The Acer Guy

OK. I’ll admit it it’s a pretty well-executed feature. And it does distract from some of the less-than-shiney features of this box of tricks.

I think when you take the MP340 for what it is (ultra-versatile portable storage device), rather than what the market probably thinks it is (MP3 player), it all gets rather interesting. It’s very much a plug-and-play device and likes filling its large-capacity memory with good old, premium grade drag and drop. And the video conversion tool is neat too.

My point is this: wouldn’t it be great if Acer bundled an MP340-spotting MusicMatch suite to help with the oh-so-dull Windows file swapping interface? I mean, Acer has just signed an agreement with Yahoo! to install it’s next-generation PCs with a co-branded toolbar and startup page as of, erm.. yesterday…

And with this agreement, Acer PC’s will now come with Yahoo as the default search engine and will include the usual Yahoo services, such as links to music, sports, messenger, and e-mail. ..

And Yahoo owns MusicMatch….

Just a thought…

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I’ve finally taken the MP340 out of the box and it’s sitting on my desk charging. I’m going to leave it there this week-end and explore it more on Monday before the kids clap their eyes on it.

One of the things I did though was connect it to my PC and launch iTunes. Surprise surprise, it didn’t see it. I guess this has been written before but I think it’s a pretty sneaky move to proprietizing music playback. It’s like selling a CD and then only being able to play it back on a player from a single manufacturer. Don’t know what’s on the accompanying disk but maybe I’ll re-install Music Match or Real Player - that should smooth things out.

I suddenly have an issue with Apple’s system of patenting everything. Their products are undeniably slick, I’m not so sure I can say the same thing about their business practices.

But I digress. The MP340 is a cute little thing. I’ll post about the performance when I’ve had a chance to play with it a little.

What I like about it so far is what it stands for. Suddenly, Acer is right smack in the middle of mainstream consumer products and convergency as a result is a little bit closer to becoming a reality.

As a concept, convergency is definitely something I’m in to. Bringing the best of both worlds (IT and consumer electronics) together is a killer idea, and I really like that Acer is making the first moves. I mean, there aren’t too many Pioneer PCs knocking about are there?

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