Off Topic But What Do You Think Of My Quote

[h0p3l355is4]

"iRiver. It's Not An iPod, It's Better!"

iRiver should use that and FREAKIN ADVERTISE. I hate people thinking music player = iPod. Those dumb arshes... Hehe!

[TedJ]

I agree. If the guys at iRiver had a little more marketing clout, they could capture a MUCH larger share of the DAP market. As it is, most iRiver buyers make their purchasing decision through research (geeks ahoy! ) or word of mouth recommendations from their friends.

Cool tagline, btw...

[Kairyu]

heh
You wouldn't believe how many times random people would walk by and ask me if that's a iPod I'm using *yes, it burns me up every time* >=o.

Funny thing is, I actually end up saying that very quote you made. Usually two or three times a week XD.

[FlameGrilled]

Originally Posted by h0p3l355is4

I hate people thinking music player = iPod. Those dumb arshes... Hehe!

Oh dear....

*shakes head, not quite in despair*

Is it really killing your enjoyment that much that just because the sheep-mentality people of the world think the iPod is the be-all and end-all of DAP's, that it's cause for a advertising crusade to show the world differently..??

I could have taken the same attitude over the iHP after it proved to be a bit of a lemon (in its total spec, and the implementation) vs the one deck it was squarely destined to probably overtake and kill popularity of at every level (aka the CL JB3).

But was it really that much of an issue for me, as a devoted yet former CL JB user..??

No, in a word - i simply concentrated on trying to get iRiver to recognise what they ferked up over and essentially missed out on their biggest opportunity to kick a big manufacturing player up the ass over. Let's face it, until the iPod became the Mac of the DAP world (and a damn sight more widespread), CL users could almost have been what you claim the iPoder's are in their views - the difference being, like a lot of serious appreciaters of iRiver goods, we used our heads and did stuff with the units and not treated them like bloody expensive 'show off' toys (a classic iPod user trait - showing off).

If you are sick of people thinking the world of dap's begins and ends with the iPod (and hence all other makes and models are merely wannabe iPod sucess stories), then i suggest you :-

a) Develop a thick skin and do until your iPoder enemies what Rhino's do to their enemies (intimdate them, when you are like a Rhino.. you rarely need to actually attack).

b) Develop very selective hearing, and screen out the iPod lover's/devotees from your your perception.

It makes your life a lot easier - a case of mind over matter as in :-

'I dont mind, coz they dont matter'...

[TedJ]

Heh, it's not like I'm losing sleep over this FG... My opinion is that the iPod is a classic case of style over substance but if others are happy with it (whether it's because they don't know any better or otherwise), then so be it.

My concerns regarding iRiver's marketing is that if they get a larger share of the market, they have more people using their product and maybe they'll be more inclined to commit more effort into after sales support.

[FlameGrilled]

That's ok, Ted, you see the situation for what it is.

In other words, there there aint no point in losing sleep or wasting time getting annoyed over 'sheep mentality' perceptions such as the 'Music player = iPod' conclusion.

As for the iRiver marketing strategy - that's simply to solve :-

They should take a leaf out the book of many small companies out there in the AP level of audio - it's a enthusiast market the AP kit manufacturer's serve, but so is iRiver's.

The difference is, the AP market manufacturer's stuck their quality and over-engineered priniciples (iRiver did at one time, aka the pre 550 series iMP's) and they survived. They had to, in many cases, submit to commercial realities and make some compromises to open up some mass-market products (mass-maket, relatively speaking), and it did them no harm at all - think who put in the money into the revamped Rio evolvement, that source was not exactly associated with 'sheep mentality' products by association either in their connection to Marantz as i recall.

Another good example of 'quality devotion' and also servingg the mass market with some mass-market examples of goods too, is the guitar producers. Some of the 'patterns' and licensed copies are damn good examples - sufficiently good enough to make backup instruments for many an muscian pro or amatuer. Again, the mass-market units are not the cutting edge of 'AP' excess that the guitar world 'AP' equiv demands, but it provides almost an every-man choice without sacrificing the bit about keeping the demanding customers happy too.

If they can do it, so can Reigncom through the iRiver brand.