iTunes 4.9 NOW AVAILABLE!

[Hattig]

Could the price gap between shuffle and mini be room for the phone? Or do you think the phone, if it ever comes out, is irrelevant to the actual ipod pricing.

Either {
a 2G shuffle (do the maths, if 512MB is $99 and 1GB is $129, then 2GB would be at most $189, more likely $179.
} or {
the iPod mini 4GB will drop to $179, the 6GB to $209 and the new 8GB will come in at $249
} or {
2GB iPod Shuffle and 4GB iPod mini dropped, 6GB and 8GB minis
}

 

[s10]

Unless we see more at the media event, this was a truly stunningly bad update on Apples part. When the iPod needs significant feature additions to compete with the massive contest that is lining up against it, to simply reprice a couple models is about the single worst decision I could possibly conceive of the company making.

You mean those features nobody uses or cares about, according to sales figures?

 

[Porchland]

Yep, no problem here.
Just select advanced and "Subscribe to Podcast"
Enter the url, and that's it.

No idea yet what kind of lag time? Has anyone had one go straight through and be immediately available?

BTW, I'm listening to this Adam Curry podcast and whaaa? I don't get it. A mashup of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band" and "Paradise"?

 

[broken_keyboard]

I would assume consolidation of the Shuffle would save them money, I can't imagine manufacturing the 512MB costs more than $4 or $5 more than the 1GB version, media is cheap, margins are high

Absolutely. I actually think there should be only one Mini too.
It's much easier for the salesman to just say "here's the mini, here's the shuffle" without explaining that there are two sizes of each, as well as the two main iPods. 6 units is just too much choice. 3 or 4 iPods at the most at one time.

 

[Porchland]

Either {
a 2G shuffle (do the maths, if 512MB is $99 and 1GB is $129, then 2GB would be at most $189, more likely $179.
} or {
the iPod mini 4GB will drop to $179, the 6GB to $209 and the new 8GB will come in at $249
} or {
2GB iPod Shuffle and 4GB iPod mini dropped, 6GB and 8GB minis
}

Apple has always kept their pricing much more "neat" than that -- $99, $249, $299, etc.

Although I would hate the see the iPhone sold exclusively through one or more of the carriers, I suspect that's what will happen. Pricing will probably be tied to a service plan.

 

[Bear]

Could the price gap between shuffle and mini be room for the phone? Or do you think the phone, if it ever comes out, is irrelevant to the actual ipod pricing.

The Phone pricing is totally seperate from what iPods sell for.

You're paying for all the phone components as well. Of course, depending on where you get it from and if it is subsidized by your phone service contract is how the Phone might be priced. In the US at least, the price of a phone model can vary by a few hundred dollars depending on all the factors.

As always, if the iTunes Phone has a camera in it, I won't be able to get it. Of course, if you drain your phone playing MP3s, how will you ever use the phone?

 

[finchna]

Wonder if it's the demand that's making the podcast downloads (of the content, not iTunes49) so slow compared to music of similar length?

 

[Bear]

Wonder if it's the demand that's making the podcast downloads (of the content, not iTunes49) so slow compared to music of similar length?

Quite probably. Podcasts are downloaded from their own websites and not from Apple's server farm.

Some Podcasts come nice and quickly and some take a long time. Of course download time is also affected by what bit rate each podcast is encoded at. And some are mp3s and some are AAC encoded.

 

[feakbeak]

Do iPods require firmware updates to support Podcasts?

If so, I expect that we'll see those soon as well.

Yes there is a new iPod updater avaiable. I couldn't see my podcasts after syncing my iPod with the old firmware. For some reason I couldn't "update" though and had to use the restore feature. I'm now syncing my 20 GB up again, hopefully it won't take too long I need to leave for work soon.

 

[Mac_Freak]

I like the podcast feature, just hope we can get some more our favorite shows on.
Nice to see new iPod prices and color screens on iPod.
When it comes to the iPhone, is there a posibility of one of those phones to be designed by Apple? And then sold through Cingular (which I believe is to use iTunes enabled phones)

 

[Bear]

...

Although I would hate the see the iPhone sold exclusively through one or more of the carriers, I suspect that's what will happen. Pricing will probably be tied to a service plan.

Rememver each carrier has its own set of frequencies and and voice encoding technology. A lot of the world uses GSM on one of 3 frequencies, so for them it's not too hard to get the correct phone. In the US, you would need at least 3 or 4 different phone models for the different carriers. Canada is in somewhat the same situation. I'm not sure if it's in Apple's interests to sell phones and get returns because someone bought the wrong model.

Also, if you get the phone with a service contract, you are likely to get a discount on the phone.

 

[hob]

Yes there is a new iPod updater avaiable. I couldn't see my podcasts after syncing my iPod with the old firmware. For some reason I couldn't "update" though and had to use the restore feature. I'm now syncing my 20 GB up again, hopefully it won't take too long I need to leave for work soon.

But there's no update for the 3G... This seems pretty rubbish to me - they managed to update the 3G to be the same as the 4G... why not continue now? I'm not going to buy a new iPod just so I can have it "podcast ready"...

 

[Porchland]

Yeah, what a bummer for me, I'm in the market for a new iPod but I want 40 Gb

Hopefully they will come out with a 5G iPod soon.

though a update like this seems like they aren't going to.

Grrrr

Maybe this is a sort of 4.5 with a video and/or WiFi and/or BT coming to the iPod at MWSF in January?

 

[andiwm2003]

As always, if the iTunes Phone has a camera in it, I won't be able to get it.

why can't you get the phone when there is a camera in it? i would prefer it to have no camera, but it wouldn't stop me either. all i want is a phone that syncs flawlessly with adressbook, ical and itunes. 256 MB would do it.
but regardless of rumors, no phone at the apple store or on cingulars site.

andi

 

[notjustjay]

Unless we see more at the media event, this was a truly stunningly bad update on Apples part. When the iPod needs significant feature additions to compete with the massive contest that is lining up against it, to simply reprice a couple models is about the single worst decision I could possibly conceive of the company making.

All this happened quietly overnight, so there's got to be more. You wouldn't expect Apple to go up there and say "Hey everyone! We updated the iPods! But... er.... you guys already knew that, didn't you? You peeked at the store already, didn't you!"

 

[Bear]

But there's no update for the 3G... This seems pretty rubbish to me - they managed to update the 3G to be the same as the 4G... why not continue now? I'm not going to buy a new iPod just so I can have it "podcast ready"...

Actually, it looks like it has updates for most if not all of the iPod models. May I suggest you download it and see if it has a new firmware version for your iPod?

 

[Mac_Freak]

After updating my iPod, I got a message to connect it external power supply to reflush (or something close to it) and there was this icon showing power supply with arrow pointing to outlet. This is the first time I have seen this.

 

[Sharewaredemon]

Maybe this is a sort of 4.5 with a video and/or WiFi and/or BT coming to the iPod at MWSF in January?

Yeah, but I didn't really want to wait that long.
It's getting tough to manage 5800 songs when your iPod can only take about 4000.
Also, I just want an iPod that plays music (colour screen is fine) and holds a lot of songs, and isn't any bigger than the current 20 Gb iPod.

 

[feakbeak]

Actually, it looks like it has updates for most if not all of the iPod models. May I suggest you download it and see if it has a new firmware version for your iPod?

The Apple download page for the iPod Updater shows the 3rd Gen iPod now at software version 2.3. I don't know what it was before so I can't say if it is new.

Personally, I had to update my 4th Gen iPod from 3.02 to 3.1 with today's updater.

 

[efoto]

You mean those features nobody uses or cares about, according to sales figures?

Precisely what I was thinking. Part of the success of the iPod is that it is not cluttered with all those 'features' that people never use and could care less about. If you complicate it, it losses its simplicity (obviously) and therefore a lot of the appeal of a 'classic' mp3 player, that actually just plays mp3 reallly well

 

[stevietheb]

Podcasting...neat.

Still not going to be a happy camper until FLAC becomes playable in iTunes...that's just me. It's the only thing that I don't LOVE about iTunes.

 

[feakbeak]

Yeah, but I didn't really want to wait that long.
It's getting tough to manage 5800 songs when your iPod can only take about 4000.
Also, I just want an iPod that plays music (colour screen is fine) and holds a lot of songs, and isn't any bigger than the current 20 Gb iPod.

I'm in a similar situation. My library just outgrew my 20 GB 4th Gen iPod. I'm sure these podcasts aren't going to help either. There were several podcasts I wanted to check out but I kept putting it off and then I heard it would be natively supported in 4.9 so I waited. I'm excited to check them out now.

I want to get a new iPod with larger capacity and a color display. I'm thinking we'll see more significant updates to the iPod line in the next 6 - 12 months as this revision just seems to be merging the iPod and iPod photo lines and restructuring some prices. I'm hoping that they offer iPods with a new design - I would love to see a large capacity iPod styled after the iPod mini. I know the white acrylic holds brand value and is now iconic, but I'm not a huge fan of it. Don't get me wrong, I think it looks nice but it scuffs too easily. Plus, I just prefer the anodized aluminum look.

I'll wait for the next revision. I haven't even had my 4th Gen a year - got it when it first came out last August. Plus I can manage my iPod by syncing certain playlists to exlude music that I don't listen to often.

 

[efoto]

Absolutely. I actually think there should be only one Mini too.
It's much easier for the salesman to just say "here's the mini, here's the shuffle" without explaining that there are two sizes of each, as well as the two main iPods. 6 units is just too much choice. 3 or 4 iPods at the most at one time.

Things would be much simpler with a select few models instead of models within models.

Perhaps it should be this:

• iPod Shuffle 1GB $129
• iPod mini 6GB $229
• iPod 20GB $299
• iPod 60GB $399 (if you must have two models)
• iPod U2 at the unaffordable price of $599, realistically fine at $329 consider only 20Gb (if you really want to keep this thing around)

Can you tell I don't care for the U2. I actually like the black/red thing, a nice change however I don't really like the idea of supporting such a trendy band when there are plenty of others MORE deserving of an iPod than U2. Anyway, another rant for another thread....but perhaps the above list would be acceptable, certainly simplify the line a little bit.

 

[Sharewaredemon]

I'm in a similar situation. My library just outgrew my 20 GB 4th Gen iPod. I'm sure these podcasts aren't going to help either. There were several podcasts I wanted to check out but I kept putting it off and then I heard it would be natively supported in 4.9 so I waited. I'm excited to check them out now.

I want to get a new iPod with larger capacity and a color display. I'm thinking we'll see more significant updates to the iPod line in the next 6 - 12 months as this revision just seems to be merging the iPod and iPod photo lines and restructuring some prices. I'm hoping that they offer iPods with a new design - I would love to see a large capacity iPod styled after the iPod mini. I know the white acrylic holds brand value and is now iconic, but I'm not a huge fan of it. Don't get me wrong, I think it looks nice but it scuffs too easily. Plus, I just prefer the anodized aluminum look.

I'll wait for the next revision. I haven't even had my 4th Gen a year - got it when it first came out last August. Plus I can manage my iPod by syncing certain playlists to exlude music that I don't listen to often.

Yeah right now I only update checked songs. But it's getting way out of hand having almost 2000 songs NOT on my iPod, plus I only have 100 megs free so getting new music means I have to take stuff off.

I really need to sit down and find like 3000 songs I don't want on my iPod.

I need room to grow!

Hey when did you get your 'tar btw? I like it.

 

[moesker007]

New iPod's!

Hey everyone, I just created an account here since I come her lots, just never post. Anywho, why hasn't a stroy been created about the new ipod's yet?! I'm about to order one and the look pretty nice. A Color screen, long battery life i dunno what is not to like about em'. Anyone else like the new updates?