Keepin' it real fake: Part IX - MSC's Dino A nano
By Paul Miller 
posted Dec 16th 2005 4:00AM
posted Dec 16th 2005 4:00AM
We demand perfection from ourselves and our gadget ripoffs, and this MSC "Dino A" effort just isn't cutting it. Sure they managed to cop the size of the iPod nano exactly, but what's with this screen aspect ratio departure? Tsk tsk. It comes in flavors from 256MB to 1GB and boasts decent format support, including video - but it could have been so much more. Especially for this crazy $61 asking price.
[Via The MP3 Players]
It comes in flavors from 256MB to 1GB and boasts decent format support, INCLUDING VIDEO (Emphasis added)
reading is fun.
Anyways, I thought that the flash market was at a critical shortage, what with tiny asian companies kicking the bucket left and right. why are there so many rip-offs being pumped out in this market environment?
That kind of looks like a 4:3 aspect ratio, but actually its a wacky 1:1 ratio. Widescreen bars anyone?
- Unique MTV, AMV movie function and GIF animation function
That sounds a bit misleading for an "mp3" player.
Kinda like "movie support - maybe". But no, don't dream of it, and anyway; a 1 1/2 inch screen to play a movie? Save the batteries, and let me listen to my music without useless distractions. Bottom line,
$61 is a pretty sweat deal if you ask me.
#1: Excellent recognition of sarcasm. Full marks.
Do I see windows media player in that screenshot??
Indeed you do #4. Who'd 'ave guessed that it could also run XP?
Isn't this an infringement to the design copyright? Does Apple already registered the copyright if at all?
China is very very lax with its copyright laws #6. Even if Apple were to want to litigate against these companies (which they really should) they would have to ask the Chineese government to do so, and they (the Chineese) refuse to acknowledge the idea of intelectual or patent copyrights.
#1: How about, clone of Nano (plus larger screen and video) for $61, and nobody wonders why anybody pays at least $100 for a cot-damn SHUFFLE?
"they (the Chineese) refuse to acknowledge the idea of intelectual or patent copyrights."
Well, sort of. They acknowledge copyrights that they own, just no one elses. The biggest problem is that, at this stage, knockoff product accounts for too much of the Chinese enconomy for the government to actually do anything about it.
Actually, there are quite literally dozens of manufacturers in China either making or marketing these nano rip-offs. Go to alibaba or made-in-china.com and have a look around and you will find many, many such examples. They are sometimes even called "nano". The dimensions are within a mm. or two of apple's but the screens screens are *always* bigger, and usually do video.
The knock-offs are naturally cheaper than the apple, but not by as much as you might think. The reason is that the knock-off makers [almost all of whom seem to be in Shenzhing] have to pay ~USD48 for 1GB NAND flash chips, while apple gets 2GBs for about USD54, according to iSuppli
http://www.isuppli.com/marketwatch/default.asp?id=316
Very few of the knock-offs are bigger than 1GB. A few use two chips to produce a 2GB model, none makes a 4GB model. And they *are* worried about apple, despite appearances to the contrary.
That should read shenzhen, my apologies
See my website for comments on this, including comments #11/12 Barry above has "quoted"
http://aussie149.wordpress.com/2005/12/
http://www.made-in-china.com/showimages/111/400005765/0/Apple_MP3/IPOD_Earphone_(PHN0001R).jpg
With a name like that, they can't be fake!