Most people I know, including all of the women I know, hate lugging CDs around, but their eyes totally glaze over when you try to explain the process of creating an MP3 library. They were momentarily interested, but the solution is worse than the problem for them. After they see my empeg or my home stereo connected to the linux mp3 server they "get it", but it is way too mad scientist for them to ever do. Let's face it: pretty much everyone on this group is a 5 sigma computer user. Look at the infrastructure you need to create a well managed mp3 collection. Its outrageous: large hard disk, fast CDROM, probably broadband internet connection, ethernet switch, etc, etc. You get the idea.

Most computer users I know don't fully comprehend directory structures. I'm not being sarcastic; it's really true. The average computer user was saving files in the application startup directory until "My Documents" came along, and now people just toss their files in there.

We all have a tendency to think that we are "average" or the center of the population. When it comes to computer usage, everyone on this board (if for no other reason that using this board!) is an "elite" computer user. Think about it.

I see this as the biggest obstacle to MP3 player adoption: the PC ripping/encoding/tagging/organization/transfer side is way too hard for a novice computer user. Since almost every computer owner is a novice computer user, you can see the problem. The world needs an "AOL" of mp3 creation and management. I realize that AOL sucks, but it is "usable" by total computer novices. iTunes seems to come pretty close to that (except it doesn't suck) and I think it is a huge reason why the iPod has done well. The device itself is important, but the front end process is what stymies most users, in my opinion.

Look at the empeg: we love the totally flexibile nature of the playlist functionality, but for a user who doesn't really understand directories that well, they are just never going to grasp the empeg playlist heirarchy and how to create it. Flexibility requires a better conceptual understanding. With the current state of the art of mp3, I think it requires more conceptual understanding than most computer owners have. Can you imagine telling your parents or grandparents to, "do an Advanced Search for 'refs=0'"? Come on. I need to tell my grandparents where they can find the "Control Panel" and walk them through every click. Probably an extreme example, but most computer owners are a hell of a lot closer to my grandparents than they are to Mark Lord (hey, wait a minute -- so am I!). :-)

Fix the UI on *both* sides and then you'll have something.

The gender bias is interesting, but I think it reflects this point. For some reason, most hackers and geeks are men. Some estimates I've seen put that at 100:1, some as little as 10:1. Either way, its a large bias. I don't know why that is, and perhaps it will change over time.

My point is that as long as that whole ripping/encoding/tagging/organizing/uploading/etc. process is something that appeals to hackers and geeks, it won't be something that appeals to the broader market. If only 1-10% of hackers and geeks are female, well, there you have it.

Rather than "geek" I suppose I could use the term "technology enthusiast", which is someone who *enjoys* learning and exploring technology. Most people don't. They want their technology to work like a light switch; turn it on and it works. They don't need to know anything about how the electricity gets made and they like it that way. CDs work that way. MP3s definitely do not.

Personally, I want to know how the electricity gets made. I also use an empeg.

Jim