Minipod poll

Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
Well, with rumors of "cheap" 2 to 4 Gig "minipods" flying around, how do you think Apple are going to pull it off?



I really want Apple to intro a minipod and conquer the digital music market at MWSF.

The question is, how on earth are they going to do it?



Your thoughts ?
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 21
    If they are doing it, they have to go the flash card way... Otherwise they're going to be too expensive!
  • Reply 2 of 21
    Though I'm inclined to agree, didn't Steve Jobs reject the concept of flash based music players in that Rolling Stone interview?

    Plus, flash memory, espacially 2 and 4 gig capacity isn't really cheap either...
  • Reply 3 of 21
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Dylsexic Manupilator

    Though I'm inclined to agree, didn't Steve Jobs reject the concept of flash based music players in that Rolling Stone interview?

    Plus, flash memory, espacially 2 and 4 gig capacity isn't really cheap either...




    Dont know, can anyone find the interview and confirm this?



    And Im quite sure that Apple can get a cheap deal on those flash cards, since I'd expect them to sell about 1 million of those minipods a year...
  • Reply 4 of 21
    Here's the link to the interview but I guess I've been reading too much between the lines, Jobs doesn't actually denounce the use of flash memory....



    So don't feel silly when selecting that flash memory option in the poll
  • Reply 5 of 21
    Quote:

    Originally posted by T'hain Esh Kelch

    If they are doing it, they have to go the flash card way... Otherwise they're going to be too expensive!



    What?! Have you looked at how much 2-4 GB of flash memory costs? Hard disks are far more cost effective.
  • Reply 6 of 21
    This story has legs....CNN just started reporting it on their website. Here's the link to the story (click me)
  • Reply 7 of 21
    The cool thing about all this media attention is that Apple cannot really lose* in this situation. They are selling all the iPod's they can make right now so "rumors" of a new and especially cheaper "minipod" can only prolong the buzz and will certainly not affect current sales negatively.

    Maybe that's why Apple hasn't taken any steps to have sites pull their stories?



    I for one am very optimistic and I have that gut feeling that Apple may just kick in 2004 with a blast!

    I believe that these cheaper iPod's may very well be Apple's 20th anniversary "gift" to its customers.



    AAPL has aslo lost a few dollars in the past few weeks. If I had some cash available I'd certainly know what to do...







    * Unless of course, the whole Minipod rumor is bogus \
  • Reply 8 of 21
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Dylsexic Manupilator

    Though I'm inclined to agree, didn't Steve Jobs reject the concept of flash based music players in that Rolling Stone interview?

    Plus, flash memory, espacially 2 and 4 gig capacity isn't really cheap either...




    He rejected the idea of flash based players that only hold a couple of CDs worth of songs, but with 4+ GB flash cards available, the capacity argument is moot. The only issue is price...4 GB of flash memory would set you back a cool $1000. 4 GB HDDs are less than half that price. I doubt a 4 GB mini iPod would be less than $300...which begs the question of pricing overlap.
  • Reply 9 of 21
    using flash memory is stupid.
  • Reply 10 of 21
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Eugene

    He rejected the idea of flash based players that only hold a couple of CDs worth of songs, but with 4+ GB flash cards available, the capacity argument is moot. The only issue is price...4 GB of flash memory would set you back a cool $1000. 4 GB HDDs are less than half that price. I doubt a 4 GB mini iPod would be less than $300...which begs the question of pricing overlap.



    I don't think that there will be a pricing overlap. If anything, Apple would be more inclined to have a larger hard drive in there, and then limit it through firmware. However, they would never have it to where the mini would overlap the iPod; it would completely defeat the purpose.



    Also, they are probably capiable of getting 5 GB hard drives for probably $40 a pop, at a guess.
  • Reply 11 of 21
    knappaknappa Posts: 106member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Mike Eggleston

    I don't think that there will be a pricing overlap. If anything, Apple would be more inclined to have a larger hard drive in there, and then limit it through firmware





    Limiting the hard drive capacity through firmware sounds incredibly stupid. In less then a day all the wiz kids will be trying (and after a while succeeding) to override the limitation...
  • Reply 12 of 21
    Over at MacObserver they linked an article were Rob Enderle predicts a flash memory based minipod. That put the final nail in the coffin-they will NOT be flashed based. I don't think that even Dell could produce a 2Gb flash device for under $200.
  • Reply 13 of 21
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    Yes, given the prices of flash media nowadays, the only way Apple would be able to make a sub-$200 iPod based on flash memory would be to only provide 1 GB, perhaps 1.5 or 2 GB but no more than that. I think they'll be either the same as the current ones other than being smaller, or perhaps they'll have reduced features.
  • Reply 14 of 21
    Quote:

    Originally posted by knappa

    Limiting the hard drive capacity through firmware sounds incredibly stupid. In less then a day all the wiz kids will be trying (and after a while succeeding) to override the limitation...



    The whole problem with Flash-like media is that it is too expensive. The cheapest 2 GB Compact Flash card that I could find was at $190.00 at Pricewatch. This obviously will not do for a miniPod. Even if they got it at wholesale (which might be half of that), it is still too cost prohibitive.



    As for some hackers cracking that firmware code. Yes that would happen. However, that hasn't stopped Apple before. They have done some things with Firmware, that people have hacked/cracked. For example, some of the orginal TiBooks only allowed video mirroring. One firmware hack later, they had spanning.
  • Reply 15 of 21
    nofeernofeer Posts: 2,427member
    what about a mix

    flash memory 256 and 512 $100, $179

    2-4gb HD at 200

    they may want to cover a price range to put major pressure on the competition



    so what price points will they cover??



    or removable card xd, cf etc so the comsumer can add what they want. b ut i agree making it flash memory at 1+gb is far too expensive.



    or removable 256k then $200 2-4GB



    if the avg song at 128 is 3-4mb then how much as a comsumer would you like to carry with you?? if it's a minimum of say 6-8 cd's worth then aroound a 100 songs that would require more than 256 more like 512mb card. what do you think apple's research has told them the magic number is???
  • Reply 16 of 21
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Mike Eggleston

    The whole problem with Flash-like media is that it is too expensive. The cheapest 2 GB Compact Flash card that I could find was at $190.00 at Pricewatch. This obviously will not do for a miniPod. Even if they got it at wholesale (which might be half of that), it is still too cost prohibitive.



    Keep in mind that the 2 GB Compact Flash card you identified is not Flash, it is a hard disk.
  • Reply 17 of 21
    I doubt we'll ever see flash memory in an iPod.

    Solid-state memory is far too expensive right now. Unless some supplier is willing to take a tremendous loss to gain some goodwill with Apple, it's not gonna happen.



    I think Apple's solution lies in DRAM. In large volumes, it should be inexpensive enough to store a small CD collection.



    The only drawback is it's volatile, but if there's currently enough power to spin up a hard drive, so keeping RAM alive for a few days shouldn't be a big deal.



    Thoughts?
  • Reply 18 of 21
    The problem with that is that, when the battery runs out the memory gets wiped... Which would annoy me, I know, and probably everyone else... Run out of battery power on the current Pod, and it just spins down, no data lost (thank god...)



    I don't think they'll go the firmware way either - they'd end up selling loads of the cheapest one, with people applying a hack to get it up to the max capacity... They would sell by the boatloads though.



    I quite like one idea I heard; using muliple flash cards. Surely the low-end ones are fairly cheap, esp. bought in volume, that Apple could put 4 or so of them into one pod? Cheaper than putting one in on its' own with a big capacity... Having said that, I also like the idea of being able to put your own cards into it - but that should be in addition to some built-in stuff, methinks. Plus, having loads of cards lying around, and swapping them over, doesn't seem very Apple-like and iPod-esque...



    As for the lineup in the shops; Apple likes doing things in threes. So, they're either going to drop the 10GB one, to be replaced by a cheap, 2GB one or so at about £100-150 (whatever that is in US$... Multiply by 1.5), or they're going to call them something different, and do like they have with the notebooks - two product lines of 3 each. Then it'd probably be 1, 2, 4GB ranging between £100-250. Call it the ePod or something. mPod?



    Personally, I think they'll go for the first way. Drop the 10GB, and put a lower capacity there cheaper. As it stands, you may as well spend the extra £50 to get the 20GB with the dock etc. So I bet not many 10GB ones are being sold at all...



    Anyhow, that's my tuppenny. A rather big tuppenny...
  • Reply 19 of 21
    Ok, I agree that Flash memory is too expensive for 2-4 GiByte.

    Perhaps Apple will use Microdrives? But I'm not sure, because they seem to be too expensive either.



    Hmmm, I can't wait till Jan 6th
  • Reply 20 of 21
    msanttimsantti Posts: 1,377member
    How much music will a 256 MB flash based player hold?



    I saw the iRiver one at Best Buy and its like 200 bucks.



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