, replaced by the portable media player market that's strongly supported by the online music (and in the near future, video) distribution methods.

The iTune Store, though not exactly the pioneer of paid online music distribution, is considerably the market leader when it comes to sales figures back in 2003, and even now.

  • Similarly, Apple's iPod lineup was gaining a strong momentum, stronger than what Creative had tried to emulate and pick up on recently. By this time, Apple has recognized the sales potential for iPod on the Windows platform, and in favor of that, it finally dropped Windows support via the MusicMatch software and went all out with an iTunes for Windows, allowing Windows users to effectively synchronize their iPod to their PCs. More so, the iPod line has seen its capacity grow from its earlier 5GB storage limit to the higher limits of up to 40GB on its 3rd generation iPod Classic. If one wonders what you can do with 40GB worth of songs, you'll probably be still wondering about the current 160GB storage capacity on its newer Classic lineup.

The iPod Classic series, by its 3rd generation, has received a few design and features face lift, bringing it up as one of the forerunners in the portable media player scene.

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