How Phatnoise dies.....

[Genesis]

Check this out....

"Just plug your device into a built-in console in the center armrest. The option comes in two varieties, one for the iPod, another for other USB-based players. Up to six of the player's folders will be displayed on the car stereo system, and the radio buttons can be used to scan, search or shuffle your mix.

The setup will cost $240."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9353832/

At that pricepoint, and with it being device-insensitive, Phatnoise has a MAJOR problem on their hands.

Especially at this price-point.

I'll go so far as to predict that "they're done - put a fork in them" if this really works as claimed, at that number.

Device-independance means that anything from your little 1GB "wrist rocket" player to an iPOD to anything else that has a USB interface and looks like a mass storage device (e.g. a USB flash drive - no actual audio hardware required!) will work.

This is a cute solution to the problem, and is rather ingenious really.  Just put the decoder in the head unit, and have it talk to the device as if it was mass storage.  Simple and elegant.

How long before Kenwood (and others) do the same thing for aftermarket head units?

Bang - there goes the reason to buy a Phat for four times the money......

[admin]

Bah, I disagree.  There is an Insignia deck at Best Buy right now that has a USB port on the front of it.  You can plug any USB storage device into it (including pen drives and iPods) and it will play all of the Mp3s off of it.  It's kinda cool - but not very useful.  I've seen it in action and thought - man, people have no idea what they're missing by not having a Keg.

While this might make "Joe User" happy - he was never interested in the phatbox anyway.  "Up to six of the player's folders..." six?  I have 200 playlists, 400 artists, and 35 Gigs total, and my collection is considered small compared to several other's on this forum.  No voice prompts?  No SSA/VIOT browsing?  Phatbox might be dead anyway, but it wasn't this thing that killed it.

[Genesis]

The guy with hundreds of gigs of storage is not the typical music listener Paul.  Not even close.

The typical guy is the iPOD user.  He's the one who they're targeting, and that's the mass-market.

The key is having the display on the head unit.  It appears VW is doing that from the article.

That's MISSING on the Phat system in most OEM stereos.  Yeah, it works on a Kenwood, but not in many if not most of the OEM incarnations.  It sure doesn't on the VWs. I need VIOT on my VW because I can't SEE what's going on with the unit and what I'm listening to, and even then, all I get is artist/genre/album - not track announce.

I think this is much larger than you believe in terms of doing damage to the "embedded" marketplace.

I'm darn geeky myself, and for me, this is kinda "ho hum."  But for the average Joe who drives an hour to work and back each day this is the big deal - he can go stick his tunes on a USB dongle that is about the size of his thumb and change it as he wishes, but play it everywhere.  Samsung now has a new portable 1GB device that's amazingly small, and that, combined with this, gives you "everywhere" music.  Or, if he has an iPOD now, he can plug that in and be done with it.

That's the key that makes this attractive - one device that works everywhere, so you're never without it.

[judb]

I agree, this is CLOSE to a killer app for in car mp3...

The phatnoise market is becoming more and more of a niche product.  They do not seem to be (or were not prior to being bought out) interested in bringing prices down via new technology updates (theres got to be cheaper chips out there that do the same things as the ARM SOC  they are using 5 years after the box was released.) ...

They should be able to make the boxes smaller / faster / cheaper.. Same thing with hard drives...

If they had really pushed for it they could do it no problem.  If they sold the phatbox for 350 bucks with a 40 gig drive SO many more people would have bought it.

Now, being able to use your workout audio device for your commuting pleasure with ease will be a big market for people that already own ipods and other portable devices.

[admin]

You're talking about the death of a product that was never really alive for the "mass market."  Ever seen a phatbox commercial?  Seen a phatbox ad in a magazine?

Best Buy stopped carrying the Keg years ago.  VW dealers are clearing out their boxes at firesale prices.  Phatnoise sells itself to HK.  

And you're telling me that a CD player with a USB port is the death of the Keg/Phatbox.  

Again I say, "Bah."

[Genesis]

Point being, the Keg/Phatnoise system was the only real solution beyond a CD changer when introduced.

The ways to solve that problem generally were all hacks.  The MP3 player got you 10 CDs worth of music on one disk, but that was about it.

The "holy grail" is convergence.  Phat didn't address it, and now some other solutions are starting to.  That's big.....