Secret 4G iPod Features?

[Stella]

Apple are taking the piss... for all we know, the "hidden features" could be really trival.

Apple - if you reveal what the "hidden features" are, I'd buy an iPod tomorrow - if the functionality was good

Bare in mind, I have a G2 iPod.. it played music two years ago, and it still plays music today... the "hidden" features will have to be impressive for me to upgrade so I can still listen to music.


This is child's play "OOOHHH.. did you know the new iPod has hidden featuress... WHAOOOOOO we aren't going to tell YOU want they are though"!!!

 

[AirUncleP]

Hidden Feature #17
Menu Menu Play Play 2 Counter Clockwise revolutions Play

Original Apple Logo pops up.

 

[GregA]

A few things come to mind

Home on iPod:
... Especially adding all the .Mac features. Now that might also keep an entire copy of your still photo library, so it's available on other machines you go to.

Upload photos from a digital camera:
Do you have a digital camera. How about uploading your 256MB worth of shots to store them on the iPod, and then clear your camera memory to continue taking shots. No viewing on the iPod - just a storage area. They upload to your computer on the next connection (either sync directly into iPhoto via "Home on iPod", or the iPod could pretend to be a digital camera?)

yeah I think there was a rumor/news item a while back that the maker of the chipset had been working toward on-the-fly MPEG-4 encoding/decoding for the iPod. Then think of the new QT/MPEG-4 codec announced at WWDC. Sounds like the iPod could become the set-top box (with AirPort Express).

I think the iPod should stay portable. I'd love to see an Apple set top box though.

Video via DV files over Firewire:
That said.... would the iPod need to do much really? If there's a TV with Firewire-input - could the iPod just pretend to be a hard disk and allow the DV file to be opened? (not much effort for the iPod!!!!) Or maybe the iPod could pretend to be a Video Camera - then the TV uses standard commands to "play", "fast forward" etc and the iPod streams the file. (On the MPEG4 note - if the TV can't accept MPEG-4... maybe it's too hard for the iPod to convert the file to DV on the fly? Not sure here).

 

[dicklacara]

Home?

Home?

Why do you need home?

Your iPod shows up in the finder, where you can make folders & store files just like any other external drive.

You can also see it from a terminal window with:

ls -la /Volumes

You can't see the iPod music, etc from the Finder, but can from the Terminal window.

A lot of photographers dump camera memory to the the iPod, when on a shoot.

I've got pics, files and even my VirtualPC C drive on mine.

Oh, and I have ColdFusion MX and Jetty running completely from the iPod -- never know when I might need to do an impromptu demo of my web applications.

No big deal, really!

Dick

 

[rich22]

I think I know what it is

i think i have it, it's i/o recording with a digital i/o aswell. If you look in the headphone socket theres a digital i/o. Isn't there?

 

[Porchland]

I really don't think we're gonna see video on the iPod.

I agree. Steve Jobs has said as much.

Where do you watch movies/videos most? 1)TV and 2) Computer. You aren't going to watch videos on the tiny iPod screen, you're going to watch it on your TV, so why use the iPod.

Mobility. A mobile, video-enabled iPod would be VOD that goes anywhere.

Why would you want to take video from your computer, put it on your iPod, and then put it on your TV? Why not just go directly from the computer to the TV? Or even through something like an Airport Express?

I think you'll be able to do both. If you're home: Download last night's "Sopranos" on iTMS (iMedia?) >> Network it to your set-top box or directly to your TV through AE >> Watch Tony Soprano maim and murder. If you you want to take it on the road: Sync your iPod.

Other than that, you might watch it movies in your car. Keep the movies on the iPod, plug into the car, and access the movies directly from the mounted monitor in your car (power would be supplied by the car).

Exactly.

I'm not saying I think any of this is going to happen in the near future, I doubt it will, but it could be a possibility eventually.

I think a set-top box is going to be the best bet for Apple->TV, or maybe use Tivo (remember the rumored deal with Tivo?).

With a more scalable codec -- H.264/AVC -- coming in the spring with Tiger, iPod would be on more even footing with TiVo as far as storage capacity is concerned. From a user standpoint, though, I would expect iTMS (iMedia?) to function more like VOD, i.e., I think you'll be downloading specific content rather than recording whatever happens to be on.

And that's probably the future of content anyway. HBO already shows "Sopranos" a half-dozen or more times during the week AND on HBO on Demand. For more and more people, Sunday night is just another time. (I watched this week's "Nip/Tuck" last night because it just happened to be on and because I missed it Tuesday.)

For now, I would like the ability to automatically sync photos and movies to an iPod for access on all computers (with which I would want an iTunes for video app (and for the Tivo deal)).

I think you can more or less do this now for any kind of file that's already on your computer.

 

[Jo-Kun]

if they add 'home' I'll need a +100GB iPod... I store all my pictures external & on the desktop... and I have a lot of them... so adding the iTunes Folder wich is in 'home' too... + off course the musicfiles you transferred to the iPod... well that would use a lot of space... and would have no use for me...
my 'home' folder is +/-72GB and I have 26GB of my music on my 30GB(26 in real)iPod... I f i need to transfer files I use DVD's or my 80GB LaCie or the space on my iPod (first removing all the music)

maybe it gets a shaver function & a comb ideal with the mirror on the back... the ideal travelling-man's companion
or make-up container for the female-traveller...

just wait and see I guess... and since my 3G is doing fine... no need for a new one ;-)

It's like mobile phones... mine broke down last week, I went to get a new one... and the look on the face of the salesperson when I told him: no camera, no colorscreen, no internet, no **** like that: I need a Phone so give me one where I can make phonecalls with... finally i got a colorscreen because that one had one... I got internetpre-installed wich I uninstalled immediatly... but luckily no other useless function ;-)

my iPod is my musicplayer and storage... I never use any other function, in fact I removed them all from the menu... thank god for customisation ;-)

<edit: ok I damit I wanted to use it for portable storage for my DSLR... but its sooo slow with the belkinmediareader that in fact... I use a friends iBook until I will get my own when I have the funds... its works much faster... I can watch them if needed & transfer them to my iPod before returning my friends iBook...
so maybe fast filetransfer from CF to iPod would be one reason to get a new one... but since they didn't got it working very good on the 3G...>

 

[Titian]

For me iPod needs a phone, AddressBook, iCal and Mail for the beginning.
Why should I walk around with more than one unit?

 

[Ja Di ksw]

room for click wheel?

I wonder if the iPod actually lost room for adding the click wheel. Sure, the buttons are right on the wheel now, so they aren't taking room from the surface, but what if Apple just added it b/c people liked the click wheel so much? The touch sensitive buttons didn't have to be pressed in, the click wheel does. Wouldn't this mean there isn't as much space inside for all the hardware? A small amount of missing space, yes, but its a small unit, so relatively it might matter

Keep in mind I thought of this on very, very little sleep or food.

 

[savar]

I wonder what on Earth the hidden feature(s) could be? I'm very curious what the future holds for iPod. I hope whatever they come up with further blows away any "competition."

But what is it with this hidden-secret-happy-bonus-feature-trust-us-you'll-like-it bit: why can't Apple be upfront with people for once? Either don't mention it at all, or come out and say it.

Was the juxtaposition of these two statements intentionally ironic?

For what its worth, I would compare Apple's community of followers to Bungie's--dedicated, obsessing fans. If you're into Halo at all, you might have heard that Bungie has recently (last 4 days) launched a ridiculously entrenching PR campaign for Halo2 that strings out fans with an elaborate conspiracy theory: www.ilovebees.com. So many fans are writing in to say, "What the hell? Why would Bungie be linked to something this crazy/creepy?"

The answer: to drive their true fans into pure hysteria.

Frankly, I love it.

 

[savar]

Imagine instead buying a TV and finding the only channel it receives is one owned by the TV manufacturer. Imagine that some TV channel finds a way to bypass this, and the TV manufacturer then goes out of its way to try to prevent this from working on the TV you spent that money on. Imagine too, when you complain, some ---- telling you "You're trolling right? Why would anyone want a channel other than NBC? You'd actually want to watch Fox? That'd be like going to Denny's and demanding they sell you a Big Mac."

I agree in principle, but think about this: why would you buy a TV that only got one channel? Probably because that was the only channel you were interested in watching.

I didn't buy the iPod necessarily to do anything but download music from iTMS and listen to it on the go. I bought it because I only wanted content that came through Apple. I was aware of the fact that iPod doesn't play WMA and thus knew full well that I was locking myself out of whatever other services might come out. This wasn't a decision made frivolously, either; if iTMS fails then my iPod loses a lot of value. (I should add that I own a 1G iPod, so I was in there early on.)

Real makes pretty crappy software, and they've kept mac users out for a long time with outdated offerings. Now Apple is keeping them out of the Mac. Turnabout is fair play.

The only reason that Real is coming to the party at all is to try to siphon off money from the iPod boom. I agree that a competitor to iTMS which offers music exclusively for iPod is good in principle, but what a hassle Apple will have if iPod users start calling them with problems that are Real's fault!

 

[savar]

I hope Apple finds a way to sell movies through iTunes, so that we can download those movies and put them in our iPods and than with somekind of connection watch those movies on our TV screen. I think this should not be that far away. I hope Apple is the first.

I like this idea too, but its way out in the future. (Well, "way out" means 3 years maybe.) First of all, "iTunes" implies music, not movies. iTunes doesn't even play movies, I don't know how the interface would be updated to make it do so. Second, the online store is called "iTunes Music Store"...not suitable for selling video. Last, even over a DSL/Cable connection, movies still take at least 2 to 3 hours to download. If a user's connection gets dropped during that time then there's a major problem with getting the file finished, and that hurts of ease of use.

Maybe a partnership with Blockbuster? You bring your iPod in, drop it into a kiosk, and it loads up movies you want? Problem with that is a whole new DRM scheme needed, new licensing agreements with all the major studios, blah blah blah.

Frankly I wish there was an iTunes equivalent for video. I use VLC and MPlayer, which both have playlists, but neither have have the polish of an Apple app. I have a bunch of music videos which I would like to be able to put into play lists/shuffle play, etc.

I think video on iPod is in the near future, but sadly not an online video store from Apple.

 

[jared_kipe]

I wished for color screen, if only to view pictures and contacts. There is a reason color screen phones sell better than b&w, they are easier to read. Our world hasn't been in black and white since Bewitched and the first episodes of My Three Sons.

 

[Natron]

I like this idea too, but its way out in the future. (Well, "way out" means 3 years maybe.) First of all, "iTunes" implies music, not movies. iTunes doesn't even play movies, I don't know how the interface would be updated to make it do so. Second, the online store is called "iTunes Music Store"...not suitable for selling video. Last, even over a DSL/Cable connection, movies still take at least 2 to 3 hours to download. If a user's connection gets dropped during that time then there's a major problem with getting the file finished, and that hurts of ease of use.

Maybe a partnership with Blockbuster? You bring your iPod in, drop it into a kiosk, and it loads up movies you want? Problem with that is a whole new DRM scheme needed, new licensing agreements with all the major studios, blah blah blah.

Frankly I wish there was an iTunes equivalent for video. I use VLC and MPlayer, which both have playlists, but neither have have the polish of an Apple app. I have a bunch of music videos which I would like to be able to put into play lists/shuffle play, etc.

I think video on iPod is in the near future, but sadly not an online video store from Apple.

I was thinking about this earlier. As far as movies go, what is the advantage to buying online as to buying the DVD? With music, you can buy individual tracks, but movies don't have the same advantage. I guess TV shows would, as you could buy per episode.

With DVD's you have special features, deleted scenes, etc, so would you lose out on that if you downloaded the movie? Or maybe the entire DVD would be stored in one file that would play just like you're watching a physical DVD. IMO, renting a movie online is pretty stupid, as I don't want to wait 2-3 hours to download a movie only to have it dissapear in a day or 2.

Anyway, I still don't see the point of a video iPod (YET!).

 

[njmac]

Is it possible for an administrator to edit Ahmedfaisal's post about the on/off switch to let people know it's been answered? (just in case this stays the lead rumor for another day or two, more people are bound to answer yet again) Or maby Ahmed can, where are you........

 

[GregA]

With DVD's you have special features, deleted scenes, etc, so would you lose out on that if you downloaded the movie? Or maybe the entire DVD would be stored in one file that would play just like you're watching a physical DVD. IMO, renting a movie online is pretty stupid, as I don't want to wait 2-3 hours to download a movie only to have it dissapear in a day or 2.

I'm pretty sure Quicktime can do all the things a DVD does - it was made to allow menus and selections - but I haven't seen anyone do anything with it so maybe I'm wrong. And if it can, why wouldn't Apple allow you to save something from iDVD as a quicktime file?

Also, with Fairplay I'm sure you could buy a copy and it could be playable on 3 machines, etc, just like songs. I'm sure rental is possible too. Possibility and what happens are often so different though!

Maybe a partnership with Blockbuster? You bring your iPod in, drop it into a kiosk, and it loads up movies you want? Problem with that is a whole new DRM scheme needed, new licensing agreements with all the major studios, blah blah blah.

That's an interesting idea. Overcomes the download issues. Maybe Blockbuster could encrypt a movie with Fairplay before copying it onto your iPod.

Frankly I wish there was an iTunes equivalent for video. I use VLC and MPlayer, which both have playlists, but neither have have the polish of an Apple app. I have a bunch of music videos which I would like to be able to put into play lists/shuffle play, etc.

Yeah, they need a filed movie system, like iTunes or iPhoto, but for movies. (Have you noticed that iTunes actually will accept .mov files? At the moment it only plays the sound though.)

Personally I'd like to download episodes of a show. How much does a TV channel make via ads for each viewer of a show? Apple could start just with one studio, and allow downloads at $2. For new TV series to start with, automatic world-wide distribution. Still distribute the regular way also with the proviso that the TV station knows it's being sold online.

 

[Phat_Pat]

Was the juxtaposition of these two statements intentionally ironic?

For what its worth, I would compare Apple's community of followers to Bungie's--dedicated, obsessing fans. If you're into Halo at all, you might have heard that Bungie has recently (last 4 days) launched a ridiculously entrenching PR campaign for Halo2 that strings out fans with an elaborate conspiracy theory: www.ilovebees.com. So many fans are writing in to say, "What the hell? Why would Bungie be linked to something this crazy/creepy?"

The answer: to drive their true fans into pure hysteria.

Frankly, I love it.

www.ilovebees.com


AHHHHHhhhh its driving MeEEEe MaAaadDd!!!


ok..... well staying on topic what if not the iPods but the DOCKs had something new in them. They are different docks then the other versions.... maybe theres a bluetooth or wifi or something wireless in there?

Just a thought

 

[Natron]

I'm wondering how pricing would be done. $15-$20? I don't think it would do that well if pricing was so close to the actual DVD, especially if you didn't get special features, etc.

I was wondering that if Apple were to do a video store, instead of doing movies and TV, what about doing something like iFilm, showing music videos, movie trailers, video game trailers, maybe even short films. You could also have interviews with people (stuff from MacWorld, etc.), and maybe even have special feature stuff on there, rather than the entire movie.

Maybe develop a system for people store movies they've made for other's to watch (this could also come in useful with posting GarageBand music to iTunes). I guess this could be developed through enhanced online/.Mac stuff.

Of course, if people can download movies, I think there should be a way to upload DVD's you already own into a central device (computer or set-top box or server). I saw a home video server like this in TV guide (but it was $27,000), you would copy DVD's into it and then you could access them from TV's around the house. Saw something like this on some huge yacht on TV. You could pull up a list of movies from your TV (with cover pics) and select something to watch.

Guess you'd have to figure out a way to load TV episodes individually from DVD's though.

To get back on topic, just because there is no wireless chip built-in, does not mean wireless can not be achieved by some 3rd party attachment.

And I just saw the iPod/BMW commercial, still the 3G iPod.

 

[Natron]

ok..... well staying on topic what if not the iPods but the DOCKs had something new in them. They are different docks then the other versions.... maybe theres a bluetooth or wifi or something wireless in there?

That's a good point, not that exactly, but it could have something to do with the dock.

BTW, does the dock have an audio connector like Airport Express to hook up analog or digital (5.1)?

 

[mainemike]

...if iTMS fails then my iPod loses a lot of value. (I should add that I own a 1G iPod, so I was in there early on.)

I too, have been an iPod user since 1G, back in the days when one had to burn a personal collection of CDs through iTunes.

(It's a bit ironic to me that I'm considered a "newbie" on MacRumors when in fact I've been using Macs since 1985.....long before many regulars on this site were little more than a mere twinkle in their mother's eye...)

Getting back to the point. I'd use my iPod even if iTMS folded overnight.
For me, my iPod held value back in 2001, just as it holds value today.
I do not feel that my iPod would lose value for me if iTMS folded.

Granted, iTMS is a hell of a lot of fun, very addictive, very immediate, and I really do think that it does serve as a counterweight, or balast, if you will, to illegal downloads. Took a lot of vision to see iTMS through. Takes even more to keep the ball rolling.

Dirty little secret? I loved my iPod even before iTMS.

 

[hansen]

Getting back to the point. I'd use my iPod even if iTMS folded overnight.
For me, my iPod held value back in 2001, just as it holds value today.
I do not feel that my iPod would lose value for me if iTMS folded.

iTMS? oh yeah, I read about that. I heard it should be available in Europe - but sadly Denmark is not in Europe according to Applie

I have an iPod and I'm loving it even without the iTMS that I don't have access to. www.audible.com rules!

 

[titaniumducky]

www.ilovebees.com


AHHHHHhhhh its driving MeEEEe MaAaadDd!!!


ok..... well staying on topic what if not the iPods but the DOCKs had something new in them. They are different docks then the other versions.... maybe theres a bluetooth or wifi or something wireless in there?

Just a thought

Are the docks actually different? The 4Gs have the same dock connecter plug, right? It seems to me like they would probably ship with the same docks as the 3Gs have been shipping with if they ship with the same dock connector to firewire cable.

 

[maddys_daddy]

you're kidding right? hold down the PLAY button and the machine turns off. click the HOLD switch to make sure it won't turn back on in your pocket. lastly, RTFM.

Hey, tjwett, how about RTFP (Read the frickin' posts)? You're about the 138th person to reply to ahmed with the same answer, and your tone is just plain rude.
Back on topic...
The new ipod's really have a Segway built into them. When you hold down the Play/Next/Back/Menu buttons at the same time with your fingers crossed and you're facing North, it transforms into a Segway scooter. Now that's cool. The only reason that they're holding back on this is becuase they're trying to fix a bug in the software that makes the scooter only go backwards.

 

[SWC]

Are the docks actually different? The 4Gs have the same dock connecter plug, right? It seems to me like they would probably ship with the same docks as the 3Gs have been shipping with if they ship with the same dock connector to firewire cable.

The dock itself is slightly smaller and adds the power over usb option. Beyond that the old docks work fine.

 

[Porchland]

I like this idea too, but its way out in the future. (Well, "way out" means 3 years maybe.) First of all, "iTunes" implies music, not movies. iTunes doesn't even play movies, I don't know how the interface would be updated to make it do so. Second, the online store is called "iTunes Music Store"...not suitable for selling video. Last, even over a DSL/Cable connection, movies still take at least 2 to 3 hours to download. If a user's connection gets dropped during that time then there's a major problem with getting the file finished, and that hurts of ease of use.

I respectfully disagree with every bit of that. Yeah, "iTunes" implies music. So what. iTMS already has movie trailers and videos available to watch in Quicktime, and I firmly believe Apple added that feature to ease the addition of paid video content. As far as download time, I expect the new codec to bring in a 2-hour movie at much less than 2-3 hours to download.

Maybe a partnership with Blockbuster? You bring your iPod in, drop it into a kiosk, and it loads up movies you want? Problem with that is a whole new DRM scheme needed, new licensing agreements with all the major studios, blah blah blah.

Huh? The liability implications of handing over a $300 iPod to a minimum-wage yokel is enough to smash this idea to pieces, but the real reason is that Apple doesn't need Blockbuster. There are already commercial applications of feature-length video in niche markets, and the technology is already in place for Apple to do it.

I think video on iPod is in the near future, but sadly not an online video store from Apple.

2005. Mark it.