Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Flash iPod: 'Life is Random'?

think conceptual

approximations : 1000 meg, 5mb/song, 200 songs, 13 albums

two buttons to scroll through albums (or play lists)
two buttons to scroll through tracks

thats an approximate maximum of 30 button clicks to get to any song. and 13 to get to any album.

AND since theres no screen, it doesn't have to scroll through albums or playlists in alphabetical order, all it has to do is play it fast enough to be ergonomic. so thats random right? no play button just on and off. when you get to the right track just stop hitting buttons.

thats 6 buttons by my count. volume, track, playlist/album.

no need for screen at all!

in the words of millions of farkers:
/I'd hit it.
 
peharri said:
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.
Click to expand...

but if you don't have to do it randomly thats not an issue. or, you could have your library split by genre to get round that.

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.

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?
Click to expand...

it would be limited, but then its after a limited section of the overall market, which the HD iPods cover.

the fuss isn't that it plays stuff randomly, its that it addresses the issue of quickly and easily filling the player with tunes.

the big plus with the iPod over MD/CD is that you have your entire collection with you. in most cases this won't be possible with the flash iPod. so you're back to the same problem with MD/CD - ie "what do i want to listen to today?". i used to faff around all the time with MDs. similarly when mp3 players first came out, i wasn't that fussed, as they were still small memories that would still have meant going through that process. only then i'd have to connect the thing and copy music over, rather than just pick up a disk.

but this offers a solution (if you want it). simply plug it in, and get 250 randon tracks from your library in seconds and you're good to go.

if you wanted you could create a huge "iPod" playlist of stuff you knew you liked for the iPod, and have it select any 250 tracks from that.

Iain
 
Wow, a new Apple product which we have practically no information about, and the legions of MacRumors retards have already decided it sucks, they won't be buying it, the entire line is going to bomb, and Apple is going to go bankrupt.

I really don't even know why Arn bothers to have discussion threads on new rumors, as they're almost ALWAYS the same, it's like reading a wacky mad lib.

OMG! (PRODUCT NAME) is the (NEGATIVE ADJECTIVE) thing yet! No (EXPECTED FEATURE)?! I WAS more than willing to shell out (ESTIMATED PRICE) for (PRODUCT NAME) before we found out it didn't have (EXPECTED FEATURE). I can't believe (ENDORSING CELEBRITY) would stand behind this (NEGATIVE ADJECTIVE) device! Apple is only going to sell (NUMBER LESS THAN 10) of these to the (NEGATIVE ADJECTIVE) users. I don't know who would buy a (ESTIMATED PRICE) (PRODUCT TYPE) anyway! There's no way they could even begin to compete with (COMPETING PRODUCT) without a (EXPECTED FEATURE) or (ADDITIONAL EXPECTED FEATURE)! What were you thinking, Steve? You're a/an (PERSONAL ATTACK)!

:rolleyes:

The flash iPod will sell just as well, if not better than the current line of iPods, with or without a screen. iPod is to MP3 players as Xerox is to copy machines, I already know people who aren't very savvy who refer to ANY mp3 player as an 'iPod' just like ANY copy machine is a 'Xerox' machine, even if it's not made by them. The flash iPods will allow trendy nearly-broke skateboarding Starbucks drinking wannabe yuppie junior-high-schoolers to get in the iPod club, they don't care if it has a screen.

...But, I don't want to rock the boat in this thread, so I'll go with the pack and say "OMG SCREW U APPL WAT R U TINKIN STEVE?!?! NO SCREEN?!?! WTF!!!! I CLICKED NEGATIVE TO THIS POS RUMOR! LIFE IS RANDOM?! MORE LIKE APPLE SUCKS."

Am I doing this right?
 
possibilities for the 'without any screen'

a. no screen as in not typical ipod screen. maybe 2 or 3 lines instead of 5.

b. the remote has a small display instead of the main player.

c. these people didn't actually see the product but are adding two (earlier rumor) and two ('life is random') together to generate site traffic.

d. it really has no screen, rumor mongers around the world will be outraged, and people will start throwing fire bombs into apple stores. [is this gonna get me in trouble with the fbi?]
 
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.

Edit: Ooops, double posted. Sorry about that. Thought it wasn´t posted...
 
come on, folks! That is insane! There is either much missing information or this is a hoax. Nobody would be expected to load a gig onto their iPod and just wade through it randomly. Insanity!
 
I also think it's true, and I also always just have my iPod on random and skip the songs I don't feel like hearing just there and then.
 
fregedegpo said:
Nobody would be expected to load a gig onto their iPod and just wade through it randomly. Insanity!
Click to expand...

well, then I am that "Nobody"...

as I said, I do that with my 20gig and I would do it with a 1gig too. It's perfect for working out, biking and running

but I keep my MP3 collection lean so that I won't have the urge to skip a single time when listening to it on random (only single tracks, no albums... all tracks from an album which I dont like get deleted right away) it's still 40GB though... ;)

vSpacken
 
io_burn said:
Wow, a new Apple product which we have practically no information about, and the legions of MacRumors retards have already decided it sucks, they won't be buying it, the entire line is going to bomb, and Apple is going to go bankrupt.
Click to expand...

Its call speculation you nob. People are free to speculate when all the facts aren't in. Otherwise this would be a VERY boring site.

And besides people are basing this off of the rumor that this thing will lack a screen. Oh joy. 1GB of songs that I can't sort or browse or anything. Maybe the speculation that the LCD will be on the cord will be right. But as it stands this is the info we have to go with.
 
The Italian site that posted the banner picture said this:
"We cannot show the images of the new iPod because we were forced to delete them from our cameras, but we can describe it."

Who did this? The Apple police?
 
io_burn said:
....

I really don't even know why Arn bothers to have discussion threads on new rumors, as they're almost ALWAYS the same, it's like reading a wacky mad lib.

OMG! (PRODUCT NAME) is the (NEGATIVE ADJECTIVE) thing yet! No (EXPECTED FEATURE)?! I WAS more than willing to shell out (ESTIMATED PRICE) for (PRODUCT NAME) before we found out it didn't have (EXPECTED FEATURE). I can't believe (ENDORSING CELEBRITY) would stand behind this (NEGATIVE ADJECTIVE) device! Apple is only going to sell (NUMBER LESS THAN 10) of these to the (NEGATIVE ADJECTIVE) users. I don't know who would buy a (ESTIMATED PRICE) (PRODUCT TYPE) anyway! There's no way they could even begin to compete with (COMPETING PRODUCT) without a (EXPECTED FEATURE) or (ADDITIONAL EXPECTED FEATURE)! What were you thinking, Steve? You're a/an (PERSONAL ATTACK)!
...
Click to expand...

:D :D :D :D Hilarious, or in web speak: ROFLMAO

You forgot the "(Apple/other company) (has always/has never) done that before" line ;)

Wooohoo! I've been promoted to Member. Not the first time I've been called a member.
 
fregedegpo said:
come on, folks! That is insane! There is either much missing information or this is a hoax. Nobody would be expected to load a gig onto their iPod and just wade through it randomly. Insanity!
Click to expand...

When you're biking, jogging, or working out, do you stop every 2.5 minutes to select a new song, or do you just let your iPod play on random? I press play, get on my bike, and press pause when I am done. I could be alone on this, but I'm willing to bet the people Apple is going to market this product towards are people like this, who just want a couple hours worth of their favorite music they've purchased off iTunes with no screens to break, and minimal buttons to worry about.

You have to look at this product from an entirely different perspective than you are used to. People who are active, and want to listen to music while they're on the go, doing some activity which requires some amount of physical exertion, in which selecting songs becomes unimportant. Apple is not planning on selling these iPods to fat greasy nerds whose only physical activity of the day consists of feverishly kicking their fat little sausage legs in attempt to roll their computer chair 8 inches to slam a frozen burrito in their the microwave, or waving their arms in the air in disgust of the most recent Mac rumor.

If you're trying to keep a target heart rate on a bike, you don't care about selecting songs. All you care about is having something to listen to in order to keep your mind off how bad your legs are burning. A super tiny flash based iPod which can play my DRM protected AAC files would fit the bill perfectly for me.
 
With it only holding 1 G of music. Seem like you'll only be able to put your favorite songs on it, so a random play wouldn't be so bad.

If it's less than 150 bucks, i'll get 1. If i'ts more than 150, I must have a screen.
 
io_burn said:
...
I really don't even know why Arn bothers to have discussion threads on new rumors, as they're almost ALWAYS the same, it's like reading a wacky mad lib.

OMG! (PRODUCT NAME) is the (NEGATIVE ADJECTIVE) thing yet! No (EXPECTED FEATURE)?! I WAS more than willing to shell out (ESTIMATED PRICE) for (PRODUCT NAME) before we found out it didn't have (EXPECTED FEATURE). I can't believe (ENDORSING CELEBRITY) would stand behind this (NEGATIVE ADJECTIVE) device! Apple is only going to sell (NUMBER LESS THAN 10) of these to the (NEGATIVE ADJECTIVE) users. I don't know who would buy a (ESTIMATED PRICE) (PRODUCT TYPE) anyway! There's no way they could even begin to compete with (COMPETING PRODUCT) without a (EXPECTED FEATURE) or (ADDITIONAL EXPECTED FEATURE)! What were you thinking, Steve? You're a/an (PERSONAL ATTACK)!
...
Click to expand...

There is some of that, true. But there's usually a similar share of:

OMG! (PRODUCT NAME) is Apple innovation at its best! I can't believe no one had thought of (OBVIOUS FEATURE) before! I would sell my (HIGHLY VALUABLE ITEM OR PERSON) for one! And the design is so much classier than the competitor from (OTHER COMPANY). I will probably buy (NUMBER GREATER THEN TEN) of these! Apple does it again!
 
1. Apple wouldn't be that careless with people with cameras and putting signs up about unreleased products after the amount of legal action they've taken against different rumour sites lately.

2. If they did manage to get photos of the product, surely keeping them was only a quick removal of the memory card away? no?

o well, 1 more day and we'll all see that "life is random" actually refers to a headless mac with tiger and iwork :rolleyes:
 
Is Apple all about iPods nowadays? Might as well call it iPodWorld Expo.
 
Are we sure that that is the whole of the banner? That it isn't a tall one where 'Life is Random.' isn't followed by second line like 'Lets organise it.' or 'So is your music.'?
 
I think it'd work fine... based on my experience

I have one of the original car CD head units that could play MP3 CDs. It has no meaningful display, but has simple controls that allow me to do "next and previous track" and "next and previous album". It has a shuffle play feature that I never use. So, in the 600MB or so on a CD-ROM (roughly the memory space we're talking about here), that gets me about 7-10 albums.

I find it's no problem at all to find any song I want. Click-click-click - I'm on the right album (you get used to hearing the first tones from the first song to tell you what album you're on), then click-click-click, I'm on the right song. In a way, it's more elegant than when I use the ipod in the car and need to look down at the display (and nearly kill myself).

Also, I'm hesitant sometimes to change iPod songs in public in sketchy neighborhoods - while I can disguise the fact that I have a mugger-friendly item by using different headphones, the gig's up when I pull the ipod itself out of my pocket. In that scenario, I'd RATHER have this control scheme than the current "look at the screen and select stuff" interface.

Of course, I wouldn't give up my regular iPod by a long shot, but I'll buy one of these to go with it the second it comes out.

I only hope that they don't skimp on the audio section of the output. If it doesn't drive as much power as the iPod to the headphones, that'd be a big downer.
 
iPod Radio

I'm thinking this is legit. And if you combine this rumor with an earlier rumor from last week, then you have the name of the new product: iPod Radio.

Think about it - it's your very own radio station that you can bring around with you. There's no need for an FM transmitter - all of the songs it plays are the ones you like.
 
Man, I hope they're not actually going to sell an iPod with no means of navigating it...and then, on top of that, use it as a selling point. Lame Apple! Say it's not so!
 
aseh said:
I'm thinking this is legit. And if you combine this rumor with an earlier rumor from last week, then you have the name of the new product: iPod Radio.

Think about it - it's your very own radio station that you can bring around with you. There's no need for an FM transmitter - all of the songs it plays are the ones you like.
Click to expand...

But you can do this with any MP3 player. This isn't anything new. The only thing "innovative" is that it would force you to listen to your music this way.

The iPod's whole schtick is individuality and control. An all-random iPod (or even one that is not all random but is screenless) would fly against these principles. I think it would be a terrible idea.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back