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Flash iPod Details?
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Man I hope this doesn't materialize (at least without the screen).
You have to admit though, it's quite a capitalist move by Apple. No one product will satisfy all your needs. You have to upgrade/buy the whole line to get all the functionality.
You want a small, light, shock-proof iPod? You have to buy the flash version. Wait, what's that? You actually want to select the song YOURSELF?? (How un-cool, says the RDF) Well, you'd better get a mini or a regular iPod, too. What's that...photos? Well...etc. etc. etc.
For as good of a job as Apple does on user experience, it's uncanny how they spread features across their whole product line (rather than one product) so that no one product satisfies you in every way. That's how Apple creates addicts out of us. It's like Pringles (I think) -- betcha can't eat just one...
Anyway, a screenless iPod is one place where my addiction would definitely be defeated by my common sense...
You have to admit though, it's quite a capitalist move by Apple. No one product will satisfy all your needs. You have to upgrade/buy the whole line to get all the functionality.
You want a small, light, shock-proof iPod? You have to buy the flash version. Wait, what's that? You actually want to select the song YOURSELF?? (How un-cool, says the RDF) Well, you'd better get a mini or a regular iPod, too. What's that...photos? Well...etc. etc. etc.
For as good of a job as Apple does on user experience, it's uncanny how they spread features across their whole product line (rather than one product) so that no one product satisfies you in every way. That's how Apple creates addicts out of us. It's like Pringles (I think) -- betcha can't eat just one...
Anyway, a screenless iPod is one place where my addiction would definitely be defeated by my common sense...
NO SCREEN!!!! how do you choose what you want to listen to? hit skip until you hear a song that fits your mood, and then start skipping again?
ick, ick, ick. This is as bad as the cube.
ick, ick, ick. This is as bad as the cube.
dontmatter said:
Whoa watch it, there are some people who would not take kindly to the way you're treating skipping.
<Ducks from Hector's wrath>
jakemikey said:
Everybody needs to chill out.
Honestly, this is one of the non-sensical things I've read in a long time. You say this is quite a "capitalist" move by Apple. Remind me again what kind of society we live in? Oh yes, and Apple is a *business*. Your logic puzzles me. Of course Apple is going to have different features at different price levels on different products. What is surprising about this. All companies do this. If they didn't do this they would be out of business.
What do you suggest they do build a iPod Everything with 60 gigs of flash memory, photos and the kitchen sink all for $100?
What about a headless iMac for $200 with dual 2ghz G5s.
Get a clue, of course you always want the next product up, this is what businesses do.
dontmatter said:
To me, Cube is an artpiece. At least it is beautiful, quiet and small. not all ppl all around the world have such a huge room for a huge Mac, like 9500 and G5...
The screenless iPod just let me think of the first network walkman of Sony....no screen, but only 128MB built in. You would only need to click less then 40 times to find your song....
i'm sure it will sell like hot cakes ... regardless if it has screen or not, which of course isn't apples inovation..just in the german c't of the 13.12.04 they had a roundup of the most current mp3 players and quite few had no screen and even two (as far as i remember) had a feature to randomly copy songs to from your music library
but let's wait and see perhaps it's completly different
but let's wait and see perhaps it's completly different
apple never lets us down
Apple will do something special with the iPod Shuffle to make sure it stands out and is unique. They wouldn't put something lame to market. Or if it is pretty simple and unremarkable, then it'll only be $99. In any case, the iPod moniker will bring guaranteed sales, but Apple will have to be true to their reputation and make it sweet. My 40GB iPod got stolen so I'm buying a flash iPod to fill the void.
Apple will do something special with the iPod Shuffle to make sure it stands out and is unique. They wouldn't put something lame to market. Or if it is pretty simple and unremarkable, then it'll only be $99. In any case, the iPod moniker will bring guaranteed sales, but Apple will have to be true to their reputation and make it sweet. My 40GB iPod got stolen so I'm buying a flash iPod to fill the void.
hmmm
i like the comment about the ipod remote. that's really is all the navigation you need. remember your tape playing walkman? you didnt have a digital readout on the walkman and you were able to find your music. 240 songs is like 24 albums, and i could easily skip skip skip and know which album i was on by the first song.
one other idea... what if apple came up with a slick way to display the monochrome text of the song and album right on the case?
we'll see tomorrow.
go apple.
i like the comment about the ipod remote. that's really is all the navigation you need. remember your tape playing walkman? you didnt have a digital readout on the walkman and you were able to find your music. 240 songs is like 24 albums, and i could easily skip skip skip and know which album i was on by the first song.
one other idea... what if apple came up with a slick way to display the monochrome text of the song and album right on the case?
we'll see tomorrow.
go apple.
not having a screen is not a new thing...look at Bang & Olufsen's Beoplayer:
http://www.bang-olufsen.com/sw1819.asp
I was at their store checking it out. Sometimes you just need to jog the dial and not be encumbered with looking at the screen.
and there has to be some goodies added to iTunes with the release of a new iPod.
I cannot wait to get one for jogging...or as Ron Burgundy would say, "Yogging"
http://www.bang-olufsen.com/sw1819.asp
I was at their store checking it out. Sometimes you just need to jog the dial and not be encumbered with looking at the screen.
and there has to be some goodies added to iTunes with the release of a new iPod.
I cannot wait to get one for jogging...or as Ron Burgundy would say, "Yogging"
advocate said:
Yeah, I don't understand the dislike of shuffle here. Seems odd. I rarely have my iPod off shuffle. For that matter, my iTunes is only off of the "Party Shuffle" setting when I'm browsing iTMS. I'd say the ratio of songs I navigate to on my iPod versus those that just come up in shuffle that I listen to versus those that I skip in shuffle is something along the lines of 1:100:50.
If I only had 140 songs on my iPod, I suspect the ratio would be about 0:100:50, as the song that pops in my head and I think, "Oooh, let's listen to that one now", get it clear now won't be on the device 97.5% of the time!
The ONLY people who would be able to navigate to any song in their library at any time are those with 240 or fewer songs in their library. I don't know anybody like that, but I imagine people like that wouldn't be spending a hundred bucks or so to carry their music with them anyway. So GIVE IT UP! You will never have 100% full instantaneous control over a 1GB flash device. The vast majority of the time whatever song you absolutely want to listen to at the time won't be on it.
That having been said, if I'm going somewhere, generally I know what kind of music I want to listen to as I'm leaving the house. If three clicks in iTunes could put that kind of music on my iPod shuffle, then I'd generally be happy.
So what is this need for absolute control? I mean, with shuffle mode you get immediate veto control in the "next" button, but you still get fresh tunes that you haven't been listening to three times already that day.
Oh well, I guess I just don't get you guys. Such is life. But please realize that just because your particular peccadillo isn't satisfied by a product doesn't mean that it doesn't have a market, and a huge market at that. IMHO, given a really slick iTunes managing interface, a rock solid piece of software, a firewire-class transfer rate and recharge rate, and a cheap enough price, this sucker will take over the world. Okay, maybe not the world. But a lot of houses in the world at least.
Fact is, I never bought an ipod before, but if the ipod shuffle comes out for 149$ i will buy one. I don't care if I can't navigate to a specific song. I just want some background music during work-out or commuting. A cheap ipod that fetches random music from my itunes library, and plays it randomly would satisfy my needs perfectly.
According to google, 1GB equals 18 hours of music (http://www.google.com/search?q=1+GB+/+128+kbps) I rarely leave my ibook for more than 18 hours anyway, so what's the point of having 20gb of music? 1GB is more than enough for me.. Hook it up to my ibook in the evening, get a fresh random batch of music, and listen it the next day in the morning during work-out.
According to google, 1GB equals 18 hours of music (http://www.google.com/search?q=1+GB+/+128+kbps) I rarely leave my ibook for more than 18 hours anyway, so what's the point of having 20gb of music? 1GB is more than enough for me.. Hook it up to my ibook in the evening, get a fresh random batch of music, and listen it the next day in the morning during work-out.
I will ask this and perhaps someone will give a good explanation before all the chaos starts in only hours...I have a 60gb iPod photo, but along with quite a few others, I am interested in picking one of these up, for the obvious reasons. Now someone explain to me how both iPod's will coexist, I mean, assuming that it will sync with iTunes and not just be drag and drop...Anyone care to take a stab?
I would buy one, too.
I've found I only use my G5 to play about 100 tunes in itunes in shuffle mode. I don't really use the complicated playlist features, the extra 160 GB of disk capacity or other "features" of the operating system. And frankly, l don't find myself looking at the 23" screen.
And here's the clincher: size. It's just so much smaller. Now I can exercize outside of my apartment. And there are no extra cords or keyboards to lug around.
I've found I only use my G5 to play about 100 tunes in itunes in shuffle mode. I don't really use the complicated playlist features, the extra 160 GB of disk capacity or other "features" of the operating system. And frankly, l don't find myself looking at the 23" screen.
And here's the clincher: size. It's just so much smaller. Now I can exercize outside of my apartment. And there are no extra cords or keyboards to lug around.
jet3004 said:
Yes, my understanding is that each iPod will have its own setting between "manually sync", "automatically sync [entire library]" and "automatically sync just these playlists", as that setting is actually stored on the iPod itself, not on the computer. I believe that the "sync only checked songs" is also a per-iPod setting. So, you'll have various options:
1) sync only one or two playlists to the iPod shuffle, and the entire library (or a larger set of playlists) to the iPod photo.
2) Use the "checkmark" to exclude specific tracks from the iPod shuffle.
3) Use whatever other tool Apple throws into the next version of iTunes to support the iPod shuffle for the shuffle, and keep doing whatever it is you do for the iPod photo.
Maybe the Flash iPod will read the album/song names to you?
The computer could do the voice synthesizing, then transfer it to a small audio file on the flash iPod.
This would be a really annoying way to browse a large list of music, but with only 20 CDs or so arranged in alphebetical order, it would work well.
You could quickly find songs without even looking at the device.
I want one!
The computer could do the voice synthesizing, then transfer it to a small audio file on the flash iPod.
This would be a really annoying way to browse a large list of music, but with only 20 CDs or so arranged in alphebetical order, it would work well.
You could quickly find songs without even looking at the device.
I want one!