AMAZING. ORIGINAL. BRILLIANT. REVOLUTIONARY. INSANE. MARVELLOUS. IMPRESSIVE. BUT NOT SURPRISING. IT'S OAKLEY. hehehe seriously, that's quite something ! Please Oakley put those bad boys for sale soon !
I would question the tech involved. Can they take flash memory or are they loaded into built in memory via a USB or Firewire cable? How about the ear bud, flexable stem? Is it on both sides? Is the entire unit the headpiece or just earphones and plug into a small unit made by oakley or universal players -archos, rio, iPod?
Interesting though, they look like Half Jackets with sharper Scar styled earstems.
Phil Barket (kingphilbert - 7/12/2004 4:22:35 PM)
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I think ideally, they should be internal memory since most of the popular media formats just aren't that small and slender for an ear stem. If that's not the case, than maybe they could act like headphones. But then why not just wear headphones that cost $2, and can be replaced if needed.
Dann Thombs (Dann - 7/12/2004 4:45:44 PM)
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Nice find. Wow, that's a chunk of change though. But of course I'll still try to get one. The Rio MP3 players were up there in price though when they first came out, and they only had 32mb of memory. Still pretty sweet though.
Dann Thombs (Dann - 7/12/2004 6:36:30 PM)
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That's more expensive than the Apple iPod. It's great that they will be available from Circuit City though. Everyone should have one close to go check them out.
Phil Barket (kingphilbert - 7/12/2004 9:19:30 PM)
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Shave about a $100 (best case) for the half jacket design, and you're left with a $300-400 MP3 player. Not totally unreasonable, but I think a $200-300 price tag would get a better response if they could have pulled that off.
Dann Thombs (Dann - 7/13/2004 9:29:21 AM)
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An RCA Lyra with 128mb is only $100. My Archos Jukebox was $250 for 20gigs. The iPod mini is $250 for 4gigs. Thump is awesome looking and it's great being woven into the frame but still seems an ultimately high price to me. Don't get me wrong, it's one of the coolest things I have ever seen and I will check it out, I just don't think I would buy one.
Phil Barket (kingphilbert - 7/13/2004 10:08:12 AM)
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I haven't kept up on my MP3 player prices since they first came out. I'm leaning more towards not bothering now. Plus part of the reason that I justify the Oakley prices, is the fact that they will last forever if taken care of. This model will surely become outdated I imagine.
Dann Thombs (Dann - 7/13/2004 10:23:19 AM)
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Oakley THUMP - anyone think name is a prime candidate for Stupid name of the year award? And does anyone else think the 256 mb is way overpriced - 500 dollars? YOu can get like a portable video player for that much - or a high end PDA or a nice digital camera? How the hell is anyone gonna justify a crappy 256 mb for 500 dollars? The frame sure does'nt look like their top of the line to me.......what do you guys say?
Tre Go (trego33 - 7/13/2004 2:44:33 PM)
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I only keep up with the prices because I have too many friends who keep comparing my Archos and two of my other friends iPods.
Note to all, iPods are not that great. Yes, they have many features and a few upsides, but between those two fore mentioned friends in 1 years time they have had 5 iPods between them due to breakage or system failure.
I can see the Thump going for a year then a new style showing up utilizing some newer technology. I am going to be very intersted to see how well it performs sales wise. That and what color combos will be offered. : ) At least it can provide enough memory space for a workout, hike, ride or trip to the park. Kinda useless in car, but possibly great for motorcycles. A few albums worth of space.
Phil Barket (kingphilbert - 7/13/2004 2:47:29 PM)
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I think it would've been cooler if there was a digital readout in the lens :) So you can see the track detail in the corner of your eye or something, then maybe i'd spend that much for these guys
i think it's a great idea; integrating eyewear with audio equipment, but the asking price for the Thump is too high. shave off $100 for each model and i might try out the lower 128 mb version. also, the design doesn't really strike me as eyecatching, something of a rarity for Oakley. to me, the design seems too generic. i think i'll wait for the next generation for the technology to trickle down. i'll definately try it out at CircuitCity though...
about the Apple iPod, i treat it the same way i treat my Oakleys, with obsessive care. i bought the first generation iPod back in 2001 and it still works like new. i've never had any system failure of any kind, my battery still works like a charm despite all the criticism, and only had to reset it twice throughout my ownership.
W.B. Ng (bong - 7/21/2004 12:50:01 AM)
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Cool idea, but I'd much rather see Oakley somehow implement a MP3 device into a X-metal design, sorta like the Romeo's in Mission Impossible 2. Man, the thought of MP3-Juliets would make me drool :D
Leo Wong (DarkGrieverX - 7/21/2004 2:18:33 AM)
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Then we're talking $600-$700. Ouch. Still would be cool though, but I'm sure the circuitry needs some room, and X-metal's would just be too heavy to surround all that, not to mention the complexties of creating a concave titanium piece. They did it for the Time Bomb, but the price matches I guess.
Dann Thombs (Dann - 7/21/2004 9:53:58 AM)
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