Is Portable Media Center a Dumb Idea? Nope, but Bad Reporting is.

Michael Gartenberg | July 21, 2004, 07:04 AM

I spent some more time looking at the Extreme Tech review of PMC and decided going over the errors of the article. First, it’s important to note that this is a whole new category of device. While there will be comparisons to things like the iPod they aren’t really valid. If your focus is music, than an iPod is the perfect device. If you are interested in mobile video, you’re in a different category of purchaser. Likewise, these are still enthusiast products. Unlike, the current generation on the market today, which are not even enthusiast level but really designed only for Uber Geeks. PMC is the first technology that is good enough to be called enthusiast and eventually even mainstream. Here are a few other points that they jut got wrong.

PC and TV integration is a bad idea - As for the notion of PCs managing content, it’s already being done. If you have digital music or photos, I strongly suspect you have a PC in the equation somewhere. Likewise, but to a lesser extent with personal video. The notion that consumers do not want to link their TV and PC are false. They don’t necessarily wish to watch TV on their 17” monitors but 51% of consumers say they are interested in recording TV shows on their PC for playback on a TV screen. Of course, once that content is on their PC, there’s a lot of other things they can do with it, like burn to DVD or now with PMC, take it on the road. As for competing devices hooked into an AV system, that model is all wrong and will never be mainstream. There’s no value in recording everything twice, using a splitter for the signal or try and control a cable box via IR blaster. Not to mention lack of EPG and other goodies. That’s the Uber Geek model again. CD players, with hard disks that could rip to the hard drive and then connect to an MP3 player were flops. So will these devices that follow this model.

Transcode Time – I won’t debate this one. Here the author was just totally off base. Whether it’s a bad machine he has or some software issue, transcode time for video from the PC to the device is pretty quick. No, it’s not something you’ll want to stick around for but an overnight scenario should (and does) work just fine. This is an issue of letting folks review beta devices and beta code and draw final conclusions. Apple no longer seeds journalists with beta devices, only final product. Perhaps Microsoft needs to do adopt this policy as well.

Price and Screen Size – Well, it’s an enthusiast product and yep, it’s priced like one. Of course the original iPod wasn’t cheap either or some of the hard drive players that came before it (I paid over $600 for my first HD MP3 player, but then I’m an enthusiast). In case you didn’t know this already, prices will come down, devices will get smaller and capacity will increase. Every time that happens, it will open up new markets at different price bands. At the moment, it’s priced very competitively with similar products. As for screen size, again this is a matter of choice. The 3.5” screen held at about a foot or two from the eyes has the same visual effect as a larger screen viewed from across the room. I found watching movies, TV shows and other video content to be fine. Your mileage may vary. As for the fact that you have to hold it? Well, the Samsung device has a little kickstand so you don’t need to hold it but holding the Creative was no more difficult than holding a paperback novel. If it’s too much for you, you might think of renewing that gym membership.
Battery life – The real measure of battery life is will it last on a coast to coast flight. The answer is yes. You’ll be able to watch a couple of movies or listen to music the whole way through. That’s good enough for most folks. As for the argument of you can just use your laptop or take along a DVD player, I would respond that you could listen to music on your laptop and take a portable CD player. Yet, folks like portable media players for the fact that they can travel with a lot of their music and not take along bulky disks nor tie up their laptop and run down the precious battery. Not to mention a better form factor. He same things will hold true here. Battery life is actually pretty close to what’s stated in the pre-prodution units I have seen. Certainly nothing like 50%. Again, that’s what happens when you review beta hardware.

Another Dumb Idea From Microsoft – What Can I Say… They have had some. “BOB” ring a bell for anyone? But the title is a cheap shot. There are some pretty smart folks in Redmond. And at Creative and Samsung as well. They understand that 51% of consumers are interested in watching rented movies on a portable media player. 52% in watching TV shows as well as the 79% that are interested in listening to music. Is the market nearly as large for video as it is for music today? Nope. Is this about today only or is it also setting the stage for being part of a complete vision of accessing media on multiple screens, speakers and devices both within the home and outside? Yep. Dumb idea? I think not, but the key to making the idea successful is evangelism and execution. That’s another story and another post some other time.