adzoox said:
Just curious, why? Why lower the price to a train that's going more places? They won't raise, but I don't think they will go down until there is a huge shift in the market.
Chase
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2.5 GB & 5 GB iPod Minis?
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Just curious, why? Why lower the price to a train that's going more places? They won't raise, but I don't think they will go down until there is a huge shift in the market.
Chase
iChan said:
The original had a price drop. From 400 to 300 back in the day when they only had two models.
rendezvouscp said:
In an already diluted market? What's to make apple stand out from nikon or any other company? It's highly doubtful Apple can take on the likes of Nikon, Sony and others in a game they've been out of forever. Outside of Mac zealots who would buy it?
I like my powerbook and all, but I'd probably never get an apple digital camera.
As for all those speculating on the apple camera with the 2.5 gb hd built in. Currently, 99% of digital prints are made off of media cards. Machines found in Wal-mart, CVS, and the likes have no USB or Firewire port because of the security issues it would cause. Therefore unless the 2.5 gb drive is removeable, it's pointless.
Some of the newer Kodak picturemakers have bluetooth, but how slow is that? Bessides, printing one of everything on a 512 card will easily bring most 1-hour photo labs to its knees because most labs use p3s with 256 of ram, based on Windows.
(Yes, my summer job between college semesters is 1-hour photo)
Edit: What most people are forgetting is that people want to make pictures out of their pictures. Nikon will not partner when they are the current digital leader. Unlike music, 256 is plenty. My camera gets 124 shots on a 256 at 4 mp.
Apple won't make a DV or digital camera because there's nothing to gain by entering the current market....even if they add a 2.5GB harddrive.
They're not going to add WiFi to iPods that only last 8 hour as they are. People buy it because its simple to use, and because they look nice. A downside is the battery life, but if the battery life dropped even more, I think people would be reluctant to buy one. Yes, you can turn WiFi off, but how much of the battery would you drain if someone were to actually try moving 1GB worth of pictures to their computer wirelessly?
They're not going to use the Seagate products whatsoever unless they really need to due to production issues extending towards the end of the year. Just because someone produces something, doesn't mean that Apple is automatically involved. It would be funny if they had 3 manufacturers making HDDs for their iPods just because these companies made small HDDs.
The iPods seem slow enough, so with a HDD of 3200rpm instead of of 4800rpm, they'll be even slower than before.
How reliable are these HDD's, and how do they stand up to being shaken and such? Oh wait, nobody knows yet.
A 2.5GB HDD won't be too much cheaper than the 4GB HDDs made by Hitachi, like someone mentioned already. If Apple gets the 2.5GB's for $30 cheaper (say $70 instead of $100), all Apple can do is sell them for a bit cheaper. If they actually sold a 4GB Apple Mini for $249 and another 2.5GB model for $219 or something, it really won't work. If they sell it for cheaper than that, they'll make less money on each iPod mini than before.
They're not going to add WiFi to iPods that only last 8 hour as they are. People buy it because its simple to use, and because they look nice. A downside is the battery life, but if the battery life dropped even more, I think people would be reluctant to buy one. Yes, you can turn WiFi off, but how much of the battery would you drain if someone were to actually try moving 1GB worth of pictures to their computer wirelessly?
They're not going to use the Seagate products whatsoever unless they really need to due to production issues extending towards the end of the year. Just because someone produces something, doesn't mean that Apple is automatically involved. It would be funny if they had 3 manufacturers making HDDs for their iPods just because these companies made small HDDs.
The iPods seem slow enough, so with a HDD of 3200rpm instead of of 4800rpm, they'll be even slower than before.
How reliable are these HDD's, and how do they stand up to being shaken and such? Oh wait, nobody knows yet.
A 2.5GB HDD won't be too much cheaper than the 4GB HDDs made by Hitachi, like someone mentioned already. If Apple gets the 2.5GB's for $30 cheaper (say $70 instead of $100), all Apple can do is sell them for a bit cheaper. If they actually sold a 4GB Apple Mini for $249 and another 2.5GB model for $219 or something, it really won't work. If they sell it for cheaper than that, they'll make less money on each iPod mini than before.
ethernet76 said:
I'm only so glad that Toyota didn't use this (terrible) rationalization for not entering the automobile market. Or Sony for not entering the consumer electronics market.
To be honest I don't know what Apple could do to stand out. I'm guessing they know better than me. They seem to have approached the music business quite wisely...figuring out what customer really want and do. It is quite possible that current camera providers are giving customers something they don't really want (but they are buying because there is little choice).
I don't pretend to know what those might be. I know, for me, I'd love to not worry about memory sticks. Have enough (built-in) capacity to not worry about space (too much). A built-in 2.5GB HD might be a piece of THAT puzzle. Device ease of use could be another.
I agree with Apple needing to be cautious, and they have already done that. There have been a handul of reports that Apple DID develop an iPhone product...but decided against going to market with it because of the market conditions that would have made it difficult for them to be successful (profitable). They may have looked at the camera market and decided the same (or be looking at it and seeing something no one else does.)
TiVoPod?
That would be cool, but what would be really awesome is if they built-in TiVo-like software to record radio programs. Imagine being able to listen to your favorite talk show or a ballgame on-to-go whenever you want to, and skip over the commercial breaks while you're at it. That might be the feature that just gets me to finally buy an iPod. Only real hurdle might be battery life :-/MrMacman said:
Mr.Hey said:Compact-flash baby!I hope Apple doesn't hesitate and works these little devices into the next rev models.
Not gonna happen. Apple doesn't want to play there. Compact Flash is on its way out.
HiRez said:
Not going to happen. For one, recording a radio program isn't technically legal, and I'd see Apple selling pre-recorded radio shows on iTMS before letting you freely record on-air broadcasts.
Sorry to rain on your fire.
coolfactor said:
Are you kidding? Compactflash is widely supported and a pretty set standard for flash and hard drives. Unless I am totally out of the loop...
Chase
SiliconAddict said:
It does matter when the iPod only has 32MB of RAM. A few MB of tracks to RAM? We are talking about AIFF and AL files here which often exceed that amount. People have already reported trouble playing AL files on their current iPods. How would a slower drive help here? If Apple doubles the buffer size then it might not matter but why bother with these drives at all? I could see it if they were 8GB but we're talking one extra GB here.
rendezvouscp said:
The drive inside the iPod mini is a CF Microdrive, just without the proper interface. The earlier units along with the MuVo used a CF Microdrive with the proper interface. That is why people were tearing them apart to get at the card to use in their digital cameras. The 4GB CF Microdrive cost $650 separately at the time so it was an easy decision. Well, easy if you had a MuVo but not if you had an iPod mini. Who would want to destroy an iPod mini?
rendezvouscp said:
Okay, time for me to do some reading up on Compact Flash. Didn't know that a rotating hard drive had anything to do with Compact Flash.
--Edit--
Okay, did my reading. I still don't see any connection between a hard drive and Compact Flash. Anyone care to explain a connection?
That doesn't fall under "fair-use"? How can radio not when television does? Doesn't make sense. The networks and movie studios tried to have VCRs declared illegal when they were introduced, and failed. Is that not a strong precedent?coolfactor said:
coolfactor said:
Technically? Where is it legal or not, and when was it made illegal? Just curious.
Chase
cf cards
What would be nice is interchangable cf cards. You could slip in a five or 2.5gb hd or put in and fm tuner. Maybe even a back up battery or remote control.
What would be nice is interchangable cf cards. You could slip in a five or 2.5gb hd or put in and fm tuner. Maybe even a back up battery or remote control.
AndrewMT said:
why why why say this?? seagate do not even have their 1" drives on the market yet... so how do you know how they compare to the hitachi ones?
also, Hitachi produce the faster laptop HD's in the world right now, i personally have two 7K60E's and they are the fastest, most reliable HD's i have ever had the pleasure to use...
however, i don't mind Seagate, i was just wondering where you were coming from with your comments.
rendezvouscp said:
Why? So the train can pick up more people - faster. 45% of the market is awesome 55% would deity status
MrMacman said:
this will not happen. ipod stands for all-digital-lifestyle and premium-quaity, and the analog radio is neither. if ipod some day has a radio, it will be digital and not the 100-year-old version.
DMann said:
yep.
one can select a top 4GB of the collection to a playlist, but often has to make sacrifices - one more gig and one could get just enough more favourites to go. i'd like that. 10GB in a mini would be just heaven, but i'd rather buy 5GB instead of 4GB even if it cost me some extra.
go for it, apple!
i might however buy the mini ipod the day they are available in europe, but it would be really superb if apple released 2.5GB and 5GB versions at the same time they announce the international availability
one can dream...
jsw said:
why?
apple had a vision back then, but could offer little to none to current models. apple doesn't want to enter into a field that already has a good competition and bad profit margin - that's why they don't make printers & scanners. no reason to make digital cameras either.
AndrewMT said:
why? hitachi has IBM technology which is far better than seagate's. actually, "hitachi" hard drives are in fact "ibm" hard drives but because ibm doesn't want to be in that field anymore, it has made a deal with hitachi and therefore hitachi sells ibm drives under their brand.
i think ibm currently only fabbes the server-spec hard drives under their own brand.