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iPod Sept. 2010 Event Wish List

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yancey47

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 21, 2008
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I know it's not announced yet but we all know it's going to happen. With other iPod hope/prediction threads going around, this could be one to throw everything into one. Here's my main hopes (not predictions) for this years iTunes event:

iTunes 10

Upgraded quality in the iTunes store.
Keep iTunes plus but give an option to purchase music in Lossless or 320 kbs. Lossless would cost 2 bucks more and 320 1 dollar more.

HD video bumped to 30 fps and/or 1080p with better audio as well.

Lower prices on video content. 16.99 for a new HD movie, 12.99 SD. TV season passes to run about 35 each in HD, 25 SD. (US Dollars)

Many additions to iTunes Extras and LP

Along with these an iTunes plus type upgrade for a small fee. Upgrade your music to lossless and your video to the new higher quality for a small fee (or free!). Upgrade a movie or album that now has iTunes LP or Extras that previously didn't.


And of course, the hardware

New iPod touches.

New Apple TV with 4.0 software upgrade. Ability to play the new higher quality HD content. Integration with cable sports (MLB TV, NFL Network etc. for live viewing. Season passes for your favorite team, or a mega pass for everything).

But with all the higher quality downloads, storage will run out right?

One more thing... The Cloud


What are you hoping for?
 
Good list. The lossless and 320kbps options would be great, as would the mysterious cloud. Only thing you're missing is faster syncing in iTunes 10. :p
 
yancey47 said:
Upgraded quality in the iTunes store.

What are you hoping for?
Click to expand...

TOTALLY. I can't believe how half-assed the iTunes store is. It's "good enough" but it is annoying to navigate well and it doesn't help the purchaser get where they want with quick ease. Especially in the video section.

Will Apple actually turn out an Apple TV revision that is cheap and better? This rumor seems like a coin toss at this time. Sure, they can and could make a killing if the prices and accessibility are brilliant, but somehow it seems like something that would be annoying and problematic if Apple doesn't spend time to flesh it out well in every aspect of hardware and software.

I want a Shuffle with buttons, 2 GB (1 GB would be fine), and for under $50.

How the line-up changes will be interesting. I am hoping they squeeze shuffles and nanos lower in price and freeze design and capability, while lowering old-tech iPTs and introducing higher end versions with lots of better tech and memory.
-------------------
About Apple TV: the old rumor a couple months ago was that it would be the form of the iPT or iPhone. Would Apple be able to make iPTs and iPhones double as Apple TV devices?? If any mobile touchscreen Apple device could function as an Apple TV device, I think they could possibly conquer the TV market before it ever gets good legs.

Being able to gather TV shows on your mp3/phone at any time, then show them on any TV (with the right connecting cable) could be intense.
 
I'm pretty sure iTunes Store at some point will begin selling music as lossless too, many sites are beginning to sell that too and even though selections are definitely not as various as on iTunes, Apple can't stay behind that. Not to mention that space is going to increase. So i believe lossless will be as a premium at first, AAC 256 will still be there together with the option to grab lossless hopefully. As the format of choice i don't know whether it's going to be the closed Apple Lossless or the new and finally ready HD-AAC (yeah it wasn't ready at the time Apple Lossless was out). Honestly i hope for the latter, since it would be backward compatible with AAC layer and universal (this means also on other systems and hardware should play), even though i would have loved Flac instead but Apple hates it :(
 
I challenge anyone who wants to pay double the price for 320 kbps vs. 256 kbps to be able to tell the difference in an AXB test.

Don't get me wrong, lossless has it's place. For archiving, and even listening on extremely high-end equipment, but I doubt people who want lossless for these purposes are getting it off iTunes. And as for 320 kbps... Insignificant improvement over 256 kbps, I don't see the point.
 
Here's my hope, and reason for it:
It's hard to rationalize buying anything now because my iTunes library is about 30+GB and expanding. The nano would be nice, but 32gb at most would be in this upgrade. The touch is just not my cup of tea: I like the clickwheel, and being able to control my music without looking. That leaves the Classic. Only one problem: It's too much, both in price. I'm never going to use even the full 80GB on my current classic, let alone 160GB,or more and don't want to spend $249 on something that I'm only going to be filling to about 25%.
I think the one thing I'd like to see, and would probably buy on sight, would be a sort of low-end iPod classic. Set up a classic with 3 or four options (are these prices realistic?):
40 or 60GB: $149
80GB: $179
120GB: $219
160GB: $249, same as now.
If they could do this, I'd buy in a minute. Anyone else think this would be a good idea?
 
blairbeckwith said:
I challenge anyone who wants to pay double the price for 320 kbps vs. 256 kbps to be able to tell the difference in an AXB test.

Don't get me wrong, lossless has it's place. For archiving, and even listening on extremely high-end equipment, but I doubt people who want lossless for these purposes are getting it off iTunes. And as for 320 kbps... Insignificant improvement over 256 kbps, I don't see the point.
Click to expand...

I agree that most people couldn't tell the difference. I can't tell the difference between 192 kbps and 320 over my Sennheiser headphones.

On the other hand, more choice is almost always good so it would be cool to see this kind of update. I don't see it happening for years though. Apple owns the music market and I don't see them losing much business to sites offering lossless. The audiophiles who demand lossless tend to be fairly anti-iTunes as it is. Vinyl nerds :rolleyes:
 
emvath said:
I agree that most people couldn't tell the difference. I can't tell the difference between 192 kbps and 320 over my Sennheiser headphones.

On the other hand, more choice is almost always good so it would be cool to see this kind of update. I don't see it happening for years though. Apple owns the music market and I don't see them losing much business to sites offering lossless. The audiophiles who demand lossless tend to be fairly anti-iTunes as it is. Vinyl nerds :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

In this case, I really don't feel like more choice really is good. Do we really want that many results when we search for something? Sure, maybe we know better, but can you imagine the confusion when my mother searches for a song, and sees the (already there) original, music video, cover versions and the (potential) 320 kbps version and lossless version? It'll just be a mess.
 
blairbeckwith said:
In this case, I really don't feel like more choice really is good. Do we really want that many results when we search for something? Sure, maybe we know better, but can you imagine the confusion when my mother searches for a song, and sees the (already there) original, music video, cover versions and the (potential) 320 kbps version and lossless version? It'll just be a mess.
Click to expand...

You have a good point with it potentially being too confusing which is something Apple has tried to avoid. I'd like the choice myself, but for the masses who don't know the difference, it would probably be too much. Maybe some sort of default setting that would only show 256 until a preference is changed to show lossless instead?
 
emvath said:
The audiophiles who demand lossless tend to be fairly anti-iTunes as it is. Vinyl nerds :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

This is kind of me. But not anti-iTunes. Just frustrated with the prices of vinyl. Got an unspectacular but solid stereo system with a mid level turntable and about 500 LPs. I've been buying primarily vinyl since 1994. With prices of new records now averaging about 18-20 bucks a pop, and since 80% of the time I listen to music is through some sort of iPod, I've been buying more and more CDs and putting them into iTunes as apple lossless and playing them through the Apple TV. To me, it sounds great. Vinyl is better but it's not worth the extra 10 bucks per album unless it's something I truly need on LP. And I'm a vinyl guy! Hell, I just put my own bands record out on LP. (only 10 bucks too!). But If Apple offered lossless downloads, bundled it up with iTunes LP, and priced it close to a CD, I would buy most of my music that way.

You bring up a good point too in mentioning that Apple isn't really losing business to the few lossless download sites and until something happens, they aren't going to feel the need to offer it up.
 
blairbeckwith said:
I challenge anyone who wants to pay double the price for 320 kbps vs. 256 kbps to be able to tell the difference in an AXB test.

Don't get me wrong, lossless has it's place. For archiving, and even listening on extremely high-end equipment, but I doubt people who want lossless for these purposes are getting it off iTunes. And as for 320 kbps... Insignificant improvement over 256 kbps, I don't see the point.
Click to expand...

I agree with you for the 256-320 kbps thing, it would be a pointless upgrade honestly, that does not make sense; maybe a change could happen though: they might introduce true vbr encoding in iTunes which was always available through quicktime and has seen many refinements over the years. True vbr is much more efficient and faster decoding and even iTunes Plus present changed during time [first it was ABR 256 than it got VBR constrained]. But Lossless is not only good for archiving. Space is cheap now and lossless is future proof, you don't have to EVER think about quality or something like that. No matter how good a 256 kbps AAC may be and it may be very confusing to distinguish in an abx, but if you know what to hear lossy artifacts are there, such as pre-echo; something that with lossless could not ever happen. Non to mention that is amazing to hear to full quality sound especially at loud volumes, you have a lot of details and all with clear and pristine sound. I'm sorry but we're moving towards the HD era with bluray, HD television and stuff like that. I personally care about music, i'm not obsessed with cables ect but I want to listen to music just how it was meant to be heard and this is the reason why i won't ever get music on iTunes until lossless is offered =) my 2 cents.
 
allow itunes to rip dvd's and ....blu ray discs. just support. no blu ray drives. let the external drive makers make some money...just that support. please?!

new ipod classic 320gb with "wide screen" set up like a nano is currently and maybe a little camera like all the other ipods (and new ipod touch with it's camera)
 
jrcsh6 said:
allow itunes to rip dvd's and ....blu ray discs. just support. no blu ray drives. let the external drive makers make some money...just that support. please?!

new ipod classic 320gb with "wide screen" set up like a nano is currently and maybe a little camera like all the other ipods (and new ipod touch with it's camera)
Click to expand...

Ripping DVD's is legal now :) Not blu-ray though :(

I'd like to see the DVD ripping built in, and a new iPod touch, that is easily affordable. Meaning $149 for a new, 8gb model. That's all I want.
 
thejadedmonkey said:
Ripping DVD's is legal now :) Not blu-ray though :(

I'd like to see the DVD ripping built in, and a new iPod touch, that is easily affordable. Meaning $149 for a new, 8gb model. That's all I want.
Click to expand...

Legal or not, I doubt Apple will be too eager to allow people to rip their own video in-program. They'll think it takes away business from the Store.
 
blairbeckwith said:
Legal or not, I doubt Apple will be too eager to allow people to rip their own video in-program. They'll think it takes away business from the Store.
Click to expand...

Like ripping CDs takes away business from the iTunes store, you mean?
 
My Predictions:

New Hardware:
New 4th Generation iPod Touch
  • With Front Facing Camera For Facetime
  • With the newer Apple A4 Processor
Brand New Overhauled Apple TV
  • ~Size of Current iPhone
  • Ability to Store in the Cloud
  • Runs iOS 4

New Software:
Updated iTunes with New Streaming Video Service to work across all iOS Devices


There's a possibility iTunes could upgrade to 320kbs but I doubt it will come. No consumers really care about the difference between 192kbs, 256kbs, and 320kbs, as long as the content is there on iTunes they'll get it.
 
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