micxer said:
One question for the techies on here... if the update includes extended battery life, would that be addressed by the typical iPod updates for, say, the current 30 gig?
Depends, some updates can marginally extend the life of the battery by changing how the iPod OS accesses and uses the Hard-drive but most of the time an increase in battery life is due to an upgrade in the actual battery's technology. This could not be carried over to the older models and is not likely to be fitted to older models in the case of a repair.
As for the OP, I'm not entirely sure how long ago the 5G was released, can't be too long ago - not much before christmas. That makes it about 3-4 months old. Possibly due for a capacity bump/change or price change (unlikely) in about two months (around the end of April - would make a good double up with an Intel iBook release) but who knows what Apple's going to do, we're used to fairly regular iPod updates (a new one every year or so with feature updates half way between) but what's to stop them just bumping the 5G every six or so months for 2 years? (most likely the share price but you get my point).
I'd hold out until you can no longer hold out and then have a good look round the rumour sites for grumblings about an Apple event upcoming (looks like the rumoured February event isn't going to happen), I predict late March/early April. If there's some serious rumblings round the traps it should give you incentive to wait just a smidgen longer. If nothing's happening just go get the current model - they truly are stunning. I wish I could replace my old 3G 15GB with the new one but I just don't have the cash right now. Even a 4GB nano would be sweet but it's not on the cards.
