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Flash iPod: 'Life is Random'?

No Screen!?

In my opinion that would be totally retarded, 1 gb or more is enough to carry around lots of songs an audio book or 2 or 3, what if your you are out all day, your suppose to plan everything out ? Not me. I say it would be way to big of a minus for many people. I don't think this could be true. Well it could be but I think it would?make Apple look ridiculous, " the 1st Mp3 player you can't control". That's a selling Point?
Looking forward to finding out soon.
Steve
 
Respectful Disagreement

We really don't have enough information to go on, but based on the 'Life is Random' idea you can hazard a pretty reasonable guess...

By default, the flash iPod probably plays the songs randomly a la the shuffle feature. The shuffle feature has been amazingly popular os it seems like a smart marketing idea to me. Alternatively, you will probably be able to set up a playlist and move that over. In which case you would *know* which song is coming next and be able to just skip forward or back by listening to get to the song you want.

Apple has clearly analyzed just what it is about a low-capacity flash player that people are looking for. Most would-be flash player buyers are looking for something extremely light weight and something you can navigate *without" stopping to look at a screen.

I think it will be a big hit. If any of this actually turns out to be true.
 
how about this -

the random refers the the players default setting which randomly selects 250 tracks from your library each time you connect to the computer?

whilst there would be the option to do it manually, if you were in a rush and just wanted to load it up with some tunes, just connect, then with firewire it'll only take seconds to load it up. no faffing around deciding what to listen to.

Iain
 
This will help keep costs down as well. They could easily put out a 1GB-2GB Player for around $99-$149. They could own the flash market with an iPod branded product at that price. Oh, and since when are MP3 Players without screens so rare? Nike, Creative and Sony all have MP3 Players with either a uselessly sized screen or no screen at all. Apple's slant of randomly played songs could actually make a real impact in the Flash market.
 
j_maddison said:
No mp3 player has ever been built without a scree to my knowlage, and I think you'll find no consumer in their right mind would buy one.
Click to expand...

I would!

I don't have a single playlist on my 3G 20GB iPod and it's always set to random... so I will most definitly buy one...

I like this concept, just make it look stylish.

vSpacken
 
duklaprague said:
how about this -

the random refers the the players default setting which randomly selects 250 tracks from your library each time you connect to the computer?

whilst there would be the option to do it manually, if you were in a rush and just wanted to load it up with some tunes, just connect, then with firewire it'll only take seconds to load it up. no faffing around deciding what to listen to.

Iain
Click to expand...


I think you might be on to something; that would be a nice feature to have for such a small device (if it´s only an option and not the only way to do it, that is)
 
You took the words out of my mouth PeterD, i was about to post that same pic as well :p

i want a pair of those Bang and Olufsen Earbuds, they are damn cool ( and damn pricey - £80!) because my white iPod ones arnt as elitist as they were back in '01!
 
My 2 cents...

For my 2 cents... I think Life is Random, has nothing to do with the Shuffle function, but more to the solid state of the flash-based ipod.

In a random world of gym workouts, jogging, biking etc etc there are bumps, falls, scraps and plenty of movement... A Life is Random world would cause a hard disk to skip... but flash memory keeps on goin'
 
Bullseye!

duklaprague said:
how about this -

the random refers the the players default setting which randomly selects 250 tracks from your library each time you connect to the computer?

whilst there would be the option to do it manually, if you were in a rush and just wanted to load it up with some tunes, just connect, then with firewire it'll only take seconds to load it up. no faffing around deciding what to listen to.

Iain
Click to expand...
I think you just nailed it. :)
 
Not for me

If it's as rumoured, I can't see how it'd be usable for me - I generally listen to classical music, operas, ballet, etc. None of these really lend themselves to being re-arranged. And, if you're thinking "Well, so what, that's a relatively small amount of music to remove from its useful functionality", there's also things like audiobooks that I'd imagine would be hampered by the way it's *rumoured* to work. Unfortunately this also would be a problem with duklaprague's speculated "picks 250 random tracks to sync with" mode, indeed worse in many ways as if you have a mix of different, incompatable, audio in your library, you'll end up with 30 seconds of "Semyon Kotko", followed by part 3 of chapter 7 of "Red Mars" followed by a U2 song.

In short, it'd be a device for playing pop'n'rock only, not a general purpose audio listening device. That seems a little too limited, even by Apple's standards.

My guess is that it really doesn't work that way, that this rumour is essentially either false or there's more to it. I can't see "random" as being anything other than a *mode* you can put the iPod Flash in.

The question I have is why make that the selling point of the device? I mean, there's no reason not to add it to iPod Mini and iPod Classic either, so is Steve Jobs really going to go on stage and make a huge fuss about how the device can play music in a random order?

Or maybe it's worse, perhaps the device has a "random" mode in it which causes code to run akin to a 1980's BASIC program:

Code: 
10 BEEP INT(RND(1)*32767),1 : GOTO 10

Well, it might happen ;-)
 

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No screen

Failing to include a screen strikes me as a disaster. I, for one, frequently have an urge to hear a particular song. A screenless iPod would leave me with two choices: (1) wait for it to show up on shuffle; or (2) navigate sightlessly through multiple playlists, listening to the first few seconds of every second until I find the one I want. Imagine having the device with a friend: "Oh man, you have to hear this new song. Here, put on these headphones. Let me find it. Wait. Not that. No, not that. Let me go to the next playlist. Not that one. I think it's ten songs later. No..."

Forget it. I would never buy such a thing.

As for the possibility of an "all random" player, there is no innovation at all in creating a device that simply forces the user to make a configuration setting that he has the option of making on all MP3 players. It would be a step backward, taking an extremely important part of the MP3 experience -- choosing the music -- out of the equation and replacing it with a marketing gimmick that will run out of steam quickly.

I hope this rumor is wrong or that we have all missed something obvious.
 
iPod?

Why is everybody thinking that the slogan has something to do with the iPod and not with something else, like iLife?
 
perquin said:
Why is everybody thinking that the slogan has something to do with the iPod and not with something else, like iLife?
Click to expand...

For one, the big ad that all of this "Life is Random" is based on is clearly a silhouette, and all of the silhouette ads are iPod ads.
 
Why not just use the design of the iPod mini?

THE NEW IPOD MINI FAMILY:

1gb $149
1.5gb $199
5gb $249

And just change the colors, or offer more colors.
I was thinking about buying a cheap flash ipod for exercise,
but with no screen? no thanks.
 
perquin said:
Why is everybody thinking that the slogan has something to do with the iPod and not with something else, like iLife?
Click to expand...

maybe it is related to this philosophy:

"Don't think about your financial future, life is random anyways... Just spend all your money (and your credit) on stuff from Apple, NOW!!!"

;)

vSpacken
 
I think a lot of the MacRumors crowd is down on the "screenless" idea because WE techies and music-lovers don't want a screenless iPod -- I certainly wouldn't buy one. But then again, I wouldn't buy an iPod mini either because I like having my entire collection with me and I like being able to play any individual song at any moment I feel like it.

That said, I do spend a lot of my time just randomizing a playlist of songs rated 3-stars and higher.

The iPod mini isn't marketed toward the "take all your songs with you!" crowd, it's marketed towared the "take a bunch of your songs with you in this tiny, attractive package" crowd. The screenless flash iPod, whatever it gets called (iRandomize? ;-)), won't be marketed toward any of those ... it'll be marketed toward the exclusive randomizers. It's an ad-less and DJ-less replacement for the radio (where you're never sure what's coming next), not a replacement for your CD player/changer like the iPod and iPod mini are.

There's a market for this, I think, and while I don't see what adding a screen would hurt I also don't see why it's so incredibly necessary for that market. Like I said, I would never buy one of these (except perhaps as a gift for somebody who's listening habits fit it more than mine), but that doesn't mean I'm a naysayer. After all, the mini isn't marketed toward my listening style or music collection size and I would never buy one of them either ... that doesn't mean it hasn't been immensely successful!
 
So much excitment before the keynote is going to make this a macworld to remember.

I'm excited and nervous at the same time.
 
eSnow said:
Haha this is exactly the kind of reasoning that will be disproved tomorrow.
"No one in their right mind would buy a mp3 player for $499"...
Click to expand...


Yah well I've heard rumors that the iPod Photo has NOT been selling as well as Apple hoped. Bet cash in the state of the union tomorrow Jobs doesn't break down sales into which devices are selling the best. We will see but I still don't think anyone would want a device (even an iPod) that doesn't have an LCD on it. Even the cheapest MP3 players around have some sort of display.
 
I think it´s true

I think it´s true. It should be a compliment to the mini, not a competitor! It will become a huge seller.
 
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