Rumors of Next Generation of Ipods 426
xyankee writes "Apple is on the verge of releasing a 60GB iPod that will not only hold a ton of music, but also sport photo-viewing capabilities! Think Secret is reporting that the new iPod will also have a 2-inch high-resolution LCD display, video-out, and enhancements to iPhoto for synchronizing photos. The best part is it'll be just 2mm thicker than regular iPods. Does this mean that iPhoto for Windows might not be far behind? Also, as a note to all the rumor pundits, Think Secret nailed the iMac G5 specs a month before its announcement, so I'm inclined to believe them with this bit as well."
Credible (Score:5, Interesting)
Next 30-60 days? (Score:5, Interesting)
FM Tuner? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:I dont get it. (Score:5, Interesting)
I totally get this. I carry photos around on my Palm all the time. When I come back from vacation or whatever, I can dump the images to the Palm and then I can show them to folks. As long as it's a very good screen (like the one on my Tungsten|T3) the pictures will show up very well.
I also keep my T3 docked on my desk at work, and use the slide show feature to cycle through photos there while it's not in use. It makes a very appealing digital picture frame. An iPod in its dock, with a good color screen, would serve well in this capacity too.
FWIW, IMHO, IANAL, prices and participation may vary.
The Killer App Would be... (Score:5, Interesting)
When I bought my treo, I was so happy to ditch having to walk around with two geeky devices. So of course I ended up buying a 20 gig iPod and still walk around with two geeky devices. Jobs has said the smartphone is the future of the PDA - does that mean an eventual merging of these technologies?
Bloat (Score:1, Interesting)
I'm sure a bunch of people would find high resolution color displays useful, but i wish someone would concentrate on making a device that simply plays music, is small and has long battery life.
Re:Well.... (Score:0, Interesting)
Re:Well.... (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't think Apple will do it, because it's just not convenient to use a 2 inch lcd screen to see photos that have been most probably taken on a dig camera with a dedicated similarly large screen...
Anyway, if Apple does such a device, I guess it'll more and more look like the PDA Newton lovers have been expecting for years...
I suggest somebody asks Belkin or any other iPod accessories manufacturer whether they plan to create an iPod char input device...
Not a chance (Score:3, Interesting)
Simple as that.
Meh (Score:1, Interesting)
Visualation (Score:3, Interesting)
I know, you dont NEED it, but it would be better than picture support.
Add-ons could be great (Score:5, Interesting)
A digital camera adapter
I could see a 4 MP camera that would attach right to the bottom of the iPod. Now that would be cool, an iPod with photo-taking capabilities. There might just be a good market for that. Plus, 60 GB of photos in your camera would be sweet ...
Re:Yeah...but... (Score:5, Interesting)
I think there is a market for this, that's maybe a little bit of a shift from the iPods present target market.
it's the iPod for grown ups. These are the people who wouldn't buy one just for the music, but the prospect of taking their kids/grandkids photos with them everywhere, being able to whip out a cool little device with every digital photo they've ever taken, would definitely hold some appeal with some of the older folk.
the music may just be a bonus!
-- james
Re:Next 30-60 days? (Score:4, Interesting)
I think this is more likely to be marketed as an iPod plus rather than an iPod.
Its existence would also help explain the relatively restricted supply 4 months out, plus it would also help explain that slip of the tongue [infoworld.com] by Toshiba about Apple wanting 60GB drives.
-- james
Album art (Score:5, Interesting)
Imagine what this capability would do for the interface in general...
Yum. I'd buy.
Gee...innovative (Score:3, Interesting)
The iPod succeeded because of its tight integration and sync via iTunes and its superior UI. Syncing my Archos is a pain, but it is well ahead in the feature set.
I'll go Think Secret one better, and (Score:2, Interesting)
I predict that, within three years, and using its patent for color-changing plastics, Apple is going to give you an iTV.
I'd also like to take this opportunity to say:
Screw you Gates. Microsoft doesn't innovate shit.
video-out? not for photos! (Score:2, Interesting)
Now, many of newer DVD players today can play mpeg4 movies encoded with popular codecs such as DivX and Xvid.
So, iPod will have video-out? Great news. It should alsom inclode those codecs and a player (QuickTime?) to become a portable video device!
You could download collection of movies from you PC on 60GB drive and go visit friends or maybe go on holiday... And play movies anywhere where there is a TV. Apple could grab a hude chunk of market from DVD players...
And then, if you get one of those ridiculous video goggles [i-glassesstore.com] on... Who needs a TV or a cinema?
Re:FM Tuner? (Score:2, Interesting)
Massive delivery problems (Score:2, Interesting)
And now the talk of a new super-cool model! Come on Apple, first things first!
Archos? (Score:5, Interesting)
Archos AV400 supports audio, video (divx/xvid), photos and act as a USB external drive too. 80GB models are available today and work with most any OS.
It seems to me that iPods tend to be more of a status symbol than a breakthrough in technology.
[This is not meant as a flame. I own a 17" Powerbook myself.]
Check out Olympus m:robe (Score:3, Interesting)
dpreview.com (scroll down) [dpreview.com]
dpnow.com [dpnow.com]
Looks very interesting...
HDDs can't take cell phone abuse... (Score:3, Interesting)
One major issue remains. Battery life. How to overcome the battery life issue when you combine all those features? One company recently dropped their "do all phone" because of battery life. Now to toss a HDD in there?
I would lean towards streaming music to a cell phone before throwing a HDD into one.
Re:Yeah...but... (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm using a 3G iPod at the moment, and I feel it's at an almost perfect size, not too small and not too big. Add a color screen and photo capabilities and now you're talking (well not yet, that will come I'm sure).
Re:Yeah...but... (Score:3, Interesting)
I have a 2 meg digital camera and have taken about 7k pictures of the past couple of years.. Thats still less than 10 gigs of space. With this device I could carry around all my music and picture files with room to grow.
Alot of family members don't have computers and since we don't print pictures anymore it would be nice to show them a few pics when were visiting. Or even let them record it to their VHS so they can keep a copy.
It’s gotta start with a phone... (Score:2, Interesting)
...for me anyway. That's the only gadget I feel I really need to have with me at all times. Would I like a digital camera, an MP3 player, and a PDA? Hell yes! But I don't want to have to wear the Batman Utility Belt to carry them all. There are some devices that come close, but none really have that Apple touch.
Granted, if you rolled all of those things into one device, the quality of each would probably not be as good as if you kept them separate. But I'd sacrifice some quality (and my cash) for one device that did all of those things.
The day I buy an iPod? When it uses VOIP for communication. When it has a mini iSight that swivels outward for photo taking, inward for videoconferencing, and sideways for storage. When it has not only iPhoto built in, but also iChat and iCal. All of that plus the original MP3 player is enough to make me shell out the cash.
Then again, maybe it's just not possible right now to incorporate all of that in a small enough form factor to make it comfortably portable.
Re:Yes it did, but also... (Score:3, Interesting)
I know Steve Jobs said in the past he's against the idea of mixing different stuff into just one gadget, but I'd really like an iPod with an integrated camcorder. Especially with a 60gb HD.
Re:Ogg... (Score:3, Interesting)
BTW, the iRiver H320/H340 (review [tomshardware.com]) does all that the new iPod is supposed to, and it even includes a USB host function - you connect a USB storage device (like most cameras, or even a USB hard drive), and simply transfer files between the two devices.
Karma be darned. Here troll, have some food (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Doesn't the iRiver already do this? (Score:3, Interesting)
Battery life? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Credible (Score:3, Interesting)
Sounds like someone's on the wish-fulfilment crack pipe there.
The beginning of Apple's "media center" strategy (Score:5, Interesting)
And it's completely different from the way Microsoft and others are approaching it.
Everyone else has been going about it from the respect of making a whole freaking separate *computer* a part of your entertainment/AV center. A computer with its own maintenance and patching needs, another computer that needs to be upgraded, another computer to break, etc.
Apple started it with AirPort Express...a wireless device, that integrates with your existing wireless or wired network, integrates with your entertainment center, has analog and digital optical audio outputs, and seamlessly meshes with the applications and techniques you ostensibly already use (or will switch to) for managing your music collection.
Now, an iPod, with a massive amount of storage, and clearly with a dock or some other capability to attach to an external video device, such as a TV, even if only for viewing photos. This means that some type of interface - whether it's on the TV or the iPod's own screen - has been built to navigate through items that reside on the iPod. Meaning that video playback (as long as the iPod and/or dock can handle the playback/decoding) would be trivial.
Imagine this: download a movie or other video content on your Mac. Perhaps via the iTunes Store. Sync with your iPod. Drop your iPod into its dock at your entertainment center. Select content (a movie?) and play. Simple. Clean. Doesn't require you to have 45 computers.
So, yes, this new iPod is "just as expensive" as a PC someone might build or buy to integrate into your entertainment center as a media PC. But think about NORMAL PEOPLE for a second. Think about how unbelievably cool this is.
Re:Well.... (Score:4, Interesting)
While no rumor site is 100% on-the-money, I've found TS to be the best of the bunch. They're not given to empty speculation.
iPod + iSight = camcorder (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Yeah...but... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:FM Tuner? (Score:3, Interesting)
But not sports. The only thing I would want an AM/FM tuner for would be so I can still record/listen to sports stations. It would also be useful for timeshifting certain talk shows as well.
But for the true geek... (Score:2, Interesting)
ew (Score:3, Interesting)
i assume it'd be the same on the ipod... since a lot of people (city workers, college kids, people who walk to work in general) are gonna be using these outdoors, i think a color screen would just piss a lot of people off.
Gapless? (Score:2, Interesting)
As soon as it has the ability to play back an album as it was originally recorded (i.e. without a 1 second pause between each track) then I might be interested. I mean, other manufacturers have figured it out - what's stopping Apple?
This had better come soon (Score:3, Interesting)
how do they plan to handle they juice? (Score:1, Interesting)
One step closer to Portable Profiles (Score:3, Interesting)
(PLUS, they would show non-Apple users how much farther ahead Apple is in the user experience game.)
iPod + iPodder + WiFi = Tivo in ur pocket! (Score:2, Interesting)
How to use your iPod for video/photo playback! (Score:3, Interesting)
I propose that this can already be done. Just look at what these guys have accomplished [engadget.com]. Think deeply about this. If we can encode IR signals into audio files, why not encode images into audio files, dump that audio out the headphone jack of the iPod into a device with a decoder and an RCA jack, and plug that sucker into your TV?!
In fact they already have something commercially available that can do part of this, converting digital bits into audio-- its called a MODEM (remember those?). The band Information Society was putting samples of MODEM audio onto records and tapes for you to somehow decode back in the 80s! So this idea is really overdue and I believe we are only a few figurative moments away from this becoming a reality, mod this post up to help make it happen or reply with why it won't work
Re:How to use your iPod for video/photo playback! (Score:4, Interesting)
Step 1) Find or write software to convert JPEG into audio files
Step 2) Find or create hardware to decode the sounds you get from playing back those files into signals that your TV understands over an RCA cable or what have you
Step 3) Insert iPod in between the product of step 1 and the product of step 2
This time it really applies:
Step 4) ????
Step 5) Profit!
Re:What about recording? (Score:3, Interesting)
Just a suggestion. I own both a 3G iPod (10gig) and an iRiver (40gig) and think they are both great. I would have stuck with the iPod if Apple ever added significant new features to it. I'm a little tired of Apple releasing minor revisions with nothing new and driving upgrade sales based on minor software improvements that could easily be back-ported to older devices.
Apple doesn't force you to ditch your 3 month old Powerboook and buy a new one to install the latest iTunes version. Likewise, you shouldn't have to throw away a 3G iPod to get a largely identical 4G iPod to be able to have multiple on-the-go playlists.
I got the feeling Apple was pretty much phoning it in on the 4G release. Maybe the real team was doing leap-frog development on this new revision. Of course, the color screen photo-displaying iRiver is already shipping.
Don't expect full iPhoto (Score:2, Interesting)
I won't say it won't happen, but... (Score:2, Interesting)
I don't see this new iPod, if it is REAL, appearing on shelves for 6 months.