Rumors of Mini iPods 621
TheKidWho writes "According to Thinksecret: 'Reliable sources inside and outside of Apple have confirmed Apple will announce the new pocket-size iPods in a number of capacities and in various colors, including stripes. Capacities will be 2 and 4GB -- meaning users could store some 400 and 800 songs, respectively. Prices will start at around $100US, Think Secret has learned. It is not known if the new product line will be available immediately after introduction. It is also expected that current iPod models will be revamped to add body colors as well.' With the $99 price tag, it seems these rumored iPods could make big headway in the low end mp3 player market."
this is good for joggers (Score:5, Insightful)
Pocket-size? (Score:2, Insightful)
The Sony Way? (Score:5, Insightful)
100$ for a 2gb lightweight device by apple? amazing indeed.
Just like the Playstation 2's specs killed the Dreamcast.
Sorry, I'm just bitter.
I probably just need more brandy in my coffee.
Merry Xmas
Pocket SIzed? Huh? (Score:3, Insightful)
My only thought is that by getting into the ~$100 range, that makes it something parents will buy for spoiled teens more readily. That would make it pocketbook sized. Assuming there is any truth to the rumor, of course.
perfect gift (Score:5, Insightful)
Then I could just give them iTMS gift certificates for all future gifts. I'd be the best uncle ever!
Re:The Sony Way? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Batteries? (Score:4, Insightful)
not bad imho, though as always it remains to be seen. apple hw is funny in the sense that the RUMOURS are told in the fashion that normal announcements would be otherwise(and likewise, rumours used as facts when comparing to other upcoming hw with shipping dates, specs and reviews).
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Re:Storage device? (Score:3, Insightful)
Maybe a 'Cornice Storage Element', like the iGP-100 [iriveramerica.com]?
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:this is good for joggers (Score:5, Insightful)
It has little to do with bulk. I've run with things as large as an iPod. I'm just afraid that a few months of the bouncing would cause a hard drive failure. It's why I haven't gotten one.
Re:a $99 iPod AFTER CHRISTMAS? (Score:3, Insightful)
If I was on Apple's shoes, and knew I'd not be able to manufacture enough units on time for christmas, I'd release it in the summer, and make sure the product is not announced until AFTER christmas, to avoid competing against the normal Ipod.
Nintendo has used a similar tactic in the past when releasing new Gameboy "flavors", It makes the best business sense IMHO. It's just that we've heard about the new product a week too soon.
Re:Finally! (Score:2, Insightful)
It will not come out right after Chritmas, but rather it will ship on the same day as the 17" CRT Bondi iMac, the AMD x86 Macintosh tower, and the tablet-style iBook.
Re:The Sony Way? (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm sick of that argument. Sega did a perfectly fine job of running the Dreamcast into the ground all by themselves, Sony just helped them along.
Pricetag (Score:0, Insightful)
If there's one thing that I can't stand is the Apple pricing. It's not a wonder why I've always considered Apple products to be part of a small niche market. I don't care if this is what Apple has decided on for a pricing system. It's not getting them any more customers when a 40GB mp3 player can be had for considerably less than what they're offering.
Re:The Sony Way? (Score:3, Insightful)
Seriously, Slashdot, why are you still posting rumours from the people who cried "G5s in the new Powerbooks," "New PDAs from Apple," and other insane, no-chance-is-it-true rumors? Their "reliable sources" aren't.
so the iMac is crippled? (Score:-1, Insightful)
So the iPod is crippled to prevent you from listening to your own files? The much cheaper non-Mac players don't have this "difficulty of use" feature. On second thought, I'll pass the iPod by. Now I am learning about how they intentionally make it hard for you to listen to your own music files, and the batteries cost 10 times as much as they should.
Dell and Nomad are going to eat the iPod for breakfast, especially when "mortgage the house to replace the battery" time comes along.
Re:Ogg Vorbis (Score:3, Insightful)
From our point of view, yes. But from Apple, I wonder if a cheap 2 or 4GB iPod will be iTunes music only?
Just a thought.
Re:Batteries? (Score:4, Insightful)
What really annoys me is I can't carry a spare battery with me to swap if it dies when I'm out. I'll have to wait until I can recharge the battery before I can use the iPod again.
Jason
ProfQuotes [profquotes.com]
I think it would be Perfect Timing (Score:5, Insightful)
All you have to do is introduce a cheap player and then they have the free music, and you have the Apple Ipod cast in stone as the mp3 player to buy.
Re:Ogg Vorbis (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm honestly not trying to make fun of you or say something bad about ogg(it's AS good as mp3), but I see no reason to support it just like I don't see any reason to support, FLAC,Monkey's Audio, Real Audio, etc in this particular application. I would be nice to have support for all audio formats in every audio player, but I don't think that is too realistic a thing to ask for right now. It's just not what the majority of Apple's customers are using or asking for.
I guess as a Linux and OpenSource user I'm supposed to stand up for what's open, but that doesn't change the fact that MP3 is the defacto portable digital audio standard. Maybe over time the Music Store vendors will be able to snuff it out in favor of a "secure" audio format, but until then I'm perfectly content with plain old functional MP3 for portable music players. Just IMHO, YMMV, blah, blah.
Re:a $99 iPod AFTER CHRISTMAS? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I'd spend a lot less with actual batteries (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Pricetag (Score:3, Insightful)
and some chips, and a circuit board, and a battery, and a CD, and box, and some profit. Stuff like that.
They could ship the same device, 'cept for a smaller drive, and people will bitch.
or they'll reduce the form factor or use lesser components and people will bitch.
They could have the exact same product they sell today, reduce the price by $150,
give $150 iTunes credit, and people would -still- bitch.
Re:I'd spend a lot less with actual batteries (Score:2, Insightful)
why not build a laptop with AA!!!! woo
Makes perfect sense (Score:5, Insightful)
So the idea of releasing them for xmas is a horrible one indeed.
I think that the timing of the cheaper miniPods coincides nicely with the $100 mill Pepsi give-a-way starting in February.
It's all a game, the game called 'Maximize Profits'. And selling only the current iPods for xmas make you a big fat winner winner chicken dinner. Also, how many people are going to return their $150 128 meg POS flash MP3 player to Best Buy to get one of these new miniPods? I'd say more than a few.
iPod is fine for joggers (Score:1, Insightful)
I had no problems before, during or after the runs. I think it is because the hard drive is mostly not running - it grabs 20 minutes of music and puts them in flash memory and then spins down until it needs another 20.
So, on a 3.5 hour run, it will have accessed the hard drive 7 or 8 times. I recall that, on maybe two or three times over the entire 6 month period, the iPod paused between songs because (I think) the hard drive was trying to re-fill the Flash memory at the time I jostled it. It paused 2 or 3 seconds, and then continued on its merry way.
Now, I suppose it's possible that I'm just a very lucky guy. But that was some serious testing of the old iPod, and the wild joy of killing hours on a long run listening to music or getting lost in a good book -- well, give that up at your own risk based on some "running and iPods don't mix" theory, but my experience is that the fear is either overblown or altogether unfounded.
By the way, I take my 40GB out on runs now (much more modest, 4-5 miles a pop). No problems yet.
I hope they keep the games (Score:5, Insightful)
That's right. The 4 crappy games that came on it are a blessing.
I HATE shopping. I've hated shopping since I was young and my mother dragged me out to malls to shop around. Back then, they didn't even have chairs everywhere. I stood around and hated the experience. Now, when I go shopping there are chairs everywhere, but nothing to do. It turns out, I still hate the experience.
But now that I have an iPod, I can listen to the music, toodle around with Parachute or Name that Song, and look up every once in a while to say, "Yes dear, that looks great." I don't know if any of the other MP3 players out there have these little time wasters on them, but they should.
(Oh, I hear the iPod does other things, too, like keep your contacts, alarms, notes and files. So handy!)
Re:Low end? (Score:2, Insightful)
I wish I could reach through the computer and slap you. You'll never see apple supporting oog in the ipod, I doubt you'll ever see a mainstream (meaning you can buy it at Best Buy) player that supports oog. AAC is the format of the future, deal with it. However I do agree with the $400 bit, I'm not sure I would even spend $150, but $99.99 and you've got me.
Re:iPod is fine for joggers (Score:2, Insightful)
If you are training for the New York, you probably have developed much more graceful mechanics than the people complaining of frequent HD problems.
Instead of insisting on a solid-state MP3 player, those who think the iPod can't handle their jogging should work on inproving their stride. They way they are running, they are probably far more likely to damage their backs and knees than their iPod hard drives.
vaporware?? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Why you can't use AA's (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:i don't get it (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Batteries? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:i don't get it (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:OGG support? (Score:5, Insightful)
Is there support for OGG files?
Probably not. Yes, OGG is an open standard. Yay. That's nice. I don't feel like re-encoding 10GB of songs.
Can I use it between my home PC and my work PC both of which run Linux?
Hasn't someone released software to let your Linux-using PC's talk to the iPod? I think so.
Can I copy a new track to the iPod at home and then download from it to my work PC?
Yes, just use the iPod like a FireWire hard drive, which it is.
Will it play those files that I want to copy FROM IT to my other PC?
This is the same question you just asked. Are you expecting a different answer?
Oh, and if Apple thinks I am going to pay $100 for a portable player and then $50 for batteries, they are nuts.
What does the Neuros run on? Happy rays of sunshine? I couldn't tell from the site. Maybe it said it in the "demo", but I'm not downloading flash over dialup.
BTW, if you don't want DRM, don't download music from a music service. That's the only way you get it, and that's true for any service, not just the iTMS.
Also, if you get modded, you'll probably be modded flamebait. A troll has to actually look like he knows what he's talking about.
Re:Batteries? (Creative Nomad) (Score:1, Insightful)
ignorant about other mp3 players on the market.
Have you ever looked at anything else or do you just
clutch your iPod close to your chest while you
rock back and forth in the dark closet to an
endless loop of "Steve Jobs is infallible, Apple
is heaven, they make no bad design descisions and
everyone else is simply inferior...."
The Creative Nomad Zen NX has a removable battery
(you simply snap the lock on the front bottom of
the player and the cover pops off. Viola, battery.)
The battery is also standard, so therefore, will
cost less to replace. The battery also lasts longer,
of about 14-17 hours straight. The hard drive in
the Nomad is also a standard notebook hard drive.
Easy to replace the drive or upgrade with standard
parts. Oh. And the Nomad 30GB model is $150
cheaper than the iPod's 30GB model.
Aside from trendy factor, the iPod doesn't really
have much going for it compared to some other
mp3 players on the market.
Lest I forget... PCMag did white noise playback
analysis of more than a dozen different mp3
players. The iPod has a bit of sound colorization
and a brick wall cut off at around 17khz (or was
it 19? I can't remember)
the most consistent in sound playback AND it only
has a slight dip AFTER 20khz. Compared to the
Nomad, you can't call the iPod audiophile quality.
Oh well. Apple zealots will always be much more
ignorant and self righteous than the rest of 'em
out there.
Re:Batteries? (Score:3, Insightful)
you know this and i know this because we have ipods. but around here, not reading the articles or not having actually using a product doesn't disqualify one from making preposterous claims and scurrilous reviews.
Re:Batteries? (Score:3, Insightful)
Excuse my bold assumption, but you've got to be an idiot. What, then, do you think a battery pack WOULD be good for? Your fucking home audio setup?!?!?! Battery packs are FOR *gasp* portable devices! This is EXACTLY the type of purpose for which battery packs were MADE!
Sorry for being so blunt & insulting, but I have no idea how anyone can honestly make the statement you just did while possessing the ability to use a mouse or keyboard.
The only way you would make sense is if it was referring to a battery pack attached to a long cord, but I doubt many companies these days are that stupid. Plus, the original poster said:
> > sell a battery pack that will snap on [...]
Re:Batteries? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Batteries? (Score:4, Insightful)
Adding an easily user-accessible battery door would (to my mind) break the seamlessness of the iPod's design and possibly require that it be larger as well (consider a door that's the size of practically the entire back of the device -- or whether the dimensions would change if some sort of snap-release tab-in-slot mechanism was added to the entire length and breadth of the current iPod back).
Given that the battery lasts at least 18-months, I'd prefer to have a seamless design, and then have a little fun with a screwdriver when the time comes (rarely) to change the battery. In addition, I wonder how long the tiny hard drive will last given the conditions in which it's used and the forces to which it's subjected -- it wouldn't surprise me if (had I an iPod) I'd only need to replace the battery once.
What's that, you didn't know the battery IS user-replaceable? See IpodBattery.com [ipodbattery.com] for details on the $49 ipod batteries they sell and to read the installation instructions. It doesn't look all that difficult for anyone who knows how to use a screwdriver.
People seem to like to pile on criticism of the fact that the iPod battery is not easily replaceable. But I haven't heard the same sort of griping about the non-easily-user-replaceable lithium-ion batteries built into most PDAs (Palm Tungstens, Sony Clies, RIM Blackberrys, Compaq Ipaq, etc). I doubt all these companies forgo providing easy access to the batteries as some conspiracy to force consumers to replace the devices or pay to have a new battery installed, but rather the devices are designed to be as small and tightly packed as possible, and given this concern less regard is rightly given to putting the battery in an easily accessible spot and adding a door.
It is worth griping a bit about Apple's previous battery replacement policy (they wanted $255 to replace the battery), but they've since changed their tune quite a bit and it'll now cost $99 to have them replace the battery for you. In addition, when buying an iPod, an additional $59 gets the warranty extended to two years.
'Course, the iPod is out of my price range. I spent less than the cost of a $49 iPod battery on my teensy 128Mb USB-memory-stick-mp3-player-voice-recorder toy (Andus resound, flashed with some similar player's firmware to allow it to be mounted on Macs, Windows, and whatever-else as a real generic USB storage device), and find that this is a more than adequate amount of memory for a few hours of jogging. But if I were to buy an iPod, it would be because I appreciate things that are well designed and a joy to use, and the battery issue wouldn't even be on my radar.
Re:Batteries? (Creative Nomad) (Score:5, Insightful)
what are the dimensions of a Nomad Zen NX? would you care to give a comparison to iPod's dimensions? i haven't found on their site any documentation about which battery it uses, how much it costs, and what it takes to replace it. It does say it's a replaceable battery, but technically, iPod *also* has a replaceable battery.
hint: if the iPod is a smaller, more portable form-factor while touting similar capacity, while being less confusing, with less holes to plug shit in, less buttons to fuck with, your average consumer ain't guna give a shit about a device that's a geek's dream. detachable this or that, believe it or not, is confusing to the average user. It's a matter of which audience you cater to. More on this later.
There are reasons why there are tradeoffs. the iPod is extremely small for the capacity it offers, it is extremely portable and unintrusive. i have fit mine (2G) in just about any pocket i've had. Furthermore, many of my co-workers had bought competing players, absolutely every single one of them complained about either its form-factor or lack of capacity. Nomad Jukebox3 is a big square-ish size, much like today's CD players that are basically the size of a CD, which is NOT a form factor that is nearly as appealing as one of an iPod's. Don't get me wrong the features and interoperability capabilities of the Nomad jukebox3 are simply impressive but when a device's form-factor is not really a constraint, you can go to town with features. That doesn't mean this is necessarily what the average user Apple targets will be drawn to. The Jukebox3's affluence of buttons and holes to plug things in also make it, to your average non-computer geek, a "complicated", "confusing" device, while geeks see those features as a God-Sent. it's all relative. Sure the lack of replaceable battery is frustrating. But it ain't the first time, nor is it ever guna be the last time this sort of issue will plague consumer electronics.
Replacing an iPod battery is NOT that hard, you just gotta be careful and requires a bit of skills. If that doesn't do it, then pay the $100 for the cost of the battery and to have someone else install it and be done with it. Or buy extended warranty such as AppleCare or one from Fry's, Best Buy, CompUSA, FNAC, or whoever sells you the iPod. It ain't that bad. People always pit the price of a battery against the price of the device it goes into and get infuriated to "pay $100 for a battery for a device that's only $400". No no no and no. Most resilient, quality batteries are expensive and that's the fucking way it is. Especially the type of flat one required for the iPod, it is quite a nice piece of engineering. When it dies, you gotta pay. period. Take a deep fucking breath and accept this fact.
It always works like this: you shop for some device, it tells you it's rechargeable, but no one ever cares to ask "yes but for how long, what do i do when it can no-longer hold a charge" to make an informed purchasing decision based on those questions. They don't think, then get pissed when the inevitable happens, then go whine at their lawyers, who in the end will be the only winners in the upcoming class-action lawsuit. Once people also get the device they rarely ever look at best practices included in their manual to enhance battery life. There you have it.
feel free to read a couple more ideas about why things may be the way they are. [slashdot.org]
this isn't about zealotry. some people happened to have understood why Apple has made the compromises it did at the time it did and accept 'em without whining all fucking day, and will eventually vote with their feet and potentially wait for improvements, others choose to bitch around, karma-whoring on slashdot, thinking they're smart and have a fucking clue about industrial design and stating the obvious ad nauseum, bragging about how device X or Y has a detachable this or that while never addres