Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

8 & 10 GB iPod Nanos Rumored

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the on-the-horizon dept.

koweja writes "The UK based technology magazine T3 is predicting that Apple will release larger iPod Nanos in the near future. From the article, "Munster's reasoning is that, as the touchscreen iPod will likely not now appear until next year, Apple needs to launch something eye-catching in time for the lucrative run-up to Christmas - and bigger capacity nanos fit the bill nicely." Granted it's an almost completely unsubstantiated prediction from somebody outside of Apple, but it is what a lot of people have been asking for since the original Nanos came out."

21 of 238 comments (clear)

  1. In Other News by ciroknight · · Score: 5, Funny

    I rumored a 16GB iNewton is in the works. Does that make me any more credible!?

    --
    "Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush
    1. Re:In Other News by chris_eineke · · Score: 4, Funny

      iKnewIt!

      --
      "All you have to do is be fragile and grateful. So stay the underdog." Chuck Palahniuk, Choke
  2. Wow! Baseless speculation! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Gosh... here's some more... Apple will eventually release a 16 gig ipod Nano! You heard it here first.

    Anyway, a 10 gig Nano makes no sense. 8? Sure, but 10? No. It can't be a single chip, and the size difference between it and an 8 gig isn't enough to justify the price difference for most people.

    1. Re:Wow! Baseless speculation! by Jeff+DeMaagd · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I've seen product tear-downs that showed the current nano had two flash chips in the 4GB version, one in the 2GB version. Some might have two 1GB chips if it was more cost-effective. So an 8GB nano would have two two 4GB chips. Of course, bare flash chips are rated in bits, not bytes, so the chips might be 8Gb, 16Gb and 32Gb for the respective sizes.

      It might be more realistic to expect to see a 6GB version (1x 4GB and 1x 2GB chip) and the 4 and 2 GB models pushed down in price $50 each.

    2. Re:Wow! Baseless speculation! by Kjella · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'm too lazy to actually check out the sources, but wikipedia says it's 1x1GB, 2x1GB and 1x4GB respectively. Since there's 4GB chips already, and apparently room for two I imagine it's a matter of cost. An 8GB Nano would have a quite high price point.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  3. my prediction by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm gonna go out on a limb here and predict that Apple will never increase the capacity of the Nano. Why would they do something as stupid as that?

    --
    This guy's the limit!
    1. Re:my prediction by Andrzej+Sawicki · · Score: 5, Funny

      You misspelled iPod Flea. ;)

  4. Nanos were made to have smaller capacity by kestasjk · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Nanos were made to have smaller capacity because Apple weren't selling a good balance of Minis and normal iPods, if they increase the storage capacity it gives people less incentive to buy a more expensive regular iPod.

    And does this really qualify as news?

    --
    // MD_Update(&m,buf,j);
    1. Re:Nanos were made to have smaller capacity by radish · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Right, but you forget two major factors.

      1) The fullsize ipods do video now. That needs a whole lot more space. The nano doesn't do video (does it?) and so the nano almost fits the "music only" category, which tops out around 20-40GB for most people. The HD based ipods then become more and more targetted at video customers.

      2) Lossless. I listen to my music at home via Squeezeboxes, and lots of people are starting to use HTPCs, Airport, etc to listen to the same rips at home as on the go. I know I sure as hell don't want to listen to AAC or MP3 on my nice hifi, so it's lossless all the way. Now I could (and in fact, do) keep two copies of everything - one for portable and one for home. But that's a pain to maintain. Would be easier if I didn't have to worry about space and could store all those huge files on a portable player too. My CD rips are currently around 200GB, and most of it is still lossy. When it's all reripped as lossless we'll be looking at over 0.5TB. Bring on the big portable players :)

      --

      ---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"

    2. Re:Nanos were made to have smaller capacity by plumby · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There is a point at which it would become pointless, but 60GB aint it. I've got over 100GB of (legally aquired) mp3s in my library, and although there's a limit to the amount of music that I can listen to while I'm out, I don't know when I leave the house exactly which tracks I'm going to want to listen to - greater capacity means greater choice of music when I'm in the mood.

    3. Re:Nanos were made to have smaller capacity by timeOday · · Score: 4, Insightful
      1) The fullsize ipods do video now. That needs a whole lot more space.
      But will portable video ever take off enough for that to matter? It's not clear to me how many are buying the video iPod for the video. Even on the plane, it surprises me how few people I see watching movies on laptops, since it's about the only place I ever do so.
  5. Larger Nano by Ryz0r · · Score: 5, Funny
    >>Apple will release larger iPod Nanos in the near future

    I hear it's going to be called the iPodx10^-8

    --
    Peace, Love, Unity, Respect
  6. Re:Bigger? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Congrats, you're the first poster on slashdot to manage fusing a HORRIBLE joke with extreme grammar nazism!

  7. Just 10GB? by mobby_6kl · · Score: 5, Funny

    10GB? Lame, that's barely enough for my Frank Zappa MP3s.

    And what about wireless?

  8. Here is Why... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    You can get a 4GB USB thumb drive for $100 (or get four 512MB and one 2GB bundled together for $108). The current crop of MicroDrives (CompactFlash-compatible miniature hard drives) of similar capacity runs even less.

    If a normal consumer can buy these things on the retail market today, Apple really needs to get its act together and start increasing capacity on its lower end or it is going to lose that market to these cheap drives and the simple add-ons that allow playback of music.

  9. Re:Does size matter? by Jeff+DeMaagd · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I don't really want to hassle with changing what's on there when I get bored of the selection.

    You don't have to. I have my iTunes auto-rotate tracks on my 4GB nano. It's not obvious, but what you can do is sync the unit to one or more smart playlists. The smart playlists are set to randomly select a certain number of tracks that have been played less than "X" number of times. Right now, my "X" is "1". Once it has been played, it is removed and another track replaces it. With this scheme, I think I can do very well with a 1GB nano.

  10. More Music by Metabolife · · Score: 5, Funny

    Great, a 10GB would let you have 2,500 songs (according to apple's rating), this is great business for apple. Now instead of just getting 1,000 dollars from people to fill it, they can bump it up to 2,500 dollars! Brilliant!

  11. nano replaced mini by fermion · · Score: 4, Insightful
    The nanos were clearly created to replace the minis, which were cute but had limited battery life due to the power requirements of the hard drives, and as they were so small could not have larger batteries.

    As the minis were phased out, they had a capacity of 6 gig. I have been expecting the nano to increase to 8 gig for a while. Of course the nano still has a short battery life, and perhpas the added memeory is just going to make that worse.

    The 4GB are available, and given Apple discounts are not overly expensive. I do not see a 10 gig nano, as the nanos seem to have pairs of cards. Hopefully they will come out with a 8 gig Nano in the $250 price range, and drop the other prices according. That might be enough space to make it worthwhile. I would also like to see a 2gig shuffle, though that product line also seems to be dead.

    --
    "She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
  12. Well, I'm convinced by Tim+Browse · · Score: 5, Funny
    Granted it's an almost completely unsubstantiated prediction from somebody outside of Apple, but it is what a lot of people have been asking for since the original Nanos came out.

    There are rumours that God exists. Granted it's an almost completely unsubstantiated prediction from somebody outside of Heaven, but it is what a lot of people have been wanting since the original Homo Sapiens came out.

  13. Dvorak's answer by Midnight+Thunder · · Score: 4, Funny

    If Dvorak had been writing this then it would be:

    "Apple needs to allow Microsoft to run Windows on the iPod. I don't believe it either but I love to screw with your head".

    --
    Jumpstart the tartan drive.
  14. It has been done already by Kryptonian+Jor-El · · Score: 5, Informative

    Hackaday.com recently had an article about converting a 4 GB iPod nano to an 8 GB. Apparently apple only uses 1 flash chip in the Nano to make up the entire 4 GBs, but in fact it has a second spot on the board to attach a second 4 GB flash chip. It wouold be pretty cool to have an 8 GB iPod Nano though. http://ipod.hackaday.com/entry/1234000233073484/

    --
    All your 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 are belong to us