MD: Whats with the Hip-Zip?

[Robin Landy]

OK, I feel a bit crazy expressing my *hate* for what is afterall 
simply a consumer audio product. But at the end of the day, surely 
Iomega's hip-zip is the most *pointless*, *overpriced* personal audio 
solution in exsitence?! The merits of vanilla (ie solid-state) 
personal MP3s have been debated in this forum at tedious length, but 
the Hip-zip is something different. Why would anyone want to shell 
out 290 UK Pounds on a gadget, (a similar size to minidisc units), 
which can only fit 40 minutes of audio onto a disc, has a poor 
battery life, and for which fresh discs cost a tenner? Oh, and of 
course, you *still* have to plug it into your computer to put dump 
new stuff onto its discs. Its absolutely ludicrous. Despite their 
cons, vanilla MP3s have a significant advantage over minidiscs in 
terms of size (look at Sony's network walkman) but WHY oh WHY oh WHY 
would anyone want a Hip-Zip.? Its completely beyond me.
Anybody else got an opinion on this (or indeed has anyone else noted 
any other *really* stupid electronic products?)
On a somewhat brighter note, as I sit here in John Rylands 
university library in Manchester, I see a lot of people listening to 
minidiscs and very few tape walkmans (and this being the UK, no MP3 
players at all). With every day that passes, I see less and less 
tapes around, and a *lot* more minidiscs. Minidiscs may be suffering 
a slow death in the US, but over here they're doing *very* 
well. More people are buying them, and more shops are stocking more 
equipment and more accessories.
Robin.


Robin Landy
Manchester University
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Mobile: 07970 253609
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Re: MD: Whats with the Hip-Zip?

[Henry Mostyn]

I suppose it has the advantage of being able to be plugged into a PC and
also used as a storage medium for other info(something tonnes of people
always put on a minidisc feature wish list) but in its current itteration
(or it's third party cheaper sister) it is poor.

Perhaps its an issue of waiting for the tech to improve (ie, 100 to 250 zip
disks, I might be tempted on something that size if it held 150 - 200 MB).


I also agree with you on the minidisc situation in the UK. As well as people
seeing the technical benefits of the format its up there with mobile phones
as a 'show off' and 'left out if dont have one' kind of item which is a good
business position for Sony + Sharp and co.


hm

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