iPod Generation 4 Released

I_am_Rambi writes "According to MSNBC "The considerably tweaked fourth-generation iPod will roll out this week, and Newsweek got an advance peek. It looks a bit different, operates more efficiently, has a few more features and costs less. Here are the highlights...." Improved battery life, upto 12 hours, a click wheel, more efficient menus, multiple on the go play list, and probably one of the best changes is a lower price. $399 (down from $499) for a 40 gig, $299 (down from $399) for a 20 gig, and there are no 15 gig versions." And you can read Apple's iPod site for the full details.

20gb = no dock!

[Anonymous Coward]

Notice that price cut with 20gb version was made by leaving dock out of the package.

Price

[prewashedironman]

The best bit about this i feel is that apples changed the exchange rate for the UK. In the USp the 20gb now costs what the 15gb did and the 40gb costs what the 20gb used to be. But in the UK we get the 20gb model for GBP30 cheaper than the 15gb model used to be(GBP220vs GBP250). Hurray for apple!

Considerably tweaked?

[nmg196]

How is it "considerably" tweaked? It looks pretty much identical and few new features.

Re:20gb = no dock!

[JHromadka]

Honestly, since Airport Express came out, I don't need the dock anymore. When I'm at home, I just stream from my Mac to my stereo using APX instead of having my iPod next to the TV.

USB2 cable

[prewashedironman]

Interesting, both models now ship with USB2 cables as well as firewire. And free laser engraving for the time being. And, surprisingly for apple their both shipping in "2-4 days" in the UK and "1-2 days" in the USA. Very Exciting!

Re:Firmware update

[jcostantino]

You can't magically 'get back' battery life. All rechargable battery cells have a finite amount of charge/discharge cycles until they start to lose capacity. You can do some googling and find companies that will sell you a new battery or replace it for you. There is always Apples' refurb program but it's the most expensive (although I believe you get a refurb unit instead of just a battery).

Apple will NEVER release firmware that upgrades older units to newer features unless it suits them. Example: Gen 1 and 2 iPods got ACC decoding but didn't get on the go playlists. They /could have/ done OTG playlists but that's one of the features seperating old from new.

I know this is tenuous

[Will Fisher]

But stay with me.

If you have an ipod of whatever generation, then I highly recommend you get the winamp ipod plugin as made by yours truly.

<a href="http://mlipod.sf.net/">http://mlipod.sf.net/ </a>

Re:20gb = no dock!

[Mattb90]

The carry case was also removed from both models to reduce the cost. Adding both back in to the 20GB model brings the price to £276.99 on the UK store (down from £299.99) and $377 on the US store (down from $399). A reduction, but not as significant as Apple make out.

Re:20gb = no dock!

[joeykiller]

Ever since the day Apple started selling iPod models with several hard disk sizes, the low end model have always been sold without the dock. So this isn't new, but it may be confusing that the old "middle" model (20gb) now is the low end model.

Re:20gb = no dock!

[fyonn]

according to the tech specs (but not the store), the 40G one does have the carry case. still, the price in dollars converted to pounds is about £213 so quite a significant saving to be made if you can import one. sure the power plug is different, but a simple uk fig 8 cable can fix that.

dave

Re:Price

[prewashedironman]

The $-£ conversion wasn't quite true, the prices used to be $299, $399, $499 for the 15gb, 20gb and 40gb respectively. The UK prices were £250, £300 and £400 for each. Not quite $1=£1, but not miles off.

Re:here we go again

[sammy baby]

The "click-wheel" is essentially the wheel from previous designs of the iPod, with little clicky buttons at the 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock positions. So, make the dialing motion for the wheel controls, press down for the buttons. I've never used one, but the people I've met who have tried both say they like the click-wheel better, which would explain the switch.

Re:I know this is tenuous

[Will Fisher]

link correction: http://mlipod.sf.net [sf.net]

Re:20gb = no dock!

[thaddjuice]

Notice that price cut with 20gb version was made by leaving dock out of the package.

The base model ($299) has _never_ had the dock, carry case, or remote. Now it's just that the base model is the 20GB.

Re:Still not such a great deal

[OmniVector]

I think i've had my ipod for like 2 or 3 years. I forgot. It was whenever the first $300 windows versions starting hitting the market. Anyways, my battery life is hardly any worse than when i bought it. Two brothers make a half-truth documentary and complain they couldn't figure out how to replace the battery themselves go and start that video/website (which did they mention they turned around and bought another $400 iPod right after?) which feeds the trolls for the next few years. Look, go take a peek at ipodbattery.com [ipodbattery.com]. For an operation you have to do once ever 2-3 (or maybe even MORE) years, i think holding off just because of a non replacable battery is stupid. i bet you'd get a new ipod just because's better within that span of time anyways, then ebay it for an extra $150 off your new iPod.

Re:battery

[Vollernurd]

It most certainly is and all you need is a small screwdriver (or guitar plectrum if you don't want to scratch it).

See iPod Battery.com [ipodbatery.com] for more info.

Re:Still not such a great deal

[yumyum]

seeing as they still don't have a replaceable battery

I have a Gen 1 iPod that I've used pretty much daily. Excellent device, but the battery is starting to go. Thought about retiring it and buying a new model, but then I Googled for a replacement battery and found one for $30. Comes with a clear and concise user's manual -- see here [macsales.com]. From the manual, looks pretty easy to drop in a new one, so I went ahead and ordered one.

Re:battery

[Neduz]

Of course, Apple wants you to pay them to do it: http://www.apple.com/batteries/replacements.html [apple.com]. But if your iPod is out of warranty, and you're a DIY guy, you can try to replace it yourself: http://www.ipodbattery.com/ [ipodbattery.com].

Re:No dock? No carry case? wtf?

[jt23]

you CAN replace the batteries yourself -- for $30 - $50. http://www.ipodbattery.com/

Re:considerably tweaked?

[clarkcox3]

Bring on the decent player that also has decent (IE not white . . . )

Yes, 'cause as we all know, the color of the earphones affects how they sound.

or canal phones at a preferance. [sic]

In-Ear earphones [apple.com]. Besides, it's just a standard headphone jack, you can plug in any pair of headphones you want.

Re:european price markup - why?

[mjs]

Europe has some legal requirements that increase costs. For example, in the UK at least, you can return anything you buy within 10 days of buying it, for full refund, even if you simply decide you don't like it anymore. As far as I know you can't do this in the US.

See UK T&C [apple.com] ("If you have received the ordered Product(s) and have simply changed your mind about purchasing them you may return the Product(s) or entitlement to Service to us for a refund..."), US T&C [apple.com].

(This applies to everything, not just Apple products.)

Re:No dock? No carry case? wtf?

[Anonymous Coward]

They have solved this problem already. For $50 you call apple, they send you a prepaid postage package, and in 3 days you get your iPod back with a new battery installed. The case isn't meant to be opened by the user for a convienience factor.

You can also get the Belkin iPod Backup Battery kit, which plugs right into the bottom connector and allows for 12 more hours on four AA batteries. Coupled with the 12 hour battery life that the 4G iPod offers, that's a full 24 hours of music without a charge.

It also gets fully charged in 2 hours.

I have a 3G iPod and battery life is about seven to nine hours, depending on how often you switch songs, how long the songs are, what bitrate they are encoded at, how often you use the backlight, and if you use the equalizer.

Go buy an iPod now.

Re:Considerably tweaked?

[Eric_Cartman_South_P]

THE LIST:

-50% more battery
-Removal of 4 buttons with a single click wheel like the iPod mini
-A little thinner
-Better menu UI design
-Shuffle songs feature
-Faster or slower e-book reading by 25% without changing the readers voice pitch
-Price drop

Remember, it's hard to improve on something many people think is perfect (the sales #'s agree with that statement). But it's nice to see the company keep-on-truckin' and improve things. Some people might bitch about "thinner" being only 1 mm, but holy SHIT! At least they are trying! Better then 1 mm thicker!

Re:No dock? No carry case? wtf?

[CaptainFlyingToaster]

You're not missing a whole lot by not getting the dock and carry case. The OEM carry case is a piece of crap - mine broke within weeks of getting it, it's butt-ugly, and you can't access the controls readily.

As for the dock, the line-out functionality is nice, but for most purposes the headphone-out jack will do.

Speck Products Flipstand is a nigh-bulletproof carry case that includes a "pseudo dock" that allows for docklike vertical syncing (less the line-out). Check it out here: http://www.speckproducts.com/newflipstand/

As for the battery, sites like PDASmart ( http://pdasmart.com/ipodpartscenter.htm ) sell battery replacement kits for the do-it-yourselfer, or you can use Apple's battery replacement service for about US$50 more.

Now that your objections have been nullifed, go out and buy one. Right now.

Re:20gb = no dock!

[EulerX07]

Allright then, they didn't remove anything, they just bumped up the base model to 20 gigs. But why does the article say it's 299$ down from 399$ then? You have to pick one :

1) Price has been reduced from 399$ to 299$.
2) They did not remove the dock or carry case.

One or the others, you can't have it both ways.

Re:Prediction

[lenhap]

DRM? I think you have your facts wrong there buddy...of course this is /. so misinformed seems to be a prerequisite for posting.

First off, AAC, the standard that iTunes compresses to, is an open standard based on mpeg 4. Unlike Windows media 9, it adds no DRM to music you rip from a cd. You can take those AAC files and play them in any player that supports the OPEN standard of AAC, Advanced Audio Codec, the Audio portion of Mpeg 4. Also you can play a ton of other formats on iPods, AIFF, mp3, wav ... and so on. In case you have something against AAC, which in my opinion is the best sounding format by far, you can rip songs through iTunes to VBR MP3. The only time any DRM is involved is if you buy music from the iTMS, which you certainly don't have to do unless you want to.

As for Linux, I would bet that apple is trying to come up with a way to get iTunes to Linux. Of course you have to understand that there are many different distributions to support and they aren't about to distribute iTunes as source to be compiled on each individual distribution. Hence getting itunes to linux is harder than porting to windows. Think about how many different windowing environments there are.

Anyways, until hardware prices drop you aren't going to see Apple dropping their prices. And I think if they could drop their prices while maintaining their profit ratio, they would. Why wouldn't they want to gain more of the mp3 player market?

Just make sure you aren't misinforming other people here because you are only relaying information you heard word of mouth. Do some research before you go spouting opinions as fact.

Re:Price

[weave]

Please don't forget that UK prices are inclusive of 17.5% VAT while U.S. prices are exclusive of sales taxes, that usually run from 0% to 10% depending on the state). I wouldn't be surprised if there was an import duty slapped on to the UK prices as well.

Not the full difference, but still. I can't buy a lot of Japanesse goods in the U.S for as cheap as I could in Japan with the current exchange rate either.

Re:Is my 3G 20G iPod now abandoned?

[jcostantino]

My 5 gb 1st gen iPod (later upgraded to a 10 gb HD) is still supported just fine, in fact I played music on my way to work this morning!

It even worked in spite of Apple announcing new iPods!

Re:Prediction

[mst76]

> OGG although free does not compete with MP3 (PRO) which in turn does not compete with AAC.

At 128kbps, Apple's AAC encoder was beaten by Ogg and Musepack in a recent public listening test [rjamorim.com], and performed only slightly better than Lame MP3.

History of the iPod wheel

[lavar78]

Actually, it's the click wheel first seen on the iPod mini. The 1G iPod had a moving wheel surrounded by a thin wheel of clickable buttons. The 2G model replaced the moving wheel with a touch-sensitive one. The 3G model kept the touch-sensitive wheel, but replaced the four buttons around the wheel with a row of four touch-sensitive buttons above the wheel. The iPod mini has one wheel that is touch-sensitive (when scrolling) and clickable at the N, S, E, and W points.

Re:OGG Vorbis, what does it take to get the suppor

[meringuoid]

The iRiver players are nice - I mean, they must have been designed to a Slashdot specification, they do everything, Linux, ogg, no copyprotection - but I would like them to be able to assemble playlists on the fly, rather than copying in Winamp lists from the PC.

That's my niggle, anyway. Apparently iRiver are working on a firmware upgrade to add this in, which is due out somewhere between the Hurd and Duke Nukem Forever.

Re:20gb = no dock!

[dasmegabyte]

To be completely honest, the 20 gig model they're offering is DIFFERENT from the old 20 gig, anyway. It's not the old "middle" model" bumped down, it's a completely new base model with the same price as the old middle one. Besides the new click wheel (which is a mixed blessing, I *LIKE* the round buttons but the one wheel design is so clean and will make for sturdier accesories), there's also the preeminent Shuffle feature on the main menu. A minor change, but something I would use all the time, since I like to switch between "play this album in context" and "full tilt random" depending on my mood. Right now, this means going back three or four menu levels, surfing to settings, and surfing to Shuffle - Songs. Shuffle on the menu eliminates the need to do this for every switch, and also eliminates one level of searching.

I hope they implement this functionality on the 3G, but since it's a minor enhancement that may sell the new model, I doubt it will find its way back. Shit, it'll sell it to me, soon as that 60 gig is out (my full library is an ever expanding 83 GB, and it's eating 50 gig of my 80 gig laptop drive at any given time).

Furthermore, the dock and carrying case are incentive accessories and are not worth the add on price, anyway. They're not bad, but the case is a little chintzy and the dock no more useful than a straight line cable. They're added to make paying $400 or $500 seem like a better deal. I used my plastic case for about a week before investing in a series of third party accessories, culminating in the excellent iSkin EXO2. I have never seriously used my dock...for a while, it sat on my stereo, but when it did I had no control over the ipod so I switched to a wireless line out (900 MHz, not an FM tuner).

Well Actually..

[Klar]

"Hot cakes cooked in bear grease or pork lard were popular from earliest times in American. First made of cornmeal, the griddle cakes or pancakes were of course best when served piping hot and were often sold at church benefits, fairs, and other functions. So popular were they that by the beginning of the 19th century 'to sell like hot cakes' was a familiar expression for anything that sold very quickly effortlessly, and in quantity." From "Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins" by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997)

Software update also released

[amichalo]

Apple [apple.com] also released a Software Update [apple.com] for ALL iPods.

The updates (from there site) are:

New for Click Wheel iPods:
-Shuffle songs with one click
-Create multiple On-The-Go playlists
-Delete songs from On-The-Go playlists
-Select reading playback speed for audiobooks
-Hear the clicker user interface sound through headphones
-Charge via USB 2.0 connection
-Enjoy improved playback performance

Updates for iPod with a Dock connector and iPod mini:
-Compatibility with iTunes 4.5 or later and the iTunes Music Store
-Improved playback performance
-Support for the Apple Lossless Encoder, to enable compressed music encoding at high quality

Updates for iPod without a Dock connector:
-Compatibility with iTunes 4.5 or later and the iTunes Music Store
-Improved playback performance

Re:ARRRGGGH.

[Anonymous Coward]

There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch

Re:Still sucks down battery power to skip tracks?

[Doug Barth]

The reason the iPod can only load up ~5 songs in it's buffer is because it has a 32 MB RAM buffer. It couldn't cache 500 songs in that size of a buffer.

For my money

[shokk]

For less than that price, I just bought a Creative Zen 40GB. It doesn 90% of the same things and I don't really have a need to hook up little attachements like a voice recorder to it.

But the update doesn't include the new features

[Shinzaburo]

Yes, Apple offers a new software update for previous iPod models, but these updates don't include the new features present on the 4th generation iPods announced today.

Re:Firmware update

[503]

The 4g iPod uses the Mini's CPU which is different than the earlier models. Expect to see a firmware upgrade for the Mini, but older iPods are out of luck.

Re:20gb = no dock!

[hooverbag]

40gb model doesn't actually include the carry case or the remote

although the tech specs page [apple.com] still lists them as included accessories for the 40gb model... Earbud headphones, dock, remote, carrying case, AC adaptor, FireWire cable, USB 2.0 cable, 4-pin-to-6-pin FireWire adaptor

Re:Software update also released

[aptenergy]

iPod Updater v3.0 iPod Software 3.0

Click Wheel iPod iPod mini Updater v1.1 iPod Software 1.1

iPod mini iPod Updater v2.2 iPod Software 2.2

iPod with dock connector iPod Updater v1.4 iPod Software 1.4

Touch Wheel iPod

Scroll Wheel iPod
They didn't change anything. All they're providing is all the old software coupled with the new iPod 3.0 Software for the new click wheel iPod.

Inflexible?

[Onan]

Out of curiosity, what's inflexible about "AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 (32 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible, AIFF, Apple Lossless and WAV", and a tendency for more formats to become supported over time? It might not include a format you specifically want (vorbis or flac, I suppose?), but "inflexible" seems like an odd way to characterize it.

Re:For my money

[adamjaskie]

Yes, a Geo Metro is a VERY low end car. Think Yugo, or Ford Festiva. Cheap, good gas milage, poorly made, ugly and unsafe in an accident.

That is a fair comparison with a slight change, to include the mp3 player I bought instead of a 1G iPod a number of years ago. Replace "Creative Nomad Zen" with "Archos 10" and you have my situation. Needless to say, with Apple's current "Cram & Jam" deal, I am buying an iPod in the next couple weeks (next paycheck, in other words).

For those that don't know, if you can get an Apple student discount through your college (10% off everything for me) you can also get "Cram & Jam". $200 rebate if you buy an iBook (other than the CD-ROM model) or Powerbook and an iPod (not iPod Mini) at the same time. With the student discount, that gives me a $70 20 gig iPod.