10 GB iPod Mini & 80 GB iPod?

[MacRumors]

According to MacWorld, Hitachi has announced at the CES show in Las Vegas they plan to at least double the current capacity of the 1" microdrive used in iPod minis within the year.

At present Hitachi's most capacious Microdrive can hold 4GB of data, but the new drives, due in the second half of this year, will be able to hold between 8GB and 10GB, said Bill Healy, senior vice president of product strategy and marketing at HGST.

In addition to offering more storage space, the drives will also occupy about 20 per cent less volume than current models, said Healy. One of the biggest space savings will come from replacing the Compact Flash interface with a ZIF (zero insertion force) connector of the type favoured by consumer electronics makers.

Hitachi will also employ similar space-saving techniques to its 1.8-inch drive family, said Healy.

New versions of 1.8-inch drives, also expected in the second half of this year, will feature ZIF connectors and weigh 49 grams. A drive with one platter will offer between 30GB and 40GB of capacity, and one with a double platter will have between 60GB and 80GB of capacity, said Healy. Additionally, the drives will offer better shock resistance.

[puckhead193]

sweeeet..althought 80 gig of music

[Bozola]

Wonder what that means for the FLASH ipod.

Could the 4gb get so cheap that it isn't worth producing?

One can only wonder!

Frederic

[Spock]

A 10 GB iPod mini at the same price would make me a new iPod owner

[aussie_geek]

Sounds great. I wonder what the power consumption and RPM's of these new drives are. I am sure they will find their way into Notebook computers in a few years. Imagine that - PowerBook G6, only 1/2 inch thin 100Gb HD, 10 hour battery life .......

aussie_geek

[Flying Llama]

well, 80 gigs wouldn't be used for music, but files and photos.

[oingoboingo]

Unless Apple starts to move the iPod beyond its current music and photo storage capabilities (read: video), then I can't see an 80GB iPod generating much interest. Yes, an iPod can be used as a removable hard drive and all the rest of that, but how many of the millions of new iPod users who have joined the ranks in the past 6 months will care beyond the fact that they can store their entire CD collections 5 times over?

A 10GB iPod mini on the other hand could be huge (no pun intended). The 4GB of the current mini isn't looking all that huge compared to newer flash players, and at only 1000 song capacity, you don't exactly have to be a music fanatic to fill it up. A jump from 4GB to 10GB would really distance the mini from its high-end flash competition, open up the way for the Apple flash iPod (if that eventually comes true), expand the appeal of the mini to more people, and allow Apple to possibly transition the low-end of the current iPod lineup from 20GB to 40GB.

Or none of the above could happen. Don't be too accurate...you could be sued.

[themacman]

it would be used for movies, and the movies would come from the itunes movie store

[themacman]

that means we could easly be looking at 100 gb powerbook hds, minimum

[Lord Blackadder]

Originally Posted by oingoboingo

Unless Apple starts to move the iPod beyond its current music and photo storage capabilities (read: video), then I can't see an 80GB iPod generating much interest.

Exactly, which leads me to believe that the iPod's capabilities are likely to expand further.

[PlaceofDis]

i would like a regular iPod at 60 gigs, i dont need it to be for photos, i just want it so i can use it for backup and to hold my entire music collection,

[FightTheFuture]

an 8 or 10 gig mini would be great! i dont have that much music, and i would be able to backup my home folder on this beauty. plus the price is just as sexy as how they look. i'll take one with a color screen too - thanks mr. jobs! here's a third of my paycheck!

[whw5]

Well if this is true, Apple needs to get its battery life issues fixed. When I had my mini {before it was stolen} I only got about 3-4 hours of battery life out of it. I'd like to see at least 10.

[polyesterlester]

Yes! I desperately need a spare 80 gig hard drive, and if the SOB doubled as an iPod or iPod photo, I would be very, very happy.

[Daveway]

:yawn:
Why are we talkin about something that almost a year off when we have Macworld next week?

[dontmatter]

Sweet! here's what I see-mini's at 6 and 10 gigs, for $199 and $249, respectively. Ipod line upping capacity and either lowering price, except that it bumps into mini, or upping capacity and making them all ipod photos, for the same price points as pre-photo ipods came to. Hopefully not too big a capacity jump, because really, most people would rather have a price drop than that jump in capacity.

Lastly, a flash ipod. Oh, and no thinksecret to tell us when. Can't say how i feel on that one.

[Xtremehkr]

If the iPod lost more size would it lose its distinctive shape? unless the reduction in size was proportional?

At that point does it become too small?

I like my minipod as it is sized now, though the case I bought for it makes it about the size of a cellphone.

Leaves room to add more features though.

[adam1185]

more flash ipod details

http://thinksecret.com/news/0501expo4.html

[2A Batterie]

This would be great for folks who prefer to encode their music with Apple Lossless or other formats that are better than MP3. If Apple came out with an 80gb iPod, I would buy one in a second.
Apple, if you are reading this, please don't sue me.

[Abstract]

So now I can store more porn on an iPod Photo? Sweet!!


I just don't see the need. Actually, I don't see the need to carry that many of your photos around with you, unlike a person's music collection, so maybe I'm not the one to ask.

However, I'd be excited about an 8 or 10 GB iPod Mini. The Mini is what I wanted to begin with, but due to carrying capacity, I went for the iPod 20 GB. Also, the battery life on the Mini is crap, so if they can get that sorted, I might consider a Mini.

[DarkSideofMoon]

Does anybody else who uses iTMS Canada not get the free download of the week, either? I've waited in suspense every Tuesday to see if it would ever be there! I've even hoped that my iPod-iTunes-file-swappers friends would maybe take a likening to the store if there was a free download... you know, to see how simple things really are.

I haven't checked all the other stores, but do any other countries not get the free download?

To be partially on-topic, I think Apple is going to have to reach a limit at which to stop at capacity of music. 3 years ago, when the first iPod was introduced, it had a 5 GB HDD. And now we're talking about a drive that has 16 times the capacity, in a more compact form factor (not sure about that, though). Somehow, I just don't see another 3 years down the road a 1.28 terabyte iPod coming out (16 * 80 GB). I mean, it'd be cool to hold that much in your hand, but this is about reality; not seeing which company can boast such a ridiculously and largely unused amount of space (if used solely for music and photos, that is).

[Xtremehkr]

I should add that Pods can't really become too small. All accessories are kind of a pain to wear, maybe the shape/form could evolve into something more wearable.

Maybe one day the entire Pod could just be an earpiece with an extension leading to the other ear. Like a Bluetooth earpiece with an line leading to the other ear. I don't want to favor left/right but I am thinking of something along the lines of the radio only Walkman that is housed entirely as a headset.

[adam1185]

Originally Posted by DarkSideofMoon

Does anybody else who uses iTMS Canada not get the free download of the week, either? I've waited in suspense every Tuesday to see if it would ever be there! I've even hoped that my iPod-iTunes-file-swappers friends would maybe take a likening to the store if there was a free download... you know, to see how simple things really are.

I haven't checked all the other stores, but do any other countries not get the free download?

To be partially on-topic, I think Apple is going to have to reach a limit at which to stop at capacity of music. 3 years ago, when the first iPod was introduced, it had a 5 GB HDD. And now we're talking about a drive that has 16 times the capacity, in a more compact form factor (not sure about that, though). Somehow, I just don't see another 3 years down the road a 1.28 terabyte iPod coming out (16 * 80 GB). I mean, it'd be cool to hold that much in your hand, but this is about reality; not seeing which company can boast such a ridiculously and largely unused amount of space (if used solely for music and photos, that is).

itms canada doesn't get the free download of the week yet. I also noticed they didn't update the store this past tuesday except for a red cross button

[swissmann]

I think 10 GB is starting to be adequate in 80 is close to being adequate for a lossless form of encoding. The problem is that you need at least that much space on your computer as well to keep it all synced up. 80 GB is a big chunk of most sized drives to say the least.

[Yvan256]

Originally Posted by DarkSideofMoon

Does anybody else who uses iTMS Canada not get the free download of the week, either?

Not only don't we have access to free tunes, but I'm stuck in french in the iTMS (my Windows XP is in english, my iTunes is in english... why is iTMS showing me french text?!)

Not a problem for me, but it must be annoying for a lot of people who can't read both languages. Why isn't there an option in our profile to decide what language we want to use?!