Dreamcast VMU MP3 & Zip Drive Found this little picture whilst going through old Edge mags for Xbox pics. Again, Sega being too far ahead of their time. I think this would have done well, had it offered a decent service and speedy downloads. So, anyone know if these were actually working units? How far did Sega get with the DC/online software for them? And does anyone have one? I also found a lovely pic of the DC Zip drive too.
Aw, that would have been sweet. I wonder how hard it would be to actually make one (though you wouldn't have that much space).
yup, they did have prototypes around. It only had 32mb on board (the prototype). IT was nothign more than an mp3 player that version that was shown. The concept was that you would be able to download the music to the player over the web on your DC.
Man, I had compeltly forgotten about that. Saw it at E3 in 2000, along with a Dreamcast compatible DVD player (it literally just looked like a standalone DVD machine, not like a DC at all). Seemed a very cool idea for the VMU MP3 player at the time I remember thinking, but alas, ahead of its time due to miniscule storage, and the DC's failure. In fact, this problem has always seemed to plague Sega, they had great idea's that just weren't realisable/feasible/affordable at the time they were developed. Things like Sega Channel, Saturn NetLink, SegaNet show me that Sega knew how big and great online gaming would be, as well as being able to download content. Also, MP3 compatability with consoles which is only know being fully realised with the Xbox 360. In fact, it has seemes to me that, as much as some hate it, the Xbox 360 seems to be at least the 'spiritual' succesor to the Dreamcast, or at least Sega's way of thinking, where online is key, you have removable storage (the i'll fated zip drive), and MP3 (one wonders if any games would have supported the device for replacment of ingame music - which all 360 games do) Sorry for the rant It's just somthing I had been thinking about. If Dreamcast hadn't failed, and Sega had made another console, I could see it being the Xbox 360 ...
Here's a good site that shows pics of some of the devices (ie: DVD add-on) that have been mentioned in this thread: http://www.sega-dc.de/hardware_nozubehor.htm
Damn, you mean these things weren't released? I've got one in my closet... not particularly usefull as i don't have the software to load music on it.... I'll take pictures when i get a real internet connection...
ProgrammingAce: You are a lucky, lucky sonofabitch. I don't think i'd ever heard of these ever making it into the wild.
ProgrammingAce: From the basic research I just did it seems the DreamPassport 3 browsing software was to be used with this. The idea was you would point your browser to an MP3 and it would download it to your VMU/MP3 player. Even though it was never released it's always possible DreamPassport 3 had the code left in to support it. If you have access to it it may be worth a try.
Does anyone have the DC Swatch? I know they're basically useless now, but I wouldn't mind owning one just for the sheer coolness of it.
Good point. And does anyone have the 'UFO' jobbie that plugged into the DC pad to connect to the Swatch? Love to see if you could get it to work with Prop Arena, or if the game recognised it.
You can see more pics here: http://www.dreamcastgallery.com/dc/gallery.asp?selected_proto_id=732 As for the swatch watch I know one person in France with one - ex-Sega executive...
It is a separate unit. I believe it was to interface through the Dreamcast's serial port. Sega was wise to let this accessory die as there seemed to be little incentive for DC owners to buy it instead of a dedicated DVD player.
From an old interview i read, one person at sega addmitted that in fact the dc dvd player really was just a regular dvd player and didnt connect to the dc at all and that mp3 really wasnt going to go far, it was more as a way to sway people away from ps2. I did hear that bleem tried to make a dvd player add on for dc but sega wasnt intreasted.
