A 5GB Low-End iPod?

[MacRumors]

An unconfirmed report suggests that we may see a low-end/cheaper 5GB iPod introduced from Apple as early as the November 28th, 2003 In-Store Apple event.

It has already been revealed that the event will bring 10% discounts on current iPods and music-related purchases.

Steve Jobs has previously expressed interest in creating a cheaper iPod, but claimed "We just don't know how to do it right now.".

[mkaake]

i would gobble that up.

wait. i wouldn't. i'm completely broke.

but if i wasn't, i'd jump...

matt

[Ambrose Chapel]

sounds good to me. the average user (i assume) doesn't really need more than 5 gigs, especially if encoding with AAC. price at <200 and i think it's a winner

[dguisinger]

Don't know how to do it? My @$$. Everyone knows they could build in a 512MB flash memory chip in a low-end model, and sell for a lot less. I owned two different flash mp3 players, I loved them. I know there are people in this forum who will chew me out because I want to see a flash iPod at the low-end. But you know what, I dont care. I don't have 10GB of music....infact I don't have 5GB of music. I may have 1GB...possibly, but I dont listen to more than 20 songs out of all that, plus another 20 I have actually bought from the iTunes store since it came out.
40 songs...that fits easily in a 512MB footprint. No need to spend hundreds on a 5/10GB iPod.

[iMax531]

but unlikely...

If there had been that intention, It never would have been axed in the first place. Blus, it is very un-Jobsian to introduce anything with lower specs, or to bring back an old product.

That said, I think a new 5gb iPod would be awesome, especially if it was priced at, say 200... that brings it down to almost an impulse buy for a lot of people, where as 400 or 500 is expensive for such a toy.

I ope it happens, but I just don't see it.

[macMaestro]

SWEET!

[yoman]

That is after I have convinced my wife of the iPod's infinite merits

[Bunzi2k4]

that's cool... my cousin's been looking for mp3 players... that might not be a bad idea to get a cheap ipod...

[machan]

this 5gig ipod issue came up last week, but i still think i read that the company that makes the drives no longer makes them in 5gig size. maybe apple found a different supplier, but i kind of doubt it.

[sethypoo]

For what you get, the 10 GB is great. I don't like the idea of a 5 GB.....maybe they could just give away iTMS gift certificates with the iPods? I don't see why they haven't already done this.

[nagromme]

There are all kinds of listeners out there... I have between 1 and 2 GB of music, and I have friends with less who DO use iTunes to play it all. Even a TWO GB model would have a niche.

And Apple does offer lower models all the time. The iBook line, the eMac, the 12" PowerBook... a smaller iPod would be a much less drastic step down than those.

The catch would be that supposedly a smaller HD isn't really cheaper to make--and so why bother.

[yellow]

I got a 5G iPod last Christmas and use it constantly (read: daily in car, daily walking, daily riding).. At the time I thought there would be no reason that I would want to have more than 800 songs. But I find myself constantly having to erase songs to make room on there. If you, the thread reader, fancy yourself a fickle music lover (today I feel like a little punk, tomorrow I might want a little funk, etc,..), consider spending the $$ for a 10G iPod.

[1macker1]

I love music, but i have no need for a 10G iPods. I download about 5 songs a week from the iTMS, and have burned all the CD's that i owned into iTunes. And still I only have 2G's of music. The 5G iPod will be perfect for me, and people like me. Just because you don't have 3,000 songs, doesn't mean your not a music lover. I'd buy the 5G iPod that same day if they were to release one!

[bbarnhart]

A 5 gig or less would be good for young kids. I'd buy one for my child, but i would have to be around 150 and I'm not sure they could sell it that cheap. My 5yr daughter currently has a $20 portable cd player that she listens in the car. It eats batteries.

I might look into one of those flash memory models.

[FlamDrag]

I only hope that this isn't true just for my wife's sake. This would instantly become all she would hear about until Christmas. It could completely ruin our marriage.

I have PLENTY of use for the 40 GB model but I'm holding out for a few more features until I try to sell her on a $500 toy. Namely I want one cable like this:

iPod >>> Cable >>> Digital Camera

Not an extra card reader, not anything else. Just a cable to a digital camera. Simple, easy and no batteries needed.

5GB around would be a nice stopgap until that happens.

[dongmin]

Originally posted by dguisinger
Don't know how to do it? My @$$. Everyone knows they could build in a 512MB flash memory chip in a low-end model, and sell for a lot less. I owned two different flash mp3 players, I loved them. I know there are people in this forum who will chew me out because I want to see a flash iPod at the low-end. But you know what, I dont care. I don't have 10GB of music....infact I don't have 5GB of music. I may have 1GB...possibly, but I dont listen to more than 20 songs out of all that, plus another 20 I have actually bought from the iTunes store since it came out.
40 songs...that fits easily in a 512MB footprint. No need to spend hundreds on a 5/10GB iPod.

Your music collection consists of 40 songs? Why bother with an iPod? Or even iTunes? A single minidisc will satisfy your music needs.

[jxyama]

Originally posted by FlamDrag
Namely I want one cable like this:

iPod >>> Cable >>> Digital Camera

Not an extra card reader, not anything else. Just a cable to a digital camera. Simple, easy and no batteries needed.

probably won't happen unless camera cables become standardized. right now, it's camera -> cable -> computer. the second arrow is a standardized port (USB) but the first arrow can be mini-USB or other proprietary port...

back to topic:
not sure how much apple would charge for a 5GB iPod. $200? $150? i can't see it below $150... but $200 would be a bit much, i'd think. of course, it wouldn't come with a dock, etc.

i remember seeing some compact flash card readers that can also read some "microdrives." those drives were lower in capacity (1 to 2 GB range) and were more expensive, but replaceable... could those be used once the price comes down? (given the abundance in alternative storages, the price must come down or the format would become obsolete, no?)

[dongmin]

Originally posted by FlamDrag
iPod >>> Cable >>> Digital Camera

I'm not sure it's as simple as that. You're asking the ipod to recognize your camera via a USB-to-firewire adapter. I don't think you can do this without custom drivers written into the iPod OS for each camera model.

As clumsy as it seems, a card-reader is the only way of insuring universal compatibility. It'd be nice if the card-reader could draw power from the iPod but I don't know if it's possible.

Now if your camera was a firewire camera, it could be a different story.

[FlamDrag]

To be clear, I don't expect Apple to make my magic cable. I expect Griffin or another to make them because of the proprietary issues. It doesn't seem that it should be super-difficult to do if you simply choose the top 4 or 5 brands of consumer level + a couple of Digital SLR brands.

[radhak]

Originally posted by dguisinger
Don't know how to do it? My @$$. Everyone knows they could build in a 512MB flash memory chip in a low-end model, and sell for a lot less. I owned two different flash mp3 players, I loved them. I know there are people in this forum who will chew me out because I want to see a flash iPod at the low-end. But you know what, I dont care. I don't have 10GB of music....infact I don't have 5GB of music. I may have 1GB...possibly, but I dont listen to more than 20 songs out of all that, plus another 20 I have actually bought from the iTunes store since it came out.
40 songs...that fits easily in a 512MB footprint. No need to spend hundreds on a 5/10GB iPod.

I am sure that by "don't know how" he did not mean just the media on which the music resides. yes, the memory itself is pretty cheap, but then, what do you think makes the iPod what it is? not just the 'hard disk'; most probably the hard-disk is the cheapest component there. the rest of the stuff (the hardware, and more importantly, the quality control) would be the costly stuff, and it would have to be the same quality whatever be the storage size. so it might be easier to come up with a larger storage for a marginally higher cost than vice-versa.

of course, seeing that the margin of profit on the iPods is pretty high, Apple might as well come out with a 'smaller' iPod with a lower price tag, where they would just be content with a lower margin for the sake of higher volume.

[dongmin]

Originally posted by jxyama
probably won't happen unless camera cables become standardized. right now, it's camera -> cable -> computer. the second arrow is a standardized port (USB) but the first arrow can be mini-USB or other proprietary port...

back to topic:
not sure how much apple would charge for a 5GB iPod. $200? $150? i can't see it below $150... but $200 would be a bit much, i'd think. of course, it wouldn't come with a dock, etc.

i remember seeing some compact flash card readers that can also read some "microdrives." those drives were lower in capacity (1 to 2 GB range) and were more expensive, but replaceable... could those be used once the price comes down? (given the abundance in alternative storages, the price must come down or the format would become obsolete, no?)

A 1gb microdrive costs $175-200 right now. I'm not sure but a 1.8" 5GB pc card drive goes for about $200 now (maybe half that for OEM?). The 1.8" drives are falling in prices a lot faster than the microdrives. The microdrives have the advantage of being smaller and consuming less power. But for price/capacity, the 1.8" drives are the way to go. What I'd like to see is an iPod with upgradable HD. You can start with a 5GB model but as your music collection grows, you can swap in a 10GB or bigger drive. Of course, Apple would never do this.

The 'next frontier' is 1" HDs. I would love to see one of these built into a cell phone. The battery life would be a major problem, but how cool would it be to have your entire music collection in your phone?!

[dguisinger]

Originally posted by radhak
I am sure that by "don't know how" he did not mean just the media on which the music resides. yes, the memory itself is pretty cheap, but then, what do you think makes the iPod what it is? not just the 'hard disk'; most probably the hard-disk is the cheapest component there. the rest of the stuff (the hardware, and more importantly, the quality control) would be the costly stuff, and it would have to be the same quality whatever be the storage size. so it might be easier to come up with a larger storage for a marginally higher cost than vice-versa.

of course, seeing that the margin of profit on the iPods is pretty high, Apple might as well come out with a 'smaller' iPod with a lower price tag, where they would just be content with a lower margin for the sake of higher volume.

Actually the Hard Drive probably costs Apple around $100. The electronics probably cost them around $15-$20 in the quantity they buy, and LCD around $30, and the battery around $20-30. You can see the hard drive is about 1/3 of the cost of the iPod. Smaller hard drives do not mean lower costs. Going from 10GB to 5GB doesn't save a nickel. They cost the same to produce. Apple may have to pay more for the 10GB, but there is a point in where quality hard drives that are brand new can cost no less than a higher end model. I am sure Apple could do a 512MB flash iPod for under $150, and sell a ton of them, and it would compliment the rest of their line nicely. BTW, these prices are based on common pricing for electronics in the industry, check a suppliers catalog on LCD or battery pricing, or call them for quantities approaching hundreds of thousands, and you will find the price falls very quickly.

[Lancetx]

---

[the_mole1314]

a.) Ever heard of something called 'bulk purchase' guys?

b.) Flash is dead

c.) Just because they introduce a new 5gig iPod dosn't mean they are backing down on their ideas of releasing an old product. If they released the old ones, then yes, but who says it'll be that?

[MongoTheGeek]

Originally posted by dongmin
What I'd like to see is an iPod with upgradable HD. You can start with a 5GB model but as your music collection grows, you can swap in a 10GB or bigger drive. Of course, Apple would never do this.

Might as well sell swappable disks and people could have collections of HDs for their iPods.