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iPod New iPods soon?

E

ericinboston

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jan 13, 2008
2,072
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Howdy folks...I've been waiting since last Fall to here some kind of rumor (or a wishlist) about the next generation iPods. It's getting "about that time" for Apple to release a refresh...sometime around early May if I were to guess. Have any of you heard of anything or dying for a particular feature/size?

I'm particularly looking for your comments around the next Classic...

Here are my thoughts:

1)I'm a music collector and own over 20,000 songs. Yes, own...not pirated. :) All at 192k CBR so they eat up just about 120gigs.

2)Therefore, I have an iPod Classic 160gig which is now 2 generations old. I was HUGELY disappointed last Fall when the "new" Classics maxed out at 120gig and well, that seems to be it for "new features"...they downsized the drive and lowered the price. They may have changed the case a tad but nothing earth shattering as far as I know.

3)I can't fathom that Apple shrunk the drive due to their belief "well, 120gig is more than enough for anyone" since a)more and more people are storing videos/movies on their iPods and b)more and more people are storing WAV or Apple Lossless on their iPods so as to have as high quality as possible.


I'm hoping that the next release of the iPod Classic will be a 64gig or 120gig Flash based system. I really don't want to hear all the chatter about how these sizes are too expensive or not "the same" as Flash USB...the point is that the sizes ARE available and when MASS PRODUCED in the fashion of Apple's quantity, are relatively cheap. Nuff said.

I'm also hoping that the Classics (or whatever "large" iPod they release) will have an improved display. Don't get me wrong, my 2-gen-old Classic is great for what it is, but man would it be cool to have even a slightly better display.

I would also love to see a larger display...


So, what are your thoughts? I'm particularly looking for comments around the Classic or iTouch (if you think maybe these 2 will merge someday)...the Nanos are nice but waaaaaay too small in storage size.

-Eric
 
1) Apple almost always does iPod revisions in the fall. The recent iPod shuffle is an exception to that rule.

2) You're in the extreme minority as far as storage goes. I'm not saying I couldn't use all of that 120 or 160GB, but there are very few people who want that at the expense of the iPhone or iPod touch features.

3) FYI there is no such thing as an "iTouch." You've probably seen dozens of people on here mistakenly put that. iPhone or iPod touch.

4) You might as well count the days down on the iPod classic. It's the last iPod that uses a HDD, and Apple makes a killing from the App Store. Maybe the iPod classic will get one more refresh with a larger HDD, but I'm betting this is the last generation for it. There will likely be a 64GB iPod touch this fall, and then maybe 128GB iPod touch the next year. It all depends on how fast the flash chips can be developed.

If you haven't tried one, I would really suggest checking out an iPod touch. I'm surviving (barely) with my 8GB iPhone after two years of a 30GB iPod. You have to learn how to live with playlists and limited space, but the apps and extra features make it worth it. I don't recall how I lived without mobile e-mail or Internet before. I also love the iShoot game to kill about 10 minutes, and I'm psyched to try out the MLB At Bat app for gameday audio.
 
Michael CM1 said:
1) Apple almost always does iPod revisions in the fall. The recent iPod shuffle is an exception to that rule.

2) You're in the extreme minority as far as storage goes. I'm not saying I couldn't use all of that 120 or 160GB, but there are very few people who want that at the expense of the iPhone or iPod touch features.

4) You might as well count the days down on the iPod classic. It's the last iPod that uses a HDD, and Apple makes a killing from the App Store. Maybe the iPod classic will get one more refresh with a larger HDD, but I'm betting this is the last generation for it. There will likely be a 64GB iPod touch this fall, and then maybe 128GB iPod touch the next year. It all depends on how fast the flash chips can be developed.

If you haven't tried one, I would really suggest checking out an iPod touch. .
Click to expand...


Mmmm...I wouldn't say that I am the minority as far as capacity. I mean, really, I agree I am in a minority of people who own enough music to fill a 100gig medium...sure. However, I am by no means excessive when I look at the tons of other users walking around with 100MB video files on their iPods while I have my paltry 8MB 192k mp3 file. :) Apple surely will have to keep growing "the size" of iPods. If you look back to 1999 when I got my first 32MB mp3 player...even 16GB nowadays is leaps and bounds from 32MB. That's 50 times the storage capacity in about 10 years. I think you will find that my 120+gig "library" is not that outlandish....maybe just for music, but considering that more and more iPoders out there watch videos, free drive space gets sucked up very quickly. :)

I could really care less about video on a tiny iPod screen....gimme 100+gigs on a flash based iPod system and I'll be in line at 3am. :) I feel the HDD iPods are slower than mud even compared to my wife's 1st generation flash Nano. I think the Nano's are very very cool...but FAR too small (in storage capacity) than I or even a lot of my friends need.

As for #4 above, I don't care what my new and improved iPod will be called...heck, Apple's changed the iPod's names about 8 times since its birth. But I can tell you this: 64GB Flash chips (again, let's save the "Flash isn't iPod solid state" argument for another day) are being sold routinely for $75...and that's RETAIL price...consider wholesale and/or direct manufacturer AND the fact that Apple would be buying them in humungous quantities only underscores the fact that the chips are available very cheaply...and have been for over a year...and unless Apple makes huge changes to the iPod's firmware and software, there really ain't much R&D that Apple needs to do from that perspective...so it's pure gravy to make very slight alterations to the newer iPods while just stuffing them with cheaper/faster/smaller guts.

I know one of Apple's continual goals is to feed their giant margin...so "refreshes" will come out once a year (which is fine) for the iPods while Apple rakes in the cash...If you truly believe it's September 2009 for the new iPods I will be severely bummed....and extremely severely bummed if all they do is release a 32gig Nano and a 64gig Touch.
 
september - apple has a back to school special for college students. if you buy a mac you get a free ipod via rebate to help drive sales of computers and to clear out old stock. The sale ends the first few days into september then apple has a special event day for launch the new ipods. Just in time for college students moving into there dorms and walk to english 101 :p
 
puckhead193 said:
september - apple has a back to school special for college students. if you buy a mac you get a free ipod via rebate to help drive sales of computers and to clear out old stock. The sale ends the first few days into september then apple has a special event day for launch the new ipods. Just in time for college students moving into there dorms and walk to english 101 :p
Click to expand...

Uggg...I can't wait another 6 months...I've been waiting for about 1.5 years for a nice big flash-based system...and the big "this sucks" point about last Fall's new iPod lineup was about flash based disk space being so miniscule.

I'd hate to switch to a non-Apple device but I'm going nuts here with this poky hard-drive based system in 2009. I have never looked at the Zune but maybe it's time...

-Eric
 
I am enjoying the idea that the 8 GB iPhone user said: "make playlists".
Listen. My Library is ~875 songs strong, but I don't listen to even 25% on a regular basis. Hey, I understand that you like A LOT of types of music. Odds are though, you have that Dexter's Laboratory of forgotten stuff.

In the end, just let go of what you don't need or actively listen to within the last couple of months. And anyway....

20,000 songs x 3:30 seconds (avg) = ~48.6 DAYS of music straight. Really man..... REALLY?
 
ericinboston said:
2)Therefore, I have an iPod Classic 160gig which is now 2 generations old. I was HUGELY disappointed last Fall when the "new" Classics maxed out at 120gig ...

...

I'm hoping that the next release of the iPod Classic will be a 64gig or 120gig Flash based system. ...
Click to expand...

If your main complaint is capacity, why are you fixated on a 120 gb flash system?

Apple surely will have to keep growing "the size" of iPods. If you look back to 1999 when I got my first 32MB mp3 player...even 16GB nowadays is leaps and bounds from 32MB. That's 50 times the storage capacity in about 10 years. I think you will find that my 120+gig "library" is not that outlandish....maybe just for music, but considering that more and more iPoders out there watch videos, free drive space gets sucked up very quickly. :)
Click to expand...

I don't think anyone doubts that capacity will keep growing, but at the moment it's just a question of when. If it's not soon enough for you, you'll either have to a) wait or b) find an alternative.
 
yep, i too have approx 140 gigs of music, tons of rare underground stuff, and i listen(ed) to ALL OF IT...

its about 60 days of music so far... and its growing... so i hope they make a 200 gig ipod classic...

i KNOW i wont be listening to em in one sitting, but the point is to skip to ANY song i have EVER had right away, without going "ohh crap its not on there, gotta wait till i take it home"... having the ability to switch to that one song when ur immediately in that certain mood to listen to it.

plus, genius feature on a 200gb library? thats gotta be some interesting findings.

it may sound sorta psychotic, but its a crucial thing in my every day life now.


im crazy, what can i say?...

edit: and yea, the new ipods (as always) come in september just after the 'back-to-school promotion' (to upsell apple stuff by getting rid of old ipod stock) ends.
 
I agree with ericinboston- ipod no longer just store music. People now want to have movies, tv shows, music videos, podcasts, audiobooks, games and applications on their ipods as well as music- so greater capacity ipods are needed.

In the next gen ipods it would be nice to have

-bigger capacity
-fair greater battery life
-oled screen (perhaps:p)
 
miles01110 said:
If your main complaint is capacity, why are you fixated on a 120 gb flash system?
Click to expand...

Because Apple took a step backwards with the last Classic. And I don't need to stop at 120gigs...I think ultimately if I had 200gigs that would be all I need since all I store is music.

Now, sure, maybe someday I will spend months re-ripping all my music to WAV *IF* there was a portable device to store it all...but I don't see that day coming for a few years.

And the fixation about Flash vs. HDD is pretty obvious...speed, weight, battery life, size of iPod...
 
Gyrferret said:
Hey, I understand that you like A LOT of types of music. Odds are though, you have that Dexter's Laboratory of forgotten stuff.

In the end, just let go of what you don't need or actively listen to within the last couple of months. And anyway....

20,000 songs x 3:30 seconds (avg) = ~48.6 DAYS of music straight. Really man..... REALLY?
Click to expand...

I know...I can't possibly listen to all tunes every hour of the day. But I'm a person who listens to a lot of different music as well as I just plain listen to a lot OF music every day of my life.

My point is that there are people out there like me that have large music collections. And heck, I only ripped at 192k. Think about these other situations:

1)people who rip at 320k or WAV or Lossless...they will fill up their iPod much faster than me
2)people who want to store that 100MB video or a few gigs (or tens of gigs) of videos
3)people who want to utilize the iPod as a Flash Drive for computer-to-computer file storage
 
ericinboston said:
Because Apple took a step backwards with the last Classic. And I don't need to stop at 120gigs...I think ultimately if I had 200gigs that would be all I need since all I store is music.

And the fixation about Flash vs. HDD is pretty obvious...speed, weight, battery life, size of iPod...
Click to expand...

But how does a 120 (probably 128) GB flash iPod solve your storage problem? You'll most likely wind up having to choose between flash and larger capacity.
 
160gb

You can always search for a new 160GB iPod. I'm sure a bunch of resellers have a ton of them plus some refurbs for probably the same price as the 120GB.

But my Apple philosophy is: wait til the new one comes out. If you don't like the new one, buy the old one for cheaper through the Apple Certified Refurbished page, through a reseller, or sometimes Apple even has stock of new older models (for example: you can still buy the old iPod Shuffle NEW from Apple)

Edit: I just don't quite understand how anyone has over 40 days worth of music and actually LIKES all of it. Aren't there songs in your library that you just don't like? I used to have a 60GB collection and realized that I only listened to a fraction of it. I got rid of MOST of my music. Most of it was stuff I used to like (angsty teen music... when I was a teen), but don't any more. Seriously analyze your library and seriously ask yourself "Do I really listen to this? Do I enjoy this song?" My music library is now 5GB, and it fluctuates. I discover new music, it goes up to 6 or 7GB. I realize that I really don't like some of it or that I have grown tired of some of my old music, it goes down to 4 or 5GB. Let go of your obsessive-compulsive music pack-ratting habits. Let go of the music you dislike!

Oh yeah, and I do understand music quality versus quantity. I'd honestly rather have my stuff in a lossless format, but that's just really impractical with the iPhone 8GB/16GB, which I plan to get as soon as the next revision comes out (hopefully soon!) I like lossless for the principal, though, so it doesn't matter to me. 256kbps AAC is almost equivalent to 512kbps MP3.
 
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What I was stating with the 20,000 music overkill was what the post above me was saying: that you cannot possibly listen to EVERY song. And I bet you that even if you DID listen to every song, it would only have been for a couple of minutes.

And if that doesn't float your boat, how about compress your music to a whopping 4 kbps?

4 kb/s – minimum achieved for encoding recognizable speech (using special-purpose speech codecs)
8 kb/s – telephone quality
32 kb/s – MW quality
192 kb/s – Nearly CD quality for a file compressed in the MP3 format
1,411 kb/s – CD audio (uncompressed, 16 bit samples × 44.1 kHz × 2 channels)

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_rate_units#Examples
 
Michael CM1 said:
and Apple makes a killing from the App Store.
Click to expand...

Do we have any evidence of this? My understanding was that Apple simply wants to run the App Store as a "break even" operation - by giving the money made to the developers, you encourage more apps, which makes the iPhone/Touch a more attractive platform.
 
I think I agree with the OP. I was very disappointed last fall - I had simply expected to get a 240gb or even a 320gb Classic. I've got over 13000 songs in Lossless that total over 400gb and I want access to almost all. I figure the HDD Classic won't survive the next upgrade (or at best, simply carry on unchanged) and it will be years before capacity gets back to the I already have with my 160gb classic. It's really a shame.
amk29j said:
I just don't quite understand how anyone has over 40 days worth of music and actually LIKES all of it. Aren't there songs in your library that you just don't like? I used to have a 60GB collection and realized that I only listened to a fraction of it. I got rid of MOST of my music. Most of it was stuff I used to like (angsty teen music... when I was a teen), but don't any more. Seriously analyze your library and seriously ask yourself "Do I really listen to this? Do I enjoy this song?" My music library is now 5GB, and it fluctuates. I discover new music, it goes up to 6 or 7GB. I realize that I really don't like some of it or that I have grown tired of some of my old music, it goes down to 4 or 5GB. Let go of your obsessive-compulsive music pack-ratting habits. Let go of the music you dislike!
Click to expand...

I've seen these posts before. Obviously, with an ipod that can hold only about half of what I'd like to carry I already have to pick-and-choose. I just don't want to. I don't know how many times I've been in a music conversation at work and wanted to play a specific, obscure song - but I had to leave it off the iPod. The technology is there, expand the capacity. I'm very happy for those that can pair their collections down to some core (I've done this for my Nano that I use on some occassions), but I want the whole library with me. Seriously, I don't NEED any songs with me at all time, but I do WANT all of them.

Oh, and I'll be very upset if the eventualy Classic replacement is in the Touch form factor. I've had an iPhone since day 1, and the iPod function is used less than almost every other feature. The sliders are imprecise, it is difficult to navigate in general, I can't do anything when it is in Landsape mode. Seriously, try to move within a song or podcast that is over 20 minutes long. That slider is maddening.
 
Foxer said:
Do we have any evidence of this? My understanding was that Apple simply wants to run the App Store as a "break even" operation - by giving the money made to the developers, you encourage more apps, which makes the iPhone/Touch a more attractive platform.
Click to expand...

What? Why would you not want to profit in business???
Of course they are making a killing...

Where is your proof of them calling it a "break even" operation? Just assumed? ;)

google....
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Analyst-App-Store-Could-Net-Apple-1-2-Billion-by-2009-87956.shtml

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/06/11/apples_app_store_could_emerge_as_1_2b_business_by_2009.html
 
ericinboston said:
If you truly believe it's September 2009 for the new iPods I will be severely bummed....and extremely severely bummed if all they do is release a 32gig Nano and a 64gig Touch.
Click to expand...
I actually believe this will happen.

iPod classic…probably one more revision.
 
Some of you guys

Look, first of all, telling a guy to pare down his library not only doesn't solve any problems but creates one. Now he's got to choose. A big project. And why should he have to?

Second, it seems you guys aren't serious music fans or are quite young and only like one type of music. If you are really into music, and you like all kinds, then even 32gb at 192kbs (below which sound quality suffers on decent headphones)--about 450 albums--is just enough for favorites. When you are older than 25 and have been listening to a wide variety of music for your whole life, that just scratches the surface. It's true, I have many favorite albums that I haven't played for a couple of years--much less a couple of months. But I love them and I WILL play them again and I wouldn't get rid of them and if I lost my collection [talking cds and lps here] I would buy them again.

Now the reason there was no 160gb classic last time is they decided to just go with the biggest single platter 1.8" drive. It had been 80gb, and they used two in the 160gb version, and it went up to 120. This fall, I expect they will do the same--whatever the biggest 1.8" drive is, that's what they'll use. There are enough power users out there to support it until flash catches up. This will probably be the last classic, before a 96 or 128 gb touch in Sept. 2010.
 
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