iLounge

1

I still can’t believe this company is actually attempting to go through with this.  There is no way that they should be allowed to so blatantly rip off Apple’s product like this.  In my opinion, this move actually lowers the integrity of the company.  I certainly do not want to buy a product that has simply been tinkered with.  Design your own products, LuxPro!

Posted by Cameron T. on March 30, 2005 at 6:22 AM (PST)

2

These people are at it again… when will they learn. PR stunt or not, this thing is annoying.

Either make the damn Shuffle Clone or don’t. But they get no love from me for trying to drag out the PR stunt. Your 15 minutes of fame, LuxPro, is just about up.

Posted by FallN in New York, NY on March 30, 2005 at 6:23 AM (PST)

3

I agree.  This is just confusing to me.  If the first was a PR stunt, so be it.  But leave it alone now.  No one cares.

Posted by sechannell in United States on March 30, 2005 at 7:11 AM (PST)

4

If it does seamless playback, I’ll be buying one! That’s the one key missing feature of all the iPod’s. Sucks for recorded tracks from internet radio (meaning not as one long recording, but broken up into individual, tagged tracks.) Are there any small, inexpensive flash-based players that do seamless playback?

Posted by sjonke in Maryland, US on March 30, 2005 at 7:13 AM (PST)

5

As long as you use the included headphones that work as an antenna, and not your own headphones, you can actually get FM on a player like this! Reception may be poor compared to a real antenna, and you may already have a REAL radio sitting everywhere you go anyway. And no AM. But still… portable FM! Commercials, endless repetition and all… How cool is that? I really hope Apple can’t find a way to stop them.

Posted by Nagromme on March 30, 2005 at 8:25 AM (PST)

6

MP3 as a format (rather than individual players) does not support true gapless playback (like you might hear from a DJ mix CD)

Posted by PugRallye on March 30, 2005 at 9:15 AM (PST)

7

Either do it, or don’t, stop bugging us Lux…

Posted by pakkman781 in TN on March 30, 2005 at 9:41 AM (PST)

8

I just visited their site and read the “About Luxpro” page. The text reads like english as a third language. I predict the Apple lawyers will stop this product dead in its tracks before it even hits the market.

Posted by speedie in Massachusetts on March 30, 2005 at 10:29 AM (PST)

9

apple can’t patent a white rectangle… and the rest of the design and feaures are different than the shuffle.  there’s nothing apple can do about it.

Posted by petro on March 30, 2005 at 10:38 AM (PST)

10

Anyone else notice the name on the unit actually says “Super Shiner”?

I don’t get these guys.. the product pictures are just renderings anyway.. give it up already.

Posted by Kloan in Toronto, ON on March 30, 2005 at 10:43 AM (PST)

11

Petro,

IANAL but I think that under current trademark law Apple could very easily go after these guys and win. They are intentionally copying the design and look of the iPod Shuffle, and any lawyer worth his salt could easily argue that the intent is to confuse consumers and/or to imply that these are supported by or connected to the Apple company in some way. This is exactly the sort of thing that trademark laws were created for.

Posted by punxking in San Diego on March 30, 2005 at 11:24 AM (PST)

12

“portable FM! Commercials, endless repetition and all… How cool is that?”

My thoughts exactly. You get an iPod to get away from radio.

Also - the design for the super tangent looks rather…cramped. I can imagine someone accidently slipping the FM radio or voice recorder on by accident. Even though it has more features than the iPod, it’s in one perspective worse because it has lost the simplicity.

Only good thing is the multiple colors. The red one does look kinda cool.

Posted by Alex S. in East Coast on March 30, 2005 at 2:54 PM (PST)

13

Tangent? WTF? What kinda name is that for a music player?

Posted by iPodNod in London, UK on March 30, 2005 at 3:04 PM (PST)

14

PugRallye: Obviously you have not heard of a little player called the Rio Karma. It does gapless beautifully (with mp3 and ogg).

Posted by steel102 on March 30, 2005 at 4:03 PM (PST)

15

PugRallye: you also haven’t heard of Aeroplayer for PalmOS 5+, which does true gapless playback with MP3 and Ogg beautifully too. The only problem, and it’s substantial, is the awful battery life of my Zire72 in comparison to any MP3 player. Not to mention the size. Do the Rio brand flash-based players do seamless playback too?

Posted by sjonke in Maryland, US on March 30, 2005 at 5:37 PM (PST)

16

I dont know, i really think it looks way to much like the shuffle, Apple should fight it, i dont think its fair that they make a mp3 player that looks just like another companys.

Posted by Dawn Marie in New York City on March 30, 2005 at 5:37 PM (PST)

17

@sjonke

No!  The key missing feature is seamless integration with iTunes.

Posted by Quoth_the_Raven in Herndon, VA on March 31, 2005 at 12:54 AM (PST)

18

@petro

“theres nothing apple can do about it.”

You know this, how?  Please enlighten us, oh wise one.

Posted by Quoth_the_Raven in Herndon, VA on March 31, 2005 at 1:00 AM (PST)

19

I had an Archos Recorder a long time ago using Rockbox (a hacked firmwware) that didn’t have gaps between tracks.

it’s all in the buffering.

Posted by OMGWTFSTFU in United States on March 31, 2005 at 5:57 AM (PST)

20

Somewhere there is a former Xerox employee reading all this and just laughing their   A S S   off!!! <grin>

Posted by IDSmoker on April 1, 2005 at 5:30 AM (PST)