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How the iPod Touch Works
starexplorer2001 writes "The iPod Touch isn't in stores yet, but HowStuffWorks has a nice summary of how the 'touch' part of the iPod Touch works. Very similar to how the iPhone works, without those pesky rebates! From the article: 'The iPod touch also has a few other features that iPod enthusiasts had hoped to see on standard iPod models. Some users hoped for a wirelessly enabled iPod so they could synch their music or share files with friends over a Bluetooth or WiFi connection. The iPod touch is the first iPod to have wireless capability, although it doesn't use it to synch with a computer or friends' iPods. Instead, you can use it to browse the Web, watch YouTube videos or download music from a WiFi-specific iTunes Music Store. With its widescreen display and WiFi capability, the iPod touch might sound like a big step up from older iPod models. But the iPod touch isn't for everyone.'"
They finally listened to his comments! Now with wireless and *more* space than a Nomad.
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Anyone taken one apart and verified if there is bluetooth hardware in it?
Stereo bluetoth headphone support is long overdue for ipods. If hte hardware is there software coudl be round the corner?
Well, according to appleinsider at least: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/09/13/ipod_touch_unpacking_tour_and_first_look_photos.html
Well, it has never been successfully tested.
it works by touching it...duh
One of the great features of the clicky wheel is that you can grab your ipod in your pocket and adjust the volume or skip tracks easily without looking at the device. On a multi-touch interface you're going to have to look at the screen to know what you are touching, which will make it a lot harder to use in your pocket or while driving.
The part of this article that I found most interesting is that you need to use your skin for the touch screen to work - that kinda rules out any sort of future handwriting recognition.
I guess I just really want Apple to give me a real PDA - an iNewton - instead of an iPod that looks kinda like a PDA.
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
$400 for 16 gigabytes of storage is simply not good enough for a lot of people with large music libraries who like to have 30-40 albums to listen to on command.
I like to watch video on these portable players (I have a Cowon A2 myself), so there's also seasons of anime or whatever to take up 4-8 gigs each.
In a year or so, when these things will hold 64 Gigs of flash memory, they will be great purchases for someone like myself. Until then, they're not even an option. And that's the single biggest "improvement" I'm looking forward to in future iPods. (Though I'll probably just grab a Q5 when it's available.)
But hey gotta start somewhere.
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Just as the iPhone's "exclusive" with AT&T was only a speed bump to those who wanted to use it on any network so too will the iTouch's inability to share music wirelessly with friends only exist for a short time.
I expect there to be multiple hacks for sharing music wirelessly with friends within a month after it hits stores. And to be honest I'm starting to expect this kind of wink-wink nudge-nudge release from Apple. They can't release a product the way consumers want it so they get the recording industry/telecom industy to agree to "rules" that just make their devices likely targets of benign hacking.
Now, I KNOW what my account name is but you HAVE to admit that Apple's use of the greater software community pwns Microsoft who regularly attracts NEGATIVE hacking.
And just to prove what a fanboy I am: This is the first device since the Newton that I'm wetting my pants over.
Wonderful to know how it works. But will it blend?
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The thing is that it has 5 times less storage than the older iPod (80 GB). Sure it's got touch and wireless, but that just means no tactile feedback, no wireless syncing (I have many computers around the house, even my mobile has a browser) and less space at a higher price. Not the most attractive deal.
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As a long time Apple fanboy, I'll invoke the don't buy the rev a rule on the iPod Touch. To an extent, the Touch is what I wanted when I saw the iPhone. Unfortunately, the storage space isn't big enough for my music collection. I'd like to have at least 32GB of storage available before I think about buying one.
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Sounds like this would be a pretty short article: "Exactly the same way the iPhone does, but without the phone."
Excellent opening statement. It stimulates Desire, which we all know is the precursor to in the marketing "AIDA" scheme. (And when you release the product, just submit another article.)
Great introduction of the features, especially the "big step up" part. And you've even given your target audience a reason to click into the submitted link too. (You've suggested there are people this product may not be perfect for, not that anyone reading this on Slashdot would fall into that "un-hip" category.)
Fellow Slashvertisers take note - this format can be applied to your next submission too!
http://www.apple.com/iphone/storecredit/
That's a very pesky "rebate" which I received within 5 minutes of clicking the link.
Not 6-8 weeks if I'm lucky.
Let's pause for a moment to inject a dose of engineering reality.
1. We're talking about a low-power device with very limited programming capacity. That's different from the storage capacity.
2. How, in technical terms will files be shared?
Let's say a hacker can use the wireless+dhcp client. Then what? A bonjour client perhaps? Maybe, but bonjour just advertises services. So, put an ftp server behind that maybe? Great! The hacker will need, Bonjour libraries and all the underlying dependencies, an ftp server and an ftp client and enough cpu/memory to run it all. It reminds me of a line from the remade Oceans 11, "Let's say you rob Terry Benedict's casino. You're still in the middle of the f*cking desert!"
Got Trader Joe's? friendwich.com RSS feeds work now!
Can you use it as an e-book reader?
or at least store html-pages on it?
They disabled appointment entry for the calendar widget. That's really too bad, since I was hoping that this device could be the convergence of my Palm T|X and my iPod. Does anyone know if they crippled any other features of the iPhone? I would have bought one if it truly was an iPhone minus the phone. (I refuse to give AT&T $1500 on top of the not-even-subsidized cost of the iPhone.)
I guess the other thing I'm waiting for is an API for programmers. I like to store my passwords and PINs using encryption on my device. (1) Storing them on someone's server using their Safari-based web app won't work, and (2) Hacks people are using to write native apps aren't sanctioned and may stop working in the future. Sigh... C'mon Apple, open it up!
I don't "need" to carry around 100GB of music with me - I "like" to have it with me because I listen to a lot of music, it sits in a small DVD case on 25 DVDs alongside my laptop so I can copy stuff off to my MP3 player any time I like.
I'm willing to bet that most people with more than 30GB haven't listened to every song they own.
Wrong. I don't watch much TV, I have music on in the background most of the time and generally find an hour or two each day to just sit and listen to some music.
To be honest I think it's more of an ego thing for people like the parent poster, they need to have as much music as possible with them at all times.
Wrong again. 25 DVDs in a small case is simple enough to stick in a laptop bag and forget about. It's just "easy" to have my music collection with me most times, it makes no odds what other people think.
These type of people download the entire discography of the doors (about 30 albums) just to say they have it, not because they love the doors..
Who said anything about downloading? Yep, I download from BitTorrent or Usenet occasionally to preview an album - but if it's good, I buy the CD and make my own MP3s, if it's crap then I delete it. MP3s are just a convenience for me, I much prefer the disc to play in a reasonably good hifi - but I've never paid to download music and never will.
Suffice it to say, I don't earn enough to buy the entire catalogue of an artist. I buy what I like, and that's it.
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I don't "need" to carry around 100GB of music with me - I "like" to have it with me because I listen to a lot of music, it sits in a small DVD case on 25 DVDs alongside my laptop so I can copy stuff off to my MP3 player any time I like. Just a minute, this debate is about mp3 players, if you choose to carry around 25DVD's at all times that's your problem. Maybe you should think about buying a 100GB+ mp3 player.
Even though I know you won't ever agree, i'm sure in that 100GB of music there are plenty of songs that you can't remember when you last listened to them.
Wrong. I don't watch much TV, I have music on in the background most of the time and generally find an hour or two each day to just sit and listen to some music.
If you have about 100GB of music that equals over 1000 hours of playback. If you listen to only an hour a day, that means to listen to your whole collection would take OVER A YEAR. That means, that there must be some songs you barely ever listen to. Straight from your own mouth!
Who said anything about downloading? Yep, I download from BitTorrent or Usenet occasionally to preview an album - but if it's good, I buy the CD and make my own MP3s, if it's crap then I delete it. MP3s are just a convenience for me, I much prefer the disc to play in a reasonably good hifi - but I've never paid to download music and never will. Suffice it to say, I don't earn enough to buy the entire catalogue of an artist. I buy what I like, and that's it.
Yeah, sure you bought all that music.. if you dont earn enough to buy an entire back catalogue, you dont earn enough to have 100GB which, is probably over 1000 albums..
I can tell you that I've listened to them all at some point, I can't tell you an exact day. My collection's a bit fluid anyway, in as much as there's the occasional CD I've lost interest in that I resell on eBay but I do get through them. Sure, having an album on in the background isn't truly "listening" to it but I do have music on around 4 hours a day.
Yeah, sure you bought all that music.. if you dont earn enough to buy an entire back catalogue, you dont earn enough to have 100GB which, is probably over 1000 albums..
I'm in my 40s, I've been listening to the likes of Yes, Genesis, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd since I was about 13 years of age, as well as rock I now listen to blues, Motown, some electronic stuff like Tangerine Dream and Mark Shreeve and even a bit of classical.
I never buy CDs in high street shops, look for the best prices and buy used on eBay and in local shops. I can ***100%*** guarantee you that I have 900+ original, non-copied CDs. With that size of collection, there is no point my downloading and hoarding stuff because I just wouldn't find the time to listen to it - like I said, it's a great way of previewing stuff that I can't hear on the radio, nothing more.
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
But so what if you only listen to a song once a year? There's something to be said for having as much music available to you at all times as possible so when the mood to listen to a random song *does* hit you, you can do so without having to access your PC for it.
:-)
As for saying 1000 gigs of music is impossible to have without piracy or whatever, I encourage you to check out something like ocremix.org or vgmix or whatever. Lots of free-to-download music out there if you like that kind of stuff and know where to look
No-one is talking about life-or-death necessity here. It's not like you can't breathe if your iPod holds less than 40 gigs. It's simply a matter of convenience. At the moment some devices offer the kind of convenience folks with large music libraries are looking for, while others aren't.
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How the iPod works is easy... 1. Create a recognizable branding. 2. Dedicate yourself to the production of pretty consumer electronics with nifty functionality. 3. Appeal to a small but fiercely loyal fan base. 4. Market the HELL out of said products. 5. Profit.
Eek!
then don't buy the touch.... buy the classic that has twice the storage of the older iPod... you have choices ... including not getting one if it doesn't meet your needs
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