Google Music vs Apple's iCloud. Showdown!

I'm fortunate to have been invited to join Google's Music Beta program, and at the same time have several iOS devices from Apple that will soon be updated to iOS 5 and have access to Apple's iCloud for access to my music anytime those devices have a web connection.
Both services are free (to start). 

Google: Required uploading all my music to its servers. Free.  In my case the upload of 2000ish songs took three days of background uploading.  I could still use my PC with no apparent slowdown of web access during that time. Google has a limit of 20,000 songs for each user.

Apple:  Past and new music purchases from iTunes will be available on all your iOS devices from the iCloud.  Free.   Other music of yours (not originally from iTunes) will only require the uploading of songs Apple doesn't have a match for in the vast iTunes database. Songs in your collection it knows about will be available from that collection without any physical upload from you.  For just $24.99 a year.  Apple calls this iTunes Match.  Limit of 25,000 songs.  Your songs will be available in (your) iTunes on your PC or Mac, and on any iPad1 or iPad2 or iPhone (3GS, 4), or iPod touch (3rd and 4th generation) registered to the same iTunes account.

Basically, both services are offering to make your music available to you no matter where you are or what device you are using. 

Apple puts a few restrictions on that though:

• You have to be using (your) iTunes (so much for the Post-PC era) if you are at a PC,
• Older iPhone and iPod Touches won't have access. 
• No accessing your music on a friend's computer,
• No using any work computer you aren't allowed to install iTunes on.
• No Linux PCs either.
• Songs Apple provides will all be limited to 256kb

This is where Google Music gets the win: 

• I can access my music on ANY WEB BROWSER, simply by going to Google.Music.Beta and logging into my account.
• There is also the Google Music app for Android devices which runs on anything running Android 2.1 or higher.
• Android devices running anything lower can still access the music via their web browsers.
• It works via Safari on both iPads, all iPhones, and every generation of iPod Touch.
• It even works using the web browser on my Zune HD.

Conclusion?  It should be obvious by now.  Google Music Beta is by far the best way to enjoy your music wherever you have a data connection.

4D

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iPod Touch vs Archos 43 Showdown!

I've been looking for a strong alternative to the iPod Touch for a long time.  The original had several shortcomings, although there were no decent competitors to it at that time. Some challengers have shown up since.  Apple didn't rest on its laurels, and the latest Touch answers almost every complaint I had with the first one.

Archos appears to have decided to win back bragging rights for tablet media players, and the Archos 43 Internet Tablet looks like it shoots straight at the Touch. I have both, and am getting many questions about which is better. This is my showdown. I'll rank for technology, media support, ease of use, build, and a few other things. You may not agree with every conclusion, but hopefully this showdown will help you make your own decision.

I have reviewed both.  The Archos 43 has been updated since that review. Here is how they compare price-wise:

iPod Touch 8gb for $229. 32gb for $299.

Archos 43 16gb for $249. 16gb MicroSD-HC card for $36. Total for 32gb = $285.

Hardware:

- Processor: Tie

    Touch: Apple A4 1GHz processor running iOS 4

    43: ARM Cortex A8 at 1 GHz with DSP running Android 2.21 

- WiFi: Tie

    Touch: 802.11b/g/n  (802.11n 2.4GHz only). 802.11n no speed

    improvement over G.

    43: 802.11 b/g/n (including 5GHz for 802.11n) 802.11n doesn't work

    at the moment.  Archos is looking into it.

- Bluetooth devices supported: 43 wins.

    Touch: Profiles include A2DP, AVRCP, PAN, HID. Headphones, Keyboard, some accessories.

    43: Profiles include A2DP, AVRCP, HID, PAN, Headphones, Keyboard, Mouse, GPS, File Transfer,

    Phone tethering. 

- Screen size: 43 wins.

    Touch: 3.5" diagonal. 1.984375" x 2.9375", 5.83 square inches.

    43: 4.3" diagonal,  2.09375" x 3.75",  7.85 square inches.

- Screen resolution: Touch wins.

    Touch: 960 x 640

    43: 854 x 480

- External controls: Both have volume toggle power/hold button. Tie 

- Power button options:  43 wins.

    Touch: Simple press to turn screen off.  Long press for power OFF

    screen.

    43: Simple press to turn screen off. Long press brings up several

    device options including Airplane Mode, Buttons Mode, Power

    Off, and Silent Mode. Choosing Power OFF brings up a second

    set of choices including Deep Sleep, Reboot, and Power Off.

- Ports: Inputs, outputs, and memory expansion.  43 wins.

    Touch: Dock port, headphone jack.

    43: Micro USB sync port, HDMI output, MicroSD-HC slot, headphone jack.  USB storage drives  and devices supported with adapter cable (not included, typically under $10).

- Cameras: Touch wins with 2.  Both devices require great lighting to take good photos. The 43's camera app was updated in the latest firmware with 6 white-balance settings, resolution/quality choices, color effects, and (video) unbanding choices.  It has a Photo/Video toggle as well.   The Touch has a choice of cameras (front or back), the shutter button, and a digital zoom slider that shows up when you tap the screen.  Both have links to their photo galleries from within camera app.  

    Touch: Front facing VGA 640 x 480 resolution. Rear facing 960 x 720 for Photos, 1280 x 720 for Video.

    43: Rear facing 1280 x 720 photos and video.
- Speakers: The 43's speaker reaches to lower frequencies. The iPod's speaker is louder at the same position along the volume slider (about 50%). Both serve fine for notices, games and chat, but are not recommended for music listening. Tie.
- Microphone: Touch wins.  Its microphone is more sensitive, and the voice memo app is better integrated than the Audio Recorder app on the 43 is.

Media Support:

- Music File Types: Tie. Differences in what is supported by each, though.

    Touch: AAC, Protected AAC, HE-AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, 4, Audible Enhanced Audio, AAX, and AAX+), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV. 9

    43: Stereo MP3, MP3 VBR, WMA, WAV (PCM/ADPCM), AAC3, AAC+ stereo audio files, OGG Vorbis, FLAC, AC3, AC3 stereo audio(options plugin required). 9 or 10

- Video File Types: 43 wins. Many file types are simply containers. Still the 43 is easily most capable. It also can play videos from shared folders on your home network. Above are scenes from videos playing on both. The MULAN video on the 43 was streaming from my PC over my home WiFi network.

    Touch: M4v, MP4, MOV, AVI

    43: M4v, MP4, MOV, AVI, MKV, WMV, MPG, PS, TS, VOB, FLV, RM, RMVB, ASF, 3GP.

- Photo File Types: Tie.    

    Touch: JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF

    43: JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF

- Photo apps: 43 wins.

    Touch: Pictures app. Sources include local, from cameras, from email, and from Web that you've downloaded.

    43: Galley and Photo Frame apps.

- Music Sort Options: Tie.  Differences. On the 43 you can find separate apps for Audiobooks and Podcasts.

    Touch: Albums, Artists, Songs, Playlists, Audiobooks, Compilations, Composers, Genres, Podcasts, iTunes U, Seach

    43: Albums, Artists, Songs, Playlists, Recently added, Recently played, Favorites, Storage, Party shuffle, Search.

- Music Now Playing: 43 wins.  Info and Features accessible directly from within the Now Playing screen.

    Touch: Artist, Album name, Song name, Position slider/info, Volume slider, Next/Previous, FF/REV, Play/Pause, Shuffle toggle, Repeat options, Album art, Shortcut to song list, Song x of Total, Back. 17. Music app changes to limited cover flow view in landscape position.

    43: Artist, Album name, Song name, Position slider/info/absolute, Volume slide/up-down/position bar,  Next/Previous, FF/REV, Play/Pause, Shuffle toggle, Repeat Options, Album Art, Shortcut to Song List, Shortcut to initial Library screen. Tap menu for Info, Party Shuffle, Add to Playlist, Add to favorites, Delete, and Audio Settings choices, Search (any text on the screen for related info using) Music/Web/Pandora/YouTube, Back.  30.  Music app presents same options in landscape and Profile views.

Experience:

- User Interface: Ease of use.  Finding what you want. Managing your files and apps. 43 wins. Neither device is intuitive, despite YouTube videos of toddlers play with an iPad. Many options are hidden in Settings, and the only way to know about them is to search through them one by one.  Android apps generally have related settings accessible within the app.  On the Touch, you have to leave the app and then open Settings to find related options.

    Touch: Folder support. Multiple (11) App pages.  System wide search. Capacitive screen +. Multitouch. Uninstall downloaded apps.  Multitasking.  Bookmarks as icons. 8
    43: Folder support.  Multiple (5) App pages.  System wide search.  Resistive screen -. Uninstall downloaded apps. Multitasking. File browser.  Delete file capability. Put icons anywhere on a screen. Widgets. App icons (shortcuts) and widgets on more than one page if you want. Shortcuts to contacts, bookmarks, direct messages, directions, an email, Gmail label, Latitude, any setting, Google Voice toggle as icons on a home page. 18

- Build: The Touch (below) is too thin.  I find myself getting hand cramps when holding it more than a few minutes.  The 43 weighs a little more, but with its larger screen the weight is expected.  Both are well built, but Apple again demonstrates that they are on top of engineering and production. The 43 is well made.  I greatly appreciate the built-in kickstand (above).  The Touch is a beautiful piece of work. Both are fingerprint magnets.  Although not the easiest to hold or use, the Touch wins build.

    Touch: 7.2 millimeters thin. Engineered glass front and stainless steel back.

    43: 9 millimeters thin. Glass front with plastic body molded over a steel frame.

- Reliability: Tie. The Touch I have now is a replacement for my original purchase.  The power button failed and Apple replaced it for me. So far my 43 doesn't work using 802.11n for WiFi connectivity as it claims to. It still connects using 802.11g. Archos is aware and hopefully will fix it in an upcoming firmware release.  Of three iPod Touches I've owned, two have gone back to Apple as defective. Of the 6 Archos product I have none has needed to be sent back as defective, yet nagging firmware glitches so far keep this 43 from being all that it can be.  Both products thus appear tied for reliability.

Summary:
43 = 16.  Touch = 12. Wins worth 1.  Ties worth 1 point to each device.  By numbers the 43 is easily the winner. Android 2.21 is a more versatile OS than iOS 4. Since my 43 arrived it has become the one device I prefer to use over everything else you can find reviewed on my blog. The larger screen of the 43 is more welcome than the higher-resolution screen of the new Touch. Applications are available for both. The range of android apps, despite fewer in number than Touch apps, covers every category well.  With no restrictions there are Android apps that do things Apple doesn't allow Touch/iPhone apps to do.   The Touch is a great piece of hardware.  Archos has a better device in its 43 though. In fact, Archos can't seem to make them fast enough to satisfy demand.

4D

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Showdown! Cowon S9 vs Samsung P3 vs iriver SPINN!

All three of these Korean-made players are available now in the U.S.. Each has been around long enough to benefit from a few firmware updates. All are pocketable touchscreen players with 480 x 272 resolution. All support FLASH games and apps. All have Bluetooth. These are easily the showstoppers from each company this year, and the competition between them is good news for consumers. Here we'll take a look at the Samsung P3, Cowon S9, and iriver SPINN.

I'll compare them for aesthetic design, hardware details, format support, usability, price, and overall satisfaction as personal media players. I've had all three for some time now, and done exhaustive testing of each. Scores will be explained in each category and will be from 1 to ?, with the higher number being the better score. You'll have your own priorities for the player you own, so don't let the final tally dissuade you from your favorite.

Aesthetic Design. I'm a furniture and product designer, and greatly appreciate the looks of a player. Players that go beyond being visual "knock-offs" and seek new aesthetic territory get my vote. These players all caught my eye before getting further attention from me. My guess is that they've caught your attention too. I've rated them as I see them. Click on each to see their manufacturer support pages and the relative "press" given to the aesthetic design of each.

Cowon S9 · 5 Points.

Simply beautiful from every point of view.

iriver SPINN · 4.5 Points.

Original Spindle control breaks away from the pack.

Samsung P3 · 3.5 Points.

Minor improvement over the P2. No iPod clone.

Hardware Details. These days a player has to be more than just a touchscreen. The P3 and SPINN both have haptic (vibration) feedback when you touch them. The S9 and SPINN are AMOLED (beautiful!) screens compared to the P3's backlit LCD. All have Bluetooth but the P3 has far greater profile support than the other two. They all have external volume buttons. The SPINN and S9 offer external Pause/Play and track Fwd/Back. The P3 has a speaker. The SPINN and the S9 have 3.3" screens to the P3's 3-incher, but the S9's screen supports a greater color range than the SPINN. Each device gets a point for any feature all three don't have.

Samsung P3 · 5 Points: Haptic + BT Phone pairing + BT File transfer + BT game play + Speaker.

iriver SPINN · 4 Points: Haptic + Spindle controls + AMOLED + 3.3" screen.

Cowon S9 · 7 Points: G-Sensor + Track/Play/Pause controls + AMOLED + 3.3" screen + more colors + LineIn + TVout.

Format Support. This is simply another counting comparison. If you're coming from an iPod then AAC and MP4 media playback will be worth more to you than OGG or FLAC or WMV. Yet each codec has value to somebody. As such each audio and video and photo codec supported gets one point. Click on each to go to their specifications page.

iriver SPINN · 13 Points: MP3, WMA, OGG, FLAC, ASF, APE for music.

MP4, WMV, XVID for video. JPG, GIF, BMP, PNG for photos.

Cowon S9 · 10 Points: MP3, WMA, FLAC, OGG, WAV, APE for music. AVI, WMV, ASF for video. JPG for photos.

Samsung P3 · 13 Points: MP3, WMA, OGG, WAV, AAC, FLAC for Music. JPG, BMP, PNG for photos. SWF, WMV, H.264, MPEG for videos.

Usability. How easy is it to turn on the player, find the song you want to play, and start listening to it? The P3 will resume on the page it was on when you last turned it off. It's also got a touch interface that really takes advantage of the hardware's potential. With the S9 one tap on the Music icon goes directly into the media player, yet makes you "back up" to pick a song to play. The SPINN lets you look for and select a song without touching the screen, yet doesn't let you control it completely with touches on the screen. For this comparison 5 songs are chosen among all the common songs each player contains. The average number of taps/click/spins/strokes it takes to begin playing each song will be part of that player's score, with low score winning. The songs were all from different albums, and spread across the alphabet. From Boof by Tony Remy to Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield.

Cowon S9 · 2 Points: 5.4 average.

Samsung P3 · 1 Point: 6.2 average

iriver SPINN · 0 Points: 7.2 average

The other part will be a boot-up value. Using my stopwatch each device will be timed from when the power switch is pressed/slid to when an icon can be tapped on. The quickest device gets 2 points. Second place gets 1, and last place gets 0 additional points.

Samsung P3 · 0 Points:

From OFF = 11.90 seconds. From SLEEP = 2.70 seconds. (14.60)

iriver SPINN · 1 Point:

From OFF = 7.71 seconds. From SLEEP = 1.18 seconds. (8.89)

Cowon S9 · 2 Points:

From OFF = 6.09 seconds. From SLEEP = 1.52 seconds. (7.61)

Price. The price has fallen on both the S9 and SPINN since they first came out. The P3 is the latest to arrive, yet it's MSRP is competitive with the other's current prices. The SPINN doesn't come in a 16gb version, so these prices are all for the 8gb versions of each device. The P3 is a bargain here, with 16gb models still under $200. There is more cost involved with the AMOLED screens that the S9 and SPINN use, but their prices have crept down since the P3 was released, and may come down more. Lowest price gets the highest score.

Samsung YP-P3 8gb · 2 Points: $149.99

Cowon S9 8gb · 0 Points: $169.99

iriver SPINN 8gb · 1 Point: $159.00* normally still $199.

Overall satisfaction. This part is purely subjective. I hate the SPINN's user interface. I love the efficiency of the P3's UI. The one I most want to hold in my hand is the Cowon S9. All three sound great once you get to your music and start listening. The S9's amazing battery life reduces that annoying need to charge these players periodically. Cowon has a U.S. based retail arm (jetmall.net) that make is easy to find cables and other accessories. The P3's extended bluetooth capabilities exceed those of the other two, but in practive I don't use them much. That little speaker the P3 has makes it easy to check sounds when your headphones are out of reach. Widgets are generally eye-candy and have little to do with media play on the P3 or S9, yet some provide easy access to system settings. No widgets on the SPINN. What pushes the S9 over the edge is it's support for video-output and line-in recording. Watching videos on that 3.3" AMOLED screen is satisfying, but watching them on a 40" HDTV is easier on the eyes. Neither the P3 or SPINN allow this. For these reasons I score them:

Cowon S9 · 4 Points.

Samsung P3 · 3 Points.

iriver SPINN · 0 Points.

Totals. Simple addition. The Cowon S9 wins!

S9 = 30 Points. P3 = 27.5 Points. SPINN = 23.5 Points.

Your personal satisfaction may vary, but online forum activity seems to follow these results. The busiest forum (of these three devices) is the Cowon S9 forum at anythingbutipod.com. Their Samsung P3 forum is most recent to the game, yet is building in activity as more people get them. It's hard to find anyone checking their SPINN forum these days. The one I pick up most often is the S9, yet I'll take the P3 with me to show off it's capablities to friends. I think 99% would be happy with either, and the SPINN will satisfy anyone who hasn't seen an S9 or P3. ;·)

4D.

What do YOU think? Leave a Comment.
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