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Rumors of Mini iPods
TheKidWho writes "According to Thinksecret: 'Reliable sources inside and outside of Apple have confirmed Apple will announce the new pocket-size iPods in a number of capacities and in various colors, including stripes. Capacities will be 2 and 4GB -- meaning users could store some 400 and 800 songs, respectively. Prices will start at around $100US, Think Secret has learned. It is not known if the new product line will be available immediately after introduction. It is also expected that current iPod models will be revamped to add body colors as well.' With the $99 price tag, it seems these rumored iPods could make big headway in the low end mp3 player market."
But will they introduce a user replaceable battery?
Evil people are out to get you.
iCan afford one!
Apple realized that you'll have to hide your iPod when you want to be with your 'cool' Windows using friends.
If they would see the iPod you'd instantly be removed from their hardcore powergaming group!
The smaller and lighter the mp3 player, the better for joggers and runners. cd players are too bulky and heavy, but this could easily work.
what? Don't these people know how electronics work?! Gah.. well I for one refuse to buy one until they make it cost three times as much as a normal-sized one.
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
What do they call iPod's size now?
So that's how it's going to work. Kill the current market by spreading specs and rumors.
100$ for a 2gb lightweight device by apple? amazing indeed.
Just like the Playstation 2's specs killed the Dreamcast.
Sorry, I'm just bitter.
I probably just need more brandy in my coffee.
Merry Xmas
Nouvelles de jeux et technologies en français. TC
Please?
You know that Apple-fanatics will think it will be the greatest thing even if its 10 lbs and has pointy barbs sticking out of it, but I just want to see what would direction they would go.
The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
Thank god, it's about time! The current Ipods are so bulky and unwieldly, I can't believe apple even introduced them!
"BadTimes will make you fall in love with a penguin" - Laika
will the headphones still be white? otherwise, how could i identify with other pods?
Wouldn't it have been smarter to release these BEFORE the holidays? Are they so down to the wire that a Jan. 6 announcement is the last possible day they can release them?
There is no gravity...the earth just sucks.
The current models fit my jacket pocket just fine, thank you kindly. And it holds lots more music.
My only thought is that by getting into the ~$100 range, that makes it something parents will buy for spoiled teens more readily. That would make it pocketbook sized. Assuming there is any truth to the rumor, of course.
-- I Am Not A Terrorist.
When you can get a cheap PII 100, install bsd on it, spend a week setting up a web interface and uploading all your songs, buying a cheap sound card, getting a car battery, put it all in a backpack and viola: Open Source MP3 player!
Well, damnit, I expect it to be half the size of the current iPod *AND* powered by a standard 9V battery! Otherwise, I'll throw it out when the battery dies and sue Apple!
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
Can this be true?
Steve Jobs is well known for keeping a clean image on his products - it seems strange to me that he would allow rainbow iPods. Rumour has it he objected to the coloured backgrounds in the iPod adverts.
It seems strange that he would dilute the iPod brand at such a critical point in its existence.
Hmm.
Small iPods - no hard drives, only RAM based??
thank you slashdot for going back to your original roots. RUMORS. now we can use slashdot as a archival of vaporware that never made it to market.
This would be really great. I'd love to be able to give something like this to my teenage nieces. Sure they could use a full-size iPod, but $400 is a lot for a teen to carry around and probably lose or break. $100 would be cheap enough that pain of loss wouldn't be too awful.
Then I could just give them iTMS gift certificates for all future gifts. I'd be the best uncle ever!
I am iterested to see what kind of user interface Apple comes up with for such a small device. As a G3 iPod owner, I think the control pad is about perfect. Any smaller, and it wouldn't be as usable. Not to mention the hassle of scrolling through 5 gigs of songs on a smaller display.
But, I am usually impressed with Apple's industrial design, so I'll probably be impressed again (except for the color choices - I mean *stripes*? Ugh).
What kind of storage device would these use?
My first thought was the CompactFlash-sized "microdrive" hard drives developed by IBM (not sure if they belong to Hitachi now). A 1GB microdrive sells for about $200, though. Even with the volume discount Apple would surely get, it's hard to image they could hit that $99 price point at any capacity. And I guess flash memory is ruled out for price reasons too....
OtakuBooty.com: Smart, funny, sexy nerds.
"Introduction" is probably the wrong word; "announcement" would be a better way to put it. Apple, not unusually, often announces products prior to the actual ship date. Sometimes we Apple fanatics (read: frothing fanbois, but we mean well) use "introduction" as synonymous with "announcement."
want an mp3 player that can record with an internal microphone
:)
4 gigs full of karaoke. Yeecchhh!
Not to mention an accumulation of embarassing bathroom sounds because you forgot to turn it off at some point during the day.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
All I want is the iTunes music store in the UK. My new 40G iPod is reading, meerly 2gig full. My credit card is ready, my bank account is ready. I've got enough of a buy list to spend 100 in 30 seconds.
So where the hell's the store!?
sorry, you must have meant to visit this site.
The life of the battery is NOT 18 months in all cases. The majority of iPods (many are >2 years old) are still working flawlessly. The manufacturer of the iPod battery claims that the battery should still function after three years of use (or about 500 cycles). YMMV based on the frequency and type of use but so far most 1G iPods are still working so there isn't a reason to suspect this claim is false.
On occasion you will get a 'dud' something common to all consumer electronics. While it's unfortunate that Apple didn't have a battery replacement/warranty program when those two gentlemen made their movie, that is no longer an issue now. Applecare and battery programs were announces before the ipod's dirty secret domain was even registered.
Furthermore, if you don't want to pay apple to supply and replace your battery, you can do it yourself - see ipodbattery.com
Mod down if you must:I know it gets annoying seeing the same old "ipods aren't disposable" posts every day but I'd be upset if someone didn't buy me an iPod for christmas because they saw the parrent post and asusmed it was accurate.
These might even be small enough to internally smuggle music into prison. This will become much more important when all of the illegal file sharing music lovers are locked away and tunes have more barter value than cigarettes.
Because Apple's bottom line is far better served if a person spends $400 on a 20 gig model than $100 on a 2 gig model.
In that sense, it makes perfect business sense.
If I was on Apple's shoes, and knew I'd not be able to manufacture enough units on time for christmas, I'd release it in the summer, and make sure the product is not announced until AFTER christmas, to avoid competing against the normal Ipod.
Nintendo has used a similar tactic in the past when releasing new Gameboy "flavors", It makes the best business sense IMHO. It's just that we've heard about the new product a week too soon.
Consumer: Sounds cool. What about the battery? Have you all thought about having a user-replaceable battery?
Steve Jobs: STRIPES! The new iPod will come in STRIPES! Who cares about the battery when you have STRIPES!
The *big* one, speculated about on http://www.macosrumors.com/
.
seems more interesting to me. .
Sounds like an ideal companion to a mini-dv camcorder. If one could dump video to it in the field, and possibly do edits to it (portable iMovie?) - that'd be great. I don't really have much use for an ipod - too big for pocket transportability (really). Too small (storage-wise) to be useful as a semi-portable "desktop music server" - (though a G4 iBook serves that purpose pretty well).
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
Time for Ogg Vorbis support too, don't you think?
From our point of view, yes. But from Apple, I wonder if a cheap 2 or 4GB iPod will be iTunes music only?
Just a thought.
my open source luggable MP3 player runs Gentoo .. it's far superior to BSD. Does BSD have portage? No .. in fact /usr/portage doesn't even exist. Clearly an inferior design.
since they are set to "sell" 100 million songs through the Pepsi promotion...
All you have to do is introduce a cheap player and then they have the free music, and you have the Apple Ipod cast in stone as the mp3 player to buy.
moo.
I don't see why. I mean yea some people use Ogg, but why bother supporting a format that almost nobody uses? Sure I know you probably use it and converted your whole collection to it. Don't you think you should have just stuck with the format that 99% of people use and actually has industry wide support from portable music hardware vendors?
I'm honestly not trying to make fun of you or say something bad about ogg(it's AS good as mp3), but I see no reason to support it just like I don't see any reason to support, FLAC,Monkey's Audio, Real Audio, etc in this particular application. I would be nice to have support for all audio formats in every audio player, but I don't think that is too realistic a thing to ask for right now. It's just not what the majority of Apple's customers are using or asking for.
I guess as a Linux and OpenSource user I'm supposed to stand up for what's open, but that doesn't change the fact that MP3 is the defacto portable digital audio standard. Maybe over time the Music Store vendors will be able to snuff it out in favor of a "secure" audio format, but until then I'm perfectly content with plain old functional MP3 for portable music players. Just IMHO, YMMV, blah, blah.
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
Linq.. Just for the record, I think the $99 might be a bit optimistic, being a rumor and all.
When I saw this story it immediately made me think of this story from back in November on macrumors.
This snippet is what I recalled:
Toshiba plans to expand into 1" hard drives in the future. 1" form factor drives are already being produced by Hitachi at this time.
Toshiba supplies 1.8" drives for the current iPods. Seems a 1" drive is more likely than solid state memory for the new miniPods.
Reason being that any wise business will want to get rid of their stock before releasing their product. It will do them no good to liquidate the older iPods at a loss. People will still buy the new iPod if they release it (allbeit unlikely), even if it's after Christmas.
If you can make a regular batery fit inside an ipod and give the same charge time, you've got a job waiting for you at any electronics company out there.
Finally - I can deal with a $100 iPod.
Apple tends to think that we all have oodles of money we can just throw at their neat gadets.
My budget has been cut since the economic down turn. Nice to see Apple givin' us po' boys a chance to participate.
Well... there's like a display, and a case, and some buttons, and some sockets, and a charger, and some headphones,
and some chips, and a circuit board, and a battery, and a CD, and box, and some profit. Stuff like that.
They could ship the same device, 'cept for a smaller drive, and people will bitch.
or they'll reduce the form factor or use lesser components and people will bitch.
They could have the exact same product they sell today, reduce the price by $150,
give $150 iTunes credit, and people would -still- bitch.
the point of the Lion battery is that it holds a much bigger charge than your punny AA rechargeable batteries.
why not build a laptop with AA!!!! woo
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
Why sell a prodeut for $100 when people are buying in droves at $299 - $499?
So the idea of releasing them for xmas is a horrible one indeed.
I think that the timing of the cheaper miniPods coincides nicely with the $100 mill Pepsi give-a-way starting in February.
It's all a game, the game called 'Maximize Profits'. And selling only the current iPods for xmas make you a big fat winner winner chicken dinner. Also, how many people are going to return their $150 128 meg POS flash MP3 player to Best Buy to get one of these new miniPods? I'd say more than a few.
Prof. Farnsworth - "Oh a lesson in not changing history from Mr I'm-My-Own-Grandpa!"
when it's leaked on Apple's web pages.
Lars T.
To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck
That said, since a 600mAh Lithium polymer cell phone battery costs $34.95, the 850mAh or 1200mAh iPod batteries aren't a bad deal at $49.00, and Apple will even do the labor and return shipping for $50 more.
Toshiba's new 0.85-inch hard disks!
...or at least it would be QUITE a coincidence if they did not use these drives.
ELiTeUI
Actually, i'm much sicker of seeing all these uninformed ipods are disposable posts.
A little more info on ipod batteries.
The batteries cost about $50. That's a damn good deal for a Li-Poly battery. Apple just charges you $50 more for them to replace it for you. If it's not wrth it to you, buy a battery, pop the case off, and replace it. pretty easy. Yes your cell phone battery is cheaper, but that's becasue it's a low-capacity NiMH battery. A similar battery would almosy double the size of the ipod and last about for 30 mins of music.
Apple can' use a standard battery. Cylinder cells hold little charge and are huge. Apple's custom batteries can be molded to make use of every spare area inside the ipod. I remember people comlaining about how the smaller G2 ipods had a shorter battery life. It if was a standard (which doesnn't exist) battery, it would be a lot worse. And a battery hat neesds to be replaced every 300 charges (whiich is about 3 years for most people; the ones whose batteries are dying must charge it too often) doesn't need a little door. THe case isn't that hard to remove.
Disclaimer, etc:
I'm a mac fan. Also i just got my new G5 Sunday and am still getting used to the new keyboard, so sorr about the bad typing.
With the $99 price point, replacing the battery is no longer necessary. Just buy a new one when your old one dies.
So you've got:
People buying iPods and exposure to 'Mac Life'
People buying Music to go with their iPods
People re-buying iPods to match their music when their iPod dies.
Is Steve finally giving apple a smart business plan to go along with smart products?
You can get a 2.2G one by some company called magicstore new off ebay for $180. Since its a standalone product and more of a niche one than an ipod the profit margin is probably considerable. Still it seems too good to be true that I could get an ipod with 2G for $99 anytime real soon. Also- if they used cf sized microdrives I'd hope they'd just use a cf slot so you could expand. Such players exist, but nothing with the looks, interface or sound quality of an ipod.
Personally I use an ipaq 2215 (sdio/cf/bluetooth/400mhz) as my portable audio/video player (and pda funcs). Now if only there were a bootloader that worked with it and linux I wouldn't feel dirty every time I use it:)
Which iPod do you have, Gen 1 or 2, or Gen 3?
Mine (gen 3 30 gb) USED to do what your describing, occasionally, if I was running on the road with the 'pod in my hand. It never did it on trails or on a cushioned indoor track. The last update (2.1) fixed the problem. Something to think about.
And it is certainly not too heavy to run with. My friend's wife (who is around 115 lbs) runs with his, but wouldn't do so until he bought her an iSkin. The iSkin, besides protecting the shell from impact, is silicon and really sticky...when you hold it, you can't imagine EVER dropping it. With the newest revision (which has more rear surface area than the old one) I can put the iPod on my dashboard and take corners without it slipping. And before I got the iSkin, I used to use a forearm strap which was really cool...didn't get in my way at all and never skipped.
Hey freaks: now you're ju
the neuros does pretty cheap too my emph' added:
The NiMH batteries in the Neuros and the Lithium Ion battery in the Neuros HD are expected to last at least 1 1/2 - 2 years (depending on usage). Only our Neuros technical team can replace the battery for you and, as a result, it is not consumer-serviceable. Our battery replacement policy is as follows.
Within Warranty (90 days parts, 1 year labor)
-If within first 90 days of purchase - NO CHARGE
-Past 90 days, but within 1 year- $7
Outside of Warranty
Neuros 128- $8
Neuros HD- $12
To have your battery replaced, please send us the Backpack portion of your Neuros in a padded envelope with your name, address, phone number, e-mail (along with a check payable to Neuros Audio) to:
Neuros Audio
Attn: Battery Replacement
1941 N Hawthorne Ave
Melrose Park, IL 60160
really? i didn't think so either.
you're a pretty comprehensive thinker.
-- john
I owned a 1G iPod that had a battery failure. Yeah, it sucked. But the difference is that I abused that little thing and it lived. I also put it through some harsh conditions and it lived. I bought a 3G 10 GB iPod on eBay for $225. Microsoft couldn't do it and not many other companies could because Apple has a loyal fan base. If you ever use an iPod on a daily basis, you'll realize why people continue to buy them. There are also fixes for the battery problem and replacements that are 3rd-party solutions for less than what Apple charges. It's a rechargable battery smaller than a credit card. It's not something you can just go out to the store and pick up. Ask Dell if their new music player has a user-replaceable battery. $5 says it's not. To quote their own website "Fixed rechargeable battery with up to 16 hours battery life." Key word there is FIXED. And if they have a battery problem, they'll have a replacement program.
It does present a standard USB (or firewire) FS interface (FAT32 for the Windows ones, HFS+ for the Mac iPods). I don't know if you can load songs onto it that way directly; you probably will still need a program to update the song DB files, but there are several OSS projects to do so (mostly directed towards Linux, obviously). I'd just use the iTunes software, but if you don't like it for whatever reason, try one of the free (as in GPL, iTunes already being free as in beer) iPod loaders. It takes standard MP3 files (both VBR and CBR encoded, so your lameenc collection should work just fine) and AAC files.
Every cloud has a silver lining (except for the mushroom shaped ones, which have a lining of Iridium & Strontium 90)
I just got an iPod for Solstice (actually, I got it a few weeks early), and the single best feature about it is the games.
That's right. The 4 crappy games that came on it are a blessing.
I HATE shopping. I've hated shopping since I was young and my mother dragged me out to malls to shop around. Back then, they didn't even have chairs everywhere. I stood around and hated the experience. Now, when I go shopping there are chairs everywhere, but nothing to do. It turns out, I still hate the experience.
But now that I have an iPod, I can listen to the music, toodle around with Parachute or Name that Song, and look up every once in a while to say, "Yes dear, that looks great." I don't know if any of the other MP3 players out there have these little time wasters on them, but they should.
(Oh, I hear the iPod does other things, too, like keep your contacts, alarms, notes and files. So handy!)
Mini iPod 99. .99
Battery 99.
Song
Just purchased a 10GB iPod for my fiancee for Christmas.
She'll never fill it up, and I knew that, but she wanted an iPod.
Now there are smaller ones that are $200 cheaper, and in colors as well, after I shelled out another $50 and got a custom paint job on it at ColorWare.
Apple, damn you!
"Sir it would be cheaper to buy a new model than replace the battery"
Or
"Would you like to buy the battery replacement plan for 99 dollars sir?"
It was SpyMac that announced and had forged VIDEO (not just pictures) of the fake Apple PDA (called the iWalk). Looking at their site now doesn't turn up much of any news, fake or real.
This is not to say that ThinkSecret is clear of wrongdoing. They did post about an Apple PDA called the MacMate back in 1999, but obviously that never came to fruition.
RonB
It is human nature to take shortcuts in thinking.
If you are training for the New York, you probably have developed much more graceful mechanics than the people complaining of frequent HD problems.
Instead of insisting on a solid-state MP3 player, those who think the iPod can't handle their jogging should work on inproving their stride. They way they are running, they are probably far more likely to damage their backs and knees than their iPod hard drives.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
"From the vaporware dept"... Michael, How can anything be vaporware if the company hasn't announced the product yet and its very existance is only a rumor?
-3Suns
~~~~
The Revolution will be Slashdotted
is a mega-Ipod that will store a billion songs and be worn in a backpack like case and the battery worn around the waist like Batman's utility belt. At least that's what I think :-P
Shop smart, Shop S-Mart.
This is not at all the case. Copying your music to the iPod happens automatically by default. You can get songs off the iPod with lots of 3rd party software tools. It's much easier than any other mp3 player I've seen.
If you have to mortgage your house for a 50 dollar battery, you need to move anyway.
Notice that the copy even suggests why you would want replaceable batteries as a standard feature - road trips. Also notice that they aren't dinging you for $100, plus shipping, to replace a battery.
Don't be surprised when Apple finally caves and makes iPod batteries easily replaceable. They'll claim it's a great new feature.
i didn't think so either.
Yep, I agree. You didn't think.
If you are willing to put up with the added bulk, you can add it on to your 3G iPod. The external battery pack uses 4 AA batteries.
I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing. -- Thomas Jefferson
Apple's in a very good position right now - they've managed to get themselves into the good books of both the Free software community and the music industry.
However, if they add Ogg Vorbis support to the iPod then they'll have to
It seems that they are pursuing the third option: ignore Ogg Vorbis and piss off the very small (and to them, not particularly useful) Xiph community.
The US Army: promoting democracy through unquestioned obedience
Maybe because it only has, um, 256MB of memory?
"Apple's software is one way only...copy to the ipod or delete it. You can't copy from it. "
Apple's software, yes. But XPlay lets you drag and drop music either to or from the iPod; I find its a more elegant solution than iTunes, because it lets you use the pieces you like for downloading, ripping, managing ID3 tags. Then when you connect an iPod, it shows a special music folder that you drag and drop your music.
And yes music comes off as easily as it goes on.
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
This isn't insightful, this is SLASHDOT, NOTHING on /. is insightful!!!!!!!! MOD PARENT DOWN.
why don't they just reintroduce the 5gig model for sub $200? I mean, everyone would like an ipod, but they are friggin expensive to most people.
The only reason i am not getting one for christmas is becasue of price. If my significant other could have saved 100 bucks and gotten a 5gig instead of 10gig, i could be rockin out christmas night to my cool new mp3 player.
2GB? $100? Made by Apple? I will buy one of these the very second they become available. At that price I won't worry about the battery dying after a couple years, I won't have iPod envy when the new version comes out, I won't cry if I drop it on the floor and break it. A wonderful idea, Apple - I only wonder if they will be able to make enough of them.
(Not in relation to the mini-iPods, as I don't know their specifications, but there seem to be enough idiotic battery posts, so...)
Q: Is the iPod's battery replacable?
A: Yes. Apple has an official battery replacement program for $99. You send your iPod in (any model iPod), and Apple will replace the battery for $99.
Q: Is the iPod's battery user-replaceable?
A: Yes and no. The iPod's case is not designed to be opened, so, in that repsect, it's not what you would generally refer to as "user-replaceable". But, the case can be opened, and there are several third parties that offer replacement batteries for the iPod, such as iPodBattery.com (instructions available at that link) and PDASmart, for as low as $49. Some will even do the replacement for you if you send it it.
Q: What's the deal? Does Apple think the iPod is disposable?
A: No.
Q: I heard that the iPod's battery only lasts 18 months, and then you have to buy a new iPod, is that true?
A: NO! The vast, vast majority of even the earliest iPods, now over two years old, continue to function just fine. Some iPods, however, have had issues with batteries. Lithium ion batteries are only good for 300 to 500 charge/discharge cycles. For this reason, certain customers' usage patterns may cause the batteries to degrade, or fail, sooner than others.
A2: If the battery does fail, and the iPod is no longer under its original one year warranty or $59 AppleCare Protection Plan, or any of numerous third party service plans, you don't have to buy a new iPod. You may replace the battery yourself for as little as $49, or have Apple perform the replacement for $99.
Q: Why didn't Apple use better batteries?
A: Apple used the best lithium ion battery technology available from leading battery manufacturers. This is the best, most cost effective battery technology available given the requirements of the device. The lithium ion batteries Apple uses are no different than lithium ion batteries used by anyone else. The battery should last most normal users several years.
Q: Why doesn't Apple make the battery easily replaceable, then? Or use different batteries, like AA?
A: Because if they did either, the size of the batteries and/or the access panels and mechanisms required to access the battery would make the unit significantly larger than it is, likely by several milimeters in thickness at a minimum, and it may possibly affect other dimensions as well. It was an engineering decision to use an integrated battery; if it were not integrated, the unit would not have the small, sleek form factor that makes it so attractive. Additionally, the iPod's battery is indeed replaceable, as has been discussed above.
Q: Well, no one else does that!
A: Wrong. Prime example: Dell's new DJ portable music player uses an integrated, non-user-replaceable lithium ion battery, just like the iPod. Dell also has no plan or program to replace batteries outside of warranty at this time.
Q: But, Apple only released their battery replacement service because of all the bad publicity from the Neistat brothers' video.
Wrong again. Apple released the battery replacement program as early as November 14. ipodsdirtysecret.com was only registered on November 20, and started being heavily publicized on November 21. Additionally, Apple had been planning the battery replacement program for months - these types of service programs don't just happen overnight - before Casey Neistat even had his first contact with Apple. The video campaign had nothing to do with Apple's rollout of the battery replacement program.
You're absolutely right. On the same note, I still can't understand why people were so critical of the Citroen 2CV. A wonderful car, wonderful!
I think, therefore I am...I think.
don't forget, you don't just get an mp3 player with the ipod, you can play games like breakout...and stuff on there...
remember breakout? ya, good times.
Okay, this is probably just a troll, since it says it isn't one, but it's a new troll to me. Anyway...
Is there support for OGG files?
Probably not. Yes, OGG is an open standard. Yay. That's nice. I don't feel like re-encoding 10GB of songs.
Can I use it between my home PC and my work PC both of which run Linux?
Hasn't someone released software to let your Linux-using PC's talk to the iPod? I think so.
Can I copy a new track to the iPod at home and then download from it to my work PC?
Yes, just use the iPod like a FireWire hard drive, which it is.
Will it play those files that I want to copy FROM IT to my other PC?
This is the same question you just asked. Are you expecting a different answer?
Oh, and if Apple thinks I am going to pay $100 for a portable player and then $50 for batteries, they are nuts.
What does the Neuros run on? Happy rays of sunshine? I couldn't tell from the site. Maybe it said it in the "demo", but I'm not downloading flash over dialup.
BTW, if you don't want DRM, don't download music from a music service. That's the only way you get it, and that's true for any service, not just the iTMS.
Also, if you get modded, you'll probably be modded flamebait. A troll has to actually look like he knows what he's talking about.
Not that I've used this for ripping from friends' iPods...
-T
Most of my songs are over the 5 minute mark. Then I completely blow that away with a 20 minute version of Moby Dick from the Led Zeppelin DVD. Or, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. Or a two-hour trance mix from Oakenfold. I've found I just have to limit my playlists on my iPod by MB rather than time.
Oh, forgot to reply to this:
I thought I read in a post that if you copy music to the iPod as a regualer hard drive, then the iPod won't play it. If that is the case, then it is pretty worthless IMO.
Okay, here's how it works. The iPod is one drive that works in two different ways. One way is an automatic sync up with iTunes (which you can also do yourself). The other is to use it as a detachable hard drive. The files iTunes puts on your iPod aren't visible when you view it as a hard drive. This makes sense, actually, as it keeps the two uses of it logically separate.
Now, to copy music back to a computer and be able to play it on your iPod, there are two ways to do it.
First, is the simple way. Copy the file to your iPod when it's acting as a hard drive. Copy it to the computer in question. Drop it into iTunes (or whatever) and let it copy back to the iPod.
Second, you can open up the iPod when it's acting as a hard drive, go into the invisible iPod_Control folder, then the Music folder. Next you'll have various folders to choose from. I have F00 - F19. You file will be in one of these folders. Why it spreads your music across 20 folders, I don't know. Maybe it's to try to prevent copying back (but that's a pretty weak scheme for doing so). Maybe it's because the iPod can find a song more easily using some sort of hash (but why not simply access by filename?). Doing it this way, however, you'll notice that all non-alphanumeric and non-period characters have been turned to underscores. I can only assume that's so they can use the same code on the Windows side, which doesn't allow nearly as many characters in filenames as the Mac does.
(It's interesting to note that each of the folders, F00 - F19, has files running A-Z. It doesn't split up based on first letter, at the very least.)
what are the dimensions of a Nomad Zen NX? would you care to give a comparison to iPod's dimensions? i haven't found on their site any documentation about which battery it uses, how much it costs, and what it takes to replace it. It does say it's a replaceable battery, but technically, iPod *also* has a replaceable battery.
hint: if the iPod is a smaller, more portable form-factor while touting similar capacity, while being less confusing, with less holes to plug shit in, less buttons to fuck with, your average consumer ain't guna give a shit about a device that's a geek's dream. detachable this or that, believe it or not, is confusing to the average user. It's a matter of which audience you cater to. More on this later.
There are reasons why there are tradeoffs. the iPod is extremely small for the capacity it offers, it is extremely portable and unintrusive. i have fit mine (2G) in just about any pocket i've had. Furthermore, many of my co-workers had bought competing players, absolutely every single one of them complained about either its form-factor or lack of capacity. Nomad Jukebox3 is a big square-ish size, much like today's CD players that are basically the size of a CD, which is NOT a form factor that is nearly as appealing as one of an iPod's. Don't get me wrong the features and interoperability capabilities of the Nomad jukebox3 are simply impressive but when a device's form-factor is not really a constraint, you can go to town with features. That doesn't mean this is necessarily what the average user Apple targets will be drawn to. The Jukebox3's affluence of buttons and holes to plug things in also make it, to your average non-computer geek, a "complicated", "confusing" device, while geeks see those features as a God-Sent. it's all relative. Sure the lack of replaceable battery is frustrating. But it ain't the first time, nor is it ever guna be the last time this sort of issue will plague consumer electronics.
Replacing an iPod battery is NOT that hard, you just gotta be careful and requires a bit of skills. If that doesn't do it, then pay the $100 for the cost of the battery and to have someone else install it and be done with it. Or buy extended warranty such as AppleCare or one from Fry's, Best Buy, CompUSA, FNAC, or whoever sells you the iPod. It ain't that bad. People always pit the price of a battery against the price of the device it goes into and get infuriated to "pay $100 for a battery for a device that's only $400". No no no and no. Most resilient, quality batteries are expensive and that's the fucking way it is. Especially the type of flat one required for the iPod, it is quite a nice piece of engineering. When it dies, you gotta pay. period. Take a deep fucking breath and accept this fact.
It always works like this: you shop for some device, it tells you it's rechargeable, but no one ever cares to ask "yes but for how long, what do i do when it can no-longer hold a charge" to make an informed purchasing decision based on those questions. They don't think, then get pissed when the inevitable happens, then go whine at their lawyers, who in the end will be the only winners in the upcoming class-action lawsuit. Once people also get the device they rarely ever look at best practices included in their manual to enhance battery life. There you have it.
feel free to read a couple more ideas about why things may be the way they are.
this isn't about zealotry. some people happened to have understood why Apple has made the compromises it did at the time it did and accept 'em without whining all fucking day, and will eventually vote with their feet and potentially wait for improvements, others choose to bitch around, karma-whoring on slashdot, thinking they're smart and have a fucking clue about industrial design and stating the obvious ad nauseum, bragging about how device X or Y has a detachable this or that while never addres
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