iLounge

1

people at this company sure got alot of balls to stand up against Apple like this.  I wonder if copyright laws apply in Taiwan though…

Posted by VertigoLimit on March 13, 2005 at 9:19 PM (PDT)

2

They might not but they’ll apply every where else they’ll want to sell the product outside of Asia. 

Posted by Jazzlawyer in Kelowna, BC Canada on March 13, 2005 at 9:23 PM (PDT)

3

This is funny! Messed up, but funny.

Posted by Joshdude in Long Beach, CA on March 13, 2005 at 9:50 PM (PDT)

4

Crazy.  You know Apple’s lawyers are sharpening their teeth for this one. 

Posted by Dingleberry on March 13, 2005 at 10:06 PM (PDT)

5

If you go to the SUXPro corporate site, you’ll notice that they sell other music players besides the Super Shuffle - all very similar to it except in aesthetics.

Blatantly ripping off an Apple product is illegal in that it’s capitalizing on the Apple’s trademarks to draw attention to its Shuffle player. Will it cause actual consumer confusion? Not likely, given the publicity.

The conclusion? Perhaps the Super Shuffle is merely a way to raise awareness of these other products LuxPro offers. Think of it as highly expensive, effective advertising. Screw the Apple lawsuit, perhaps potential sales of their other products will justify the cost.

Posted by Alex S. in East Coast on March 13, 2005 at 10:42 PM (PDT)

6

What publicity? This Site and Hiesse.de do not the Internet make. Nor does it CNN. Who’d have thunk it there just might be some poor sap out there who has yet to find out what the Internet is!

I not sure there has been enough puplicity qute yet. And yes even if the Device in question is slightly different. LuxPro’s Ad’s or anything but! Going on that simple premes I could actully belive that, this was an Apple Product.

Posted by Ichijoe in Deutschland on March 14, 2005 at 12:22 AM (PDT)

7

-> From Heise.de

Apple to stop CeBIT presentation of iPod shuffle clone
After the company Luxpro banished its “Super shuffle” from its CeBIT stand on Friday, the iPod Shuffle lookalike again put in an appearance on Saturday. 

“It’s not identical with the iPod Shuffle, it’s better” - that at least is the way one of the people presenting the device for the Taiwanese company sees it (Hall 24, Stand C24-1). Under the name Super shuffle Luxpro is presenting an MP3 player with Flash Memory that at first sight cannot be distinguished from the iPod Shuffle.

Urged by Apple’s lawyers Luxpro had taken the player out of its show cases on Friday, only to put it back in again on Saturday for the benefit of the weekend visitors to the CeBIT event. Who, moreover, did seem to show an interest in the device: The player offers besides all functions present in the genuine iPod shuffle an FM tuner, a WMA playing capability (according to the manufacturer also with digital rights management) and voice recording - only AAC support has to be dispensed with. At that the iPod lookalike is only marginally thicker and according to statements by staff at the stand “in any case cheaper than the original.”

Even a visibly distraught Apple product manager was unable on the Saturday evening to persuade Luxpro´s stand manager to once again remove the Super shuffle from the display. The stand the visual appearance of which is strongly reminiscent of an Apple ad campaign provided a bizarre backdrop to the brief yet heated verbal encounter that ended without mutual agreement. “Our lawyers are in the process of weighing legal options,” the Apple press spokesman, Georg Albrecht, told heise online. (Robert W. Smith) / (jk/c’t)

If they had to dispense with AAC in order to sell these things in the first place. How can they get away with saying that WMA is an improvement??

I DON’T GET IT!!!

Posted by Ichijoe in Deutschland on March 14, 2005 at 12:28 AM (PDT)

8

They’re saying that adding a $1 FM tuner is an improvement over the radio-less iPod Shuffle.  Most of us, however, see no need for an FM tuner on a digital music device.

And besides, the thing that makes the iPod so successful is iTunes. If this thing doesn’t work with iTunes, then there’s no point. It’s just a lookalike without the same guts.

Apple should sue them hard, though- Ripping off the look of the device is one thing, but ripping of the ads is entirely another. It shows an INTENT to plagiarize Apple and possibly defraud consumers.

Posted by Wilder_K_Wight on March 14, 2005 at 12:56 AM (PDT)

9

I hope they kick Apple’s lazy butt with this thing. Yes, the lack of iTunes support means something to the iTunes fans (me included), but realistically without any way to rate songs on the Shuffle, select different playlists, etc., iTunes is really not all that important with the iPod shuffle.

I’d never buy an Apple shuffle, but I might actually buy one of these if for no other reason than to voice my extreme displeasure with the contempt for the consumer Apple has been displaying lately.

Posted by Code Monkey in Midstate New York on March 14, 2005 at 4:52 AM (PDT)

10

A radio tuner?  The whole reason I use my iPod is because I cannot stand listening to commercial radio anymore.  Who wants that?  Hours of the same junk with half the content commercials?  Who really even listens to radio anymore?

Posted by m. sherman in Northern VA on March 14, 2005 at 5:03 AM (PDT)

11

People who listen to news radio/NPR, that’s who. 

Posted by PushButtonAction in Atlanta, GA on March 14, 2005 at 5:30 AM (PDT)

12

Well there’s always the ‘Right-Wing-Talk-Radio’ Crowd. In which some People seem to confuse with Podcasting. LOL

First off Talk Radio is useually to be found on the ‘Amplitude Modulation’ Band (AM), and not on the ‘Frequency Modulation’ Band (FM). Where it’s only to found in limited market areas!

Well I agree that besides the odd ‘Clasic Rock’ Channel theres nothing worth listioning to. But, I’m outa the ‘Mtv’ and ‘Clearchannal demographic too so what would I know! I guess when you grow up listining to Acts that had actual talent!! It’s like a slap in the face to see crap (like Britney and Co.) being dished out. Oh well I’ve allways felt that Rock died with the surge of that lame Grunge (Nirvana and Co.) Crap. Onece Kurbain blew his Brains out that was preety much the end of Grunge too… Now we have Gruge-Rap-Rock YEPPEEE!!!

NOT!!!

And that’s just the US! Try finding a decent 24h Rock Channel here in the greater Frankfurt am/Main area! Besides AFN that is! IIRC there are 4 or 5 decent Radio Stations minus the one that Actualy has a themed content of ‘Black Music’ (read: Hip-Hop/Rap). The other Three only play the same ‘Clearchannal’ Britney Mtv Crud. And then theres the one staticy ‘Classical Music’ Chanel (There’s always one! And then there the ‘Heimat Music’ (Folk Music), Channels that make me cringe in FEAR!!!!