iPod Development Models...

[MacRumors]

According to one source, during the development of the Apple iPod, at least three concurrent models were developed prior to launch.

One model allowed both Flash or Hard Drive modules to be plugged in and swapped by the user.
The second model represents the current retail iPod and uses a built-in hard drive.
And the third model -- for which we have no details.

 

[snofseth]

Weird but isnt the third one just another one they didn't choose

 

[macMaestro]

Interesting...

How long do you think it will take before someone comes along to this thread and shouts, "THE THIRD MODEL MUST HAVE BEEN A VIDEO iPOD!!!"

Hot-swapable drives in an iPod. That seems to just make the iPod more complicated and goes against the Apple ease of use thing. "Which drive did I put my Beatles album on?"

 

[rainman::|:|]

Originally posted by snofseth
Weird but isnt the third one just another one they didn't choose

yes but if it has some features that apple likes particularly, those features may be incorporated as the ipod evolves...

i would be very interested to know the 3rd model...

pnw

 

[the_mole1314]

Also look at the development...

flash/hard drive goes to
just hard drive goes to
???????

It goes from an early style to the current one, to a more advanced one, and since they couldn't say what the 3rd one is, it proabably means Steve dosn't want the third type leaked, while he dosn't care about the first one since the flash player market will be dead soon.

 

[JtheLemur]

OMIGOD D00DS THE THIRD MODEL MUST HAVE BEEN A VIDEO iPOD!!! DO U KNOW WHAT THIS MEENS????!!!


=P

 

[mikeyredk]

Originally posted by JtheLemur
OMIGOD D00DS THE THIRD MODEL MUST HAVE BEEN A VIDEO iPOD!!! DO U KNOW WHAT THIS MEENS????!!!


=P

yep return of the newton

 

[x86isslow]

Originally posted by the_mole1314
Also look at the development...

flash/hard drive goes to
just hard drive goes to
???????

It goes from an early style to the current one, to a more advanced one, and since they couldn't say what the 3rd one is, it proabably means Steve dosn't want the third type leaked, while he dosn't care about the first one since the flash player market will be dead soon.

mebbe its a solid-state drive.. due out 2008- 1 TB solid-state ipod

 

[SiliconAddict]

Re: iPod Development Models...

Originally posted by Macrumors

And the third model -- for which we have no details.

It was a prototype model that uses isolinear optical chips which store 2.15 kiloquads of data per chip. WOOT!

 

[mac15]

flash would have sucked hard, as some may know I'm a Techie for iRiver who make mp3 players with these flash drives in them and the compacity would have to be 4GB. I'm testing a 2GB model now, while its small, I wouldn't recommend it anyone. I'd say get an iPod

 

[Xenex]

The boring alternative.

At risk of being a bore, perhaps this rumoured third model was simply the old layout (buttons around the wheel) with the new style of touch-sensitive buttons...

 

[Makosuke]

I'm glad they went all-in-one HD--seems like the right choice to make for what the iPod is, and obviously it is a winning combination for users, or else the thing wouldn't be the most popular portable player.

As for the 3rd model, there's nothing to say that it wouldn'tve been just another design adjustment. Not necessarily just a different button layout, but it might've used a larger (physically) hard drive, or been oriented horizontally, or something like that.

Just to note, I disagree that the market for flash-based portables is dead--I personally see a market for really cheap, really small players without a whole lot of storage (along the lines of the RCA Lyra/Kazoo or Samsung mini Yepp). Despite my jones for an iPod, and even if I had one, I might buy a mini-player for a few specific uses--something cheap, tiny (watch-sized would be ideal), durable, and that I won't panic if I drop it or loose it, with a few tunes on it.

Prices are still a little high, but for $30-$50 for a 64MB player, I'd get one, and I think others might too.

 

[snofseth]

I doubt that it is video or color screen, I used to want a color screen but now I don't see any advantage besides the 5 min cool factor movies on that would suck, but what would be cool is if you could use it as a tivo or with tivo to put the video on the mac and play it on the mac or see it on the ipod, but i bet most people would use the viewing on the ipod very rarely, but it would be cool. An easy way to fill up the hard drive put some dvd movies on it that would be cool and Itunes for movies where you can store movies and view on your computer easily

 

[jimbo2]

3rd model

Two words... Eight Track.

 

[hobbes3113]

Re: 3rd model

Originally posted by jimbo2
Two words... Eight Track.

Yea, eight track...

That would be so cool, maybe all you could put on it was disco, and maybe it would come with its own lava lamp-dock...

 

[mrsebastian]

if this isn't a rumor/speculation starter, then i don't know what is! i mean come on, that doesn't tell us anything. it's pretty bad even for page 2.

i got one for you: i heard from a friend's girlfriend, who's dad works at apple that they've been working on what he described as a cube/imac hybrid. they've developed three concepts. the 1st incorporated the cpu parts into a cinema display and was scrapped as the original prototype, the 2nd design was used for the current imac, while the 3rd was kept strictly under wraps, but was rumored to be based more on the cube.

 

[Bob Knob]

Four years ago a relative of mine demoed some Solid State drives to a company in Taiwan that was building stuff for Apple. They build stuff for other companies too so who knows what it could have gone into. Nothing came of it, but my guess would be an all solid state drive version.

 

[jcook793]

According to some very reliable sources I have, the third one was a combo video iPod and Newton, running OS X on Intel. It could double as an Apple-branded cell phone. They were ready to roll it out but then Apple went bankrupt.

 

[ITR 81]

A video iPod like device will come about because Tech Tv has mentioned it more then once and Sony just released their's so I can see Apple wanting to compete. The Sony Video player won't be in the US until sometime next yr. Japan gets it around the end of Nov.

 

[alamar]

Good

If it was simple enough....a swappable drive would be good to bring the price down....assuming you could easily plug the HD to a new body that costs much less than a whole unit. The fit would have to be pretty snug and sleek...This would keep your play list... but allow you to upgrade the OS and use the new hard ware features (better monitor, optical output...whatever). Then later you could a new HD when we reach 700 gigs.

But is all just a beautiful dream. (For now...)

 

[SeaFox]

Originally posted by mikeyredk
yep return of the newton

No! It means dual-G5 Powerbooks!

 

[vwcruisn]

Originally posted by SeaFox
No! It means dual-G5 Powerbooks!

really???? im going to go tell everyone! are they for sale??? how much!

 

[stingerman]

three prototypes Apple chooses the one we saw initially released. Now we are on its third generation and waiting for the fourth along with iTunes 5 this January at Macworld SF.

If Apple does an iPod AV it will not be for downloading movies, that takes too long and is not practical for the general consumer market yet. The AV will be for an 802.11g iChat AV handset, that will include the ability to take AV mail, ie, someone can leave you an audio or video mail message if you don't answer. The other thing it should be able to have is a micro-optical RW drive, like the 3" DVD discs that work with all current DVD players. Finally, Apple was waiting for a good quality TFT display that can hold enough of a picture to make it worthwhile: The palm T3 has such a display, its beautiful.

It would have to be pretty versatile system and incorporate a higher level of integration. If you look at the iPod and expand it to fit the new 320x480 screen, add a camera eye to the top of the bezel, and sliding touch controls to the bottom, that when fully extended can fold out to reveal a full qwerty two-thumb keyboard. The only iffy thing in the mix is the 3" DVD, since it might take the bulk over the edge, it would probably be better as a add-on. A head set would provide stereo earphones and a microphone, with the iPod AV containing a speakerphone on the back of the pod.

One more thing, you can add an iSight attachment to the top so it can act as a Digital camera and DVCamcrder.

Anyway, those are my thoughts.

 

[the_mole1314]

From what I've heard, we won't be watching moves ON the iPod anytime soon....

 

[damax452]

y

Why would you want to watch a movie on a 2" screen. I dont care if the screen is HD even, you couldnt see anything. Thats worse than watching on a crappy old b&w tv. Portable video devices are retarded. Someone back me up on this.