Anyone else think this is great idea in numerous ways .......

[Jimmyd71]

Guys has anyone seen this?
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/olive-one-all-in-one-home-music-player-designed-by-you?website_name=OliveONEGreat design, and great idea about crowd sourcing and Involving everyone to design the unit. Great bit of design, innovative approach to designing and funding... About time some other main-stream hifi manufactures approached development like this...What does anyone else think ? (I have to admit i just placed my order, hope its as good as it sounds, and olive seem to have good track record and to be honest I thought what the hell $400 if it encourages more collaborative design and development, then not a bad bit of social investment )RgdsJ.

 

[BigH]

Yes I have seen them advertised but they are not out yet and from earlier products I would wait and see, I think you are mad paying them money.

 

[Jimmyd71]

So why did I tak the risk ?

calculated:

olive product have had very good previous reviews (not sure about Bigh response there)

The retail price will be x2 so a good saving

But on a more radical and important angle: new innovative products since the "credit crunch" are a bit thin in the ground. Why? Simple investing cash is a risk, and when cash is short no one takes a big risk, yet to survive in business you have to take risks. Thus olives unique approach to both fund and also gauge market requirements and potential will in theory enable them to move forward with lower risk.

Mean while all those British companies which bleat "no one invests money in our ideas..blah blah" may learn that this is great way to co-fund future products and also commercial development with lower risk.

What's the benefit to the consumer ? Well we get new products and less "oh why didn't they add..." and my hope, If olive is successful Witt the approach then maybe a uk company will do the same and at the end of they day we are investing our own future jobs! The banks aren't lending money so maybe this is a great way forward....

As they say "do or die" just look at the British hifi companies which survived by developing new ideas, ask Cyrus how much it cost to develop the servo cd ? Risk spread accross many people is a great thing.....

 

[BenLaw]

What is your current setup?

 

[Paul.]

Not for me. I think a streamer should be a visually quite little box which hides out of the way, with the interface built in to a tablet. I think its hilarious in the video when that kid stands up to change the music! Its like designing a digital camera and not fitting a screen on the back! Im sure there will be companion apps for smart phones and tabs etc, but then that defeats the point of having an interface in the device itself?

 

[visionary]

There was another thread about this in January

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/network-players/the-new-olive-one-has-anybody-heard-it

so you're not the only one to send them funds

 

[steve_1979]

It looks smart. Although the horizontal screen may not be for everyone.

 

[Jimmyd71]

Ah but I don't want to always be using my tablet or ipod for music, so I wanted a nicely designed in-situ unit which was nice and easy to use and looks good and link it to my other kit (in the living room which has stricts laws from my partner) .

Someone asked what other kit... Umm where do I start (too much I think)

For style (rather than sound quality - which keeps the other half happy) beolab 8002 linked to appletv and bel canto 1.5dac

In my "den"above the garage : rogue audio Cronus valve amp (sadly not the magnum) bel canto dac v2.5 and a set of musical fidelity x50 mono blocks, jr149 speakers and a set of atc7. Oh and there's a couple of items in boxes Roth audio mc1, zeppelin mini. Oh iPad 3 32gb and iPod touch 64gb.

Im on the look out for an audio innovations L1 per amp if any one has one......

And if I had money to burn ( no jokes about the olive please ;-) ) I'd have a linn klimax setup.........

 

[BigH]

It looks quite smart I must admit.

"olive product have had very good previous reviews (not sure about Bigh response there)"

You obviously did not see the problems people had with earlier products. Maybe you should look at "Your opinions" under the
Olive 4HD review on this site, over £2,000 and it does not work and UK problems also.

Yes good way for company to get money (free), what happens if product does not come to market or company goes bankrupt?

Not sure what it says about a company sounds very american to me, what would think if Naim started asking for money, well I would think they are in trouble, probably are.

 

[jjbomber]

There was another thread about this in January

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/network-players/the-new-olive-one-has-anybody-heard-it

so you're not the only one to send them funds

Or the same person under a new name :shifty:

 

[Jimmyd71]

Ah but I don't want to always be using my tablet or ipod for music, so I wanted a nicely designed in-situ unit which was nice and easy to use and looks good and link it to my other kit (in the living room which has stricts laws from my partner) .

Someone asked what other kit... Umm where do I start (too much I think)

For style (rather than sound quality - which keeps the other half happy) beolab 8002 linked to appletv and bel canto 1.5dac

In my "den"above the garage : rogue audio Cronus valve amp (sadly not the magnum) bel canto dac v2.5 and a set of musical fidelity x50 mono blocks, jr149 speakers and a set of atc7. Oh and there's a couple of items in boxes Roth audio mc1, zeppelin mini. Oh iPad 3 32gb and iPod touch 64gb.

Im on the look out for an audio innovations L1 pre amp if any one has one......

And if I had money to burn ( no jokes about the olive please ;-) ) I'd have a linn klimax setup.........

 

[Jimmyd71]

:wave: Sadly not mr bomber - a very different person and this is my first post on the board.

I sense some cynical egos on the board already... Looks like its going to fun with some people... :wave:

 

[Jimmyd71]

Well if they go "belly up" good job I paid with credit card - your covered for full refund.

Given they get 500k block amount which is a quicker cash injection than trying to wait for reviews, then 60 days from distributor etc...... Fairly good cash management idea - and as anyone with business knowledge knows cash management Is the killer.

Did you know march is one the worst times for a hifi retailers and looking at the state of the uk retail economy I'm not sure I'd trust your friendly local retailer to be trading in 2 months time ......



And if the product doesn't come to market they don't get the crowd-source cash..... I think its a new concept in the uk.

 

[Jimmyd71]

Ah yes Naim very good point, isn't that naim which recently merged, or should I say got acquired by a certain French company (remembering that there no such thing as a merger of equals in business) should be good to see how long they keep uk jobs, as the French are not known for their Focal nationalist tendency ( sorry i meant "vocal") - are they :rofl:

 

[andyjm]

Guys has anyone seen this?
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/olive-one-all-in-one-home-music-player-designed-by-you?website_name=OliveONEGreat design, and great idea about crowd sourcing and Involving everyone to design the unit. Great bit of design, innovative approach to designing and funding... About time some other main-stream hifi manufactures approached development like this...What does anyone else think ? (I have to admit i just placed my order, hope its as good as it sounds, and olive seem to have good track record and to be honest I thought what the hell $400 if it encourages more collaborative design and development, then not a bad bit of social investment )RgdsJ.

Hmmn. While it is some time ago (2005/6), the SlimDevices 'Transporter' was designed primarily by the participants on the SlimDevices forum. Functionality, connectivity, front panel layout, internal design was thrashed out online between Sean Adams (SlimDevices designer) and the forum. The software underlying the product was open source, and many forum participants contributed. Goes to show there is nothing new under the sun......

 

[Native_bon]

At least give the product a chance first before trying to bring it down.. Olive knows the risk invloved in doing this. Seems like a nice product to me. Die hard audiophiles please give the future a chance. Its all about choice.

 

[nopiano]

I hope it is a success but it takes some courage to send money overseas on a promise.

Olive have had some good reviews and I was fleetingly attracted to an 04HD but was bothered by the proprietary storage and reports of mixed reliability.