Just so my earlier predictions don't get lost in the recent "crush" of expectations, here is what I expect -- audio recording yes, but no image card reader or camera features.
As for displaying the cover art, no that won't happen either. Please remember that the iPod has a monochrome, one-bit display. It can't display grayscale and a black (only) and white (only) image at the iPod's low resolution won't be able to display anything that looks like a real picture.
As for Apple's innovation. Yes, it's true that the iTunes Music Store and the iPod, taken together, offer the best digital music download and portable music player experience. But, Apple didn't make the first MP3 player and audio recording is a feature that many MP3 players already offer. So, on that feature the iPod is actually very late to the "game."
Frankly, although I own an iPod (and like it very much) I'd have to say that the glory days of the iPod are about over. The competition is getting very stiff and without a significant feature upgrade and/or price reduction the iPod is going to start to lose market share. If Apple wants to maintain a strong presence in the MP3 player field it needs offerings at lower price points. What they need is a less expensive version of the current product (hard drive based, with about 5 gigabytes of storage) and a $100 to $200 (U.S.) product that is based upon flash memory (several hours of playback with a very small form factor).
As for displaying the cover art, no that won't happen either. Please remember that the iPod has a monochrome, one-bit display. It can't display grayscale and a black (only) and white (only) image at the iPod's low resolution won't be able to display anything that looks like a real picture.
As for Apple's innovation. Yes, it's true that the iTunes Music Store and the iPod, taken together, offer the best digital music download and portable music player experience. But, Apple didn't make the first MP3 player and audio recording is a feature that many MP3 players already offer. So, on that feature the iPod is actually very late to the "game."
Frankly, although I own an iPod (and like it very much) I'd have to say that the glory days of the iPod are about over. The competition is getting very stiff and without a significant feature upgrade and/or price reduction the iPod is going to start to lose market share. If Apple wants to maintain a strong presence in the MP3 player field it needs offerings at lower price points. What they need is a less expensive version of the current product (hard drive based, with about 5 gigabytes of storage) and a $100 to $200 (U.S.) product that is based upon flash memory (several hours of playback with a very small form factor).