New iPods in June?

[ccrandall77]

Even though bluetooth wont serve SOO many purposes I still think it would be a cool add on to the iPod. Right now it could be used for some small Syncs (maybe like an album or two at a time) and then the calender plus other small feautures. Perhaps even bluetooth headphones.

But also think about later if/when bluetooth becomes bigger and it could be used for who knows what!

There's already 2 bluetooth add-ons for the iPod... one from NaviPod which looks big and ugly and the other by iCombi. I like the iCombi headset since the adapter is small and plugs into the headphone and remote jacks... but I don't know if any other BT headset will work with it.

It'd be better to have BT embedded and using the BT 2.0 standard which is faster, has better range, and uses less power. That'll make syncs of more than PIM data practical and it'll give better sound to headphones.

 

[greenguy4]

Oh, and I want bigger drives, color screens (for the mini), bluetooth, wifi docks, PVR capability + a set-top box, etc.

Well few questions:

By having a wifi what purpose could this serve?

PVR Capability is?

Set-top box is?

 

[wide]

i can't see a new ipod coming out in June. it's too early--the oldest currently sold ipod was released in late July 2004, so a new ipod this june would be under a year since the last update. it took apple 15 months to go from the touch-button ipod to the clickwheel, and with all this talk about apple lengthening its product update cycles, i think that 15 months is the minimum wait we should expect (so, maybe in october). i still think we might expect some price drops, though, and the removal of the 20GB model (apple might make the 30GB photo the mainstream). just my thoughts

 

[ccrandall77]

Well few questions:

By having a wifi what purpose could this serve?

PVR Capability is?

Set-top box is?

There's a lot a wifi dock could do... remote, wireless syncing chief among them.

PVR is a Personal Video Recorder. Some of the HDD based music players also have a PVR builtin that'll let you record TV onto the device and watch it on the device or through the S-Video input on another TV. Archos has a nice one, the AV-400 series that's $500 for a 20GB drive and $800 for an 80GB drive.

Set-top box usually refers to a computer that can be used as a media center... kinda like a ShuttlePC running MythTV or one of a number of Windows Media Center machines.

Curt

 

[w_parietti22]

Well, We'll probably see an 80gb HD in the iPod soon. maybe even 100gb within the next year!

 

[Loge]

Toshiba's 80GB drive won't be ready for June, so I wouldn't expect it then, unless someone else is making them. Next thing for the iPod though, for me, would be to get the superb sound quality of the Shuffle into the rest of the range.

 

[greenguy4]

I have been hearing lots about this lower-sound quality but no reasons why. Is it only visible in the photo line and why is it happening?

 

[Eniregnat]

GreenGuy4 Oh man I hope so, I've been waiting for the 5th generation for a while know to purchase my first iPod (just look at my signature). Thats right, MY FIRST, not everyone has one!

I thikn that most Mac users don't have iPods. I waited and waited to be able to afford my first iPod, and its just a 1Gb Shuffle. It's large enough to hold a few audio books, a couple of hours of good ambient electronik, and my keys, passwords, and cryptography software.

GreenGuy4By having a wifi what purpose could this serve?

Local area wireless podcasting for one thing. File transfer and storage would be so much better. It would be slower than a hard connection, but I would pay that price for fewer cables. Lastly, how cool would it be to have a fairly ubiquitous device that could handshake remotely, and at the very least exchange a kind of digital business card? Ok, that's nerdy, but doesn’t mean it wouldn't be cool.

Back to the thread
I'm not holding my breath. I tend to trust an analysts guess more than "insider" information. Even the real insiders don't always have all the information. At the very least we know that part of their intent is to influence the market.

An iPod will be a must have for me, when it can be easily plugged in as an integral part of a number of digital products. Dongles are ok, but I don't care for them unless the universally plug into a number of devices.

 

[rockthecasbah]

battery life

yep...rumors put next generation iPods at 20+ hours of battery life!

I don't know where that rumor was from, but it probably is true, it could even be more. Creative has had an mp3 player (the zen touch) with 24 hours of battery life, and thats been out for 2 years! The player is like twice the size of the iPod though, its like a brick...

 

[rockthecasbah]

Mac Users and iPods

I thikn that most Mac users don't have iPods. I waited and waited to be able to afford my first iPod, and its just a 1Gb Shuffle. It's large enough to hold a few audio books, a couple of hours of good ambient electronik, and my keys, passwords, and cryptography software.

I beg to differ, I think the majority of mac users have iPods. Actually, i think there was a Mac Poll thingy on this site a while ago...poll that says close to 81% of Mac Rumors posters have iPods, and 9% plan on getting them soon. You don't have to use a Mac to take that, but it is safe to say the majority of Mac Rumors posters use Macs...

Now as much as I <333333 my iPod rumors, i would rather have brand spankin' new speed demon HARDWARE UPGRADES on Power Macs. 2.7ghz?!?!!??!?! C'mon!!!!!! Give me a 3.3ghz any day over a video iPod! And while they're at it, iMac speedbumps would be nice.

 

[Eniregnat]

I beg to differ, I think the majority of mac users have iPods. Actually, i think there was a Mac Poll thingy on this site a while ago...poll that says close to 81% of Mac Rumors posters have iPods, and 9% plan on getting them soon. You don't have to use a Mac to take that, but it is safe to say the majority of Mac Rumors posters use Macs...

Local area wireless podcasting for one thing. File transfer and storage would be so much better. It would be slower than a hard connection, but I would pay that price for fewer cables. Lastly, how cool would it be to have a fairly ubiquitous device that could handshake remotely, and at the very least exchange a kind of digital business card? Ok, that's nerdy, but doesn’t mean it wouldn't be cool.

I am thinking just a bit broader. Your correct, most posters here have Mac's, but I was thinking about those that use Mac’s, not just owners. University/college students in labs, my volunteers (mostly elderly Mac users sans iPods), those WinTell based people that use Kinkos. I actually know more iPod owners than I know Mac owners, but that's just my world. My creative friends are all Mac users and owners. My point was actually to point out that despite image, iPods and Mac use aren’t a requirement.

But we digress. That's not what this thread is about. Adding to this thread, I have also read that iTunes will go mobile(phone) in June. I would rather have BT than an iTunes Phone though.

 

[rockthecasbah]

Bluetooth

I guess in the right light, bluetooth would be a great addition, such as wireless headphones, but that would probably be too expensive. It would be cool to have the iPod recognized in a car radio eliminating those FM transmitters and stuff, but my dad's Honda Element has a stereo-out connection that you just plug into the headphone jack of the iPod or other portable device, which is fine for us! I think this blue tooth is getting hyped up too greatly, and people might be disapointed with the end use of this technology.

It would be cool to use bluetooth and allow you to transfer songs to your iPhone!

 

[mrgreen4242]

While highly unlikely, I'd like to see, at some point this year, upgrades/changes across all the lines, like this:

Shuffle: Price drops to $75 and $120. The introduction of an add-on that adds a small screen to the Shuffle, like 2 or 3 lines of black and white text. Would be especially cool if there was various versions of it, like one with speakers, one with a DC car adaptor and an FM transmitter, one with a SD slot and an extra battery, etc.

mini: B&W 6gb down to $200. Color 6gb at $250, and a color 8-10 at $280-300. Better colors, the new colors look washed out.

'Standard' iPod: I think most people want/expect the standard iPod to go all together, being replaced by a Photo model. Maybe (likely?) that will happen, but I'd like to see a 60-80gb B&W iPod that is aimed at excellent sound reproduction and amazing battery life. Call it the Audiophile iPod or something. Price it around $450-500 and included some really nice headphones.

Photo: Probably to become the standard iPod, but only if they can slim them down to the size of the B&W models. I think they could do with just a reduction in size, increase in battery life, and a price drop. Keep the storage capacity at 30 and 60, priced at $300 and $400.

Video/Movie iPod: I think there would be a market for a movie iPod, if it had a larger screen. The device could be bigger all around, to accommodate for the larger screen, battery, etc, as long as the Photo was slimmed down for those who want a highly portable player with a color screen. Video out would be a must, and an optional dock with a hardware video encoder would also be cool.

A new iTunes 5 with a movie store (with the same setup allowing independent productions to be self encoded and sold), and the same buy by single track type feature for movies. For example, buy a single episode from a TV series DVD set for $2 or so. Or buy a whole movie for $8 and then get the special features for another $3 if you liked it enough.

40 and 80gb models at $400 and $500 would be nice. The vidoe encoding dock for an extra $150 would be perfect.

 

[ccrandall77]

I think it would be impractical to have so many different types of iPods... esp with all the permutations you suggest for the Shuffle. How many of each do you make? If you make X for one permutation and it sells like crap, then you lose $$$. If you don't make enough of permutation Y, then you can lose potential customers who were ready to make the impluse buy if you had product Y.

It's much more cost effective to trim down the number of iPods. I say eliminating the regular B&W iPod would be a good start (and get rid of the ugly U2 iPod... U2 stinks anyway.... or maybe toss a pentagram on the click wheel and resell it as a Slayer iPod!). The color iPods aren't that much bigger than the regular iPod... in fact the 30GB is about the same as the old iPod 40GB since it's down to one disk platter.

Apple should look at making more add-on products, or partner with Belkin/Griffin/etc to create more. Make the screens all color, increase drive capacities, increase battery life, and make them more customizable with faceplates.

 

[ccrandall77]

Video iPod

I think the Video iPod would be best if it departed greatly from the standard iPod line. It should be something along the lines of the PSP and it should do games, PIM, and A/V. It should take expansion cards so you can upload photos. It should have a firewire or USB host to plug cameras and camcorders into it. And hopefully it'll run Darwin at the core so people can create SW for it. And then pop in wireless and the high-end iPod harddrive for max capacity. PVR would be an awesome bonus.

Too many people complain that a video iPod would either be too big or have too small of a screen and poor battery life. If you turn it into something else, it'll be able to do it's job better than cramming into the same specs as the regular iPod and it'll make those of us who want it happier because it'll do what it's supposed to.... and it'll satisfy those of us wanting an Apple PDA or Newton.

The PSP is huge and yet it's selling very well. I'd get one myself if it wasn't a Sony and had an internal HDD. This is one time Apple should copy someone else and come up with their version of the PSP on steriods.

 

[ccool2ax]

Blluetooth Ipod: Why! Its too slow!

I'm only really interested in a new mini that isn't a crappy pastel color, has 8-10GB+ of storage, a color screen, and bluetooth.

Crappy? Try the silver one, and a 20GB mini will arrive in 06. Bluetooth tranfers at 3Mbs, USB 480Mbs. It will take about 8 seconds for a short song, WI-fi is much better.

I'd also like to see some 3rd party products like a wifi-enabled doc, more bluetooth headphone selections, and stuff like that.

I wonder why you cant plug the iPod into the APX?

I'd also hope there's going to be a a set-top box that'll let you store movies onto your iPod for easy transport to a friend's house.

THat's sort of.... hard to DRM-protect. And, it should have a 100GB HD and an iSight built-in for video& image capture, for... $999! I'd buy it.

 

[zap2]

if the update happens it should be

get rid of the normal ipod and market ipof photo under the name of ipod but it could still hold pic and be in color. Then after the ipod sells go down the should make a ipod vidoe in 2-4updates,so the lineup afetr ths update would be

ipod(-color aand hold pictures)

20gb-300
30gb-350
40gb-400
60gb-450

ipod mini, silver,pink,green,blue and the all new orange
4gb-200
6gb-250

Ipod Shuffle
512mb-100
1gb-150

then when sales start to go down

ipod video
60gb-500
80gb-550

Mr, Jobs feel free to follow my plan

 

[ccrandall77]

Bluetooth isn't for syncing songs!!

Crappy? Try the silver one, and a 20GB mini will arrive in 06. Bluetooth tranfers at 3Mbs, USB 480Mbs. It will take about 8 seconds for a short song, WI-fi is much better.


I wonder why you cant plug the iPod into the APX?


THat's sort of.... hard to DRM-protect. And, it should have a 100GB HD and an iSight built-in for video& image capture, for... $999! I'd buy it.

No, bluetooth isn't for syncing songs it's meant for syncing the PIMs and for headsets. If you used WiFi, even the best battery would drain very quickly so it's not appropriate to embed it into a device like this.

Silver, I already have it. Boring color. The turquoise, pink, and green are lame.

Why plug an iPod into an APX? The APX is likely near your stereo anyway, so just plug it directly in with the same cable you'd use with an APX.

DRM shouldn't be an issue... Windows Media Center seems to deal with it just fine.

 

[BornAgainMac]

After seeing the new Sony PSP, I want that or a video based iPod. The regular iPods seem kinda boring now. Seeing a implementation of H.264 on that little Sony makes my jaw drop. The quality and price looks like 3 to 5 years ahead of anything else.

 

[ccrandall77]

After seeing the new Sony PSP, I want that or a video based iPod. The regular iPods seem kinda boring now. Seeing a implementation of H.264 on that little Sony makes my jaw drop. The quality and price looks like 3 to 5 years ahead of anything else.

I wouldn't want one INSTEAD of an iPod but in ADDITION to one. I love the size of the mini and it's perfect for working out and using in the car. But, a PSP-type device would be perfect for all my other mobile entertainment needs.

I can actually get my Zaurus C-760 to do pretty much everything I need, but getting video running on it is a bit of a pain, the games are lame, and there's no HDD. Also, having a firewire and/or USB host would be great for extracting content from a camera or camcorder.

 

[mrgreen4242]

I think it would be impractical to have so many different types of iPods... esp with all the permutations you suggest for the Shuffle. How many of each do you make? If you make X for one permutation and it sells like crap, then you lose $$$. If you don't make enough of permutation Y, then you can lose potential customers who were ready to make the impluse buy if you had product Y.

I'm suggesting the same two shuffles we have now, but with a price drop (they don't seem to be much value to me). Then sell more variety of docks for them... docks with small LCD displays and extra features, like built in speakers, DC chargers, FM transmitters, added memory slots and batteries, etc.

 

[Blue Moon]

Buyer's Guide

Shouldn't the Buyer's Guide take its own suggestion and split the iPod into several models to more accurately reflect updates? What is the friggen hold up?

 

[ccrandall77]

I'm suggesting the same two shuffles we have now, but with a price drop (they don't seem to be much value to me). Then sell more variety of docks for them... docks with small LCD displays and extra features, like built in speakers, DC chargers, FM transmitters, added memory slots and batteries, etc.

Sorry, I misread.

External speakers would only be cool if they were very small too. An FM transmitter that'd attach to the USB end and draw power from the shuffle would be pretty cool.

Of course, you could always get a Mac Mini or Apple laptop and use that as your dock.

 

[Porchland]

DMB... finally!!

Dave Matthews Band single up tonight on iTMS. Description says new album will be an iTunes exclusive in May. New DMB iPod with full DMB catalog?

 

[greenguy4]

Dave Matthews Band single up tonight on iTMS. Description says new album will be an iTunes exclusive in May. New DMB iPod with full DMB catalog?

I never got this whole "buy the so and so iPod and it comes with all their music" cause if you are such a big DMB/U2 etc... fan in the beginning wouldnt you already have all or MOST of their music anyway?