ChistledStone

I'm suprised no-one has reported on this, I mean it's like one of the most important things that probably has ever happened to humanity.

(Linky/)

Isn't this (excuse the hype) one of the greatest events that's happened to the iPod range. I say this because of a couple of reasons which can all be summed up by saying that this is a breakthrough for Apple.

In Australia at least, the iPods have only gone up $50 in price, but of course now they have a colour screen. This means that that either 1) Apple has cut down profit for sales (doubt it, I'm not sure how much they get) or 2) that the cost for colour screens are going down.

This obviously means great things, meaning that the production costs are going down, possibly signalling even a price drop in the future, and that as production gets more efficent, better and better things come out. In the future look out for iPod minis with colour screens. *drools*

And (although not sure about this either) that the screen has come down in size with the hard-drive, meaning that the iPod is the same size. Also indicating that the mini could be next. Also that means more size for bigger hard-drive in the future.

I could be just making 'a mountain out of a mole hill' , but I think this is one step closer to the future. And cheap Good for those who want the latest stuff but don't have the $$$.

EDIT: Title.

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Redlemon

I still can't figure out if the current 6OGB model is identical to the previous 60GB model.

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zfleebin

Redlemon: The current model appears to be the same just a bit cheaper.

I am glad they are doing this because I think the ipod is much better when it supports photos. Just think, how many devices on the market allow you to carry all of your wedding photos on your person and give you the ability to slideshow those photos on a tv with your favorite music in the background? Now we just need a firmware update to allow for video.

Willravel

Thank God that all screens will be color. That was the only copmplaint I had about my iPod.

The next steps after music and photo are video and games. Will the iPod be evolving to compete directly with the PSP? God I hope so. See Sony get taken down a few notches.

martinguerre

just put in my order...what began with my annoyance that it was taking forever to ship became my happiness at the free upgrade to a color screen.

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ChistledStone

I mentioned this before somewhere here, but the iPod Linux is a fantastic addition to the iPod. Allows you to watch video, and comes with extra games (like 30!!!) and extra functions. Ant it's under 100 megabytes.

It allows you to boot either to Apple Firmware, or Linux. Now you can be a nerd where ever you go .

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irateplatypus

my first two thoughts after reading this thread...

1) wow, neato.

2) damn, those things are still friggin expensive.

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j8ear

I understand the next step will be a cell phone ipod mp3 player, photoviewer. With an 1.3mp camera.

Smaller, more storage, better screen...you know the usual upgrades.

I hadn't heard anything about gaming...but it does make sense, after they have your all in one belt side appliance tweeked out with mp3, phone, photo, and video viewer, camera (still and video)...plus a PDA of some sort.

Gizmodo had a review and the latest release of the instruction files contains some veiled reference to phone operation, , iirc.

-bear

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sadistikdreams

Man, I'm soo lucky.

So my gen 4 ipod break, hard drive failure. I call em up the exact day that they release the 20g color ipods. Turns out that they're gonna send me a color replacement.

YES!

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ChistledStone

Awww man! I'm tempted to 'accidentally' break my iPod Mini just to get the second gen ones. You just inspired me for a criminal act. Good Job

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mercury-hg

plenty of other mp3 players on the market do this now for less $$, better sound quality, and no ties to proprietary format. iRiver, iAudio, etc

hulk

Yeah, but Apple rocks. So there.

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Willravel

Wow! Which mobile provider will they do with? Or will they do what Apple does best and do it themselves?! I'm gonna pass out!

Redlemon

Working with Motorola.

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ChistledStone

Coming out very soon. Also just wanted to amend the fact that the new iPod, the prices went down, not up. My mistake! So even better.

Most other mp3 players are more expensive, and most of them have millions of buttons and difficult interfaces but the iPod has 1 simple scroll wheel, and a easy interface. And of course it's not just the product, it's the name. And of course it has millions of add-ons by other companies.

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kofspades

I love Apple's commercials for the iPods. All faceless beings listening to their product. It's nice that Apple really knows their consumer base.

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Willravel

I have a face, it's just that I can't dance!

snowy

I just gotta keep reminding myself that my U2 special edition iPod is awesome, even without a color screen...

Maybe once I get a job where I'm making the big bucks will I be able to afford a second, better iPod with a color screen. I wuv my iPod.

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brandon11983

What proprietary format? You mean the vastly superior (and still very much in its infancy) AAC format? You have the option of encoding them into the piss-poor MP3 format if you so desire. There is even a LAME MP3 plugin for iTunes, but its still inferior to AAC. On the note of sound quality, it is a complete moot point. I guarantee you cannot hear a difference between iPod and some other piece of shit player when it is being used in its environment. Who really uses an iPod or some other audio player as a dedicated listening source? That's the only way one could reveal any differences. Take them both out into the world, downtown with car noise, riding a bike to work, etc.... you won't hear a bit of difference. iPod still has the ease of use going for them too over pretty much any other player out there. Look at any of its competitors and you see a mass of buttons. Look at iPod and you have a click wheel that doubles as a volume and scroller, basic transport functions (play, fast forward, rewind, etc....) and a select button. It couldn't be easier.

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ChistledStone

Hear, hear! Finally someone realizes that iPods aren't just another music player. They are THE music player. All other competition really spawned off it, and iPod has a simple interface and is well.. an iPod.

Now all I have to do is explain that to my wallet

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mercury-hg

1) brandon, of all people on the board, is claiming that sound quality isn't paramount? what the hell is going on here? anyway, i listen to my iRiver H10 (and once listened to my Karma (RIP)) at work, in a quite environment, for hours a day. the HP filter on the output of the headphone amp on the iPod creates a noticable degredation in bass response for the sake of battery life. not to mention its sound quality is generally inferior. the extremely customizable equalizer on the Karma is very effective for accounting for environmental and headphone variations.

2) for what it offers, the iPod is the most expensive player on the market packaged with the fewest accessories.

3) i found the interface of the Karma to be MORE intuitive/convenient than the iPod, and the iRiver on par with the iPod

4) life is easier with 192 VBR mp3s and without iTunes.

Cynthetiq

you can do that on a Treo or Palm now, I believe you can also do it on a PocketPC.

People move .Tivo files to playback as well....

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brandon11983

Yes, yes, strange as it may sound, I'm not fussing about sound quality on this note. Again, maybe there are some differences between the two players can be revealed when used in a "perfect" environment. But, truth be told, this simply is not how a portable music player will be used. Who really listens to an iPod or Karma or whatever as a home audio component? I stand by my statement above. Take an iPod and a Karma out into the world (like it will be used) and I promise you that you won't hear any difference. When competing against city noise, navigating around people, bus/train noise, the differences just aren't readily apparent. iPods and such are used most frequently as something to listen to when going somewhere or doing something else. There is just too much other stuff going on around us in the world do consciously notice the sound quality or lack thereof of a digital audio player. And that my friends, is why Brandon, the undying audiophile/perfectionist, is not concerned with the sound quality of his digital audio player.

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tres

Its about time that they combined some of this stuff. I think the market for mp3 players is advancing so quickly that its flooding the market with so many different models for similar prices. I personally am currently looking at purchasing the Creative ZEN SLEEK that will be released shortly... its going to be the first one to be pretty competitive mp3 player to the IPOD. This might be why Apple decided to combine the color screen and make it standard, since that is the only feature that the ZEN Sleek it lacking.. but for me, the color screen is a mute point. If I want media I'll bring my laptop.... I want MUSIC... In case your interested, here is a little article about Creative ZEN Sleek.. Its not on the Creative website just yet...

http://engadget.com/entry/1234000723048894/

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brandon11983

That is a neat looking product and I cannot bash it. I would still prefer an iPod, as I am so sold on iTunes and the AAC codec. FM radio and WMA (*cough*) support be damned, the styling on iPod just fits me to a T.

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Ruse

Who the hell is going to listen to the radio on an mp3 player?

Everytime I see one of these little arguments a person brings up a player that has FM radio. Big deal... its radio. I might understand if its sattelite radio, but its not. Not to mention these players support the perfect format that is WMA...

brandon11983

We're all thinking it, but I didn't want to be the first to say it...

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tres

While your half right.... Its still nice to have...... and...yes..I can't wait till XM comes out with a product like XM MYFI with an mp3 players build in... I would pay for that...

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Bratwurst

I'm with you on this. I would love to have an iPod mini, but I can't justify the expense. Too many other things I want to have as well and a new baby about to be born. Maybe once they're under $100. Not sooner.

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muckluck

Iriver needs to release a XM addon for their H320. That would be the ultimate MP3 player/accesory combo. The only way the Ipod is superior over other players has to be in it's ease of navigation. I mean that finger dial is freakin' cool. But other then that I find that players like the H320 and Iaudio are the superior players. Oh and the FM radio on my H320 came in handy when I dropped the player from 15ft up onto a hard time floor and it suffered a head crash. I couldn't listen to my audio files, but I had a good local radio station to listen to .

-- edit --

I forgot to mention that you can put the Korean firmware onto a H320 to play videos, but you lose the the ability to play protected wma's (not that that's a big loss ). Video's on an mp3 player are only good for when you have to sit stationary for a few hours and that is all you have to do. I mean mpegs at 15 FPS (surprisingly smooth for only 15 fps) on a 3 inch screen aren't that fun.

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seven7

still don't understand the craze about Ipods holding pictures, phones and all....small screens limited detail...seems too much like a novelty to spend the extra cash for.

Cynthetiq

exactly... I think the screen on my Palm Tungsten C is close to minimum acceptable size.

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j8ear

Now that's a sweet machine. Does the C also play mp3s?

I've been eyballing some of the HP/Compaq pocket PCs, especially the 4700 series machine's for a while, but having trouble justifying the replacement of my 50 dollar daytimers. I just love to 'write things down,' but really hate not having what I've written down repeat every year.

That's the dilema I guess.

As for the IPOD, I think I would explore a phone with IPOD like features...but probably not an IPOD with some phone functionality. Although apple would probably do both well.

-bear

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Cynthetiq

yes plays mp3s and movies. Movies are converted to something that works for the screen dimensions which also makes them much smaller in size. A 1Gb SD card holds quite an amount. The new Palm LIfeDrive has a 4Gb HD in it...

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I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.