It's an iPod World

The transition is complete. My formerly heterogeneous home MP3 environment has transformed into a one-company, one-brand house. Everyone is using Apple iPods. If my home is a microcosm of the market, the MP3 industry has a major problem.

It wasn't always this way at my house. For a time my wife had an off-brand portable, exercise-friendly device. Then I bought her an iPod shuffle (no, not the new, buttonless one). Both my son and daughter had SanDisk Sansa e200s—nice, shiny 2GB models that handled music, video (sort of), and photos. The Sansas also had FM radios, which my kids almost never listened to. For the most part, they used the Sansas to download music from Real's Rhapsody service. For a while, my kids were happy. In fact, when one of the Sansas was stolen, we even replaced it with a similar model. Still, it was hard for the kids to ignore the Apple iPod marketing that was happening all around them. It didn't help that their experience with Real Rhapsody was more than a little frustrating. Music would inexplicably become unplayable on both players. Updating licenses within Rhapsody didn't help.

My son, 14, began his campaign for an iPod touch late last summer. Keep in mind that he never mentioned any player from any other manufacturer. He got the touch for Christmas and has rarely spent 5 minutes straight without it. Last year, my daughter started saving money for a PlayStation Portable. Since she's not much of a gamer, my wife and I never understood this. After seeing my son with his iPod touch and getting a look at some of the ads for the fourth-generation iPod nano, she switched gears. Last week, she took her savings and bought a bright, shiny, pink one. Like her brother, she's never without it.

During the years the kids had their Sansas, there were times of extreme gadget adoration, but they never lasted. It's different with the Apple iPods. In my son's case, I fear he may have glued the iPod touch to his hand. Interestingly, the other day he commented, "No one wants a Zune." He then asked me, "Does anyone buy them?" Yes, some people are buying Zunes, but they've clearly become more of a punch line than a viable product. Witness this exchange from the NBC espionage comedy Chuck:

"Chuck: Do we carry any Rush CDs in the store?
Morgan: No need, I got 'em all on my Zune.
Chuck: You have a Zune!?
Morgan: Heh, are you kidding me? No. No, I'll grab my iPod."

Ouch. I hope Bill Gates, who has said he won't let his kids have iPods in the home, wasn't a fan of that show.

The Zune is a quality—if uninspiring—player, but I don't see a lot of kids saving their money to buy one. This isn't necessarily Microsoft's fault. It seems that no one has successfully taken on the iPod. Look at SanDisk's Sansa division. Earlier this year it introduced the Sansa slotRadio player, which uses microSD cards. These retro devices are targeted at people who think iPods—and similar devices—are too complicated and would prefer to buy discrete song collections and albums—the way they did in the old days. SanDisk execs told me they were done trying to compete directly with Apple's iPods.

That said, is anyone really still competing with iPods? Colby, Cowon, Samsung, Sony, and others are still producing MP3 players, but I rarely see them in the wild. Honestly, not one of these products is as sexy, exciting, or innovative as the iPod touch. The touch, however, was not the game changer. In my opinion, the reason the MP3 market is on its way to becoming a one-man show is the iPhone.

Apple's iPhone is the single best combo phone/MP3 player. If you're buying a new phone, it's on your short list—it's on everybody's short list. For the majority of consumers, once they have an iPhone, there's no real need to buy a separate MP3 player. The iPhone is the gateway for Apple's music, video, apps, and iTunes ecosystem. Once consumers step in, they find the most extensible device and environment they've ever seen. Does any other product offer a similar experience?

I'm not saying an Apple monopoly of the MP3 market is a good thing, but it is a real possibility. More and more MP3 manufacturers are likely to bow out of the business. As I've said before, the Microsoft Zune will no longer be a standalone player. It will live as a feature in future Windows Mobile devices. I can't see much of a future for the Zune Marketplace, either.

Speaking of Zune Marketplace, software products and services of this ilk haven't done themselves any favors. For all the complaints I've heard (and myself have) about iTunes, it's still far better than Marketplace, Rhapsody, and essentially any other music utility software available today. Because it's designed for the iPod, it is a perfect marriage. Rhapsody is designed to support a huge list of devices and is expert in none.

My own iPod story is bound to be replayed over and over again in homes around the country. Take a look around you. How many music players aside from iPods (of all stripes) and iPhones do you see?

Full Apple Product Coverage http://go.pcmag.com/apple

source