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iPod Mini - 5 or 6 GB & Color Screen?
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Thataboy said:As far as battery life:
1. If you are using it throughout the workday, and battery life is running out, then I would keep it plugged in to a power socket so it doesn't drain batteries at all.
2. If you are travelling with it, then it is likely that at some point you will be near an outlet or laptop to recharge... if not, then bloody read a book for an hour or twoAfter 8 hours of continuous playback, don't you get cauliflower ear?? After a 2 hour plane ride, I am ready for those earbuds to be OUT.
I can envision situations where once in a great while, there are situations where one isn't near a power socket or laptop. But these are rare, odd, and infrequent circumstances... and the benefits of a high resolution color screen (which nearly everyone would prefer) outweighs these unique and infrequent situations, in my opinion.
I admire the quality of your iPod mini trolling. In addition to the "why does anyone need more than 4 hours of battery life" angle you are taking (and the truly inspired follow-on "if that's not enough then just listen to it while plugged into an AC outlet"), might I also suggest:
- "5 GB of hard drive space? This seems like a waste. I only have 12 songs that I like to listen to. I would like to see a mini released with a 16MB flash RAM chip, and the production cost savings ploughed back into providing free Justin Timberlake singles from the iTMS, or maybe some of William Shatner's spoken word stuff. I really can't understand why anyone would want a collection of more than a dozen songs. "
- "Something as small as the mini? Concentrate less on the portable form factor, and more on a laptop-style LCD display so that track info can be more easily read by the optically-challenged. Honestly, I don't know why people get obsessed with the smaller size of the mini. I would happily carry my MP3 player around in a backpack. Or if that was too big and heavy, I would only listen to it seated at my desk."
- "The scroll wheel interface seems silly. I prefer to use an external mouse or joystick to navigate my playlists. Ditch the scroll wheel (I mean, who actually likes this?) and allow a mouse to be used via the USB port. Or add a PS/2 port for wider compatibility. If an external pointing device is too cumbersome to be used on the road, just use it at your desk...preferably plugged into AC power"
- "USB2 and FireWire is overkill. I mean really...who needs to have their music collection sync that fast? After listening to my iPod for 7 minutes I re-dock it and then leave it overnight...at my desk. The original AppleTalk serial interface would be plenty fast enough for an overnight sync period and would add a certain retro charm."
Those are just some suggestions, but maybe together we can workshop this and come up with something really polished. Until then though...a fine effort for a newbie. Keep up the good work!
you mean the "childish", critically acclaimed buttons that are now the standard across the entire ipod line...?
ClarkeB said:
Huh?
How is a functional, easy to use click wheel childish..I think its a very awsome idea. Whats arguments are there against it?
mxpiazza said:
How is a functional, easy to use click wheel childish..I think its a very awsome idea. Whats arguments are there against it?
Re: Trolling
This didn't seem like trolling to me. If anything, since he's looking over the current faults of an apple product, than that would make him a zealot, and yo the troll for having the gall to complain about an Apple product. And honestly I just think this was simply a decent conversation until you got tired of rational discussion and decided to play the "troll" card.
-Hertz
oingoboingo said:
This didn't seem like trolling to me. If anything, since he's looking over the current faults of an apple product, than that would make him a zealot, and yo the troll for having the gall to complain about an Apple product. And honestly I just think this was simply a decent conversation until you got tired of rational discussion and decided to play the "troll" card.
-Hertz
i for one still cannot believe that color screens are becoming the norm before adding stereo 44k recording.....
in the name of all things holy and sacred can we please get line in recording and be able to control the recording level with the scroll wheel
in the name of all things holy and sacred can we please get line in recording and be able to control the recording level with the scroll wheel
DickArmAndHarT said:
that sucks! did the kid stop and at least help out or something? a co-worker of mine is a skier and he was run down a few years ago by a snowboarder and his leg was broken in the collision. he was actually knocked unconscious for a little while, but his wife was there and saw everything - apparently the snowboarder yelled and cursed at him while he was out cold, and then just took off without helping or anything. i hate it when people don't take responsibility for their own actions. accidents happen, i know, but if someone is careless, they could at least own up to it. i hope you heal well and that kid faces karma soon (if he didn't do the right thing by you at the time). oh, and i hope you get a great new ipod to replace your 20gb that never breaks and brings you extra good luck every time you use it!
heading to the mountains (lake tahoe) this weekend to board. i hate holiday weekends (too crowded), but the snow should be good at least...
marianne
DickArmAndHarT said:
Well the big "upgrade" from 3G to 2.5G iPod was pretty much annoying clicking sounds that you can now hear in your earphones and are turned on automatically when you restart your iPod, and the push buttons. The tactile buttons were so much nicer and gave the entire iPod a cleaner and more sophisticated look. Then they slapped on the big gray ClickWheel (sans backlight, if I may add) and it was a sudden "improvement". Well, my iPod has about six more months left in it and if a (really) improved iPod (improved on the 3G) doesn't come along before then, I'll have to go hunt down a good ol' 3G.
It seems plausible that after going all-color, they could still keep the iPod Photo (dammit, the capital P just looks right..) by integrating a card reader into it, so you can back up your camera's card, erase it, and keep shooting in the field. The other attempts at providing this functionality are reputed to be, um, bad. Seems to me that it should be feasible to do this with a decent transfer rate and not too much battery drain.
Of course, an iPod as digital wallet might not be the holy grail any more with high-capacity flash cards getting cheaper. Not to mention that there are just way too many flash formats out there.
But whatever. If they build this, I'll buy one, and I bet a lot of other digicam enthusiasts will, too.
Of course, an iPod as digital wallet might not be the holy grail any more with high-capacity flash cards getting cheaper. Not to mention that there are just way too many flash formats out there.
But whatever. If they build this, I'll buy one, and I bet a lot of other digicam enthusiasts will, too.
mxpiazza said:
I disagree. They'd be completely different markets. An iPod Mini with Photo capability would have only 5-6 GB of space. It'd be for people who want photo capabilities but can't afford an iPod Photo. The Photo would be for people who want many gigs of photos.
When the 5th gen iPods with color screens come the iPod Photo may very well disappear. Or be replaced with an iPod Video witha faster processor.
True..but
I find the clicking songs useful when traveling or walking (help me count and such where i am when searching for anything) but ill turn it off if i want to do some concentrated music listening. I find the astetics of the 3gens were much nicer than the ugle gray wheel, but i think the clickwheel is much more functional and saves some time. form over function. an on going debate
ClarkeB said:
I find the clicking songs useful when traveling or walking (help me count and such where i am when searching for anything) but ill turn it off if i want to do some concentrated music listening. I find the astetics of the 3gens were much nicer than the ugle gray wheel, but i think the clickwheel is much more functional and saves some time. form over function. an on going debate
LOL
Yeah..and i thought..just turned fourteen.maby invest in apple a learn about the stock market..but after these names theyve been whipping out..seems unstable...
Graphulator..what a joke
GFLPraxis said:
Yeah..and i thought..just turned fourteen.maby invest in apple a learn about the stock market..but after these names theyve been whipping out..seems unstable...
Graphulator..what a joke
that was my point, the clickwheel is awesome... sarcasm, my friend, sarcasm!
DickArmAndHarT said:
Awesome.
Now, about that color screen, that even works on a sunny day.... why can't they put that on a freakin' laptop, already! Backlit diplays work so well in the dark, indoors... but the whole beauty of a laptop is that it moves! So why is it impossible to use my PB in a park on a sunny day? I mean, I understand it, technologically-the ammount of backlight it can provide is nowhere near the power of the sun, and we just don't notice quite how vast this diffrenece is, because our eyes are so good at adjusting.
But, for a long, long time now, I've been looking for apple to introduce a display that's both backlit, and returns light from the front. It's pretty sad that I can read a book outside and in, but not a screen on a three thousand dollar computer. I was thinking, you just put a mirror in back, except that then light coming in at an angle would be colored by the pixel it came from, and then by the pixel it went to. Instead you would need to make a mirror of a bunch of tiny conic sections, so the light went in and out the same pixel.
But that shouldn't be so hard?
Anyway, I highly approve of a color screen and bigger HD, though it should be interesting what they do with that color screen. Not allowing photos seems silly, since it would just be a software issue, but then it would mess up the whole ipod line. Maybe they'll show album art, and introduce photo capabilities later. And then the'll smack a screen on the shuffle, too. heh.
Now, about that color screen, that even works on a sunny day.... why can't they put that on a freakin' laptop, already! Backlit diplays work so well in the dark, indoors... but the whole beauty of a laptop is that it moves! So why is it impossible to use my PB in a park on a sunny day? I mean, I understand it, technologically-the ammount of backlight it can provide is nowhere near the power of the sun, and we just don't notice quite how vast this diffrenece is, because our eyes are so good at adjusting.
But, for a long, long time now, I've been looking for apple to introduce a display that's both backlit, and returns light from the front. It's pretty sad that I can read a book outside and in, but not a screen on a three thousand dollar computer. I was thinking, you just put a mirror in back, except that then light coming in at an angle would be colored by the pixel it came from, and then by the pixel it went to. Instead you would need to make a mirror of a bunch of tiny conic sections, so the light went in and out the same pixel.
But that shouldn't be so hard?
Anyway, I highly approve of a color screen and bigger HD, though it should be interesting what they do with that color screen. Not allowing photos seems silly, since it would just be a software issue, but then it would mess up the whole ipod line. Maybe they'll show album art, and introduce photo capabilities later. And then the'll smack a screen on the shuffle, too. heh.
Awesome.
Now, about that color screen, that even works on a sunny day.... why can't they put that on a freakin' laptop, already! Backlit diplays work so well in the dark, indoors... but the whole beauty of a laptop is that it moves! So why is it impossible to use my PB in a park on a sunny day? I mean, I understand it, technologically-the ammount of backlight it can provide is nowhere near the power of the sun, and we just don't notice quite how vast this diffrenece is, because our eyes are so good at adjusting.
But, for a long, long time now, I've been looking for apple to introduce a display that's both backlit, and returns light from the front. It's pretty sad that I can read a book outside and in, but not a screen on a three thousand dollar computer. I was thinking, you just put a mirror in back, except that then light coming in at an angle would be colored by the pixel it came from, and then by the pixel it went to. Instead you would need to make a mirror of a bunch of tiny conic sections, so the light went in and out the same pixel.
But that shouldn't be so hard?
Anyway, I highly approve of a color screen and bigger HD, though it should be interesting what they do with that color screen. Not allowing photos seems silly, since it would just be a software issue, but then it would mess up the whole ipod line. Maybe they'll show album art, and introduce photo capabilities later. And then the'll smack a screen on the shuffle, too. heh.
Now, about that color screen, that even works on a sunny day.... why can't they put that on a freakin' laptop, already! Backlit diplays work so well in the dark, indoors... but the whole beauty of a laptop is that it moves! So why is it impossible to use my PB in a park on a sunny day? I mean, I understand it, technologically-the ammount of backlight it can provide is nowhere near the power of the sun, and we just don't notice quite how vast this diffrenece is, because our eyes are so good at adjusting.
But, for a long, long time now, I've been looking for apple to introduce a display that's both backlit, and returns light from the front. It's pretty sad that I can read a book outside and in, but not a screen on a three thousand dollar computer. I was thinking, you just put a mirror in back, except that then light coming in at an angle would be colored by the pixel it came from, and then by the pixel it went to. Instead you would need to make a mirror of a bunch of tiny conic sections, so the light went in and out the same pixel.
But that shouldn't be so hard?
Anyway, I highly approve of a color screen and bigger HD, though it should be interesting what they do with that color screen. Not allowing photos seems silly, since it would just be a software issue, but then it would mess up the whole ipod line. Maybe they'll show album art, and introduce photo capabilities later. And then the'll smack a screen on the shuffle, too. heh.
This is like a slap in the face to my PC user roomate who just finally gave in and bought an ipod mini last week and received it today when this rumor was posted. I was laughing so hard but I also bought a shuffle at MacWorld and are now contemplating upgrading it to the new ipod minis. I use the shuffle everyday at the gym and can't imagine having something stuck on my arm vs around my neck, it's been working out great! (no pun intended). However I do miss having a screen - especially if it's going to be color, multiple playlist, and having my whole collection on me, since I only have 5 gigs worth of songs anyways.
Should I eBay the shuffle.. or would it be ridiculous to have both a shuffle and a color ipod mini? I know my roomate is going to eat the restocking fee and send his ipod mini back. Dam you Apple for updating the ipod mini's so close to the ipod shuffle.
Should I eBay the shuffle.. or would it be ridiculous to have both a shuffle and a color ipod mini? I know my roomate is going to eat the restocking fee and send his ipod mini back. Dam you Apple for updating the ipod mini's so close to the ipod shuffle.
BWhaler said:
Exactly what I am waiting for. My brother got a mini, and i think its the coolest thing I have seen. I just cant give up the 20GB on my 3G. 10GB I can manage to deal with I think.
I also think, that the longer they can make battery life the better. Even if some of you don't think you'll use it, there are people who will find some way to.