Not impressed with Xbox One

[Something Amyss]

From a business point of view, you'll want to get as many people as you can to buy your product. In this case, it wouldn't be pressure, but rather greed (is that too strong a word?) that you'd use to persuade them. Now of course it would depend on whether those options people want can be implemented cheaply.

Okay, but I'm not particularly sure how that changes what I said.

I'm not sure how greed helps, either. They want money. Music Unlimited is getting them money. MP3 support would hurt that. What good will asking do unless it harms sales, and how many people are going to skip out on the PS4 over this realistically?

Why would asking nicely help, as the only reason they have to listen is potential lost sales, not sales from loyal customers?

How is application of greed not a form of pressure?

If Microsoft was willing to be dominated in sales (your original parallel), what chances does this have?

 

[KarmaTheAlligator]

From a business point of view, you'll want to get as many people as you can to buy your product. In this case, it wouldn't be pressure, but rather greed (is that too strong a word?) that you'd use to persuade them. Now of course it would depend on whether those options people want can be implemented cheaply.

Okay, but I'm not particularly sure how that changes what I said.

I'm not sure how greed helps, either. They want money. Music Unlimited is getting them money. MP3 support would hurt that. What good will asking do unless it harms sales, and how many people are going to skip out on the PS4 over this realistically?

Why would asking nicely help, as the only reason they have to listen is potential lost sales, not sales from loyal customers?

How is application of greed not a form of pressure?

If Microsoft was willing to be dominated in sales (your original parallel), what chances does this have?

I have no idea, that was really just a suggestion, nothing more. I don't know how much that Music Unlimited thing gets them, so I don't know if an alternative would be better. But to go back to my original point, the worst they can say is no, and if enough people ask and it's profitable enough, they might do it, If not, then nothing changes, we don't lose anything. And I saw it more a carrot and stick deal, where MS got the stick (which is what I meant by pressure) and we're waving the carrot in front of Sony.

 

[rob_simple]

The PS4 is also a huge letdown; no MP3 support (thus no custom soundtracks).

I don't mean to single you out for this, because it's a relatively common complaint I've seen, but why do people care about this so much?

I have never used the MP3 support in my PS3 or 360 because when I am playing them I have my iPod or laptop plugged into a speaker next to me, and I play music through those. I can manage all the playlists I want, and quickly turn the music or podcast off if I actually need to hear what's happening in-game and, most important of all, none of that music is taking up what precious little hard drive space there is on either console.

Again, I'm not criticising you for wanting this feature (as others have pointed out, it seems fairly obvious the only reason Sony omitted it was to help push their own shitty music streaming service) but could you or anyone else explain to me what's so good about having MP3 playback integrated into the console?

 

[StormwaveUK]

The PS4 is also a huge letdown; no MP3 support (thus no custom soundtracks).

I don't mean to single you out for this, because it's a relatively common complaint I've seen, but why do people care about this so much?

I have never used the MP3 support in my PS3 or 360 because when I am playing them I have my iPod or laptop plugged into a speak next to me, and I play music through those. I can manage all the playlists I want, and quickly turn the music or podcast off if I actually need to hear what's happening in-game and, most important of all, none of that music is taking up what precious little hard drive space there is on either console.

Again, I'm not criticising you for wanting this feature (as others have pointed out, it seems fairly obvious the only reason Sony omitted it was to help push their own shitty music streaming service) but could you or anyone else explain to me what's so good about having MP3 playback integrated into the console?

While I do agree (I don't even use CDs or MP3s anymore, almost exclusively Spotify now), some people do still like it and it is a bit unfair of Sony to miss that out to maximise profits. For me at least though, it's not really a problem at all.

 

[rob_simple]

The PS4 is also a huge letdown; no MP3 support (thus no custom soundtracks).

I don't mean to single you out for this, because it's a relatively common complaint I've seen, but why do people care about this so much?

I have never used the MP3 support in my PS3 or 360 because when I am playing them I have my iPod or laptop plugged into a speak next to me, and I play music through those. I can manage all the playlists I want, and quickly turn the music or podcast off if I actually need to hear what's happening in-game and, most important of all, none of that music is taking up what precious little hard drive space there is on either console.

Again, I'm not criticising you for wanting this feature (as others have pointed out, it seems fairly obvious the only reason Sony omitted it was to help push their own shitty music streaming service) but could you or anyone else explain to me what's so good about having MP3 playback integrated into the console?

While I do agree (I don't even use CDs or MP3s anymore, almost exclusively Spotify now), some people do still like it and it is a bit unfair of Sony to miss that out to maximise profits. For me at least though, it's not really a problem at all.

I have been debating a Spotify subscription for a while now, but my janky-arse Virgin internet is far too temperamental for me to consider paying monthly for something I won't be able to use as and when I want.

I definitely agree it's a dick move to remove the feature, though, absolutely; given that I've spent years bitching about Microsoft continually ripping features out of Windows --either for no reason at all or so they can suddenly start charging us for things that used to be free-- I don't like to see Sony, Google and numerous other companies following in their footsteps.

 

[Something Amyss]

And I saw it more a carrot and stick deal, where MS got the stick (which is what I meant by pressure) and we're waving the carrot in front of Sony.

In business, both ends are the stick. I'm not sure what you believe the carrot to be: asking nicely doesn't benefit them, and unless you can find people willing to buy a PS4 specifically for MP3 support, I'm not sure there's incentive there, either. Asking nicely is nice, but it's not a carrot. In fact, thus far you've only referenced sticks--no carrots to be found.

 

[Something Amyss]

I don't mean to single you out for this, because it's a relatively common complaint I've seen, but why do people care about this so much?

Depends, in part, on the games you're playing. A few games integrated it in a way that the songs would work like any soundtrack song and they won't interfere with dialogue--it's cool when it's part of the world.

It's also cool that they added custom soundtracks to WWE games, so that your custom characters can enter to custom songs. Whether it's some random you created, or adding in the proper theme to an wrestler not in the game officially, it's really cool to see your wrestler enter to music of your choice.

Perhaps I'm the wrong person to defend it, because those are the only examples I can think of and they don't matter that much to me. I've sort of taken to turning down the volume and listening to MP3s or YouTube content anyway. I mean, they're nice touches, but this won't stop me from buying a console or a game (though the consoles themselves have done a pretty good job).

On the other hand, it should be standard by this point. It's not so Sony and Microsoft can sell you proprietary music instead. And while again, this is not a dealbreaker, it is kind of dumb.

 

[NinthPlanet86]

I may be wrong, but I think them opting out of it is a business decision rather than a practical one. They're trying to drive people towards signing up for Music Unlimited, and the easiest way to do that is to not let them play music via any other means. I doubt the high up guys that made this anti-consumerist decision will change their minds on it, unfortunately.

I severely doubt that the Music Unlimited service will likely ever be as successful as its rivals. Yes, it's arguable that the PS3 allowed Sony to win the HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray war, but I don't think lightning will strike twice with Music Unlimited.

Again, I'm not criticising you for wanting [MP3 support on the PS4] (as others have pointed out, it seems fairly obvious the only reason Sony omitted it was to help push their own shitty music streaming service) but could you or anyone else explain to me what's so good about having MP3 playback integrated into the console?

MP3 playback (and CD playback) in the PS4 is a good idea if one wants to use the PS4 as a home entertainment system in the lounge. For those people that have a TV hooked up to a speaker system, having a device connected to said speaker system that is capable of playing music is a useful thing for, say, parties and such like.

Not only that, but the PS4 is able to act as a Blu-Ray player and, in the UK, is capable of being used for catch-up TV services on BBC iPlayer and Demand 5. A YouTube app is coming in the Autumn and support for Now TV and other services is likely in the works, so if the PS4 can be used as a video multimedia system, why not also an audio multimedia system?

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

Have you told Sony (via Twitter or whatever) that you would like these features included? I see no obvious reason why a software update to the console could not allow such things. The PS4 also doesn't play CDs, but it has hardware that is capable of so doing. If enough people share your wish to support the features you mentioned above, Sony might consider putting them in. After all, if these are features people want, then it will help them sell more consoles.

People already told Sony they want those features like just after launch and Sony commented that they didn't realize people wanted those features because they focused on just the gaming aspect for PS4, and that they are looking into adding at least MP3 and media server support. To me it was just PR speak (focused on gaming) because they just excluded software (not hardware) that they already have written and they wanted people to use the streaming services.

The PS4 is also a huge letdown; no MP3 support (thus no custom soundtracks).

I don't mean to single you out for this, because it's a relatively common complaint I've seen, but why do people care about this so much?

I have never used the MP3 support in my PS3 or 360 because when I am playing them I have my iPod or laptop plugged into a speaker next to me, and I play music through those. I can manage all the playlists I want, and quickly turn the music or podcast off if I actually need to hear what's happening in-game and, most important of all, none of that music is taking up what precious little hard drive space there is on either console.

Again, I'm not criticising you for wanting this feature (as others have pointed out, it seems fairly obvious the only reason Sony omitted it was to help push their own shitty music streaming service) but could you or anyone else explain to me what's so good about having MP3 playback integrated into the console?

Being able to have music on the PS4 hard drive does enable more than just custom soundtracks. In MLB The Show on PS3, you can create a player and he can have his own walk-up music, homerun music, etc. You can edit the whole roster so all the players have their real life walk-up music or enter music (like closers). Also, the PS4 has video editor and having music on the HD would allow you to make a montage and add music to it all on the PS4. Although the editor is kinda crappy though as it causes audio sync issues and you have to put the video on your computer and remux the video and audio to sync the audio properly.

Also, the PS3 had really good MP3 sound quality, it was right up there with (if not better than) freaking Cowon's jetAudio. And, it's just nice and simplistic to have the console playing the music with the game as my receiver can't output 2 separate inputs at the same time.

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

I can only comment from the outside, so far both of the "big two" have failed to impress me.

They both seem like really restricted PC's. I see potential, I'm far from anti-console, but they're very meh. and the lies about cloud and kinect being integral have really irked me.

aside; I've owned a 360. I currently have a PS3, Wii U in my living room and a PC in my guest bedroom. PC followed Wii U seeing the most gaming use

 

[TheMightyNaan]

I purchased the Xbox One in early February with Dead Rising 3, Ryse, FIFA 14 and Battlefield 4. Within three months I had sold it again. Honestly, it just felt like it came out 12 months too early. Dead Rising 3 was...okay, it was pretty bland looking and was at odds with itself (the gritty realism didn't quite gel with the dildo launcher if I'm honest) Ryse was just one long quick-time event, in fact the only game I actually enjoyed when I first got the One was FIFA which was super fun, and Battlefield..well, the less said the better.

I held out until Titanfall and whilst that was pretty good, it didn't justify the £450 I spent on the console, and that stupid bloody Kinect, what a waste of time.

End of the day it was my fault as I'd heard the Xbox One was a bit naff, but to be honest the PS4 has fuck all games out at the moment anyway. I'll stick with the 360 and PC for a few months yet I think.