It has begun: Ipod vs PSP (Cnet). With a tiny dig at the DS

DavidDayton said:
The funny thing is that that Play-Yan thing has the potential to be bigger than the iPod, PSP, or standard flash MP3 devices ... assuming Nintendo actually tried to market it.
The End said:

Hey, it does have the potential to be a much bigger seller than the iPod or PSP. It won't though, because Nintendo won't market it. "Portable video and music" for just $30-$40 sounds impressive, especially given the form factor of the SP.
 
Insertia said:
You Ipod drones have a difficult time grasping something; most consumers don't need or care for 20/40 gigabytes of memory. Just being able to store an entire cd worth of music on something the size of a stick of gum is enough for most. I've been using a 128mb mp3 flash based player for two years and its been more then sufficient.
Going up to an entire gigabyte of memory with PSP will be more then enough for me. Considering PSP’s other features I’ll glady take it over an Ipod any day.

I don't know about the general populace, but it's enough for me. Buying an iPod last year was overkill. As of right now I have 1 album, and 1 selection of various tracks on my PSP. I'm more than happy with that. For the avid music fan it won't work, but for the casual music fan its great...especially since you can have so many media features in one device wherever you go.
 
Insertia said:
You Ipod drones have a difficult time grasping something; most consumers don't need or care for 20/40 gigabytes of memory. Just being able to store an entire cd worth of music on something the size of a stick of gum is enough for most. I've been using a 128mb mp3 flash based player for two years and its been more then sufficient.
Going up to an entire gigabyte of memory with PSP will be more then enough for me. Considering PSP’s other features I’ll glady take it over an Ipod any day.
Most consumers are probably content playing Tetris and Pokemon for handheld games though... obviously there's still a sizable market for PSP despite that. iPod trounces PSP for music storage, just accept it and move on.
 
DavidDayton said:
Hey, it does have the potential to be a much bigger seller than the iPod or PSP. It won't though, because Nintendo won't market it. "Portable video and music" for just $30-$40 sounds impressive, especially given the form factor of the SP.

Do you seriously think that the SP or DS would make good media players? Even with the cheap price, if the quality is garbage people won't care.
 
The CNet article is flat-out dumb.

The bottom line is that a huge percentage of people who buy iPods have exactly ZERO interest in playing any kind of complex game on the go. If music is your primary use for a particular portable device, then the PSP is not going to be serious competition: the form factor is much larger than an iPod or other portable MP3 player, the storage is far less than a HDD-based player, and the price is higher than several flash-based players.

On the other hand, the PSP is a wonderful gaming system which just so happens to offer MP3 playback as an extra feature. If you want a portable gaming machine, it's an outstanding choice.

I also agree 100% with xsarien's statement: To this point, convergence devices are a huge disappointment because they fail to excel at anything but their primary function...and many times, disappoint in ALL of their functions because of the compromises required to squeeze in all those features. Give me a bunch of small, capable, single-purpose devices any day.
 
Insertia said:
You Ipod drones have a difficult time grasping something; most consumers don't need or care for 20/40 gigabytes of memory. Just being able to store an entire cd worth of music on something the size of a stick of gum is enough for most. I've been using a 128mb mp3 flash based player for two years and its been more then sufficient.
Going up to an entire gigabyte of memory with PSP will be more then enough for me. Considering PSP’s other features I’ll glady take it over an Ipod any day.

And you don't seem to be grasping that non-gamers are VERY unlikely to ever even consider buying a PSP. It's a gaming device, and it will be marketed as such.

The other problem with your argument is that not all iPods have 20-40GB of memory. You can get 512MB, 1GB, 4GB, 20GB, 40GB or 60GB, all with varying features and capablities, each model targeting different segments of the market and ranging in price from $99 to $599. It's a complete line of products, not the niche product you paint it to be.

Don't get me wrong. PSP's a great device and is going to sell millions. But I just don't see non-gamers considering it as a music player.
 
iPod trounces PSP for music storage, just accept it and move on.

iPod trounces PSP when it comes to media storage capacity while PSP trounces iPod on all other functions. :P

They are different markets, though, and they each have their place.
 
Insertia said:
You Ipod drones have a difficult time grasping something; most consumers don't need or care for 20/40 gigabytes of memory. Just being able to store an entire cd worth of music on something the size of a stick of gum is enough for most. I've been using a 128mb mp3 flash based player for two years and its been more then sufficient.
Going up to an entire gigabyte of memory with PSP will be more then enough for me. Considering PSP’s other features I’ll gladly take it over an Ipod any day.

I totally agree with you. I have a Jens of Sweden 256MB memory mp3 player, and it's enough for me. It's very very tiny, and when I get bored of the music I just swap it in a few seconds. I don't need 40 gig music at once.

mp400_all_colours.jpg
 
The PSP isn't as good a music player as an iPod, but it doesn't need to be. Most consumers aren't going to carry around a portable music player AND a portable game player if they want the functionality of both. The PSP is a great portable gaming system and a functional portable music system, while the iPod is a great portable music system that doesn't play games at all. If you're only going to use a single portable entertainment device, the PSP is a better value, unless all you care about is music, and that's not the market Sony is aiming for with the PSP.
 
Insertia said:
You Ipod drones have a difficult time grasping something; most consumers don't need or care for 20/40 gigabytes of memory.

If we're going exclusively by what most consumers want, then apparently "an iPod" is the correct answer.
 
SteveMeister said:
And you don't seem to be grasping that non-gamers are VERY unlikely to ever even consider buying a PSP. It's a gaming device, and it will be marketed as such.

The other problem with your argument is that not all iPods have 20-40GB of memory. You can get 512MB, 1GB, 4GB, 20GB, 40GB or 60GB, all with varying features and capablities, each model targeting different segments of the market and ranging in price from $99 to $599. It's a complete line of products, not the niche product you paint it to be.

Don't get me wrong. PSP's a great device and is going to sell millions. But I just don't see non-gamers considering it as a music player.
Great minds think alike. ;)
 
-jinx- said:
The CNet article is flat-out dumb.

The bottom line is that a huge percentage of people who buy iPods have exactly ZERO interest in playing any kind of complex game on the go. If music is your primary use for a particular portable device, then the PSP is not going to be serious competition: the form factor is much larger than an iPod or other portable MP3 player, the storage is far less than a HDD-based player, and the price is higher than several flash-based players.

On the other hand, the PSP is a wonderful gaming system which just so happens to offer MP3 playback as an extra feature. If you want a portable gaming machine, it's an outstanding choice.

I also agree 100% with xsarien's statement: To this point, convergence devices are a huge disappointment because they fail to excel at anything but their primary function...and many times, disappoint in ALL of their functions because of the compromises required to squeeze in all those features. Give me a bunch of small, capable, single-purpose devices any day.

I agree with your first point. But PSP as a convergence device is pretty well made, even though it lacks in the storage department (due to the Duo), the quality of its other media functions are great...that really helps eliviate some of its shortcomings. For me, I'd rather have a PSP on me than a PSP, iPod and Media player. PSP does the functions of the latter, the only downside is the storage capacity, but Im sure for many (including me) its not that large of an issue as some are making it out to be.
 
jedimike said:
Fair enough... I never really had a need for a portable MP3 player, but I can understand where a certain percentage of people would want that. I also understand that there is a percentage who would sacrifice some storage for the ability to play games. I don't think Ipod and PSP are competing for the exact same market, but I definitely believe PSP will cut into Ipod sales.

They dont make up for one or the other. They are different devices.

PSP's competion is GameBoy. The features on the PSP give it extra value. Its obvously stuff the next gen GB will have and very likely improve on.

Insertia said:
Seriously:

PSP+1 gig of memory>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Ipod.

When Ipod allows me to play games, watch video, stock photos and store mp3s, with its built in 40gig hdd then it'll have an edge over psp.

As of now, there is absolutely no reason for me to choose an ipod over psp.

By that logic you should be buying a phone as they are the ultimate covergence devices. You do WAY more on your phone than anything and with cheaper memory and lots of software choice.

Multifunction phones are growing at a frightening pace, camera phones i think contributed to massive sales increases despite being initially crap. Now things like camera in phones or internet are taken for granted. The only possible competition Ipod will have in the Future is from HD phones competing in the 'lower' size segments. Then again Apple have already made deals with companies like Motorola for Itunes etc. So it should be very very interesting.
 
Come now, let's look at this reasonbly.

For $300 you can get a 20GB iPod, which we all know it does.

For $300 you can get a PSP Value pack which includes a 32MB stick, and a game or another 128MB stick. If you opt for the game then you'd be able to store about 30 minutes of music and like 3 minutes of video. If you opt for the 128MB stick then you'll get about 2 hours of music and 12 minutes of video. I think both of these are inadequate for their uses.

So with the PSP you'll want to get a much larger stick, let's say 1GB, which will bring you to about $400 (250 + 150). Now, depending on what you want to do, that'll give you about 15h of music and an adequate amount of video. Now for a decent amount of music selection you're looking at 512MB. That leaves 512MB for movies, don't really know how much that'll be (1 or 2 hours?) Which may be decent.

All these things considered, the PSP is a damn nice device, but it's really not in the same market as the iPod at all in terms of the music department. It provides about 30% of the functionality of an iPod in that respect. Of course the iPod has only about 10% functionality for movies (it can store them, but no playback). So in terms of pure functionality, at $300 iPod wins out. At $400 PSP wins out, but at $100 more, and that's not even including the price (or functionality of games).

So the obvious conclusion comes down to whatever it is you plan on doing with the device. If you want to talk about THE MAINSTREAM then you have to look at what THE MAINSTREAM want, which is difficult to say the least. The great thing about portable music players is that they're applicable EVERYWHERE in life. Throughout my entire day I can listen to my music, whereas gaming/movies are far more intrusive and mutually exclusive to many other activities in my day. In fact I can only play games for about 3h out of my day and that's because I have a 1 hour commute each way. Just remember that out of the 120 million people who drive to work everyday, 102 million of them are driving alone. So that takes out the commuting aspect of the equation for a lot of people. So that really leaves lunch-time for most people, who I think would rather enjoy the company of others. At home people are going to use their computers/tvs.

I'm not saying that the PSP is useless, I think it's an AWESOME device on par with the iPod and that's about it. The PSP will take away marketshare, but it won't dethrone the iPod. The market for protable video players is small, and the market for portable game player that appeals to older (WORKING) audience is totally unknown at this point. It could be totally huge though...
 
xsarien said:
If we're going exclusively by what most consumers want, then apparently "an iPod" is the correct answer.

That has more to do with marketing than anything. See the shuffle, better flash players out there but the shuffle will handily outsell them all.
 
dark10x said:
iPod trounces PSP when it comes to media storage capacity while PSP trounces iPod on all other functions. :P
Sure, but then PSP is a gameplayer with bonus MPEG4/JPEG/MP3 media functions while iPod is pretty much just an MP3 player (excepting the iPod photo). Someone looking for the better music solution will likely opt for the latter.
 
Pedigree Chum said:
Do you seriously think that the SP or DS would make good media players? Even with the cheap price, if the quality is garbage people won't care.
MP3 playback is suppossedly pretty good, though MPEG4 is obviously limited by the screen here. I'd say a GBASP+Play Yan is likely a better music solution than PSP thanks to the much more compact formfactor and cheaper media.
 
Insertia said:
You Ipod drones have a difficult time grasping something; most consumers don't need or care for 20/40 gigabytes of memory. Just being able to store an entire cd worth of music on something the size of a stick of gum is enough for most. I've been using a 128mb mp3 flash based player for two years and its been more then sufficient.
Going up to an entire gigabyte of memory with PSP will be more then enough for me. Considering PSP’s other features I’ll gladly take it over an Ipod any day.

You are flat out wrong.

http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/Microsoft-Leads-Charge-in-Competing-with-Apples-iPod-40346.html
Market Share

These range from the firms being coordinated by software giant Microsoft, like Creative, iRiver, Dell, Samsung and Archos, to famous names like Sony and Philips, who are also taking up the Apple challenge, although with limited success to date.

In the United States, iPod's market share climbed within the year from 31 to 65 percent, while the competition saw their joint share in hard-drive players fall from 7 to 6 percent. And the market for flash players halved from 62 to 29 percent.

Over HALF (nearly two-thirds) of all mp3 players on the market right now are iPods or iPod minis. That includes FLASH players. (Other HD based ones make up 6%) That doesn't even include the iPod shuffle which is selling like crazy. Methinks you just have Apple-angst.

Most consumers DO want more than 128MB, smart guy. Before you bitch about it being in the US only, watch this video.

And to jarrod.
(The advantage the DS/SP have to play video over the PSP is that the screen can prop itself up, so you don't need to hold it. Imagine leaving it on the tray in an airplane.
 
Don't get me wrong, the iPod is great, but the PSP is about to show that the iPod is played out in its current form. Apple can make some tweaks to the iPod's design, it can strip out features and make a flash player (the Shuffle), but as a music player, it's basically cooked, there isn't really anywhere to go except down in price.

If I'm looking for a pure music player, I'd have to be retard to pick up a PSP over an iPod Shuffle.
 
M3wThr33 said:
You are flat out wrong.

http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/Microsoft-Leads-Charge-in-Competing-with-Apples-iPod-40346.html


Over HALF (nearly two-thirds) of all mp3 players on the market right now are iPods or iPod minis. That includes FLASH players. (Other HD based ones make up 6%) That doesn't even include the iPod shuffle which is selling like crazy. Methinks you just have Apple-angst.

Most consumers DO want more than 128MB, smart guy. Before you bitch about it being in the US only, watch this video.

And to jarrod.
(The advantage the DS/SP have to play video over the PSP is that the screen can prop itself up, so you don't need to hold it. Imagine leaving it on the tray in an airplane.

Or maby people just want an iPod cause it's the cool thing to have? Watch the sales of the Shuffle, it will prove you wrong.
 
Foobar said:
If I'm looking for a pure music player, I'd have to be retard to pick up a PSP over an iPod Shuffle.

You'd be a "retard" either way. :P The shuffle is one piece of hardware that's hard to defend. It's making fools out of consumers...
 
Pedigree Chum said:
Or maby people just want an iPod cause it's the cool thing to have? Watch the sales of the Shuffle, it will prove you wrong.
A majority of the market wants bigger players. Over 50% is a majority. The iPod shuffle will capture anyone who thinks otherwise, but the fact wil remain that measuring mp3 players in GBs is what consumers prefer.

You'd be a "retard" either way. :P The shuffle is one piece of hardware that's hard to defend. It's making fools out of consumers...
People said the exact same thing about the original iPod and iPod mini. EXACTLY.

And they still sold 8.2 million players last year.
 
Pedigree Chum said:
That has more to do with marketing than anything. See the shuffle, better flash players out there but the shuffle will handily outsell them all.

Why they want it is somewhat irrelevant. :P
 
dark10x said:
You'd be a "retard" either way. :P The shuffle is one piece of hardware that's hard to defend. It's making fools out of consumers...
How exactly is it "making fools out of consumers?" I've read that several times, and have NO idea what you mean.
 
Shuffle is the first to be pushed ina large way. Most flash players dont even have any push behind them. Its not that far from USB pen drives. People just get any. Its obvoius Shuffle is going to be a success.

You'd be a "retard" either way. :P The shuffle is one piece of hardware that's hard to defend. It's making fools out of consumers...

How is it making fools by adding a powerful brand with a psuh to promote the product? How many people know model names of flash players?
 
-jinx- said:
How exactly is it "making fools out of consumers?" I've read that several times, and have NO idea what you mean.
I assume he means that advertising a lack of a screen as a feature is the opposite of what should happen.
Personally I never used the screen on my Rio PMP300. I completely see the attraction of the shuffle.
 
$300 will net you a PSP and a 512MB memory stick duo. Not a 128MB duo. It'll be about 310.

When I think about PSP and memory stick duo prices, I'm thinking long term. PSP should help drive memory stick duo prices down big time.
 
The majority of consumers *in the US* buy iPods. Thats not the global market.

I'll agree that in the US, Gigs counts. I would debate whether they are actually needed, or just desired, but consumer demand is there. Outside of the US, Europe is catching on to iPods, but size isn't king just yet. In APAC, physical size is important and flash players are big.

Research shows 1000-1500 songs is plenty - there is a reason the ipod mini is out there. But some people feel good with a huge HDD in their pocket, and some can actually fill it up with P2P stuff.

I don't think anyone is saying the music capabilities of PSP will stop a music fan from buying an iPod, but it is likely to either add that little extra to sway someone into buying a PSP, or just take enough edge off iPod/flash players to stop casual users.
 
You Ipod drones have a difficult time grasping something; most consumers don't need or care for 20/40 gigabytes of memory. Just being able to store an entire cd worth of music on something the size of a stick of gum is enough for most. I've been using a 128mb mp3 flash based player for two years and its been more then sufficient.

Quite possibly the dumbest thing I have ever read on this forum.

CNet has a decided anti Mac bias. The commentator made his clear when he said the mac mini was overhyped. What the hell does that have to do with the PSP and iPod?
 
Why is this argument continuing? This is pretty easy to figure out. The iPod, is by far, the better audio player when you break it down on all it's features, storage, interface, etc. Period. On the other hand, the PSP is by far the better multi-media device when you realize that it plays games (it's primary function after all), video, music, and displays photos. Period.

They are two different devices, aimed at two different crowds. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone who doesn't like music of some kind, thus the iPod will appeal to them, and the mainstream as a whole. There are plenty of people who have no interest in games and would never buy a PSP no matter what other features it has. That's just reality. There doesn't need to be an iPod rules, PSP sucks or vice versa argument when ever these two devices are compared. They're just different products.
 
Kung Fu Jedi said:
Why is this argument continuing? This is pretty easy to figure out. The iPod, is by far, the better audio player when you break it down on all it's features, storage, interface, etc. Period. On the other hand, the PSP is by far the better multi-media device when you realize that it plays games (it's primary function after all), video, music, and displays photos. Period.

They are two different devices, aimed at two different crowds. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone who doesn't like music of some kind, thus the iPod will appeal to them, and the mainstream as a whole. There are plenty of people who have no interest in games and would never buy a PSP no matter what other features it has. That's just reality. There doesn't need to be an iPod rules, PSP sucks or vice versa argument when ever these two devices are compared. They're just different products.

Yes.
 
What's most am,azing to me is people telling me that there's no need for more than a GB (or even less!) music on a poratble.

TO all of them I say-- speak for your-fucking-self. I love having a ton of music on hand at any time, and not have to reload my player to get it. It's awesome! And I suspect a lot more people would opt for having all (or most) of their music with them too, if it could be done cheaply and in a small package. And these things are getting smaller and cheaper all the time. When iPOds were $500 for 10GB (or thereabouts) I would never have bought one, but once an affordable 30GB player showed up I ditched my ohter portable music solutions and never looked back.

PSP can't do that, and a lot of cheaper players can and are.

THat said, I'm all over a PSP when it comes out. For games, naturally. And maybe movies/comics down the road, but that comes later.
 
No No No! Don't start getting reasonable now, fellas! It's the battle of the Company Savior vs. the Company Savior and we ain't leaving this arena until one of them is dead!
 
Kung Fu Jedi said:
Why is this argument continuing? This is pretty easy to figure out. The iPod, is by far, the better audio player when you break it down on all it's features, storage, interface, etc. Period. On the other hand, the PSP is by far the better multi-media device when you realize that it plays games (it's primary function after all), video, music, and displays photos. Period.


Agreed.
 
dark10x said:
Yeah, but it's a shame it didn't show up on PSP. It could have been absolutely stunning...

:drool:

Hell, it could have been stunning on the DS. I'm not sure what's the deal with Castlevania DS's graphics, unless they are intentionally making it look like the GBA games to attract fans of those games. The DS is certainly capable of more impressive stuff.
 
rastex said:
The PSP will take away marketshare, but it won't dethrone the iPod. The market for protable video players is small, and the market for portable game player that appeals to older (WORKING) audience is totally unknown at this point. It could be totally huge though...

You were doing so great up until this point! I know it's customary to concede a little to the other side whenever you take a hard line on an issue that's being contended, but I really think we have to draw the line.

All Sony wants us to do is consider their PSP as being in the same "market" as iPod. And it is, in the sense that both will be available for purchase in a bazaar like Best Buy, but the closest we can zoom in on the microeconomy of electronics and still hold onto both products in our scope is "gadgets." Nothing more. The PSP is not a true convergance device that's designed to compete with the iPod technically, because it will fail to attract non-gamers (gamers being a slender subset) to itself.

It won't expand any market at all outside the "portable gaming" one, and even then--do you think the PSP is going to turn a single non-gamer into a gamer? Or convince a non-gamer to buy the device and only use it for non-gaming? That's why this argument from Sony has been complete horseshit from the start. And exactly why all you Soniphiles should be ashamed of your eagerness to perpetuate the 'multi-function' myths that Sony talks up about each of its consoles (PSX-CD, PS2-DVD, PSP-UMD).

No, the PSP won't cut into the portable digital audio marketshare of the iPod at all, because it doesn't belong on the same fucking pie chart. If you disagree, please tell me why.
 
Juice said:
You were doing so great up until this point! I know it's customary to concede a little to the other side whenever you take a hard line on an issue that's being contended, but I really think we have to draw the line.

All Sony wants us to do is consider their PSP as being in the same "market" as iPod. And it is, in the sense that both will be available for purchase in a bazaar like Best Buy, but the closest we can zoom in on the microeconomy of electronics and still hold onto both products in our scope is "gadgets." Nothing more. The PSP is not a true convergance device that's designed to compete with the iPod technically, because it will fail to attract non-gamers (gamers being a slender subset) to itself.

It won't expand any market at all outside the "portable gaming" one, and even then--do you think the PSP is going to turn a single non-gamer into a gamer? Or convince a non-gamer to buy the device and only use it for non-gaming? That's why this argument from Sony has been complete horseshit from the start. And exactly why all you Soniphiles should be ashamed of your eagerness to perpetuate the 'multi-function' myths that Sony talks up about each of its consoles (PSX-CD, PS2-DVD, PSP-UMD).

No, the PSP won't cut into the portable digital audio marketshare of the iPod at all, because it doesn't belong on the same fucking pie chart. If you disagree, please tell me why.


It'll cut into the sales of the iPod, but not in the way that you think.

Example: My father offered to buy me an iPod for christmas, but i declined, because i already had a PSP on the way. For those of us that are buying the PSP for it's gaming prowess first, the music functionality is good enough to prevent us from buying a dedicated music player.
 
The End said:
It'll cut into the sales of the iPod, but not in the way that you think.

Example: My father offered to buy me an iPod for christmas, but i declined, because i already had a PSP on the way. For those of us that are buying the PSP for it's gaming prowess first, the music functionality is good enough to prevent us from buying a dedicated music player.

Oh, I'm not saying that won't happen, because it will. But it won't be so significant that we couldn't get off calling it a peripheral effect on the music player market.

I mean, sure, if every car sold today came with free XM or Sirius radio, iPod sales would go down because they'd be a little less necessary for a few people. But when we talked about the music player industry, we wouldn't make room for mentioning Ford.
 
Juice said:
And exactly why all you Soniphiles should be ashamed of your eagerness to perpetuate the 'multi-function' myths that Sony talks up about each of its consoles (PSX-CD, PS2-DVD, PSP-UMD).
More than anyone right now, it's owners of the PSP who have had serious hands-on time with it that are perpetuating the 'myth' based on their experience.
 
Juice said:
Oh, I'm not saying that won't happen, because it will. But it won't be so significant that we couldn't get off calling it a peripheral effect on the music player market.

I mean, sure, if every car sold today came with free XM or Sirius radio, iPod sales would go down because they'd be a little less necessary for a few people. But when we talked about the music player industry, we wouldn't make room for mentioning Ford.
In that same vein, buying a car detracts from the need to buy a house.
 
Axsider said:
If I have a PSP, I don't need a iPod (I rather buy a bigger memory stick than a iPod) I can play my mp3s on my PSP. If I got a iPod (and no PSP), I still want to have PSP for the games and stuff. So, I have to buy a PSP.
Well:
PSP = no iPod
iPod = I still need/want a PSP
Yeah, I was thinking about an iPod, but I'll probably get a PSP instead. Since I'm mainly into gaming and only a light music listener on the go.

Anyone know if the PSP will be able to play simple movie files (like avi's) off the memory stick?
 
Unless the PSP is released with proper, easy music/video tools comparable to iTunes, it will never be a massmarket media device.
 
Yes competition hopefully Apple lifts it's games. With Sony as a true competitor hopefully Apple decides to implement some more features as well as a better amp.

The only thing Sony needs is pirated games so the pirated games + pirated music + pirated movies > iPods pirated music factor. :lol
 
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