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Next Generation of iPods to have Wi-Fi?
Zephyr14z writes "A TMCnet article states that Apple has filed a patent for iPods that can purchase music wirelessly over the internet. This was an expected feature in the Zune, though it turns out not to be true. 'While this could be an effort to fight the software giant and its product directly, it should be noted that Zune's built-in Wi-Fi will be limited to the file sharing between devices with no direct Internet purchases from the handheld,' says Campbell."
Odd, first of all, that this article appears in YRO (because it involves a patent?); second, and odder still, is Susan Campbell's commentary:
O RLY? As far as I can tell, Susan seems to be a ressentissante Microsoft shill:
Suffice to say, even the slickest market campaign can't account alone for iPod's success; just look at the PS3 or Zune: you can't pull the wool over everyone's eyes all the time.
That said, if Apple does introduce Wi-Fi (or an iPod cell-phone, for that matter), it will be on its own time; and not because it's scared of Zune.
You need to hook it up anyway to recharge. Just using Wifi to download music means they will have to cram a lot of iTunes/iStore functionality into the ipod. Byebye simple userinterface... How about security? Either they make you enter your credit card number with the clickwheel(????) or else it gets "linked" to your iPod on the Apple servers. Lose your iPod and the thief can shop around on your card... The whole point about the iPod is that all complexity is parked in iTunes.
10 ?"Hello World" life was simple then
CmdrTaco must feel important that they got round to listening to his ideas. ;)
I wonder if they will increase capacity as well
No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.
liqbase
This move is long overdue. Hopefully Apple will do a better job than Microsoft did. It is *so* 90's to have to dock your player just to get music into it. The technology exists today to make a very capable wireless media player, what is missing is someone (Apple?) to make it useful and functional. The possibilities are endless. Imagine "Mall Radio Stations", audio lectures or supplemental material distributed wirelessly to all the students in the classroom, having a playlist at a party that is a composite of all the wireless devices in the room/house. Let the next wave of portable music players begin!
The more you regulate a company, the worse its products become.
You can play your iPod while connected to the computer. Just click on the "eject" button in iTunes, and it will keep charging from the USB connection, but the interface will be "unlocked" so you can use it.
And the comment about the battery meter is just stupid.
...Taco will be happy. Wi-Fi. More space than a Nomad. Not Lame.
Open Source Java Web Forum with LDAP authentication
Seriously. How could they get a a patent on this? Is wireless the new "on the internet!" when it comes to patents?
c++;
Unless it has an external on/off switch, I would never own one of these. Imagine walking into a retailer, and you get an advertisement on your ipod for "the GAP does Christmas" CD they are blasting on the stores over-engineerd sound system. Better yet, it would be a hackers dream to have people walking around a crowded public place with these things turned on.
--Always, I mean never..., No I mean always check your references.--
If it is for purchasing or browsing the Itunes Music Store via the internet then wireless is faster than most peoples internet connection, b or g. So downloading a song shouldn't take any longer straight to the ipod.
If you run linux or some other *nix like I do (I'm assuming so since you say you dont have itunes), just type "eject $PATH_TO_IPOD_DEVICE" for example "eject /dev/sda" Thatll do the trick.
Oh, and a quick check using df (if you have some form of automounting going on) or a check with dmesg when you plug it in should give you the path
Most /. users probably wouldn't use the feature that much, but luckily for Apple, theres a mass of suckers out there who can't stop downloading their songs by the pound. What better way to get some money is for those people to be able to download the songs, while away from their computer, like while at the mall after browsing through a music store.
Can I bum a sig?
What about streaming content.
I'd love to have my ipod receive Internet radio.
Get your tagline off my lawn.
As of iTunes 7, you can move authorized music from the iPod to the computer. This was announced as a way to sync the iTunes library on two computers, but it'd also be useful for music that was downloaded to the iPod via wireless.
There's tons of better sounding players out there. Try an iRiver or Cowon with some decent headphones. The sonic quality far outstrips that of Apple's iPod. These other players just aren't "hip," apparently.
"I might have made a tactical error in not going to a physician for 20 years." -- Warren Zevon
If they wanted, they could give Zunes away for 10 years. It's hard to compete against that kind of financial muscle.
This is a common argument about Microsoft. However, it is only partly true. Microsoft has shareholders. Microsoft cannot just throw money away, it has to be something that will potentially bring big profits in the future.
It's designed to play music when you're away from your computer. If you're at your computer you could, like, you know, use your computer...
Linux boxes CAN play music, can't they???
Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
I've had iRivers, Creatives, Sansas, Sonys - no Cowan, so I'll have to give it a wash on that one. But all in all, I've had eight different manufacturer's digital audio player, and frankly, my iPod sounds the best by far. Side-by-side plug/unplug cycles convinced me and many others who happened to be around for a test. (Started at a party where a friend said his MDplayer smoked the iPod for audio quality... even he agreed that he was wrong after a direct plug-unplug audio test). None of them has had the functionality of my iPod, nor the sound quality. I don't care about 'hip' - in fact, it was that fact - that the iPod was 'hip' - that kept me from buying one until last year.
Thinking outside my Head
I don't know, but one thing I have noticed is that you can get some cool features in flash mp3 players in Asia that you can't get in the US that I've been able to tell. One is the ability to "dock" two players together by their USB ports and transfer songs that way. Hmmm...
That's just like Apple, too; making a change that didn't really strike anyone at the time, only to reveal that it was in preparation for a bigger change later.
Unless your laptop fits in a jacket pocket, I'm afraid I'll have to respectfully disagree. Being able to purchase music and video content from iTMS while unchained from any desktop or laptop would be a HUGE leap. This would also open the door to owning (and populating) an iPod without needing a computer in the first place.
And with that new enhancement to iTunes to allow people to get the (purchased!) data back off an iPod... it seems pretty obvious that this is where apple is heading. Previously, you would have been able to purchase it to the iPod and then it would have been stuck there. No more.
Gee, I don't know... maybe you would have to enter a password to make a purchase using your stored credit card info? Kind of like how iTunes already works? Yes, I know you can opt to save your password in iTunes, but if this was a really a valid concern, they could remove that option from the iPod.
Just think of the stolen iPod recovery potential, too. "Mr. Smith, the iPod you reported stolen yesterday just logged onto the network in the Starbucks at Central Ave. and Main St. The device has been disabled, and we are dispatching the iPolice now."
People buy music and games on their cellphones all the time.
They'll connect their CC# to an iTunes account, to the iPod, and not think twice about it.
Losing their pod is a potential issue, but so is losing your phone.
People just don't seem too concerned. They should probably be a bit more concerned, but they're not.
Apple could even toss a 5 or 6 digit pin on there and an X retry lockout if they wanted, passing the 'security' on your ATM or CC itself, without a serious UI hassle.
And the click wheel is good enough to sort through thousands and thousands of songs as it is.
Adding a store with some category breakdowns isn't going to cause UI chaos.
Seriously - these are solved problems.
// "Can't clowns and pirates just -try- to get along?"
I think it's important to remember who is behind the Zune. Yes, Microsoft. But more specifically, the Home & Entertainment Division (the Xbox people). Who, by the way, posted a 70% revenue increase last quarter.
;) )
Keeping this in mind (that this is an MS product, and that it's the H&E people behind it), just because the Zune _software_ doesn't do something today (or at launch) doesn't mean it won't do it for ZuneOS "SP1"
After all, Xbox Live didn't come out for 1 year after Xbox was shipped, and X360 1080P support was issued as a software _patch_ on the 360 after Sony thought they could use it to make noise in the competitive space. Progessive Scan dashboard support was another software patch on the original Xbox. Those products _had_ to get out in the market place at the right time to be viable, the cut list must have been severe. Everyone knew the hardware was capable of more than what it launched with, and as the Xbox team got their feet under them, and heard the real-world feedback, and had a chance to breathe a bit, some of the more interesting features that didn't make the original bar started to show up.
I'm telling myself that the current idiotic 3/3 DRM model and the lack of wifi sync on the Zune are temporary things. They'll be corrected via a software update after the Zune launches (even if it means a Linux-based "software update"
This is what I am _telling_ myself (and as an MS employee, I hope it turns out to be accurate) but I don't think i'll actually put my money down until I see it happen.
My opinions are my own, and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.
This is mostly false. The iPod fills it's buffer with the next songs in the playlist, not one song at a time. Even if it's on shuffle play, it reads ahead the next songs it has cued up. Twenty minutes of buffering is usually five or six songs, depending on song length.
You are correct that choosing a new song or playlist that wasn't cued will force the harddrive to spin up again, but that's what playlists are for, specifically the on-the-go playlists. In actual usage, when I do skip around a bit, I haven't noticed a significant shortening of battery life, but I don't find myself switching around after every single song, either.
If I was in charge at MSFT, I'd never give away Zunes. I'd give away the music.
How many people would buy a Zune over an iPod if it included 50 free songs? Or maybe 5 free songs a month for 3 years.
Another idea would be an "iPod exchange" program. Turn in any working iPod and get a free Zune w/ more storage. (turn in a 60gb iPod, get an 80gb Zune, etc). Similarly, buy a zune and get free credits for any music purchased thru iTMS so you can download the songs from the MSFT store for free.
Obviously the iPod exchange would be the most expensive of the ideas I've listed, but what a way to pick-up market share. You're removing an iPod from the market and adding a Zune.
The only question I have: What would they do with all the iPods?