Slashdot Mirror
New iPods on the Horizon
RemovableBait writes "Apple Computer plans to introduce more iPods before the end of the year", a company executive said Tuesday. From the article: Executive Vice President Tim Cook didn't say whether the new iPods will come at a press event Apple has scheduled for Wednesday morning. But during a conference call with analysts, he suggested that the iPod Nano won't be the last new iPod of the year."
Do we really need 5 posts regarding this subject? The question will be answered today. This article's basically saying "Apple will release...something... soon. Mark our words."
P.S. This is what part of the alphabet would look like if Q and R were eliminated.
It sounds like Apple's simply trying to cash-in quickly before their 'bubble' bursts. Don't get me wrong, the iPod is a great little device, but at some point the buzz + demand / supply will stabilize and the rest of the non-innovative companies will play copy & catch-up.
Will the influx of new Ipods bring the price of the current models to levels where I may decide to buy one? The main thing that has kept me from getting an Ipod is the battery. I spend alot of time working outdoors and a replaceable battery is something that works very well for me. If the battery dies I just put in a new AA (iriver 300 series). Even if it a proprietary battery if it replaceable I want the ability to poop in a fully charged battery. If I wasn't so flighty I could be sure to charge the device every night but that, unfortunately is not the case for me.
Forget decoding, how about encoding? How many people are going to sit there and wait while their computer spends half a day encoding a DVD into h.264?
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
As for whether the move to Intel was a bad idea or not, Apple users have been happy with PowerPC chips for a long time, but dissatisfied with IBM/Moto's ability to get them delivered in a timely fashion. We'll see if Intel can deliver on its promises.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
Video on an iPod gets a lot of criticism as an idea (I've made a fair bit myself, apart from anything), but part of the problem is that people hear "Video iPod", but they're just thinking "iPod that can play films".
The VidPod makes sense, but only if you think beyond there. Right now, the iPod range has around 15 hours of battery when it's just playing music - you're going to get substantially less if you're decoding and displaying video. So 2 hour movies on a tiny screen when the battery is going to cave after a couple of them is indeed dumb.
But there's more to video than movies. We keep hearing rumours that the BBC are somehow involved in today's announcement, and that means TV footage. The News as a video podcast? Last night's Top Gear? How about having individual receipes from cookery shows selectable?
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
One acronym: iTMS.
I don't think they do plan on us spending half a day encoding a DVD to h.264. I think they plan on letting us download a pre-encoded TV programme, and charging us for the privelege.
Sure, it's entirely possible that Apple will let us make our own. But I don't think they plan on passing up the opportunity to flog us stuff that saves us the bother.
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
Why is parent post modded flamebait? The missing support for a file format like ogg is a huge disadvantage. IMHO the iRiver products are superior to all the iPods and whenever somebody suggests that the iPods are not much more than a hype bubble, he's modded down. Just as this post. I have an iRiver H120 (kinda old) and it has analog/digital(optical) in/outs, can play various audio formats, can easily be used as an external USB storage device and has a lot more features than all the iPods so far. Why is it, that whenever an iPod gets a storage upgrade, we have a slashdot article? I haven't seen anything like that for any other digital audio player. Slashdot becomes more and more a Apple fanclub forum. Yes, I clicked the AC checkbox, because I can see this modded down to hell.
well, if you are watching the video from the iPod on a tv are you really worried about battery life? The tv itself has a source of power right? Just plug the iPod into that.
Do I want to watch a 2 hour movie on an iPod? No.
Do I want to watch a 10 minute news bulletin podcasted to my iPod? Yes.
Do I want to watch a 22 minute episode of the Simpsons on my iPod? Yes.
Don't think films, think TV.
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
Enough with the battery FUD.
I just replaced my iPod battery last month. It was $20, including shipping, and came with a funky little plastic tool for opening up the iPod case. Changing it was easier than a memory upgrade on most laptops.
The hardest part of the entire operation was lining up the pins to plug the hard drive back into the motherboard. That took me all of about thirty seconds.
If you can't change the battery on an iPod while following the instructions that come with almost every replacement battery, you are a goddamn idiot.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
How about announcing an iTunes client for Linux? Or at the very least, allowing third parties to release iTunes Linux clients and not constantly thwarting their attempts to bring new customers to the platform? I don't run anything but Linux, at work and at home. I haven't bought an iPod yet because I cannot get reliable iTMS services.
11*43+456^2
This company is completely tearing up the rest of the DAP industry, but we all know this already. I think Apple is going to keep on going and end up taking over the whole electronics market. Apple products have style, power and useability. We've already seen Apple grow from just computing to DAPs to DAPs that have can display photos. Now we have one of these buggers that is only a tiny bit larger than a stick of gum. How long until they make this into a phone, like somebody else mentioned?
They seem to love touch-control tech, and so do consumers. Why not do away with the wheel and put a touch LCD in its place? This LCD displays a wheel that functions the same as the physical wheel, but also slides away when you want to input names and numbers into your address book. You can plug your headset in and make VoIP calls in WiFi hotspots, or record audio directly onto your iPod. The touch LCD navigation makes it easy to create playlists and name them.
Resistance is futile.
--;
I agree. Maybe they can take the strategy employed in the 80s/90s, where if you painted a radio or tape player yellow that made it a "Sport" model and the perception was that it magically became waterproof, shockproof, etc.
Think Jon Stewart's appearance on Crossfire
Think Super-Bowl wardrobe malfunction
Think just about any online video that you'd email your friends, but since video is sometimes slow to download, think about just handing them your iPod for a second.
(though, as the old adage goes... think porn)
There is more than simple raw technical comparison. The iPod wins out hands down against any other player in terms of form factor and UI. Plus, the consistency of quality of their products keep people coming back. Creative can't capitalize on a name the way iPod can because iirc Creative had a string of mediocre mp3 players before the iRiver.
"If you're talking about a video iPod, what would drive the demand? Music videos? You have a whole generation of people already conditioned to getting those for free," said GartnerG2 research analyst Mike McGuire. Uh, hello? Apple makes money on the iPods! If there a big suppy of free music videos for people to watch online (and there is) so much the better! I could be a research analyst, if that's the kind of insight they bring to the table.
It certainly seems to be a "Jobs thing". From what I remember, you could just watch it happen when he returned to Apple. It's not just an issue of limiting options or anything, it's offering what is basically a standardized lineup with standard naming conventions, and then a little variation in configuration. It's the whole thing. It's called "marketing", and it's one of Jobs' big talents.
You get the iStuff, which is all white plastic consumer goods, and then the PowerStuff, which is all aluminum power-user/business goods. It gets to be pretty clear to the consumer what he's getting himself into. You know exactly which models are "better". They're mostly the same, except the more expensive one is faster, has a couple extra features, etc.
I'm still waiting for a "PowerPod".
And then Apple plays this whole "$50 more" game. More marketing. It's smart. People can say, "You can buy an iPod for only $99!" And that draws people in. They think, well, $100 isn't bad. But then, for $50 more, you can get twice as much memory. But for just $50 more than that, you can get a color screen AND twice as much memory. For just $50 more, you can get a whole lot more memory, 5 times as much. Next thing you know, you're thinking about spending $500 for something where you justified the purchase because it was cheap at $100.
And that's what the "$50 more" game is all about. Make your entry level product cheap enough that people feel like it's silly to think it's "too much money", and then add genuinely useful features at regular and small price increments. Consumers will naturally rise to the highest level of money they're willing to spend.
could be more scratch-resistant than the current ones.
w00t
You've owned the thing for less than 3 weeks and you've already managed to sleep on it, lose it between sofa cushions, drop it in hot tea, and slam it in a car door? You sir, are an idiot.