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New iPod Design Pictures Leak

Brian Hoyt writes "Apple's new iPod design will be announced Monday. A cover picture depicting the new design from Newsweek has been discovered early. MacRumors broke the story - MacRumors and more specifically the cover itself - NewsWeek"

27 of 501 comments (clear)

  1. close up by catwh0re · · Score: 5, Informative

    i'm sure this is going to flood someone badly, but here is a close up http://www.spymac.com/upload/gallery/f_0/user_117/ medium/upload_200466.jpg

    1. Re:close up by catwh0re · · Score: 3, Informative

      It looks like spymac.com block referred URLs, copy/paste into a new browser window to get the image.

  2. Re:New Design: by Oculus+Habent · · Score: 5, Informative
    Link to the Newsweek article. The one at MacRumors isn't quite working.

    Highlights:

    • Click Wheel
    • 12-hour playtime
    • Multiple on-the-go Playlists
    • Delete songs from OTG Playlists
    • Audiobook tempo adjustment
    • No more 15 gig model
    • $100 Cheaper

    Speculations:

    • Uses the same processor as the iPod Mini.
    • There will be a 60gig iPod to fill the top price slot later.
    --
    That what was all this school was for... to teach us how to solve our own problems. -- janeowit
  3. Leaked Article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative
  4. Re:Never going to buy one by catwh0re · · Score: 5, Informative
    To address some points you've made:

    The sensible (and arguably the best) method of putting tracks on it is iTunes, even when music match for the PC was responsible for this, it too did a fine job. iTunes is available for Windows & Mac, linux programmers have also created similar music syncing software.

    To address your format concerns, the iPod plays AIFF, WAV, MP3, Audiobooks and AAC. The first three of those are DRM free. Additionally the rights management on AAC is hardly limiting, the rights are static and unable to be changed by a 3rd party over time.

    The price argument is negotiable, with 3Million sales, it couldn't be too limiting a price.

  5. Re:New Design: by lpontiac · · Score: 3, Informative
    My friend didn't know about the Menu Backlight - he used the automatic backlight - until I told him with his 30g.

    I read about it in the manual. The manual wasn't massive - just a little 16-small-page leaflet.

  6. Re:New Design: by CrackedButter · · Score: 5, Informative

    Thats where you pull that odd shiny device back out of the box and connect it between the ipod and the headphones, the remote.

  7. Re:Has anyone heard anything? by Belgand · · Score: 3, Informative

    That eight hours is only for perfect use and just like birth control perfect use is rarely what you end up with.

    In reality the iPod (and I'm talking about the 2G here) tends to last around 4-6 hours depending on use. I personally keep mine on shuffle and skip through songs at a rate of perhaps one skip for every 5 songs or so. This gives me about this range of total battery power. This is all because the only way it gets 8 hours out of the battery is by spinning the hard drive up as little as possible and instead only feeding data into the cache every 20 minutes or so. Thus the often erroneous claim of 20 minutes of skip protection, in particular if the hard drive is set to spin again there is absolutely no skip protection in my experience. Anything you do to make the hard drive spin up (e.g. skip songs, thus running through the buffer faster, randomize songs, etc.) will lower your listening time.

    Don't forget that it constantly loses power (albeit in a low-power sleep state) no matter what you do as there is no way to turn it off. I doubt this is ever a significant factor although you'll probably find it dead or close after a week or so without charging.

    Overall though the battery is, I've found, good enough that if you start fully charged in the morning you can carry it around all day without incident.

  8. Re:Deathwish by FosterKanig · · Score: 5, Informative

    A lot of people will like the fact that it 100 dollars less. Some will like the 50% improvement in battery life. Others will dig the fact that you can have multiple on the go playlists. A couple will like the menu redesign. And a handful will like that you can speed up or slow down audio books, with no pitch distortion.

  9. Re:New Design: by Talez · · Score: 5, Informative

    While I appreciate your concern and I've only used a mini at the store, there is no way you can press the click wheel accidentally.

    You have to apply quite a bit of pressure. It's quite a stiff, tactile click.

  10. Re:Steve's glasses by nicwolff · · Score: 5, Informative

    Those are Kazuo Kawasaki frames - they are great, but mine cost about $600 with prescription lenses.

  11. Re:Has anyone heard anything? by BenjyD · · Score: 4, Informative

    Surely running on shuffle can't use that much more power - all the iPod has to do is preselect the random songs, read them into cache and then spin down. It might need a bit more seeking, but that can't use that much power compared to spinning the disk.
    It's not like the iPod doesn't know what song it's going to randomly play next.

  12. Re:iPod purchase = vote for DRM by guet · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you were talking about the iTunes music store, you might have a point. As it is your post doesn't make any sense.

    The iPod does NOT require DRM, I don't know where you got that idea. You can play your music in multiple formats, the most widely used being MP3. It also plays DRMed music from the music store, if you choose to use that.

    If you want to get the music off it again, there are several apple scripts floating around to do it. The files are only hidden after all.

  13. Re:Personally prefer CF based players by BasilBrush · · Score: 4, Informative
    Erm... The 4GB "Compact Flash" drives that are available for a few hundred dollars have a mini HD in them, complete with moving parts, and that is in fact exactly what you will find in an iPod mini. To the extent that some people buy iPod minis to pull apart and use the CF card for photography.

    True 4GB CF cards with actual flash mamory and no moving parts costs >$1000.

  14. Re:has anyone actually handled one of these? by Chucker23N · · Score: 5, Informative

    Have you actually *tried* dropping them? iBooks look like they would break if you dropped them one inch, but mine never fussed a single time when I dropped it from my desk (about 5 feet) or my bed (about 3 feet).

  15. Re:freeipod.com - legit or scam? by generic-man · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's a pyramid scheme. They know that 99% of people will get a few friends to sign up, but not enough to earn an iPod. There are also lots of "mysterious reasons" why people get their order cancelled.

    Engadget did a little investigative reporting about freeipod.com.

    --
    For more information, click here.
  16. Re:Hold your horses... by gamgee5273 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Post, not the Times! It was the New York Post that got the VP selection wrong.

  17. Re:Battery issue? by 2nd+Post! · · Score: 4, Informative

    It costs $29-$49 to replace

    More here and here.

  18. Re:Left Unsaid was: by phillymjs · · Score: 3, Informative

    Does it still use the dock?

    Almost certainly - now that 3rd-party products (like the BMW connector and Dension ICELink) are using that dock connector, Apple will most likely stick with it for some time-- and I believe it was designed with that in mind.

    Does is still use the same remote connector?

    Dunno, but probably.

    Will there be a "line in" dock?

    Doubtful, since the article makes no mention of built-in recording features. You still need a third-party accessory to record, so it would be up to one of those devices to allow line-in.

    Is the screen size the same?

    The screen size looks the same. The article says the 4G is a bit thinner, but that's apparently it in terms of form factor changes.

    Will the 3g iPod be upgradeable to some of the new features?

    Wouldn't surprise me at all, it certainly looks feasible. We'll probably get an iPod Firmware Update out of it to add some new features-- I'd guess that the 3G will probably get firmware revision 2.5, and the 4G's firmware will be called 3.0.

    If the powersavings is mostly done in software, will 3g iPods get more life with a firmware upgrade?

    It's certainly possible, and as a 3G owner, I'd love to see improved battery life in my exisiting unit though I have only run out of juice once in the year that I've had mine.

    ~Philly

  19. Re:Never going to buy one by xrissley · · Score: 3, Informative

    loops and hoops? Are you joking?

    Test one:
    have a cd, have an iPod:

    1) put cd in tray, close tray.
    2) let iTunes find CDDB data, then click import, let import happen.
    3) plug-in iPod.
    ( 3)a) let iTunes work its magic, no user assistance required ;-) )
    4) uplug ipod.

    Which one of these steps qualify as a hoop or a loop? Pray tell me.

    Test two:
    have mp3 in a folder on HD (or on a separate disk, if you friend just plugged in his USB disk-on-key to give you -illegally? ;-) - some mp3) and iPod

    1) locate mp3 files
    2) drag and drop these to iTunes window
    (which lets iTunes add them to its reference library, and if you set preferences so, copy them to its library folder too: better actually, if they are on removable media)
    3) plug in iPod
    ( 3)a) let iTunes work its magic )
    4) un-plug iPod

    Now, if you have an issue with that, I might have to lower my opinion on some of ./ readers.

    Some comments before flame arises:

    * If your ipod capacity is inferior to the volume of your music files, you will have to tweak iTunes magic, obviously.
    i.e. :
    1) either have it let you manually put music on said iPod, up to its capacity

    => annoying after a while... but no worse than managing files and mp3 player as a removable media (because you still have gained bonus as music is also available for iTunes to play and organise)

    2) or: create manual playlists, and only these will be set to update on ipod.
    - you then have to be sure you drag and drop the mp3 files to the playlist, not just iTunes library (step 2 is still one step, just asks you to be a bit more attentive)

    => slightly less annoying, but you have to remember to drag music to the playlist (and not to general library). Still, next time ipod is plugged in, magic works. Only downfall? don't overload the playlist and exceed iPod capacity. Or buy a bigger one

    3) or: create SMART playlists (on top of your manual fixed ones):
    for example, a playlist that tells iTunes that it will be made of the 100 latest new songs.

    => any new songs added to iTunes (step 2) will be copied to iPod (step 3a)

    * if you don't like iTunes for your mp3 (matter of taste, I let you off on this one), you might not like iPod either; so end of story.

    * Now for my personal opinion (above were just plain verifiable FACTS ) :
    The combination of iTunes+iPod gives you a solution where YOU have
    - ease of use (amazing music playing experience, brainless management of songs, easy and fast synch, etc)
    -, control (smart playlists, various settings to be found in prefs, like "import in XXX format, at XXX rate", or "let me / let iTunes organise my music library folders" and more)
    - elegance in the whole approach, and respect for the user (you easily learn to use it, and can do tons with it -burn audio / mp3 cds, organise party playlists, edit all MP3 tags of songs, one or many at once, add cover art, etc etc. AND it has been designed for intelligent people by intelligent people)

    Where were the loops and hoops again?

    Like any tool, it just requires to know its logic and how it works. But unlike most tools, this one is bloody simple.
    I reckon that iTunes is one of the simplest and most useful out there, and is taking a huge place in my life, by being so unobstrusice and useful...

    --
    =====
    I lie all the time, including now
  20. Here's the new features... by Swedentom · · Score: 3, Informative

    - Click wheel (like the iPod Mini)
    - A millimeter thinner
    - More efficient Menus
    - Multiple on-the-go playlists
    - Listen to audiobooks slower or 25 percent faster without affecting pitch
    - Longer play - 12 hours of battery life due to more power conservation
    - Lower price: 40GB - $399, 20GB $299 (no 15 gig model now)
    - Still white

    --
    Sig Nature
  21. Re:has anyone actually handled one of these? by Chucker23N · · Score: 3, Informative

    Got my iBook July 2002. It's a 12 inch 700 MHz Combo drive model (G3). The hard drive, a Toshiba MK2018GAS, died April this year. But it's not like I ever treated my laptop well - I wanted a machine I could use *anywhere* and that's exactly what I did. So yes, I *did* carry it around with the drive spinning. And I suppose that eventually caused the drive's quality to deteriorate (it first had lots of problems writing and reading data; then it would start getting so far that it couldn't find all of the kernel on the drive any more, and that's when I realized booting from an emergency Linux CD might be a good idea to do backups.)

    Replaced it upon others' advice with a Hitachi HTS548060M9AT00 (i.e. a Travel Star with 60 GB). Note that you lose any kind of warranty by replacing a hard drive, and that it's everything but easy.

    Also upped RAM, first to 384 Megs, then to 640 Megs. It makes a huge difference. You don't want to use OS X with anything less than 384 Megs, but it won't be a *joy* with anything less than 512 Megs. Everyone will tell you that.

    The hardware itself is incredible. Durable, lightweight, and really powerful enough for everyday work (I'm a programming and networking guy), watching DVDs, burning, etc. Of course, it goes without saying that Mac OS X is one of the best modern operating systems out there. As long as you're willing to deal with *slightly* less hardware and software compatibility (and even that seems to keep getting better) than you'd have on x86 machines, you're good to go. As an example, I just bought a Canon PowerShot A80 yesterday (great product I might add). It said on the backside that it would come with Mac OS X drivers. But up to now, I never used those. I plugged the thing in via USB and instantly, through Apple's ImageCapture software, had access to 1) downloading pictures, 2) sharing camera access over the web - thusly also to Windows and Linux PCs (ImageCapture comes with a built-in web server), 3) taking photos from the Mac, either manually or even in periodic intervals (again, this feature can be accessed from other machines through the network) and simple operations like rotating the images. Note again that this worked without *any* configuration - neither on the camera nor on the iBook - and without any glitches. Now, if I wanted advanced functionality such as Canon's photo stitching tool, I would of course have to install that. But the point is, if someone were to bring his camera over and it supports standards like PTP, I'm ready to go to use it. (My experience with using the Canon on Windows XP has been *muchly* different.)

    (I should maybe note that the iBook does not come with PCMCIA, decreasing upgradeability. You can, of course, get lots of FireWire devices for external hard drives or TV tuners and whatnot, but Gigabit Ethernet or FireWire 800 will never be options for you.)

    If there's anything else you want to know, you may want to register at applenova.com; they have quite a few experienced people there (it's obviously a "fan" board though, but that doesn't mean the people aren't critical of Apple).

    Hope that helps.

  22. Re:New Design: by Pfhor · · Score: 4, Informative

    You can get a new 2000mAh battery for that model if you want to drop $90 on it.
    Various iPod batteries
    I may pick one up myself for this 2G i just got from my sister (first ipod owner too, im such a nerd but I can't afford to buy one myself).

  23. Re:Obligatory Ogg Plug by Meowing · · Score: 3, Informative

    At the 28 April iTunes anniversary conference call, Arik Hesseldahl from Forbes asked Teh Steve about that.

    Arik Hesseldahl: Had a small profit. OK. Any interest whatsoever, since in the open source OGG Vorbis format?

    Steve Jobs: We're certainly not getting any requests from customers for it.

    So, if support for that format is something that would make you buy and iPod, it might be a good idea to tell them!

  24. Re:New Design: by tyrione · · Score: 4, Informative

    Yeah you know those MP3 Decoder Chips you can't seem to find? Try looking in your DVD player that supports MP3 on the fly.

    DVD Player Market is separate from the portable MP3 player market and millions upon millions of MP3 Decoder chips are in standard DVD home entertainment units.

    HVAC Systems for commerical and home use aren't in the same market as automobile A/C units but you get the point.

  25. Re:New Design: by Jord · · Score: 4, Informative

    You read wrong. Apple's market share on portable players is based on units sold. Review the keynote at the WWDC for confirmation.

  26. Re:Still no radio?!? by pangel83 · · Score: 3, Informative

    The iRiver series (Hxxx) with similar functionality have radio (FM only though), and also an option to select your country of residence in order to adjust radio settings appropriatelly (Europe / Japan / USA)