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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"

48 of 501 comments (clear)

  1. New Design: by Oculus+Habent · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's not a big stretch from the iPod Mini to the design shown in the picture. I'm pleased with the new design... kind of back to it's roots.

    My biggest problem with the previous design is the unapparent secondary button function. When the buttons are arranged around the wheel, the special combinations (Menu & Play/Pause to reset) make a fair sight more sense. Holding Menu for the backlight is especially obscure. I discovered this intuitively on my Original iPod - all of the buttons on the Original had an important Continuous Press function before the first several updates that gave us a new time search for the songs. My friend didn't know about the Menu Backlight - he used the automatic backlight - until I told him with his 30g. He's not stupid by any means, there just wasn't any reason that the second button over would also be a special Backlight control.

    --
    That what was all this school was for... to teach us how to solve our own problems. -- janeowit
    1. 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
    2. 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.

    3. 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.

    4. Re:New Design: by Pfhor · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Well, part of how the ipod is so fast is that itunes actually generates the file database on its end for the ipod. There is a specific file structure on the ipod that is meant to streamline the listening experience. Instead of having ot read file names with long extensions, possibly none english characters, all of that information is stored in a database and the song files are give just a number.

      You can get yourself an Archos which you can just drop mp3s onto and play it back that way, but the battery life from my experience is shorter, its bulkier, and it still takes a while just to browse the disk for files. Also, the ipod has two processors, one for audio playback and one for the gui. So it makes sense that apple would make as simple streamlined file structure that the gui processor can feed to the audio playback (ie, user selects to play "Bob Marley - No Woman.mp3" and the gui system feeds /1234/456/32.mp3 to the audio processor).

      Its ingeniously simple: why make processor on the ipod built for effeciency have to do all this directory / database management (althou the 3g ones do this now) when you can get a desktop computer to do it in a snap.

      And i believe there are third party programs out there which you can mount on the ipods "data share" that will easily let you drag and drop files back and forth from the playable section of your ipod.

    5. Re:New Design: by Pirogoeth · · Score: 5, Funny

      I agree. I've felt the same way about OpenOffice. I've got a dictionary sitting above my desk. Why should I have to load up a bunch of well-designed software to do what I want to get done? My computer should be able figure out what words I want and arrange them for me automatically.

      Don't even get me started on the spreadsheet...

      --
      Happiness is like peeing yourself. Everybody can see it but only you can feel its warmth.
    6. 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).

    7. 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.

    8. Re:New Design: by afidel · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There are TONS of open source iPod file loaders. Part of the reason the iPod works so well is the file database, since people figured out the format within about a month of the initial iPod's launch I wouldn't be too worried about losing the ability to use your iPod.

      --
      There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
    9. 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.

  2. Awww crap by NetCAM · · Score: 4, Funny

    Makes me wish I didnt just buy a 40gig iPod in Ginza. Damn damn damn

  3. 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 btrapp · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yeah, because all my mp3s sound really crappy in black and white...

    2. Re:close up by catwh0re · · Score: 5, Insightful
      The thickness and power requirements of a colour screen make it a poor choice for a device that is designed to play music. What use is colour? Perhaps some minimal labelling or to flitter visualisations at me here and there?
      When you see people using their iPods, the behaviour is that the interface lets them choose music quickly, with little/or no need to look at the screen after this.

      A colour screen would be nothing more than an eyecandy waste.
      Reality is most of an iPod's life is to live in someone's pocket. Apple realise this, moving the buttons back to a previous arrangement where a user does not need to look at the iPod to press each button, which was a common UI issue with the former generation iPod.

  4. I am very pleased. by samrolken · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I always thought that the radial design of the 1G and 2G iPods was superior to the "row of buttons" of the 3G iPod. I thought that the iPod mini was even better with the combining of the wheel and the buttons.

    Another notable difference here is the darker buttons. I've yet to decide if that's a good or bad thing, as far as design goes. What do you people think?

    --
    samrolken
  5. Price drop? by Flyboy+Connor · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Hopefully the sale of a new iPod will make the price of the older versions drop considerably. I really want one, but I think they currently are ridiculously overpriced. Especially here in the Old World. Is a 15Gb iPod for 100 euros too much to ask?

    1. Re:Price drop? by super+awesome · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The new ones are supposed to be priced lower than the current models, so you might be able to pick one of the new models up. And if not, the introduction of the new iPods will dramatically drive down the price of the 3G ones.

      --

      m y k a r m a i s m o r e p o s i t i v e t h a n y o u r s.
    2. Re:Price drop? by cryptochrome · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Unfortunately, due to the way hard drives are constructed, the major part of the cost is the base cost of the hard drive mechanics. Using multiple platters (the actually disks) for large capacity costs relatively little in comparison; using denser platters raises cost virtually not at all. Thus small hard drives still cost a lot, and larger ones cost only marginally more, and the cost of the cheapest models never really drops even as capacity increases. Likewise, the cost of the rest of the iPod electronics is exactly the same for all same generation models.

      I've been waiting for my magic price point, $200, for some time now. I'm probably going to keep waiting.

      --

      ---If you can't trust a nerd, who can you trust?

    3. Re:Price drop? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If you take a look at the Apple quarterly earnings you will find that this is not true. Their profit is relatively small (something like 60 million on 2 billion sales or about 3%.) If they cut the price of their products in half (as you suggest) they would no longer make a 3% profit, they would make about a 47% loss.

      The margin on Apple products is said to be somewhere in the range of 20 to 30%. However, that money goes into R&D, advertising, and other business overhead. The 3% profit is what is left over after all of that. So, if they were to stop advertising, stop all R&D work, and fire as many employees as possible, they could sell the iPod for maybe 25% less. Somehow that doesn't seem like a valid option.

      Is there a way to reduce cost? Probably. They could invest R&D money into reducing cost but what this likely means is 1) design a custom ASIC that has the CPU, LCD drivers, USB/1394 interfaces, and *hard drive control* circuits all on a single chip and thereby 2) attach the hard drive heads, servo, and spindle motor directly to that custom chip. (In other words, eliminate the extra controller circuit board that normally comes as part of an "off the shelf" hard drive and truly make the hard drive part of the iPod custom circuitry.) There are certainly undesirable aspects of this approach - for example, it becomes much more difficult to increase the device storage capacity as you have essentially taken on the R&D that would normally be done by a hard drive manufacturer.

      I think it is much better to spend the R&D money on enhancing the device in other ways.

  6. Repeat of the iMac leak? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    When the last big rev of the iMac got released (flat screen), Time mag. leaked all the details something like 12 hours before Steve officially intro'd it. Obviously, Jobs had a cow over it -- they stole his thunder!

    I wonder if Newsweek just pulled the same stunt by mistake?

    Man, I just would not want to be anywhere near Steve Jobs right now...

    1. Re:Repeat of the iMac leak? by AndroidCat · · Score: 5, Funny

      A reality distortion field strength of 1.0 Jobs can be hazardous to your health. However, experts disagree on the long-term effects or danger from background micro- or pico-Jobs fields.

      --
      One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
  7. Leaked Article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative
  8. Re:no anodized metal? by jomas1 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Although I have not really heard any complaints about scratches on the ipod mini, anodized metal scratches too. People who don't understand anodizing often complain that the paint on their Sony Clies is coming off even though the Clies are made with anodized magnesium. Anodized metal is better than paint because you can buff the scrathches out to some extent but people who like to whine will still do so.

  9. Dang! by Some+guy+named+Chris · · Score: 4, Funny

    The only problem with Apple is that I lust after them.

    Now, my 40GB iPod is obsolete! I must have the yellow one.

  10. Re:Haven't we had enough of these ipod stories ? by catwh0re · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I think this article legitimately makes it to the front page.
    The reason for that is, slashdot is about technology, the iPod happens to be an example of technology that has become a growing cultural icon.
    When the three headlines for a huge publication are "9/11", "Iraq", and "iPod", with the "iPod" leading. It's almost surprising that slashdot doesn't have _more_ articles about it.

    Despite the lack of significance (it is, after all, simply a music player), there are many surrounding wider effects that have come from it, and this is where the publicity is deserved.

  11. Out of the ordinary by Xemu · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Apple's marketing department is the best. Not many vendors can get their products announced to the target audience before they officially exist, but Apple keep making front page news on slashdot. Here most of the readership are in their teens and thus are a perfect match the products intended demographics. It's marked up as news and not as the ad it really is. This is a marketers wet dream.

    Best of all, you don't even realize your strings are being pulled. You think you're outsmarting Apple and reading something they don't want you to read.

    --
    Tell your friends about xenu.net
    1. Re:Out of the ordinary by Midnight+Thunder · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Apple's marketing department is the best. Not many vendors can get their products announced to the target audience before they officially exist, but Apple keep making front page news on slashdot.

      I wonder how much it has to do with marketing in certain cases and instead with the shear enthusiasim of the the customers? For example are there AppleInsider.com or macrumors.com equivalents for other stuff such as Microsoft, Dell, HP, etc?

      Few companies in the IT world provide a line of products where people are willing to cut off their arm to find out what's coming next. Its like people expect Christmas from Apple.

      --
      Jumpstart the tartan drive.
    2. Re:Out of the ordinary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      ...are there AppleInsider.com or macrumors.com equivalents for other stuff such as Microsoft, Dell, HP, etc?

      Of course. You can find scoops on future Dell products here.

  12. 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.

  13. Re:Haven't we had enough of these ipod stories ? by psergiu · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's because of the small i at the beginning.
    Iran & Iraq should change their country names in iRan & iRaq to get more leading headlines.

    --
    1% APY, No fees, Online Bank https://captl1.co/2uIErYq Don't let your $$$ sit in a no-interest acct.
  14. Or... by Kjella · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...use Privoxy with referrer-spoofing. Any link I click to www.domain.com/foo/bar.html, has a referrer of "www.domain.com", no matter where I came from. Works with every site I know of. I consider it the same way as pop-ups. It was a privilidge, you abused it, I revoked it. No referrers for anyone.

    Kjella

    --
    Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  15. Re:One can only hope that it features Bluetooth by Oculus+Habent · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Not a chance. Wireless technology would mean the death of battery life. Also, few people would be accepting of a separate technology to sync contancs and notes, especially at the cost of battery life. The addition is hardly needed, either. Most people don't sync from multiple computers so removing the "inconvenience" of having to place the iPod in the Dock - virtually no work - just isn't worth the additional price (or reduced profit) and confusion for the user.

    --
    That what was all this school was for... to teach us how to solve our own problems. -- janeowit
  16. What about accessories? by Belgand · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm certainly curious about what this means to the market for iPod accessories. When the 3G came out third-party manufacturers immediately dropped support for 1G and 2G iPods in most cases. Apple as well decided to more or less drop support of the older models up to and including the lack of firmware updates to provide many of the same features as present in the new models (I am told that it would be possible to add such things as on the go playlists and such, but Apple merely chooses not to). As the owner of a 2G I was, of course, upset by the idea that my iPod no longer seemed to exist.

    While this design seems to be much more in line with the non-3G what with the return to the wheel as opposed to the independent buttons I'm curious as to where the compatibility will lie. Will earlier models suddenly be supported once again (probably unlikely, the wheel looks to be sized differently and the cutouts for the various ports are different, it might work as a kludge at best)? Will 3G-style products suddenly drop out of sight just like what happened when the design was last changed significantly?

    There are some valid questions here that I don't think Apple or many others are bothering to consider. Yes there are advantages to making improved designs, but Apple doesn't seem to be paying any attention to the benefits of a consistent design with only functional improvements.

  17. Re:Never going to buy one by BasilBrush · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yes, and I think Apple have lost sales to all the other unemployed, Linux using, Ogg Vorbis fans. That's 14 sales lost right there! ;-)

  18. 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.

  19. A call for perspective by Jack+Auf · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In the scope of all things, is it of any real importance that Apple has yet again changed the buttons on the iPod? I own several Macs and an iPod 3G and I couldn't care less.

    What does that say about our society when a fairly simple re-design of a product garners such attention? Is it really important? Does it make your life better somehow?

    Just get over yourselves.

    --
    "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety" - BF
  20. iBeard by jamesl · · Score: 5, Funny

    Steve needs to get a new iBlade for his iRazor.

  21. 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.

  22. 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.

  23. 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.

  24. 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.

  25. 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).

  26. 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.
  27. Re:Battery issue? by 2nd+Post! · · Score: 4, Informative

    It costs $29-$49 to replace

    More here and here.

  28. Re:Never going to buy one by nuxx · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And with that you just explained why most people buy iPods. Not to flame you, but most people don't care about support for anything beyond MP3 and "whatever iTMS uses". Most people also don't care about how the files are stored on the disk. Just the fact that an iPod can be used as a FW/USB external disk is good enough, although most people probably don't care about this either.

    So, yes, once again it comes down to the interface. You can easily use it with one hand while driving, walking, whatever, and it's just fairly intuitive.

  29. Re:Steve's glasses by Eric_Cartman_South_P · · Score: 5, Funny
    Those are. by far. the coolest glasses I've seen.

    Before you get some cool glasses, how about getting some commas? Here's a bunch for you, for free. Cut and paste as needed.

    ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

  30. Re:Steve's glasses by That's+Unpossible! · · Score: 4, Funny

    Before you get some cool glasses, how about getting some commas?

    He can't see! He thought those periods were commas, you insensitive clod!

    --
    Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.
  31. Re:Still no radio?!? by Nexx · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There's no radio because Apple wants to sell the same box internationally.

    Personally, I don't listen to radio, so it's not a big loss to me.