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."
Batteries? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Batteries? (Score:0, Interesting)
There are a few players out there that support this - and here is to hoping (even though it is in vain) that Apple makes this dream come true.
Xmas? (Score:3, Interesting)
Brand Dilution (Score:5, Interesting)
Steve Jobs is well known for keeping a clean image on his products - it seems strange to me that he would allow rainbow iPods. Rumour has it he objected to the coloured backgrounds in the iPod adverts.
It seems strange that he would dilute the iPod brand at such a critical point in its existence.
Hmm.
Small iPods - no hard drives, only RAM based??
Re:Batteries? (Score:2, Interesting)
Ogg Vorbis (Score:1, Interesting)
User Interface (Score:2, Interesting)
But, I am usually impressed with Apple's industrial design, so I'll probably be impressed again (except for the color choices - I mean *stripes*? Ugh).
Storage device? (Score:5, Interesting)
My first thought was the CompactFlash-sized "microdrive" hard drives developed by IBM (not sure if they belong to Hitachi now). A 1GB microdrive sells for about $200, though. Even with the volume discount Apple would surely get, it's hard to image they could hit that $99 price point at any capacity. And I guess flash memory is ruled out for price reasons too....
Re:Xmas? (Score:4, Interesting)
Roll on iTunes music store (Score:5, Interesting)
So where the hell's the store!?
Re:Finally! (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Batteries? (Score:4, Interesting)
I'd buy one in a second, but (Score:2, Interesting)
Plus, would a new battery cost $99 too?
One thing I'd like to see is an AM/FM module on these. I have an AM/FM radio on my Sony MD player, which is nice.
Re:a $99 iPod AFTER CHRISTMAS? (Score:2, Interesting)
In that sense, it makes perfect business sense.
Screw the little one. . . (Score:4, Interesting)
seems more interesting to me. .
Sounds like an ideal companion to a mini-dv camcorder. If one could dump video to it in the field, and possibly do edits to it (portable iMovie?) - that'd be great. I don't really have much use for an ipod - too big for pocket transportability (really). Too small (storage-wise) to be useful as a semi-portable "desktop music server" - (though a G4 iBook serves that purpose pretty well).
Re:this is good for joggers (Score:5, Interesting)
Of course it can't last forever, but it's lookin' good so far.
Finally (Score:2, Interesting)
Apple tends to think that we all have oodles of money we can just throw at their neat gadets.
My budget has been cut since the economic down turn. Nice to see Apple givin' us po' boys a chance to participate.
and for storage, they will use... (Score:3, Interesting)
Toshiba's new 0.85-inch hard disks! [eetimes.com]
...or at least it would be QUITE a coincidence if they did not use these drives.
ELiTeUI
Good Point (Score:2, Interesting)
So you've got:
People buying iPods and exposure to 'Mac Life'
People buying Music to go with their iPods
People re-buying iPods to match their music when their iPod dies.
Is Steve finally giving apple a smart business plan to go along with smart products?
Re:Storage device? (Score:4, Interesting)
If Apple came to IBM with an offer to buy a million of the 1 gig drives at $40 each, ($40,000,000 contract), I'm sure some VP would work their ass off to make it happen. Especially since it would help them reduce their price on CF Mirco Drives, and push regular flash memory out of the market. There's a massive market for 1-2 gig Micro Drives that is waiting for the price to get reasonable. Portable USB storage, video and photo cameras, MP3 players, PDAs, digital picture frames, just to name a few. It's actually pretty amazing that a solid state storage device has greater market share than a disc based one right now.
Re:Batteries? (Score:3, Interesting)
If you are reasonably adept at the CLI, you can shoe-horn files into and out of the active playlists directory on your ipod. This would be a laborious task, and there is no reason to do so, when the iTunes interface is so slick.
As for flexibility from your iPod, I'm shocked that no-one mentioned this: http://ipodlinux.sourceforge.net/
The hardware you want, with the OS you want.
-----------------------
quit crying you fscking baby!
Re:Batteries? (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm not sure about how it works on Windows, but on a Mac you can have it in firewire disk mode and have iTunes open at the same time, which provides you access to both modes quite easily.
Hope this comes true (Score:1, Interesting)
I recall some arcticle on slashdot i think about some drive manufacturer working on small 2-4gb hd's that they where trying to decrease cost and power consumption by integrating as many things into a single chip on the drive as possible, eliminating the caching on the drive etc. Basically just simple cheap low power storage for portable devices. Sound like the type of thing they would be using.
Re:so the iMac is crippled? (Score:2, Interesting)
If you have to mortgage your house for a 50 dollar battery, you need to move anyway.
Re:Batteries? (Score:2, Interesting)
Preposterous (Score:2, Interesting)
This is just silly. The only DAPs similar to these 'mini-iPods' are the Rio Nitrus [digitalnetworksna.com] @ US$219.99 SRP and the RCA Lyra RD2760 [rca.com] @ US$249.99 SRP.
So what we are to believe is that Apple is going to put out a 'mini-iPod' that has 3 times the capacity for less than half the price? Make sense: after all, Apple is known for putting out products that are all of sleek, stylish, well-made and cheap.
Wait, no, they aren't; we forgot the Apple Tax(tm)!
I can believe that possibly Apple is reading a 'mini-iPod', but if it's less than US$300 I'll be damned surprised.
Re:this is good for joggers (Score:4, Interesting)
2 GB of flash is currently much too expensive. however, in volume, dram should be sufficiently cheap. yes, it's volatile. but if they have enough battery power to spin up and power a hard-drive, keeping dram alive for a few days at a time should not be a big deal. if you plug it into a usb port every few days, it should never lose power. and if it dies, well, you just have to reload all your music.
pretty clever.
DRM + Ogg (Score:3, Interesting)
Apple's in a very good position right now - they've managed to get themselves into the good books of both the Free software community and the music industry.
However, if they add Ogg Vorbis support to the iPod then they'll have to
It seems that they are pursuing the third option: ignore Ogg Vorbis and piss off the very small (and to them, not particularly useful) Xiph community.
Re:Preposterous (Score:3, Interesting)
The only reason i am not getting one for christmas is becasue of price. If my significant other could have saved 100 bucks and gotten a 5gig instead of 10gig, i could be rockin out christmas night to my cool new mp3 player.
Re:perfect gift (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:iPod battery FAQ (Score:5, Interesting)
Lets say, the iPod had the choice of using 2AA batteries. Lets's say you got your AA's at $0.50(too high? too low? i dont have to buy them). Lets's see what youve paid for JUST BATTERIES over the "300-500" charge average lifetime of apples built in battery:
err, $300-$500... I made my math too easy =(
Probably more depending on how much you use the ipod, if the ipod could run on only 2AAs, and what quality battery you buy for it. Still complaining? If you are really desperate, i think some companies offer *gasp* external battery packs. But even at 99 bucks, Apples battery replacement nost likely means your not gonna blow double that much on batteries over the next few years.
*CHEERS*
Re:this is good for joggers (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Brand Dilution (Score:2, Interesting)
Nobody does. But what I've found after owning a 10GB ipod is, that I use it more to shuffle files between home and work. About half of the drive is uncompressed video files for design and compositing work. Of all the things I own, I think it's my favorite.
Re:Batteries? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:2gigs for 400 songs? (Score:4, Interesting)