New iPod Design Pictures Leak 501
Brian Hoyt writes "Apple's new iPod design will be announced Monday. A cover picture depicting the new design from Newsweek has been discovered early. MacRumors broke the story - MacRumors and more specifically the cover itself - NewsWeek"
New Design: (Score:5, Insightful)
My biggest problem with the previous design is the unapparent secondary button function. When the buttons are arranged around the wheel, the special combinations (Menu & Play/Pause to reset) make a fair sight more sense. Holding Menu for the backlight is especially obscure. I discovered this intuitively on my Original iPod - all of the buttons on the Original had an important Continuous Press function before the first several updates that gave us a new time search for the songs. My friend didn't know about the Menu Backlight - he used the automatic backlight - until I told him with his 30g. He's not stupid by any means, there just wasn't any reason that the second button over would also be a special Backlight control.
Re:New Design: (Score:5, Informative)
Highlights:
Speculations:
Re:New Design: (Score:5, Insightful)
You can get yourself an Archos which you can just drop mp3s onto and play it back that way, but the battery life from my experience is shorter, its bulkier, and it still takes a while just to browse the disk for files. Also, the ipod has two processors, one for audio playback and one for the gui. So it makes sense that apple would make as simple streamlined file structure that the gui processor can feed to the audio playback (ie, user selects to play "Bob Marley - No Woman.mp3" and the gui system feeds
Its ingeniously simple: why make processor on the ipod built for effeciency have to do all this directory / database management (althou the 3g ones do this now) when you can get a desktop computer to do it in a snap.
And i believe there are third party programs out there which you can mount on the ipods "data share" that will easily let you drag and drop files back and forth from the playable section of your ipod.
Re:New Design: (Score:5, Informative)
Various iPod batteries [pdasmart.com]
I may pick one up myself for this 2G i just got from my sister (first ipod owner too, im such a nerd but I can't afford to buy one myself).
Re:New Design: (Score:5, Funny)
Don't even get me started on the spreadsheet...
Re:New Design: (Score:3, Interesting)
So it does not have gigabytes of storage space or multiple playlists. I don't need that, I'm quite happy with my 128 MiB CF card (accessible as a standard USB storage device) and one playlist. And with the fact that sometime people ask me whether the thing was an iPod.
Not bad for a product I bought used for just about 30 bucks.
Now if they only would get the promised OGG support working...
Re:New Design: (Score:3, Funny)
That thing looks like an iPod in the same way that Rosie O'Donnell looks like Jennifer Garner. :)
But, as long as it does what you need it to do, who cares really?
Re:New Design: (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:New Design: (Score:5, Informative)
Yeah you know those MP3 Decoder Chips you can't seem to find? Try looking in your DVD player that supports MP3 on the fly.
DVD Player Market is separate from the portable MP3 player market and millions upon millions of MP3 Decoder chips are in standard DVD home entertainment units.
HVAC Systems for commerical and home use aren't in the same market as automobile A/C units but you get the point.
Re:New Design: (Score:5, Informative)
Re:New Design: (Score:3, Informative)
watch the keynote for the exact figures & quote.
http://stream.apple.akadns.net/
Re:Still no radio?!? (Score:5, Insightful)
Personally, I don't listen to radio, so it's not a big loss to me.
Re:Still no radio?!? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:New Design: (Score:3, Insightful)
I, for one, do NOT welcome our wheel-clicking overlords. Normally I use my iPod without really looking at it: while driving (car or bicycle) or without getting it out of my coat pocket (to avoid getting too much attention of thugs).
By having separate buttons and wheel there is almost no clicky-where-no-clicky-was-intended. With this new old approach this is no longer working.
While I can understand that Steve wants everybody to rejoice the i
Re:New Design: (Score:5, Informative)
Re:New Design: (Score:5, Informative)
You have to apply quite a bit of pressure. It's quite a stiff, tactile click.
Re:New Design: (Score:3, Interesting)
Not that I don't love my iPod. But normally I just have to keep it in the case and use the remote. I long for some tactile buttons.
Re:New Design: (Score:3, Informative)
Normally I use my iPod without really looking at it: while driving (car or bicycle) or without getting it out of my coat pocket (to avoid getting too much attention of thugs).
There's an iPod Jacket [burton.com] specially designed with controls on the sleeve, so you don't have to pull it out of your jacket to access the controls. And if you use it while driving, well then you can get an Alpine system [alpine-usa.com] or a BMW [apple.com] that works with it! Ofcourse, with the money you'd be spending, you could simply hire a live band to follow y
Re:New Design: (Score:4, Informative)
I read about it in the manual. The manual wasn't massive - just a little 16-small-page leaflet.
Awww crap (Score:4, Funny)
features (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Lion battery life. (Score:3, Informative)
e.g.
http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-
It just means charge it up when you can rather than running it to empty before recharge.
close up (Score:5, Informative)
Re:close up (Score:2)
Either that, or it's a very clever fake.
Re:close up (Score:4, Informative)
Re:close up (Score:3, Informative)
Or... (Score:4, Interesting)
Kjella
Re:close up (Score:5, Funny)
Re:close up (Score:5, Insightful)
When you see people using their iPods, the behaviour is that the interface lets them choose music quickly, with little/or no need to look at the screen after this.
A colour screen would be nothing more than an eyecandy waste.
Reality is most of an iPod's life is to live in someone's pocket. Apple realise this, moving the buttons back to a previous arrangement where a user does not need to look at the iPod to press each button, which was a common UI issue with the former generation iPod.
Re:close up (Score:3, Insightful)
no anodized metal? (Score:4, Interesting)
I was also hoping that the new iPod would have an easy-access compartment for replacing batteries.
Still, looks interesting. May have to break down and get the 20GB model...
Re:no anodized metal? (Score:5, Interesting)
I am very pleased. (Score:5, Interesting)
Another notable difference here is the darker buttons. I've yet to decide if that's a good or bad thing, as far as design goes. What do you people think?
Price drop? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Price drop? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Price drop? (Score:5, Interesting)
I've been waiting for my magic price point, $200, for some time now. I'm probably going to keep waiting.
Re:Yes. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Yes. (Score:3, Informative)
Bullshit. It's around 350 See for example Apple Spain [apple.es]
As for salaries, maybe in Greece or Poland.
Re:Price drop? (Score:4, Insightful)
The margin on Apple products is said to be somewhere in the range of 20 to 30%. However, that money goes into R&D, advertising, and other business overhead. The 3% profit is what is left over after all of that. So, if they were to stop advertising, stop all R&D work, and fire as many employees as possible, they could sell the iPod for maybe 25% less. Somehow that doesn't seem like a valid option.
Is there a way to reduce cost? Probably. They could invest R&D money into reducing cost but what this likely means is 1) design a custom ASIC that has the CPU, LCD drivers, USB/1394 interfaces, and *hard drive control* circuits all on a single chip and thereby 2) attach the hard drive heads, servo, and spindle motor directly to that custom chip. (In other words, eliminate the extra controller circuit board that normally comes as part of an "off the shelf" hard drive and truly make the hard drive part of the iPod custom circuitry.) There are certainly undesirable aspects of this approach - for example, it becomes much more difficult to increase the device storage capacity as you have essentially taken on the R&D that would normally be done by a hard drive manufacturer.
I think it is much better to spend the R&D money on enhancing the device in other ways.
Re:Price drop? (Score:3, Interesting)
Repeat of the iMac leak? (Score:5, Interesting)
I wonder if Newsweek just pulled the same stunt by mistake?
Man, I just would not want to be anywhere near Steve Jobs right now...
this didn't scoop a keynote or press event (Score:3, Interesting)
there is no press conference or anything scheduled for this iPod. the Newsweek thing was THE official first notification. and i guess Apple will follow with emails and press releases. ThinkSecret.com was the first site to pick up on the new iPod with some solid information, and one thing they kept saying was that Apple would not be using a press event to show it
Re:Repeat of the iMac leak? (Score:4, Insightful)
Anm
Re:Repeat of the iMac leak? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Repeat of the iMac leak? (Score:5, Funny)
Leaked Article (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5457434/site/newsweek
disappointing....
Dang! (Score:5, Funny)
Now, my 40GB iPod is obsolete! I must have the yellow one.
Out of the ordinary (Score:5, Interesting)
Best of all, you don't even realize your strings are being pulled. You think you're outsmarting Apple and reading something they don't want you to read.
Re:Out of the ordinary (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Out of the ordinary (Score:5, Insightful)
I wonder how much it has to do with marketing in certain cases and instead with the shear enthusiasim of the the customers? For example are there AppleInsider.com or macrumors.com equivalents for other stuff such as Microsoft, Dell, HP, etc?
Few companies in the IT world provide a line of products where people are willing to cut off their arm to find out what's coming next. Its like people expect Christmas from Apple.
Re:Out of the ordinary (Score:4, Funny)
Of course. You can find scoops on future Dell products here [apple.com].
What about accessories? (Score:5, Interesting)
While this design seems to be much more in line with the non-3G what with the return to the wheel as opposed to the independent buttons I'm curious as to where the compatibility will lie. Will earlier models suddenly be supported once again (probably unlikely, the wheel looks to be sized differently and the cutouts for the various ports are different, it might work as a kludge at best)? Will 3G-style products suddenly drop out of sight just like what happened when the design was last changed significantly?
There are some valid questions here that I don't think Apple or many others are bothering to consider. Yes there are advantages to making improved designs, but Apple doesn't seem to be paying any attention to the benefits of a consistent design with only functional improvements.
Steve's glasses (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Steve's glasses (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Steve's glasses (Score:5, Funny)
Before you get some cool glasses, how about getting some commas? Here's a bunch for you, for free. Cut and paste as needed.
Re:Steve's glasses (Score:5, Funny)
He can't see! He thought those periods were commas, you insensitive clod!
Re:Steve's glasses, faked? (Score:3, Insightful)
sig,
(-6.5, -8.25)
A call for perspective (Score:5, Insightful)
What does that say about our society when a fairly simple re-design of a product garners such attention? Is it really important? Does it make your life better somehow?
Just get over yourselves.
Re:A call for perspective (Score:3, Insightful)
iBeard (Score:5, Funny)
Here's the new features... (Score:3, Informative)
- A millimeter thinner
- More efficient Menus
- Multiple on-the-go playlists
- Listen to audiobooks slower or 25 percent faster without affecting pitch
- Longer play - 12 hours of battery life due to more power conservation
- Lower price: 40GB - $399, 20GB $299 (no 15 gig model now)
- Still white
Number 1 on my feature wishlist... (Score:3, Interesting)
I can't understand why this feature isn't already in iPods - it really should be on top of the developers' todo list. Maybe Apple is so convinced that "nobody listens to albums no more"?
Creepy Newsweek cover shot of Jobs (Score:3, Funny)
It looks like a public service announcement: "Kids, don't get into the car with a stranger who offers you an iPod."
Re:Has anyone heard anything? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Has anyone heard anything? (Score:4, Informative)
In reality the iPod (and I'm talking about the 2G here) tends to last around 4-6 hours depending on use. I personally keep mine on shuffle and skip through songs at a rate of perhaps one skip for every 5 songs or so. This gives me about this range of total battery power. This is all because the only way it gets 8 hours out of the battery is by spinning the hard drive up as little as possible and instead only feeding data into the cache every 20 minutes or so. Thus the often erroneous claim of 20 minutes of skip protection, in particular if the hard drive is set to spin again there is absolutely no skip protection in my experience. Anything you do to make the hard drive spin up (e.g. skip songs, thus running through the buffer faster, randomize songs, etc.) will lower your listening time.
Don't forget that it constantly loses power (albeit in a low-power sleep state) no matter what you do as there is no way to turn it off. I doubt this is ever a significant factor although you'll probably find it dead or close after a week or so without charging.
Overall though the battery is, I've found, good enough that if you start fully charged in the morning you can carry it around all day without incident.
Re:Has anyone heard anything? (Score:5, Informative)
It's not like the iPod doesn't know what song it's going to randomly play next.
Re:Haven't we had enough of these ipod stories ? (Score:5, Insightful)
The reason for that is, slashdot is about technology, the iPod happens to be an example of technology that has become a growing cultural icon.
When the three headlines for a huge publication are "9/11", "Iraq", and "iPod", with the "iPod" leading. It's almost surprising that slashdot doesn't have _more_ articles about it.
Despite the lack of significance (it is, after all, simply a music player), there are many surrounding wider effects that have come from it, and this is where the publicity is deserved.
Re:Haven't we had enough of these ipod stories ? (Score:5, Funny)
Iran & Iraq should change their country names in iRan & iRaq to get more leading headlines.
Re:Haven't we had enough of these ipod stories ? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Never going to buy one (Score:5, Informative)
The sensible (and arguably the best) method of putting tracks on it is iTunes, even when music match for the PC was responsible for this, it too did a fine job. iTunes is available for Windows & Mac, linux programmers have also created similar music syncing software.
To address your format concerns, the iPod plays AIFF, WAV, MP3, Audiobooks and AAC. The first three of those are DRM free. Additionally the rights management on AAC is hardly limiting, the rights are static and unable to be changed by a 3rd party over time.
The price argument is negotiable, with 3Million sales, it couldn't be too limiting a price.
Re:Never going to buy one (Score:3, Interesting)
Copy and paste using a file broswer is what you do on the cleap and nasty MP3 players.
One of the TV programs about gadgets did a test of 4 MP3 players this week. They had a newly ripped album on a PC, and they timed how long it took to plug the player in, get the tracks onto the MP3 player,
Re:Never going to buy one (Score:3, Insightful)
I got myself an iRiver H140 this week.
It addresses your two arguments:
- Normal USB harddisk that has actual MP3 files on it so you can easily hack up your own tools under any OS. You can also copy the tracks off it.
- mp3, ogg, wma, asf support
My main gripe is that it's interface just isn't very good. I can't stand the idea of someone putting up a millions-of-dollars production line to create excellent hardware and then put ill thought out software on it.
If they'd h
Re:Never going to buy one (Score:5, Insightful)
So, yes, once again it comes down to the interface. You can easily use it with one hand while driving, walking, whatever, and it's just fairly intuitive.
Re:Never going to buy one (Score:5, Funny)
Ah, the whine of the rationalizer (Score:3, Interesting)
You sound like the married guy with the hot flirty secretary who keeps telling himself 5 exaggerated things wrong about her every day in order to stay minimally tempted.
Re:iPod purchase = vote for DRM (Score:5, Informative)
The iPod does NOT require DRM, I don't know where you got that idea. You can play your music in multiple formats, the most widely used being MP3. It also plays DRMed music from the music store, if you choose to use that.
If you want to get the music off it again, there are several apple scripts floating around to do it. The files are only hidden after all.
Re:Never going to buy one (Score:3, Informative)
Test one:
have a cd, have an iPod:
1) put cd in tray, close tray.
2) let iTunes find CDDB data, then click import, let import happen.
3) plug-in iPod.
( 3)a) let iTunes work its magic, no user assistance required
4) uplug ipod.
Which one of these steps qualify as a hoop or a loop? Pray tell me.
Test two:
have mp3 in a folder on HD (or on a separate disk, if you friend just plugged in his USB disk-on-key to give you -illegally?
1) locate mp3 files
2)
Re:Nice one. (Score:3, Funny)
I will not buy this iPod, it is scratched.
Re:One can only hope that it features Bluetooth (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Hold your horses... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Hold your horses... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Deathwish (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Deathwish (Score:4, Insightful)
The fact the ipod's hitting it's 4th (5th if you count the mini) generation without a major overhaul of the ui shows how well designed it was in the first place.
Re:Eh... (Score:3, Informative)
But I suspect he's on the cover on Newsweek because of the success of the business model, and the great quarterly results the company turned it last week. Jobs and Apple's business model are the real story, not an evolutionary improvement to the design of the white iPod.
Re:Personally prefer CF based players (Score:5, Informative)
True 4GB CF cards with actual flash mamory and no moving parts costs >$1000.
yah sure if your rich (Score:3, Insightful)
Memorie devices do have longer battery lives as the moving HD sucks a lot of juice but for the fast majority of people that is not a problem. Use it a couple of hours a day, plug it into the recharger when home and you never run out. People have already been trained to empty their pocke
Re:new iPod (Score:3, Informative)
Re:has anyone actually handled one of these? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:has anyone actually handled one of these? (Score:4, Informative)
Replaced it upon others' advice with a Hitachi HTS548060M9AT00 (i.e. a Travel Star with 60 GB). Note that you lose any kind of warranty by replacing a hard drive, and that it's everything but easy.
Also upped RAM, first to 384 Megs, then to 640 Megs. It makes a huge difference. You don't want to use OS X with anything less than 384 Megs, but it won't be a *joy* with anything less than 512 Megs. Everyone will tell you that.
The hardware itself is incredible. Durable, lightweight, and really powerful enough for everyday work (I'm a programming and networking guy), watching DVDs, burning, etc. Of course, it goes without saying that Mac OS X is one of the best modern operating systems out there. As long as you're willing to deal with *slightly* less hardware and software compatibility (and even that seems to keep getting better) than you'd have on x86 machines, you're good to go. As an example, I just bought a Canon PowerShot A80 yesterday (great product I might add). It said on the backside that it would come with Mac OS X drivers. But up to now, I never used those. I plugged the thing in via USB and instantly, through Apple's ImageCapture software, had access to 1) downloading pictures, 2) sharing camera access over the web - thusly also to Windows and Linux PCs (ImageCapture comes with a built-in web server), 3) taking photos from the Mac, either manually or even in periodic intervals (again, this feature can be accessed from other machines through the network) and simple operations like rotating the images. Note again that this worked without *any* configuration - neither on the camera nor on the iBook - and without any glitches. Now, if I wanted advanced functionality such as Canon's photo stitching tool, I would of course have to install that. But the point is, if someone were to bring his camera over and it supports standards like PTP, I'm ready to go to use it. (My experience with using the Canon on Windows XP has been *muchly* different.)
(I should maybe note that the iBook does not come with PCMCIA, decreasing upgradeability. You can, of course, get lots of FireWire devices for external hard drives or TV tuners and whatnot, but Gigabit Ethernet or FireWire 800 will never be options for you.)
If there's anything else you want to know, you may want to register at applenova.com; they have quite a few experienced people there (it's obviously a "fan" board though, but that doesn't mean the people aren't critical of Apple).
Hope that helps.
Re:has anyone actually handled one of these? (Score:3, Interesting)
I had a great Sony Walkman in highschool.
Several in fact...
It was a marvel of minaturized tech: when not loaded with a cassette it slid shut to a size smaller than a cassette! It was tiny and light, sounded great.
It was also the most fragile piece of consumer tech I have ever owned.
Which is why I had more than one... as it was constantly being replaced under warrany... mostly for drops less than 2 feet.
And it cost a fair bit more than the second iPod i bought yesterd
Re:A black faceplate (Score:3, Informative)
OR
you could just get a mini - I would imagine the colors will be mixed up a little bit in it's next generation.
OR
You could get a black exoskin for it.
Re:freeipod.com - legit or scam? (Score:4, Informative)
Engadget did a little investigative reporting [engadget.com] about freeipod.com.
Re:Battery issue? (Score:5, Informative)
More here [ipodbatteryfaq.com] and here [ipodbattery.com].
Re:I keep hearing about this iPod thing... (Score:3, Informative)
UI improvement
Interface improvement
50% more battery life
$100 less
And it isn't a 'modernized walkman', it's a miniaturized/portable 600 disc CD changer
Re:I keep hearing about this iPod thing... (Score:3, Interesting)
It's so much more than a walkman. It's my fourth lobe. (My third being my Powerbook.)
Re:Left Unsaid was: (Score:4, Informative)
Almost certainly - now that 3rd-party products (like the BMW connector and Dension ICELink) are using that dock connector, Apple will most likely stick with it for some time-- and I believe it was designed with that in mind.
Does is still use the same remote connector?
Dunno, but probably.
Will there be a "line in" dock?
Doubtful, since the article makes no mention of built-in recording features. You still need a third-party accessory to record, so it would be up to one of those devices to allow line-in.
Is the screen size the same?
The screen size looks the same. The article says the 4G is a bit thinner, but that's apparently it in terms of form factor changes.
Will the 3g iPod be upgradeable to some of the new features?
Wouldn't surprise me at all, it certainly looks feasible. We'll probably get an iPod Firmware Update out of it to add some new features-- I'd guess that the 3G will probably get firmware revision 2.5, and the 4G's firmware will be called 3.0.
If the powersavings is mostly done in software, will 3g iPods get more life with a firmware upgrade?
It's certainly possible, and as a 3G owner, I'd love to see improved battery life in my exisiting unit though I have only run out of juice once in the year that I've had mine.
~Philly
Re:Obligatory Ogg Plug (Score:4, Informative)
At the 28 April iTunes anniversary conference call [macobserver.com], Arik Hesseldahl from Forbes asked Teh Steve about that.
So, if support for that format is something that would make you buy and iPod, it might be a good idea to tell them [apple.com]!
Re:Obligatory Ogg Plug (Score:3, Informative)
The Economist recently published sales figures [economist.com] for the various HD and flash players -- the number of sales lost to iRiver is at the statistical noise level.
Why this matters is interop. If most people can't make good use of your favorite format, you'll continue to see a limited amount of material available in that format. If you want to get the majority vendors' attention, flying under their radar doesn't accomplish mu
Re:Still no gapless playback (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Yuk - bad design. (Score:4, Funny)
Yes, the newer iPods are curvier and sexier because of it, but the ergonomics of the touch buttons is TERRIBLE.
Writing as someone who uses his iPod in the dock 99% of the time, I like the 3g touch buttons much more than the 1g hard buttons. I don't have to put my hand behind the iPod to push a button and having the click sound on gives me all the feedback I need.
Why can't we have an iPod with sexy curves and tactile buttons?
I think you're confusing iPods with Jeri Ryan :-).