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Toshiba Unveils 80GB 'iPod drive'
sushant_bhatia_progr writes "The Register has an article about a new 80GB drive from Toshiba. Toshiba says it will ship an 80GB 1.8in hard drive in Q3 2005 - a year after it introduced the 60GB version that can currently to be found inside the iPod Photo. The 80GB HDD - model number MK8007GAH - comes in a 7.9 x 5.4 x 0.8cm casing. Toshiba will ship a 40GB version - model number MK4007GAL - that's just 0.5cm thick in the second quarter. It's lighter, too: 51g to the 80GB HDD's 62g. Toshiba's current 40GB and 60GB (model numbers MK4004GAH and MK6006GAH, respectively) 1.8in HDDs are 0.8cm thick, so the new drive should make for thinner mid-range iPods.
Both drives spin at 4200rpm, offer an average seek time of 15ms and operate across an Ultra DMA 100 interface. They can take 500G operating shock and 1500G non-operating shock."
I think the shrinking of the 40hb hard drive from .8cm to .5cm is much more important than the creation of the 80gb model.
I think I would rather have a really thing 40gb model than a slightly larger 80gb model that probably will cost a lot more.
"I see a new, higher capacity iPod in the future..maybe just in time for MacWorld SF 2005..."
*cues fog machine*
I dont think that theese things exists, but you can have a look at www.dpreview.com and see for yourself..
The microdrives are micro harddrives in compact flash form factor.
This is a good point. From the time the iPods were first announced each iteration that came after continually became less thick and I think this is what really helped the iPod continue at its spot in #1. When you hand someone an iPod, they are first amazed by its dimensions and feel in their hand. As an owner of a 40gb iPod Photo, thickness went up considerably, and I think this would be the thickest portable harddrive/player that I would consider purchasing after owner the thinner previous models. Atleast with the size increase on the 40gb Photo the battery life went up instead of down, so this is probably what has to do with most of the thickness. Guess its a hard balance for Apple to find between thickness and battery life.
I dunno, 4000 bytes isn't really that big these days...
In Soviet Rush, today's Tom Sawyer gets high on you.
How about just adding a small USB port that will hook up already existing external drives, and adapting the software just to read from it? I know it defeats portability a little bit, but then you could place in your car those old laptop hard drives in external chassis, filling them with music or movies, and then switching them on your iPod - like old 8-track cartridges?
That would be kinda' neat, kinda retro.
just a web application developer and instructor in Toronto, ON Canada
A thinner hard drive allows for a fatter battery.
I'd rather see a hard-drive-enabled video cam. No need for tapes, easy editing... don't feel like I have to continue.
And it better be 80 GB, not the measly 4GB like in some recent news...
I really believe that a device like this would win the market... it's beyond me why is nobody making them yet on mass scale.
I, for one, welcome our new fresh jokes overlord!
Signatures are for stupids.
I've got around 1200 CDs. Even 80 GB is going to be too small ripping with AAC at 160 KBps.
Still waiting...
Okay, I thought the story about only the old people in South Korea using email was funny, and the spin offs of "In Korea only old people do {insert activity here}" were funny for a bit, but you people wanting to get in your crack about old Koreans on EVERY SINGLE THREAD are just not funny and are ruining what was a pretty funny joke in the process.
</RANT>
500g, as in 500 times the acceleration of gravity. Ie, since the thing has a mass of 41g, using F=ma, it can stand a force of 196N while operating and 588N when it is not in use.
The Players should be able to withstand more then that much force though.
So this gives approx 22 Days of music. So now if the battery last this long it would be worth it
Rus
Cheap UK and US VPS
if someone would only port MAME to the iPOD, i'd stop crying.
In fact, they are buying LOTS of them... and if the damn thing supported FLAC I would buy it too and load up the whole 80 or 100 or 120 GB it offered (I don't want to hear about iPods supporting AppleLossless -- that is not an open format so I don't plan on using it).
But a HDD based video camera would be nice too.
Actually, you probably can't. Assuming a 0.1" deformation of the bottom of your foot, you'd have to jump from 150" or 12.5 feet. If you landed without any other shock absorption (flex of your skeleton), you're almost certain to break somthing (you're ankles, most likely).
As a comparison, a typical dinner plate will survive about 100g, and most CRT computer monitors find their limit at about 75g. Highly sensitive inertial guidance system components are in the "extremely sensitive" range down around 15g.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
Ceterum censeo subscriptionem esse delendam.
A PDA with this kind of drive in it could be used to store 120 or so movies (well...mine only gets 320x240 resolution, and I'm assuming good compression like DIVX).
They already have video units like this, but for some reason they think that if your PDA does this then it doesn't have to be able to do anything else.
Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!
I realized now Apple will have yet another high capacity music player I'll never be able to afford. Thanks Steve
it's an acceleration rate. G = 9.8m/s.
:-)
After a 1s fall, any object will be falling at 9.8m/s (constant acceleration for 1 s, starting at 0, will give that speed). It will also have travelled 4.9m.
If the iPod was stopped, say by the ground, in 10ms (probably in the right order of magnitude. Might be slightly shorter or longer depending the type of ground, whether you have a shock-absorbant casing around it, etc), it would have to take an acceleration of 9.8m/s / 0.01s = 980m/s^2 for 0.01s. That would be an acceleration of 980/9.8 = 100Gs.
So from 5m height, if the ipod falls straight on its side and the shock absorption of that floor + casing stops the ipod in 10ms, the acceleration will be 100Gs. if it stopped in 1ms, it would be 1000Gs.
Feel free to make your own measurements of the time it takes for the ipod to stop
Daniel
Carpe Diem
* Better battery life
I've had my IPod for a few months now, and with a decent amount of usage I have yet to have the battery run out. It came close, once, while driving to Canada from PA.
* No DRM
Like the other poster said, you don't have to use any DRM'd files. You can throw all of the unprotected AAC or mp3 files you want on the thing. Also, Apple does let you do quite a bit with the files. You can share them on I think up to 5 devices now, and you can burn them to cd. I have yet to run into a situation where I wanted to do something with files I bought from the ITMS that I wasn't able to.
* More colors
Well you can buy that hideous U2 black and red IPod now.
* Decent remote
The inline remote Apple sells is pretty decent, it's just frustrating that they make you buy a new set of head phones with it.
* Digital I/O
Not really what the IPod is intended for. It's a portable personal music player, it's not meant to be connected to your home stereo, it's meant to be connected to head phones.
There are plenty of things I would change about the IPod, the first thing that comes to mind is for it to scroll song titles while you are browsing your library. Very often you get several tracks in a row with the exact same name and no way to tell them apart other than listening. This is especially true when it comes to audio books.
-matt
1. You don't like it? Buy a mini.
2. The iPod gets 12 hours now. The iPod Photo gets 15. Whaddaya want? A micro-fusion-reactor?
3. Only in fantasyland, buddy. DRM is pretty much necessary to keep Apple from getting sued out of business by the RIAA. You don't want DRM? Start a lobby group and make it illegal.
4. It's a portable music player, not a home stereo. Remotes are available as part of the Bose SoundDock and there's a third-party IR remote available.
5. The device is compact...where the hell are you going to cram a digital I/O (TOSLink) port?
You may not have 80GB of music, but those of us with hundreds of gigs' worth are drooling over the idea of an 80GB iPod.
blog |
A one-inch drop onto concrete generates forces of around 200G. A one-meter drop generates between 8000 and 10000G.
Even with flexion of the case, I'd suspect that an iPod falling off a belt would subject the drive to at least 500G.
There in only one reason I can think of that small hard drives are not currently used on digicams: power consumption. If the iPod (and its imitators) were not caching info to flash memory and having to run their mini hard drives all the time, the longevity of both the battery and the hard drive itself would be significantly reduced. Unless you are willing to compress all video shot on your camera, the memory format will need to be able to write at a speed of no less than 25 Mbps and flash memory is only now getting up to that point -- and it's ain't gonna be cheap for an application like this, methinks.
from
I dunno, 4000 bytes isn't really that big these days...
Actually, 40 harpibytes would be (40 * 1024) yottabytes, which is 49,517,601,571,415,210,995,964,968,960 bytes. That's pretty big, even by today's standards.
bp
The disadvantage (for me) is the lack of a very long battery life, which is a common feature amongst most HDD based players, in my opinion, if you only listen to a few CD's each day, and you like the radio, go for a smaller 512mb or 1gb flash based device with a built in radio. iRiver ones seem to fit the bill nicely with battery-lives that dwarf the iPod, but again, they essentially are aimed at different areas of the same market, ask yourself "do I need it?" and base your decision off that.
And hell, pay off you're debts first, you work hard, probably doing a job you would rather not be doing and then you throw away your hard earned cash on interest payments for a credit card with which you bought shit you probably don't really need? Solve that first mate and you'll have more money overall to buy gadgets and gizmos.
2. The iPod gets 12 hours now. The iPod Photo gets 15. Whaddaya want? A micro-fusion-reactor?
YES
This would cater to the people who have large music collections and have no interest in storage of photos or a need for a colour screen. Like me.
Given that the iPod Photo has significantly longer battery life with a colour screen, one with a b&w screen could probably increase the 12 hour duration as high as 15.
I'm still not convinced that video is the way to go at the moment, mainly because it's such a niche area. Digital photography only really took off for the average Joe a couple of years ago with the reduction in price of digital cameras to an affordable (and in many cases, dirt cheap) price.
At the moment, I'm looking at the photo iPod simply because I want 60 gig. It's somewhat disappointing to think I'm paying out extra money for the photo functionality that I'll never use.
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Your head deformed as it hit the ice, spreading the impact out over time. Also, your brain (or what's left of it!) is cushioned by a surrounding layer of fluid.
Personally, I wear a helmet to protect my "money-maker"....
A house divided against itself cannot stand.
The Japanese manufacturer didn't mention any customers by name of course, but having supplied Apple with micro hard drives to date, it seems likely the relationship will continue with the new, higher capacity.
We all remember the fit that Apple threw when they pre-announced Apple's order for the 60-gig. Seems like they're thinking things through this time.
I've got both a third gen 20GB iPod, and an Archos AV400 PVR.
I use the iPod solely for music, and the Archos solely for video. If Archos ever got their act together and shrunk the device even a little, integrated a remote and smartened up the sw then I'd drop the iPod in a hearbeat.
I've got a one hour long commute each way. For me that is nothing more productive then watching the overnite market news instead of listening to music. I haven't messed about much with movies and such, but for catching up on the news the Archos can't be beat!
At least until Apple enters that market.
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Personally, I wear a helmet to protect my "money-maker"....
That's one thing our sex ed class in high school taught us as well...
oh wait..
Karnal
I'm sure Apple is planing on using these in the new Newton that will be released at MacWorld SanFran next month.
[hint] Imagine how many HyperCard stacks 80GB can hold?
I know a lot of people say this is too big, to much this or that, but really, if you have over 20GB of storage, you are not really targeting the casual music listener (other than the gullible ones, who think bigger is always better), but people with an interest in having their music collections in a good quality with them.
Of course, the iPod doesn't support lossless compressed formats, but this is about a harddisk that could also be used by better audioplayer manufacturers.
Anyway, a record, ripped in good quality, or even lossless will run between 100MB and 300MB. Let's be conservative and say 150MB per album. That means that on this disc will have space for around 500 albums. (rounded down to be on the save side, if you have only mp3 playback this number might grow to be around 800-900 albums)
500 albums is a medium sized collection for music lovers. (and 800-900 is not excessive) Personally, I would really like to see players with 80GB that are small and have good battery life. I don't care for colour screens and video, image and other capabilities (apart maybe from recording or digital in/out) and I would really like to design a menu for a music player. (is it so hard to have different random modes: artist, album, year, genre? or the ability to schedule songs to play next without generating a playlist?)
Oh well, I guess I'm not a good target market, I want to control how I listen to the music I love...
CC
Focusing on the news of the smaller, lighter 40GB drive, coule there be other applications of this in a device such as the iPod mini or even an Apple branded cellphone?
Or perhaps the 80GB will me a debut not in an iPod for music and photos, but in an iPod-like PDA/Table/Treo type device.
I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
I bought my wife a 20 GB iPod (3G) on the strength of the user interface. The iRiver was the strongest competition at the time, and it was not pleasant to use. I've since bought an iPod mini to use at the gym, and the click wheel is even better than the previous design.
There are players with better specs. and lower prices. I have yet to find one that can compete with the iPod design.
Or there could be a lot of people like me who are looking forward to the day when I don't have to worry about what lossy codec sounds better than the other at a given bit rate.
Bring on big drives and lossless compression!
Their is an unsubstantiated rumor that Quicktime NG will be released at Macworld in San Francisco in January. Part of the rumor includes: "Support for .ogg, heAAC, and FLAC audio. (these will also be available for playback in new iTunes)." If it comes to Quicktime and iTunes, it will likely also appear for the iPod.
This is just a rumor mind you, but it is not quite as out there as other rumors I have seen. Maybe you should keep your fingers crossed.
I know there's a tie-in with the 500G operating shock there, but I haven't had my coffee yet...
At what point in your interaction with other people, do you ask if they would like to feel your iPod. I found the whole concept of that a little strange. I carry quite a few electronic gadgets and things around with me. I've never felt inclined to ask anyone if they would like to see them or feel them.
Bad boys rape our young girls but Violet gives willingly.
Dude. Smell my iPod.
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
Natalie Portman pour hot grits down your pants in every single thread?
Audiophiles have plenty of other excuses for not buying iPods, most of them, as near as I can tell, made up out of thin air.
For those that don't know, thin air is a huge problem if you are trying to faithfully reproduce a sound. Thicker air carries and holds sound much better, with less distortion (especially in the upper ranges).
iPods, like most other advanced electronics are manfactured in what is called a "cleanroom environment", where normal air is stripped of all it's suspended particulates. This thinned out air is then included in the iPods when they are shipped are are one of the reasons it tends to attenuate the upper frequencies, leading to muffled highs.
Hope that clarifes things a bit.
Actually, the question in my mind is, why don't we have bigger notebook drives? I believe a 100GB 2.5" drive exists, although it seems to be difficult to find. If they can get 80GB in an iPod-sized drive, why can't I get > 200GB in my notebook?
"We have nothing in common, your attitude annoys me, and your political views are appalling."
Yes, I think you'll find the huge delay between announcement of the 60GB drives and the introduction of the 60GB iPod photo was a penalty from Apple - they'ld probably arranged to buy 100,000 drives or something initially, with the expectation of buying another 10,000 a week or something and an agreement to not sell the drives to anyone else for 12 months. 6 months of not buying those drives while having an exclusive sales agreement would HURT the vendor.
Annoucing Apple will use your hardware before Apple announces it == bad. Just talk to Toshiba and ATi for references.
Nitpicking...
A CD is FAR from lossless.
I'm excited about the new formats on DVD media, but I haven't gotten around giving them a listen just yet.
Help I'm a rock.