New Apple iPod with Photo Capabilities 776
artlu was the first of many to submit: "I was just watching my Dow Jones streaming news wire, and I saw that Apple is releasing a new iPod that will have photo captabilities. The news stated that the new iPod will be able to hold 25,000 photos as well as your traditional iPod functionality." Apple's got a page up about the iPod Photo and of course a press release.
I like the Album Art option (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:More info (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:A LOT more new stuff... (Score:5, Interesting)
Photo quality (Score:2, Interesting)
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Presentations... (Score:5, Interesting)
http://www.apple.com/ipodphoto/ [apple.com]: "Use the included AV cable to connect iPod Photo to a projector or TV."
Re:Here's why it will fail... (Score:5, Interesting)
And every prediction was incorrect, to say the least.
The iPod Photo will be wildly successful, and evolve to be the standard by which all others are judged.
Re:Here's why it will fail... (Score:5, Interesting)
You're an idiot.
Sure if you had to edit some XML file it would never happen but Apple doesn't make you do that. It stores meta-data without you even noticing: meta-information from cameras is transparently copied over and used, other meta-data is attached just by dragging a photo to a folder.
The same is true of album art, drag and drop and it's there.
Not everything (fails to) work like Windows: that's why those of us who value our time pay a little extra to buy a properly designed system rather than some cobbled together crap from Dell and Windows.
Re:More info (Score:5, Interesting)
That's only if you don't use the photo feature that you presumably paid an extra $100 to have. Battery life drops to 5 hours if you're watching slide shows while you listen to music. And they're warning customers now about the battery: "Rechargeable batteries have a limited number of charge cycles and may eventually need to be replaced. Battery life and the number of charge cycles vary by use and settings. See www.apple.com/batteries for more information."
Does anyone else think that this a bit overkill. 60Gb is a LOT when you are just talking about music and pictures.
So you're saying 40 gb ought to be enough for anybody? ;^) Seriously, I agree, this is overkill, but not for the same reason. I'm happy to see bigger drives on these things, but I don't really understand the need to make this into a photo device too. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, and I could see how it could be useful (esp. coupled with a tool to transfer digital photos from card media directly to the ipod without the computer, so you could keep re-using the card during a long photo shoot), but the screen size on an ipod is way too small to actually make it a useful photo viewer. Hell, the LCD on my digital camera (Sony T1) is bigger than the ipod screen. I'm not sure it's worth the loss in battery life -- I think I'd prefer a 60G ipod without a color screen for $100-200 less.
Then again, like I said, this could be really useful for photographers, especially given the ability to easily connect the ipod to a TV or monitor to show the photos. Again, crucial here would be the ability to easily talk directly to the ipod without having to go to your mac to transfer anything.
Re:Too expensive/not useful (Score:3, Interesting)
It's a poor example, although probably the best priced, of iPod Photo's competition, which, I believe, is way ahead of iPod Photo.
There are several personal media players with video playing capabilities out there with much, much better features (audio, pictures, video) and compatible pricing (if not at $50 a pop).
The iPod Photo will still, of course, sell well, because certain people will buy anything Apple produces no matter what it is. I think iPod Photo is way overpriced for its features, though the size of the hard drive might make it usable as a portable hard drive with a mp3/aac player.
The only truly interesting feature, from a technical point of view, is the ability to display the pictures in a TV set directly from the device. I'm not so sure it's very useful in the long term without video capabilities, but still.
black earbuds (Score:5, Interesting)
sony makes some very nice earbuds that come in black. surprisingly good sound quality, and they don't hurt your ears one bit. i've had them on for hours at a time with no discomfort. sony has a lot of similar ones, but the mdr-ex71's [sonystyle.com] are great.
it helps to break them in a bit first. crank up the audio from the ipod to full for 5 or 6 minutes, and you're all set.
Managed by... iTunes?! (Score:5, Interesting)
Maybe we're supposed to just deal with it until Apple gets Tiger out the door and Sync services are built into the OS proper? It just doesn't feel very Mac-Like this way...
Re:A LOT more new stuff... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:More info (Score:5, Interesting)
I will consider getting the 60gb model, but I may just wait until 80gb models come out.
Re:iTunes Music Store still has some problems... (Score:3, Interesting)
Cool, but needs a few things... (Score:2, Interesting)
Um, what's up with iPhoto integration? I see iTunes 4.7 does the transfer but I'd think that if it were on a Mac vs. PC that iPhoto with an autosync system like iTunes would be the way to go. Perhaps that's coming later.
Finally, it comes with a dock. It can do slideshows. How about throwing in a wireless remote? Just a thought.
Re:I've always found... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:A LOT more new stuff... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Too expensive/not useful (Score:2, Interesting)
As someone who has 15000 photos sitting on my Powerbook, I think this would be a great way to make more use of my collection.
The key benefit isn't that it simply stores the photos, or hooks up to a TV. The benefit is that it can store *massive* amounts of photos, organizes them in a way that you can find them when you need 'em, makes it highly portable, and gives you an easy way to output to a large display without having to burn a disc.
Apple's not trying to get everyone to upgrade, the plain ol' 20 and 40 GB models are still available. Rather, they're bringing the benefits of the iPod to those who love photography.
The photo bit doesn't really matter (Score:2, Interesting)
It's already won. The displaying of photos is nice... I'll probably use it to carry my portfolio with me. "Oh, you're an artist? What kind of work do you do?"
But I'd buy it as my replacement iPod anyway. The photo bit is clever marketing of something that's *free* for them with the new screen.
There are video players, sure, that will do this, but like everything else about the iPod this is elegant.
BlueTooth (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:More info (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:A LOT more new stuff... (Score:5, Interesting)
Also, the article you mention is from someone that does NOT want to be recogonized by their iPod.. I would guess that's the minority.
Regarless, I would go with an Archos like device myself... of course, I'm too lazy to carry around a phone AND a mp3 player... That's why I'm waiting for the king-of-all-devices [motorola.com]
Re:There was no need to back up my music... (Score:2, Interesting)
Not sure what you mean by loading MP3s from your other computer. Those would then be in your new iTunes library and would have gotten copied to your iPod (replacing what was on there since it's got a new home). You wouldn't lose anything there.
There is no limit on burning songs, there is a limit on burning playlists. Subtle difference, and entirely unimportant to this since you'll have to reconvert them to AAC to get them back. Next time, just drop the AAC files on a CD. As for downloads, I'm pretty sure the word of the day is costs. Sure, digital delivery is cheap, but it ain't free. If you're barely breaking even, as Apple claims, every penny counts.
Re:black earbuds (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:black earbuds (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:black earbuds (Score:4, Interesting)
As long as I'm posting, I think that this is a bad idea - the thing that appeals to me about the iPod is its very simplicity. There's none of this PDA-ness, the calendar is fairly crippled, and you just use it for *music* - not keeping track of your pictures and a million other things. iPods are a symbol of coolness, simple music, just being able to relax. When you add that other junk, it brings in the PDA factor - images of a busy, suited person dashing around trying to get to their next appointment.
Re:Am I the only one? (Score:2, Interesting)
But doing that, carrying movies around on your ipod to plug into a tv and watch later, isn't very practical. Even if the iPod did support video, which it doesn't (and won't until Jobs gets the MPAA on their side, which will take a while, if at all), how likely is it that your are going to be carrying around the required cables, and have a tv handy when you are out and you see someone whom you want to show pictures. Not only that, but the ipod is an on the go device, nobody really wants to sit down and watch your stupid slideshow of pictures of your dog.
Sorry, I just don't see it.
Jack of all trades, master of none (Score:3, Interesting)
Agreed. You'll have all of that and it'll suck at doing all of it. My family just bought a bunch of new cameraphones and I can attest that after a month, the camera is effectively worthless (not that the first month was any good anyway). My major beef is sync. My data/media devices need to sync in standard formats/connectors. The state of sync in phones today is absolute garbage. At least the iPod doesn't suck so badly on that.
Re:A LOT more new stuff... (Score:4, Interesting)
True. But even if you take out the people who are buying them to be cool, what about the people who don't know jack about technology and aren't going to research the alternatives and just buy what they see people using? Those people are (and will continue) flocking to the iPod, and they probably make up a huge portion of the population.
A lot like Windows - people go to buy a computer, and they get one that looks like their neighbor's computer or the one they have at the office. They don't necessarily even consider taking the time to see if OS X would be better for them. They just go to Best Buy or wherever and buy A Computer.
It's just that Apple has positioned themselves on the right side of that this time.
I think cel phones are a bit different, b/c often what phone you get depends on what company you're getting your service from. If they hand you a free Nokia, you've got a Nokia. If they hand you a free Motorola, you've got a free Motorola. If they've got a discount on the latest Samsung, you buy that. Again, most people just go get a cel phone, and in this case they pay less attention to brand name (or getting one like their neighbor's) and take what's presented to them. Yes, there are people who research the best phone and look at all the options etc, but the majority of the general populus takes what the cellular company offers them.
I do agree with you about the U2 iPod. Ok, so a small throng of die-hard U2 fans will get them, along with a few people who want to look cool by having a (OMG!) BLACK iPod! But then, I get the feeling they're not designed to be on the market for very long, and will probably be the first in a series of such "special editions."
Re:A LOT more new stuff... (Score:2, Interesting)
First I discover that they don't include any kind of ripping or encoding software. This is a huge oversight. This is supposedly a big feature and yet they don't even give you the tools to use it?!?
On top of this, they claim to support MPEG-4, but somehow this support fails to include standard MP4 files like those I can output with QuickTime (or better yet, XVID/OpenShiiva, as I later discovered). What they mean is that they support MPEG-4 content in AVI files, which is absolutely useless to me. Maybe if they'd includes some encoding software...
So, eventually I found out what I'd need to encode DVDs, and it turns out to be an incredibly slow, complicated, and ultimately painful process. There's got to be a market for a single app that does all of this. I couldn't for the life of me understand why it doesn't seem to exist.
Then, as I relayed this story to a friend, he pointed out that it would be much easier to just download movies from P2P networks. I tried this, but only found two movies that I owned. I could have gotten plenty of movies that I didn't own, but that would be a) piracy, and b) ignoring the reason I bought the thing in the first place, which was to play the movies I already owned!
So, in the end, I sold it on eBay, and to this day have not seen a product that actually fulfills the promise of letting me take my movies with me. Maybe if I had more 'mainstream' tastes and was into piracy I'd be useful to me...
Re:Too expensive/not useful (Score:2, Interesting)
It should be noted that Apple literally sold hundreds of thousands of them despite the slashdot crowd proving that they wouldn't sell.
breaking in headphones (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:There was no need to back up my music... (Score:1, Interesting)
You are a retard, and that's why you lost all your data. First you formatted your computer without thinking about back-ups, secondly you chose an options you weren't sure about without doing research first, and most importantly you failed to connect the warning of lost data with the fact that you will in fact loose your data.
Retard.
Apple don't need to correct anything, because retards are in the minority. As to why they restrict it, it's the music industry that forces that not apple. If apple didn't agree then the music would not be available for even retards to download.
* i apologise to actual retards for insinuating this guy is in any way near your level of ability.
Re:A LOT more new stuff... (Score:4, Interesting)
- Size
- Integration with jukebox software
The iPod wins hands down on both fronts. A comparable iRiver player (for example) includes an FM tuner, from my perspective a completely useless feature, and is 20% larger. 20GB is probably enough for me for the next few years, so I'm not interested in replacing it with a larger device. I use it for one purpose - playing music (both while I'm mobile and through my HiFi when I'm at home). I don't use half of the `features' my current (3G) player has, so I'm not interested in replacing it with a device suffering from feature creep. Battery life is acceptable most of the time (the only time I've ever wished for more was while I was flying to Japan, and that's not something I do regularly). There are two things that would persuade me to replace it: