5G iPods Soon?

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clamshellibooks

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Article from AppleInsider

So AppleInsider thinks the next generation iPod should come out sometime this month. Does anyone else agree? If it does, what will it be like/have on it? Will it feature the video function a lot of people are hoping for.? Will it be smaller (not Nano size of course, but close to the discontinued iPod Mini's form)? What about Bluetooth? What does everyone think?
 
I would not be surprised if the current line of iPods is updated with some of the new features from the Nano (locking code, alarms, world time, etc). I'd be surprised if it were to include video, and I'd say Bluetooth is out of the question.

Lots of people have suggested syncing the iPod using Bluetooth or 802.11, but the fact is that Bluetooth is simply too slow (it would take around an hour to transfer a hundred songs) and 802.11 would drain the battery too quickly. For now, we're limited to the technology that works, and that means Firewire and USB are still the only ways to transfer data to your iPod.

As for video, its still hard to see this happening any time soon either. Video is simply too demanding on battery life, hard-drive capacity and firmware size. Video would also mean a complete re-design of the iPod's form factor to accomodate a bigger display in a landscape aspect. Frankly, I don't see it happening any time real soon.
 
The main iPod can't get all that much smaller. The iPod mini was smaller because it used ultra-small hard drives, which just can't hold as much data as the kind used in the "big" iPods.

This will probably never change, because the iPod-sized drives will continue to get bigger just as the mini-sized ones do, and Apple will probably keep incorporating these larger drives as they become available. They can't very well introduce a new generation with half the storage capacity (if even) of the previous generation.

If a new generation is right around the corner, I expect it to be pretty ho-hum. It'll probably incorporate all the features from the Nano, and maybe have support for playlist folders.
 
I'm betting no video. IIRC, it was reiterated by Apple when the nano was released that now is not the time for video. I would assume that "now" also means "in the next generation iPod" as well.
 
kainjow, i read the page from your link and some of the following pages. i really hope this guy futurepod is right. although i wasnt too happy about the price he gave out. $500 for it! a bit much and i suspect too much for a lot of people. the iPod photo sales weren't spectacular right when it came out, if i heard right. cause they were 100-200 dollars more than the original for not too many more features. i just hope this guy was as right about this as he was the nano!
 
it would be interesting if you take a look at the current video hard drive players out there like the "iRiver PMC-120" the controling interface sucks. I'd like to see Apple handle Mobile Video...

The same with different MP3 players, the controls were too damn complicated while the ipod's is straight foward and simple, which is why it's the controlling MP3 player and so many people are trying to copy it.
 
Well if this new iPod is going to be released in October, along with PowerMac / Powerbook updates. Will it be at the Mac Expo UK (London October 27-29)???

Hope so coz I'll be there!!!
 
Hm. He was _very_ accurate on the nano. However, he also predicted the video store for the nano's event (forget about the ROKR...), and now he puts that info towards the next event.

I'm all for a video iPod - and have voiced that quite often previously - but it has to be done right*.

The 499 price point (he's saying 449, btw. ...) was the original iPod 10 GB (well, that was the second model, of course, the 5 GB was 399) price as well as the original iPod photo's price, IIRC. So I don't see that as a real problem.

*Aimed at music videos, TV shows - not whole movies initially (the users might do that themselves, though...). Content has to be provided in form of video podcasts as well as Pixar short movies, cartoons (Disney? Others?).
 
as well as music videos... movie trailers... and video podcasts...

i think it'll also be about iMovie / iDVD - with an 'export to ipod' option.

rather than playback on the ipod itself - the ipod will be used as a playthrough device - via a dock sitting by your tv...

and just maybe.. that new dock will have IR and a remote control... and if thats happening... maybe AirportExpress will recieve some sort of wireless handheld control too...

iHome as a box sat under your tv? nope... your mac anywhere in the house hooked up to your tv via the new AirportExpress - and your macs media content at your fingertips on your sofa... whilst your mac retains its identity as a home cumputing device elsewhere instead of a 'media centre' - convergence - in a transparent way. excellent.
 
parb.johal@ante-
yeah that would be perfect. It would be so simple too. All Apple would have to do would be to upgrade the airport express so that it included video functions and could hook up to tv. they could also bundle a great remote with it, or sell the remote separately.
That would eliminate the need to purchase a $500+ iHome media center and it would be much easier to just use one machine for both functions, the one you already have: your mac.
If Apple did that, all they would have to do would implement the streaming function perfectly into the system. Would they add an action to every menu, like say in Quicktime click on Stream to TV set from the menu. or would they make an entirely new application where you choose what you want to stream, so you could make a playlist of things. Or would they have both? If they did make an updated airport, they need to make it so that it makes it easy to stream what you want and how you want it.
 
Yep. They're called "TV stations". Although some of them use a so-called "cable" to broadcast, most of them are also available "over the air" or "via satellite". ;) Sorry. Couldn't resist.
 
Three points for that one, Fryke. :p

To answer the question though, there are devices like the Tivo that are media centers in their own right, but nothing that is designed purely as a video-streaming node. I'd love to see Apple develop one, however I think they won't do it because the Airport Express has not been a big market hit like the iPod. I'd like to add that the Airport Express deserves a LOT more attention and sales ... I cringe everytime a work colleague brags that they spent $300 on a 802.11g wireless router that looks ugly, has an external power brick, doesn't stream audio or work as a print server and is a pain in the neck to setup. The AE is a great device. However, market forces are likely to drive this decision, and Apple will be unlikely to simply make a streaming-video solution that isn't revolutionary enough in its own right to really make a splash on the market.

Streaming Video? I'd say ... "Watch this space".
 
the nano was a big event - global coverage - and now they are following it with what seems to be just as big an announcement...

apple brand awareness must be at its highest level right now...

integrate the new ipods with imovie / idvd - halo effect via the entire ilife suite - only available on mac...
 
Well, if there's downloadable content from iTMS and podcasts etc., I don't think that iMovie and iDVD will get much of the halo effect.
 
imagine though - 'export to ipod' - windows users seeing all this great and easy functionality in their new ipod manuals but being able to do nothing about it! - reading about it all over the press... windows users know what the ipod and itunes are - they have no idea what ilife is. how integrated and easy and powerful it is... want ilife? get a mac mini... get an ibook...

in the same way the ipod photos now hold photos and show up as a source in iphoto - it would seem a natural progression (on any video ipods) to see the same link with other ilife apps that are all about video!... and its YOUR content, no copyrights - export a dvd you created in ilife to ipod - play it back on a tv - seems pretty sweet to me.

coupled with short music / podcast videos via itunes and you've got a total playback device... i really hope that the new ipods will carry that functionality - if indeed there are new ipods on the way (seems that way!)...
 
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