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Rumors of Next Generation of Ipods
xyankee writes "Apple is on the verge of releasing a 60GB iPod that will not only hold a ton of music, but also sport photo-viewing capabilities! Think Secret is reporting that the new iPod will also have a 2-inch high-resolution LCD display, video-out, and enhancements to iPhoto for synchronizing photos. The best part is it'll be just 2mm thicker than regular iPods. Does this mean that iPhoto for Windows might not be far behind? Also, as a note to all the rumor pundits, Think Secret nailed the iMac G5 specs a month before its announcement, so I'm inclined to believe them with this bit as well."
Think Secret, while not 100% accurate, does have a pretty darn good track record for pre-release specs. It's certainly the most credible Mac rumor site out there. I'm inclined to believe them as well. Now I just have to find $500...
The article says in the next 30-60 days. Although that makes sense in terms of the holiday shopping season, didn't they just come out with the 4th gen ipod, oh, 3 or 4 months ago? You still have problems finding accessories for the 4th gen--most of the cases sold in the stores are still for the 3rd gen ipod.
"Righteous speed demon and trust fund party darling of justice"
Someday they will manage the technological feat of incorporating an FM tuner into the IPod. When I have the option of listening to NPR or my music collection I may switch to the IPod. Right now I will stick with my IRiver player.
I totally get this. I carry photos around on my Palm all the time. When I come back from vacation or whatever, I can dump the images to the Palm and then I can show them to folks. As long as it's a very good screen (like the one on my Tungsten|T3) the pictures will show up very well.
I also keep my T3 docked on my desk at work, and use the slide show feature to cycle through photos there while it's not in use. It makes a very appealing digital picture frame. An iPod in its dock, with a good color screen, would serve well in this capacity too.
FWIW, IMHO, IANAL, prices and participation may vary.
It's not a lie. It's the truth with lossy compression.
When I bought my treo, I was so happy to ditch having to walk around with two geeky devices. So of course I ended up buying a 20 gig iPod and still walk around with two geeky devices. Jobs has said the smartphone is the future of the PDA - does that mean an eventual merging of these technologies?
www.lonseidman.com
Exactly, it's not the first time they discuss such new iPods, they actually overhyped some similarly featured iPod as soon as Spring 2004 but they had to admit they were wrong.
I don't think Apple will do it, because it's just not convenient to use a 2 inch lcd screen to see photos that have been most probably taken on a dig camera with a dedicated similarly large screen...
Anyway, if Apple does such a device, I guess it'll more and more look like the PDA Newton lovers have been expecting for years...
I suggest somebody asks Belkin or any other iPod accessories manufacturer whether they plan to create an iPod char input device...
Trolling using another account since 2005.
What i would like to see is a winamp style visualation feature. Just use a QVGA 16-bit color screen.
I know, you dont NEED it, but it would be better than picture support.
A digital camera adapter
I could see a 4 MP camera that would attach right to the bottom of the iPod. Now that would be cool, an iPod with photo-taking capabilities. There might just be a good market for that. Plus, 60 GB of photos in your camera would be sweet ...
***
very true.
I think there is a market for this, that's maybe a little bit of a shift from the iPods present target market.
it's the iPod for grown ups. These are the people who wouldn't buy one just for the music, but the prospect of taking their kids/grandkids photos with them everywhere, being able to whip out a cool little device with every digital photo they've ever taken, would definitely hold some appeal with some of the older folk.
the music may just be a bonus!
-- james
Oh, it would be wicked cool if the iPod would display the album art of any songs it's playing - with the song name superimposed over the top. Ahh
Imagine what this capability would do for the interface in general...
Yum. I'd buy.
Yawn...
Archos AV400 supports audio, video (divx/xvid), photos and act as a USB external drive too. 80GB models are available today and work with most any OS.
It seems to me that iPods tend to be more of a status symbol than a breakthrough in technology.
[This is not meant as a flame. I own a 17" Powerbook myself.]
This is it. The beginning of Apple's "media center" strategy.
And it's completely different from the way Microsoft and others are approaching it.
Everyone else has been going about it from the respect of making a whole freaking separate *computer* a part of your entertainment/AV center. A computer with its own maintenance and patching needs, another computer that needs to be upgraded, another computer to break, etc.
Apple started it with AirPort Express...a wireless device, that integrates with your existing wireless or wired network, integrates with your entertainment center, has analog and digital optical audio outputs, and seamlessly meshes with the applications and techniques you ostensibly already use (or will switch to) for managing your music collection.
Now, an iPod, with a massive amount of storage, and clearly with a dock or some other capability to attach to an external video device, such as a TV, even if only for viewing photos. This means that some type of interface - whether it's on the TV or the iPod's own screen - has been built to navigate through items that reside on the iPod. Meaning that video playback (as long as the iPod and/or dock can handle the playback/decoding) would be trivial.
Imagine this: download a movie or other video content on your Mac. Perhaps via the iTunes Store. Sync with your iPod. Drop your iPod into its dock at your entertainment center. Select content (a movie?) and play. Simple. Clean. Doesn't require you to have 45 computers.
So, yes, this new iPod is "just as expensive" as a PC someone might build or buy to integrate into your entertainment center as a media PC. But think about NORMAL PEOPLE for a second. Think about how unbelievably cool this is.
While no rumor site is 100% on-the-money, I've found TS to be the best of the bunch. They're not given to empty speculation.
This is my post. There are many others like it. If you don't like what you read here, go try one of the others.
If this turns out to be true, and the iPod ends up having a nice color screen then Apple could have a real winner on their hands with the iPod + iSight combination. Right now the iSight only needs a firewire connection. With a color screen it would now be possible to use the two as a camcorder if Apple would support this. Apple sent college students to both the democratic and republican conventions with iBooks and iSights to do interviews with the delegates. It seems pretty obvious that that camcorder-like feature is on Apple's radar screen. Personally I could care less about video and more about audio recording. I wish Apple would allow 44.1khz lossless recording with the iPod. Then the iPod (plus external battery) would supplant the portable DAT recorder as the primary tool for LEGAL concert tapers. This is not piracy, but sanctioned recording from the artists. For more information see archive.org/audio
One thing I would not be surprised by would be the ability of the iPod to play keynote presentations. If it supports video out, then it could very easily be used as a portable presentation device. It probably wouldn't be able to manage complex transitions (at least not the 3D ones), but I wouldn't be at all surprised if Keynote 2 can export to some kind of bitmap format usable on the iPod.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
More thoughts:
Step 1) Find or write software to convert JPEG into audio files
Step 2) Find or create hardware to decode the sounds you get from playing back those files into signals that your TV understands over an RCA cable or what have you
Step 3) Insert iPod in between the product of step 1 and the product of step 2
This time it really applies:
Step 4) ????
Step 5) Profit!
...unfortunately no one can be told what The Mat^H^H^HGoatse is...they must experience it for themselves...