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'True' Video iPod Coming Soon
Moby Cock writes "Think Secret is reporting that the true video iPod is slated for announcement soon. It will have a 3.5 inch display and will eschew the mechanical click wheel in favour of a touch screen version. The 5th generation iPod released prior to the holiday season last year is described as a souped up 4G iPod with video capabilities. This new iPod will be the 'true' video iPod. It looks like there is not going to be wireless support. The article hints that the release date could be April 1 which is the 30th anniversary of Apple."
Its coming out April 1st? Oh, it's no joke then.
>It looks like there is not going to be wireless support.
I bet it has less space than a Nomad, too!
This is just getting out of hand. Every few months they are coming out with new ipods just to make people think that the ipod they have now is suddenly obsolete and should be replaced.
the real question is: will it have more than 3 hours playback time so we can actually watch films on it, unlike almost every other portable video player
How about a 15,000 dollar aniversary iPod stereo system complete with B&O speakers, solid gold monster cables and a sticker that says 30th aniversary iPod.
But I could get stuff off my DirecTiVo onto it I'd buy it in a heartbeat.
If anyone can make a great portable media player, I trust Apple would be the one to do it.
Or we will just get the MacBook, Mac Mini Solo, and a new gizmo that isn't the iPod.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
Previous slashdot stories covered rumours about a possible upcoming Apple tablet (see here and here). However, perhaps what was really going on was that Apple was putting in place patents related to this device.
Look at the patents in question. US Design Patent No. D504,899, filed on May 10, 2005, looks like a patent for the design of an Apple tablet. Yet, perhaps they refrained from calling it a tablet in the patent (they call it "an electronic device") because they actually want it to cover the (much smaller) design of the video iPod. US Patent Application No. 20060026536, filed Jan 30, 2005, is called "Gestures for touch sensitive input devices," and the images very clearly show a device that looks like a full-screen ipod with overlayed "touchwheel" (check out this news item for commentary and images.
What I'm getting at is this: ThinkSecret may very well be right (again!). The fact that these patents were filed shows that they are working on this kind of device. I think these patent applications strongly support the notion that Apple is going to try to release a next-gen device with touch-screen based input. Sounds like a cool device.
They will place a sticker on the bottom with an arrow pointing at you saying "Warning: See that shirt you're wearing, use it to wipe me off!"
Apple is taking advantage of their monopoly position disallowing the playing of itunes purchased music on non iPod players.
.. you have to stick to iPod or lose the ability to transport your music? Plus when your HDD dies .. you cant regain your music.
.. if you are a band and want to sell your music (with DRM) .. you have to do it on the iTunes store .. or your music will not have the protection of DRM if it's to be put on iPods
.. but then you lose the ability to protect your music. I hate DRM as much as the next guy .. but this isnt helping the situation to have Apple doing this.
They're not taking advantage of a monopoly; this has been the case since the Music Store's introduction. As for "abusive monopoly" claims, get back to me when Apple is making deals that punish stores for selling alternatives to iPods, the way Microsoft did with Windows OEMs int he 90s. Consumers can choose any player and any format they want.
This means if you bought music for your iPod
Yes, you can regain your music. Back it up (as iTunes prompts you to) or copy it from the iPod using a third-party utility. Obviously, if you buy music from Apple, it will play on Apple's player. Don't like it? Don't use an iPod or iTunes. You have a choice.
Furthermore, because Fairplay DRM is closed
So don't do it. Just because those are the options doesn't make Apple abusive. Life's tough.
The alternative is DRM free mp3
You don't explain how it's detrimental to the situation or what is so bad about Fairplay DRM to begin with (I forget it's even there, it's so lax in its "restrictions").
"Sufferin' succotash."
But I'm still waiting for the eight pound, 10-inch screen iPod that Steve Jobs announced during his podcast demo at MacWorld last month. :P
And given ThinkSecret's track record over the past 6 months, you should take all this "News" with a truckload of salt.
It's a rumor on an inconsistent website about a proposed product launch on April 1st.
WTF.
"MY APOCALYPTIC TENOR HAS NOT BEEN DISPELLED!" - T-Rex, qwantz.com
WTF do they mean by the ,i>true video iPod? Is this thing on a higher plane of existence or something? iPod 6D?
"MY APOCALYPTIC TENOR HAS NOT BEEN DISPELLED!" - T-Rex, qwantz.com
1) Apple really was incorporated on April 1st (people don't seem to know that) and it will be the actual 30th birthday to the day.... though Steve Jobs was not at Apple for the 20th anniversary, there was a special Mac released.
2) the current iPod is referred to as "iPod with video" and not "video iPod" on Apple.com. that specific wording is why people think Apple is reserving "video iPod" for something new. i guess technically the iPod with Video is considered a modified version of the latest iPod, and not a flat out video playback device. it also may explain those patents that surfaced recently about a touchscreen-like thing that made the rumor site go bananas thinking an Apple tablet was coming. (here is one example). add the reoccurring "Apple to buy Palm" rumor and you could write a book full of speculation wrapping up all these rumors into one crazy device if you want.
anyway, that's the background on those two bits.....
> How do they plan on keeping fingerprints off the screen?
Easy. iRub the screen with iSleeve.
i own an ipod shuffle. i bought it right when the shuffles first went on sale. i bought the shuffle instead of a big ipod because i wanted to save a little money, i was waiting for one single solitary feature: AUDIO THAT DOESN'T SKIP BETWEEN TRACKS.
name the one thing that a record player, an 8-track player, a tape player, and a CD player can all do, but that an iPod can not. that feature is to not have a half a second of silence between tracks. yes, yes, i know that "the MP3 format isn't easily made to fade one track seamlessly into another track" but i don't care if it's easy, it's obviously *possible*, so that fact that it hasn't been done is a travesty.
look: i listen to albums, not songs; and my favorite album is Tool's "Lateralus"; and until i can go from 'Parabol' to 'Parabola' without a moment of silence inbetween, or (worse) having to fade the last half a second of one track into the first half a second of the next track, i won't buy that damn contraption. so you don't like Tool? maybe you like Queen's "News of the World", where 'We Will Rock You' refuses to match up with 'We Are The Champions'.
bah. is this really a ridiculous thing to request? is it really THAT hard? i mean, i figure there is some kind of input stream for the MP3 data; can't that stream be buffered for two seconds, and when the read-ahead algorithm finds the end of the stream, can't it append the stream for the next MP3? here let me answer my own question: yes, it could.
i'd love to have an ipod that does video, and i'd pay five bills to get one, but if it can't even play music right, what good is it?
end rant.
Apple has a few screws loose if they think coming out with a new iPod product every 6 months is a good thing.
While I am all for innovation, there is also a question of blowing the wad too soon.
With every new Apple release there is always going to be a large percentage of customers that get burned. Because Apple is so secretive you can't make a wise decision on purchasing Apple's products. Buy a product at full price one day (Apple rarely discounts), and the next day Apple comes out with something 4 times faster, or more capacity, or more features, or whatever. Anybody buying the so called 5th gen Video iPod will be sour when Apple releases a better version only 6 months later.
This is going to hurt Apple in the long run because they are developing a reputation of being deceptive, not secretive, forcing customers to pay full price for a product that becomes obsolete the next day. At least if Apple practices slowly discouting product until their next release (like the REST of the technology market does), then it wouldn't be so bad when someone bought what was the state of the art iPod one day for $200 and then it is replaced with a new version at $500. Apple frequently releases new better products CHEAPER then the previous generations that we sold only the day before.
If Apple releases a revamped iPod in April, then I think they have lost touch with their customers and reputation for being a considerate company, instead churning out incremental upgrades on a regular basis, screwing early adopter all for the almighty dollar.
Apple has become Microsoft.
If Apple can't wait until next holiday season to hype up a new Video iPod then I will have lost all respect for them.
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
They wouldn't do a scroll wheel on the side. For one, that just isn't an ipod. It would be just like any other mp3 player out there. Secondly, the scroll wheel is one of the most ergonomic and natural feeling controls on the market. Instead of pushing down a button and waiting for the hardware to start scrolling, it's moving and soon as you are, and stops as soon as you stop. Plus, there's no awkward move it down, move your finger back up, move it down... etc. Apple would be stupid to give up something so ingenious as the click wheel. As for the wheel being digitized, I'm not too hot on the idea. The reason that the 3G didn't really fly as well as it should have was because there was no tactile feedback. You get the 'click' when you press the button on all of the other models, but 3G you didn't get that. In addition, you had to move your thumb to get to the menu buttons.
The only way to tell the difference between a hamster and a gerbil is that the hamster has more white meat.
You sound like a cheapskate fashion elitist who doesn't have a clue as to how the system works.
"What? Saks updates its collection every few months? So I can't buy one outfit today and be able to brag to my friends that I am on top of the fashion world for the next few years? Oh, the horror. I have lost all respect for Saks, that evil inconsiderate Microsoft of a company."
Either accept paying the bill every few months to have the latest fashion, or quit buying fashion in your technology.
What foppery you present us with. Grow up.