Next iPod, 4th Gen, when? anything new?

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  • Reply 21 of 56
    bungebunge Posts: 7,329member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Aquatic

    Also the Dock connector has got to go. It was a dumb idea. A real FireWire port is better. Adds more device compatibility plus hopefully someday someone will figure out a way to transfer from iPod to iPod with a FireWire. Nonstandard ports are always bad and Apple loves them but I thought they were about rid of them. ADC is also a dumbass idea I hope dies.



    The dock can be converted to a 'real' Firewire connector with a small adapter.



    ADC is a stanard port.
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  • Reply 22 of 56
    whatever Apple does it better be good, not break the bank, innovative, and have some sort of 'sexyness/coolness' factor to it as stiff competition is sprining up everywhere...
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  • Reply 23 of 56
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    What I'd personally like to see:



    1. Longer battery life. This is #1 for me! My 3G 10 GB one is okay, but not really great. I find I have to charge it all the time.



    2. More scratch resistant. iPods look great but they scratch so easily, isn't there a more durable material that will at least hide scratches? Like, matte instead of glossy finish on the front and back. Front like the LCD iMac dome, and the back like an Aluminum PowerBook. Why not? It's not like Apple is concerned about sales of cases, they already include them with most of their models, and they probably don't sell many considering they're both inferior and much more expensive than all the third-party cases.



    3. Some sort of "Get Info" feature, or at least scrolling text for the album and artist as well as the song name. I find it funny that the name of the song will scroll around so you can read the whole thing, but the artist and album names won't. If you want to know quickly if something is on Disc 1 or Disc 2 of a two disc set, you're out of luck. It would also be nice to have a full info screen somehow, using some sort of button combination. It could be displayed just like contact info, with the title, album, artist, genre, equalizer preset (which should automatically change the iPod's equalizer settings if it doesn't already), bit rate, length, etc.



    The last revision was good, though. There's not much that can be done to improve the iPod, either in design or in storage. Larger iPods are always welcome of course, but most people I know don't have more than 10 GB of music, so going 20/40/60 GB would be okay but kind of pointless. Of course, there were probably people saying the same thing about the iPods larger than 5 GB when they first came out.
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  • Reply 24 of 56
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Aquatic

    No. WMP quality sucks, and Ogg is just for open source fanboise. Don't need anything but AAC. Apple will single handedly convert everyone from MP3 to MP4 eventually I bet.





    Will they convert everything that's already in WMP and Ogg format to MP3/AAC then, and if so, how will they do it without reducing the sound quality to an abysmal level?



    Like it or not, I am seeing music, legally, distributed in both formats. It does no damage at all to iPod for iPod to support those formats, so why not support it?



    And BTW, "just for open source fanboise" is an uncalled for insult. Ogg is a high-quality patent free format, software companies can support it without needing to be concerned about paying royalties and negotiating contracts in every country they do business in. It's basically the only option for companies smaller than a certain size and individuals. I don't see the need to belittle individuals who contribute to free software and/or shareware authors, and it's thoroughly obnoxious to advocate a limitation that doesn't need to exist, just because of an irrational hatred towards those who develop software for the good of the community.
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  • Reply 25 of 56
    ok, first of all, ipod will never support video (refer to recent rolling stones article with steve jobs). battery life and meter need improvements. also, the headphone jack itself already supports recording, but nobody has made use of it yet (refer to one of the mac magazines from a long time ago). and people, making the ipod any smaller will make it unusable... we're not robots, and it doesnt have voice recognition (and i wouldnt want it either--would you walk through an airport shouting a song at your ipod?) next gen: better battery, bigger hard drives, CROSS-FADE (PLEASE!), color screen for viewing pics (maybe, or at least a video out port). thats it.. thats all it needs. oh ya, and bluetooth.
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  • Reply 26 of 56
    In terms of when, pure speculation here but it would only make sense to release a new model in conjunction with the Superbowl/Pepsi promo. This may also explain why there are reports that current supplies of iPods are drying up with stores running out of them. I can't believe that Apple would be so foolish as to run out during the Xmas buying season unless there was a good reason.
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  • Reply 27 of 56
    i have had the same iPod for almost 5 months and have yet to scratch it. and i drop the thing every once and a while too. just leave it in the case and wipe it down alot.
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  • Reply 28 of 56
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Jump

    In terms of when, pure speculation here but it would only make sense to release a new model in conjunction with the Superbowl/Pepsi promo. This may also explain why there are reports that current supplies of iPods are drying up with stores running out of them. I can't believe that Apple would be so foolish as to run out during the Xmas buying season unless there was a good reason.



    man and my 20 gig just came in ... oh well. There's a lot of iPods on the shelves sorry but your mistaken.
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  • Reply 29 of 56
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    There is no iPod drought in retail generally, as far as can be determined. Apple has been working like crazy to keep up with demand, so I'm not surprised to hear that a certain Financial Times columnist had trouble finding one, but that's an old problem by now.



    There might be more software features waiting for 10.3.2 or 10.3.5, but I don't see a 4G iPod coming any time soon.



    I do, however, expect Steve to crow about how well the iPod has been doing at MWSF. At great length.
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  • Reply 30 of 56
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Amorph

    I do, however, expect Steve to crow about how well the iPod has been doing at MWSF. At great length.



    Would you expect anything less out of Steve? That's what marketing is all about, bragging, bragging, and more bragging. And Apple, without a doubt, has bragging rights in the digital music player area.
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  • Reply 31 of 56
    Better dock. One with some decent audio out jacks (RCAs preferred).



    Much bigger Hard Drive so we can have lighter compression on songs.
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  • Reply 32 of 56
    mac+mac+ Posts: 580member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by stunned

    Tats a good suggestion!! I hope Apple listens!



    Me too!
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  • Reply 33 of 56
    mac+mac+ Posts: 580member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by ipodandimac

    [snip]... next gen: better battery, bigger hard drives, CROSS-FADE (PLEASE!), color screen for viewing pics (maybe, or at least a video out port). thats it.. thats all it needs. oh ya, and bluetooth.



    Ever notice how the arrangement of the (2nd gen and later) iPod buttons sort of match the DVD Player controls (in vertical mode)? Imagine your Mac playing a DVD and using your iPod to control the DVD via Bluetooth!
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  • Reply 34 of 56
    ps5533ps5533 Posts: 476member
    a new generation of iPod would be nice but what i'm wondering is how much would it bring down the price of 3rd generation iPods
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  • Reply 35 of 56
    cubistcubist Posts: 954member
    I don't have an iPod, but I would consider buying one if Apple would release a DEVELOPER'S KIT.
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  • Reply 36 of 56
    Video iPod on the way? From MacRumors



    "Apple continues to work on their "next generation iPod" products as evidenced by this Job Listing at Apple for a Playback Firmware Engineer.



    Apple is "seeking a highly motivated engineer to develop next generation iPod product. Must have experience in overall system design of audio and video products.



    Seems the next generation iPod developer will also have to be familiar with both audio and video codecs/compression standards."
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  • Reply 37 of 56
    jaredjared Posts: 639member
    Quote:

    Title: Playback Firmware Engineer

    Req. ID: 2075781

    Location: Santa Clara Valley, California

    Country: United States



    Seeking a highly motivated engineer to develop next generation iPod product. Must have experience in overall system design of audio and video products.









    - Requires a thorough knowledge of multimedia file formats (MPEG-4, QuickTime).

    - Minimum 5 years of development in embedded system environments.

    -Strong C, C++ and RISC assembler is required, experience with DSP

    programming is highly desired.

    - Knowledge intricate interfaces details associated with audio and video codecs.

    - Familiarity with audio and video compression standards (MP3, MPEG-2, H.263)

    - Work seamlessly with third party vendors.

    - Familiarity with overall architecture of consumer electronics products.



    Sometimes looking in your own backyard is where you get the real dirt on things...
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  • Reply 38 of 56
    Quote:

    Originally posted by kraig911

    man and my 20 gig just came in ... oh well. There's a lot of iPods on the shelves sorry but your mistaken.



    Well, the Apple on-line store will not be able to deliver them until after 12/25.
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  • Reply 39 of 56
    tiktik Posts: 57member
    I ordered my personalized 3G iPod on the 16th and it just shipped. It should be here on the 23rd. It's probably too late to ship before Christmas now, but if you waited until the 20th to order, you really have no right to realistically expect to get it before the 25th....especially since you've got to span the weekend as well.
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  • Reply 40 of 56
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,464member
    Video is not going to be a big feature for the iPod.



    Music is popular for various reason
    • Music demands little attention you can function in life without paying constant attention

    • Music is small. Quick downloading

    • Music lends itself to small to no screens for UI

    • Music requires less horsepower to run

    • People don't queue up videos like they would music



    The next iPod will have to offer specific funtionality that is very difficult to do with competing web based services like Napster and whoever else decideds to become the next music reseller. I envision there being something in the next iPod that links info or special metadata much better than current versions.



    Hmm let me dream a minute here. I'd love an iPod with:



    1. 1" Toshiba HD (need space for more internal components)

    2. Cell Phone built in with support for major networks.

    3. New Apple iPod/PDA OS. iSync, iCal, iPhoto and Address Book 2 versions.

    4. .Mac support, Rendezvous, Inkwell, Bluetooth

    5. Camera



    It just makes too much sense. Apple has such a growing cadre of technologies they can do just about everything in house except add the Cell Phone support. The iPod needs to go "Smartphone" at the high end. The neverending quest is to reduce the amount of gadgets a person has to carry around. iPods are great but if I have to carry my iPod, Cell Phone and PDA around eventually I'm going to naturally wish to find a way to combine one or more of my portable devices.



    The iPod is receiving accolades but it can be so much more and Apple truly has to make is a new "Platform" if they wish to have success. Don't get caught up in the hype the current iPod is just a music player. It needs to become an indispensable piece of Mac users life. I don't advocate all iPods offering these features just one Uber iPod that will eventually get PC users thinking that a Mac computer with an uber iPod has GOT to be their next setup.
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