Flash, Video, and Beyond: Future of MP3 and iPod - Future Trends in Media Players
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Future Trends in Media Player Development
Apple was not necessarily the first to come out with either a mid-size, flash based player or a portable hard drive based video player, however, they are the first to truly bring either into direct focus of the public at large. In addition, they are also the first with a distribution infrastructure set up to deliver content to people over the internet. “What’s next?” might be the biggest question on many people’s minds.
In the future, we may see players that can act as pocket TiVo’s. These players will be able to connect to a wireless network to download TV listings and have a built in TV tuner that allows them to decode signals and store them on the player to be watched later by a user on a bus or airplane ride. In addition, it is likely that we will continue to see flash based mp3 players shrink in size and expand in capacity as flash memory chip manufacturers develop better manufacturing processes. Eventually, flash may even develop enough storage to hold video media on. This is more a single small area of the larger emerging battle between hard drive based storage and solid state storage.
The iPod Video and the Nano are indicative of competing trends in the personal electronics market. One indicative of small devices intended for one purpose only, and the other of a larger but more capable device that can handle a broader range of applications. This is a contrast that will not be decided soon, and in fact, may not ever need to be decided. These two different types of devices are not necessarily mutually exclusive. There is nothing in the nature of these two devices that says one will succeed only at the expense of the other. For years, media pundits have spoken on theses trends, espousing one as the one best solution to personal electronics. More than likely, these different approaches will result in the separation of the market into different sectors where different devices will cater to the different preferences of users.
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