Son of iPod

smirclesmircle
Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
My wife bought herself an iPod, which is undeniably much cooler than I expected, and I am very tempted to buy one for myself.

But. The thing is a bit larger and a bit too heavy for my taste. The current fill rate is 25%, a whopping 7.5GB go unused. I have heard several reports of iPod HDs crashing, so I am a bit concerned (esp. looking at the price).



I'd much rather see a mini-iPod either without a HD (based on CF) or with one of the 1GB microdrives, high-def display and the same base connector.



Unfortunately, I don't think Apple is going to do this, but I still believe there would be a huge market.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 31
    t'hain esh kelcht'hain esh kelch Posts: 1,274member
    I havent heard of a single hard-drive failure in the iPod. Where have you read this? Of course it probably happens, but I dont think its that widely spread..
  • Reply 2 of 31
    johnqjohnq Posts: 2,763member
    Remember too that the iPod is a -backup- copy of your music, not the sole repository. You should have all your music on a desktop/laptop or external drive/server too. If it ever did crash, then aside from the aggravation of losing the drive, at least you have your files elsewhere.



    Even regular files you store on the iPod ought not be your only copies of them if they are crucial.



    Not for any technical reasons specific to iPods, only that it is an inherently portable device and as such, the files on it ought not be the only copy.



    Loss, theft and accidents happen.
  • Reply 3 of 31
    ebbyebby Posts: 3,110member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by johnq

    Remember too that the iPod is a -backup- copy of your music, not the sole repository...



    And then some of us like to live dangerously!
  • Reply 4 of 31
    admactaniumadmactanium Posts: 812member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by T'hain Esh Kelch

    I havent heard of a single hard-drive failure in the iPod. Where have you read this? Of course it probably happens, but I dont think its that widely spread..



    actually i have a friend who's 5 gig ipod went south on her. we had to reformat the drive to get it working again.
  • Reply 5 of 31
    smirclesmircle Posts: 1,035member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by johnq

    Remember too that the iPod is a -backup- copy of your music, not the sole repository.



    Sure, but that's not the point. The files are expendable, I always can recreate the legit ones from my CD collection and the others... let's talk about something else .



    Pal of mine has the second iPod seen dying on him in 2.5 years. He's an avid inline skater and has used his Pods on the road a lot. Plus he always plugged them in and used them as external HDs.

    Apple charges $500 to repair an iPod (Link ) and I cannot but feel that mechanical devices containing motors, platters and arms are bound to fail faster than solid-state CF cards.



    But my main gripe is space used and power consumed. I could live with a 1-2GB micropod as long as it offered the same level of system integration and ease-of-use as the iPod does (that is why I believe, Apple should do this, Rios just suck).
  • Reply 6 of 31
    smirclesmircle Posts: 1,035member
    double post
  • Reply 7 of 31
    progmacprogmac Posts: 1,850member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Smircle



    I'd much rather see a mini-iPod either without a HD (based on CF) or with one of the 1GB microdrives, high-def display and the same base connector.



    As I understand it, the read/write to CF type storage is too slow for a portable music player's needs. Am I wrong? Probably, I didn't do research b4 posting.
  • Reply 8 of 31
    ebbyebby Posts: 3,110member
    Naa. There are lost of MP3 players that use compact flash and microdrives. I even saw a car stereo player that had a compact flash/microdrive slot in the front once.
  • Reply 9 of 31
    cowerdcowerd Posts: 579member
    Quote:

    I'd much rather see a mini-iPod either without a HD (based on CF) or with one of the 1GB microdrives, high-def display and the same base connector



    How is a microdrive different from a 1.8in Toshiba. Moving parts is moving parts.
  • Reply 10 of 31
    dmband0026dmband0026 Posts: 2,345member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by admactanium

    actually i have a friend who's 5 gig ipod went south on her. we had to reformat the drive to get it working again.



    However, the drive didn't crash. If you reformatted it, it worked like new again (aside from the obvious pain in the butt it had to be to re-copy all the stuff back to the iPod). However, the drive still worked, iPod was still functional, you didn't have to buy a new iPod. Life goes on. I doubt you will see too many complete drive failures.
  • Reply 11 of 31
    aquaticaquatic Posts: 5,602member
    My iPod has been beaten to shit and it works flawlessly. It has to be their most durable product yet, or at least runner up to the old toasters (compact macs) and other old equipment. Don't worry about your iPod.
  • Reply 12 of 31
    curiousuburbcuriousuburb Posts: 3,325member
    CNET's "Flash MP3 Player" Page (95 items found)



    without Firewire the transfer rates are USB or card write speed limited.

    some reviews complain about additional slowdowns due to proprietary encryption (SONY)

    many bemoan the absolutely crappy software for library/sync/use
  • Reply 13 of 31
    cubistcubist Posts: 954member
    There was a report the other day that Steve Jobs wants to make a $100 iPod, or bring the price down. I'm not sure a 1GB flash would make it any cheaper, they might need to go to 256MB or so. There's a lot of other hardware in there besides the hard drive.



    A flash version would not only be cool because it would be like 1/4" thick, lighter and more rugged, but also because its battery life would be ten times as long. I'd probably be willing to pay $200 for a 1GB flash version like that. Maybe it could be $100 with just an empty CF slot.
  • Reply 14 of 31
    kedakeda Posts: 722member
    My iPod had been through some serious mistreatment. My dog got hold of it once, 'played' with it for a few hours while I was out, and it still works great (nevermind some scratches). Its been dropped. Its been cold and hot. Nothing wrong.
  • Reply 15 of 31
    berbercarpetberbercarpet Posts: 242member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by cubist

    There was a report the other day that Steve Jobs wants to make a $100 iPod, or bring the price down.



    That was not exactly what he said.



    His statement was in reply to a question that implied that the iPod's price was a barrier to many people, and that Apple artificially inflated the price to keep profits fat.



    SJ basically said, "Bah." and then went on to say that they'd love to be able to price the iPod at $100, but it's just not feasible, but that they were always working to make thier products less expensive.



    This is different than SJ saying he wants the iPod to be $100.
  • Reply 16 of 31
    berbercarpetberbercarpet Posts: 242member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Keda

    My iPod had been through some serious mistreatment.

    [...]

    Nothing wrong.



    Not mine.



    I have treated it very gingerly ever since i got it -- in May 2002.



    And now it won't start up.







    The battery was slowly dying for the last two months and as of a week ago it simply is dead.



    That was after 18 or so months of flawless service, of 2 - 14 hours a day.
  • Reply 17 of 31
    bigcbigc Posts: 1,224member
    batteries
  • Reply 18 of 31
    berbercarpetberbercarpet Posts: 242member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Bigc

    batteries



    You're my new best friend.
  • Reply 19 of 31
    willcwillc Posts: 6member
    or try this one seems to have a better mAh but 10 bucks more http://pdasmart.com/ipodpartscenter.htm



    regards

    Will
  • Reply 20 of 31
    buonrottobuonrotto Posts: 6,368member
    iPod too big and heavy?! The thing is smaller than a tricorder!
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