View Full Version : is it really just about the music?
OK - this is to get iPod evolution talk going.
Some may know that I am all for it. :)
Personally, I'd like to see:
1) colour screen
2) tighter integration with iLife apps
2.1 iTunes and GB - music
2.2 iPhoto - store photos from a digital camera and be able to view both individual photos and albums - as well as show them on a TV
2.3 iMovie - show iMovie files ... maybe not straight away - but someday!
2.4 iCal - colour calendars are a necessity
3) bluetooth for headphone/music listening ... keep the iPod in your bag or coat pocket and be unecumbered by wires
4) be able to play Keynote presentations - connected to a projector, using the scroll wheel and buttons as a clicker as well :cool:
5) anodized colours - not just for the mini
btw - I don't care too much for the ability to watch a movie on the iPod - I'm more interested in being able to view photos on the iPod and exhibit photo albums and iMovies on a TV set, for family and friends to see.
well, any thoughts?
...
I personally would like my controllers not breaking after 3 months - just destroyed number 2 a week ago.
Must be the damp weather at the moment. :confused:
As for colour screens it would be nice, but is it really necessary. I hardly look at my screen, and realistically watching a movie on it would get tedious fast. The iCal feature though would be handy.
What I really want is a way to be able to quickly navigate through my song without having to set up playlists. Currently I have 107 artists and 263 albums so my scroll wheel can take a beating.
:)
BrandonAllan
2004-05-17, 10:04
I think we'll see a lot of new capabilities added to the iPod in the form of the new rumored dock.
You could edit your iMovie on your Mac, save it to the iPod and take it to the living room and plug it in and watch it on TV.
alcimedes
2004-05-17, 11:05
all i really care about will be "does it have the ability to play back to back songs without any gap at all?"
right now it doesn't ,and it drives me nuts when listening to albums that are continious.
also, with only 32MB of ram, long songs will stop part way through, and have to wait while the buffer is filled again. it should be smart enough to know that as the buffer is running out, it should refill it. that and get a bigger cache. if i end up reencoding all of my cd's to be lossless, i don't want it crapping out 3 min. into a song because it runs out of memory.
all i really care about will be "does it have the ability to play back to back songs without any gap at all?"
right now it doesn't ,and it drives me nuts when listening to albums that are continious.
also, with only 32MB of ram, long songs will stop part way through, and have to wait while the buffer is filled again. it should be smart enough to know that as the buffer is running out, it should refill it. that and get a bigger cache. if i end up reencoding all of my cd's to be lossless, i don't want it crapping out 3 min. into a song because it runs out of memory.Yeah, as about half the music on my iPod is live shows, this drives me nuts as well. Inherent in the cacheing design, though.
I see the same potential problem with the lossless encoding, as well. Perhaps it's time for a much bigger buffer?
The 32mb RAM buffer could probably be bumped up to 64mb and improve battery life, and prevent most really long songs from 'skipping'
that would be a great improvement.
Personally, I don't really care though, my iPod works great! :p
torifile
2004-05-17, 12:20
Could someone explain to me what the point of a color screen in the iPod is? Why would you want one?
I was going to post "for fuck's sake! An iPod with a color screen is the dumbest idea I've ever heard" but I thought that might be too inflammatory ;)
SonOfSylvanus
2004-05-17, 12:30
also, with only 32MB of ram, long songs will stop part way through, and have to wait while the buffer is filled again.
Really? That's never happened to me. How long does the song/how big does the file have to be for that to happen? I swear I've listened to 30min mixes without that happening
:confused:
DMBand0026
2004-05-17, 12:31
Inflammatory? Who cares?
haha
I don't want to see it happen. Just seems to me that it would give another reason for people to complain about battery life. Because everyone knows that a color screen would decrease it.
Movies? That's why I have a PowerBook, I can take movies with me that way. I know that doesn't serve everyone, but it works for me :p
I just don't think the iPod should go in the AV direction, just stick with music. Sure, make it smaller, give it better battery life (or similar to the one now, 8 hours is plenty), give it colors for all I care. But no video, no color screen.
DMBand0026
2004-05-17, 12:32
Really? That's never happened to me. How long does the song/how big does the file have to be for that to happen? I swear I've listened to 30min mixes without that happening
:confused:
Doesn't happen with a mix, only if the one song is over 32MB AFAIK.
indeed, this is why it's not such a great idea to put .aif on the iPod, because on average .aif files are ~30mb and greater.
Could someone explain to me what the point of a color screen in the iPod is? Why would you want one?
I was going to post "for fuck's sake! An iPod with a color screen is the dumbest idea I've ever heard" but I thought that might be too inflammatory ;)
Even though I have not bought an iPod yet, I'd like to have a colour screen so I can more easily identify items and info on iCal with greater ease and, also, so it would be possible to display those photo files that we store on the iPod. As a bonus, it might be a neat feature to see an album cover (as that info is embedded in the iTunes files) when playing a song... well, maybe! (that's just icing)
I was going to post "for fuck's sake" too torifile - didn't you read the first post? ... and then I decided "what the heck - post it anyway!" :p
I want the new generation to vibrate. :D
It looks like Apple wants everyone in China to have an iPod...
It looks like Apple wants everyone in China to have an iPod...
companies are creaming their pants about the possibilities in china at the moment. and apple are no exception...
After 2 years of bobardment, just about everyone I know wants an iPod or iPod mini. Why? Because it's easy and 99 out 100 publications reccomend it.
Apple has achieved this because of one thing principally: Simplicity
Whatever Apple does, it has to keep it SIMPLE.
I could forsee an FM tuner as being a Big Step. Recording is a very niche functionality.
A color screen is "easy" enough and makes even the most simpleton people happy.
A separate "AV Base Station" would be VERY kickass for the power users out there. Also, as long as it supports DiVX and other codecs (not a chance in hell... but here's to hoping). It would support MPG4 and QuickTime codecs, etc.
Anyway... Apple = Simplicity
Keep it that way.
AV dock will be great *if* it supports existing models (i.e. 3g and mini)
kraig911
2004-05-18, 10:13
I wish they would do more for video games...
Bring back the wheel! I have a 5gb and a 20gb and I find that I use my 5 more often because of the "feel" of the wheel and buttons. The 20gb (3g) is just too sensative and you have no tactile feedback when using the touchpad or the touch "buttons".
Other than than above I would make almost no changes. I believe that the iPod has everything that I need in a music player/contact "database"/external HD.
hey ZO - I agree that successful Apple products have a certain "simplicity" about them, but I also believe that most of my original options (1, 2 & 3) could be implemented without compromising the form factor of the iPod that much. In this respect, that's what I'm after: something that maintains the iPod's icon like physicality and stature but also delivers enhanced functionality and still offers the simplicity and elegance of the Apple UI experience!
[EDIT: typos - hate 'em]
stevegong
2004-06-03, 07:23
companies are creaming their pants about the possibilities in china at the moment. and apple are no exception...
the iPod is very popular in China right now and that's great, but no where near dominating the mp3 market. Apple needs to cut down on the price, even if it means smaller capacity on these players. Perhaps as supermunki says apple should release a low cost flash player.
The iPod, although is reasonably priced for what it is, is still quite expensive. iPods in China are more expensive (dunno now since it looks like iPods are made in China) and people just can't spend half of their monthly salary on a music player.
And here I'm even just talking about the east cost. Most of China is poorer than most people think.
1) There are some advantages and some serious drawbacks to adding a color screen. The advantages are that you can use color to differentiate different UI objects, like the battery changing color to indicate charge. Also it could display album covers and even do visualizations. The big problems are battery life, cost, and battery life. Did I mention battery life? Apple has already taken two hours off the battery life when transitioning from 2G to 3G and I doubt Apple could add a color screen without adding a heavier battery or cutting the life once again. Also there is cost, color screens just cost more and I doubt that Apple would be willing to cut into margins to add a feature of dubious value.
2) I'm not sure how much more Apple could integrate iPod with iLife. Right now iPod works with iTunes, Garage Band, iCal, and iSync. What Apple could do without adding a ton of clutter would be syncing Sticky notes without the need for a third party application. Now I'll be honest. I haven't used the iPod for my day planner because I've had either an iSync compatible phone or a Palm since the iPod could handle calendars. As for photos and movies, I'm not convinced that it will add much to the iPod. Maybe it's the lifestyle I live, but I've never wanted to show my photos or movie at someone else's TV. If I make a movie I burn it to DVD and if I want to show off photos I'll burn a CD or post a Dot Mac photo album page. Maybe I'm just skewed by the fact that almost all of the photo to tv devices have failed. As for movies, do you really want to schlep a set of AV cables with you incase you want to show a movie at a buddies' house?
3) YES! But for different reasons. BT headphones sound like crap. I've tried them and I wouldn't use them. The reason to add BT to the iPod would be so it could interact with BT phones. Add a mic to one of the ear buds and make the iPod pause when a phone call comes in. As it stands right now, you need to take out the iPod (or use the remote), pause it, take out the phone, take off the headphones, and then reverse the order to get back to your music. Adding BT would make this process much better.
4) Unnecessary and it would add a ton of clutter. If I'm going to do a presentation I either have my laptop with me or I'm using a dedicated computer connected to the projector. With the iPod, I couldn't make last minute changes and I would have to schlep a dock and a VGA adapter. This seems more like a geek feature that adds features that nobody would use.
5) I have a feeling that the iPod biggie will stay white. Maybe an anodized white, but white none the less. The mini is going to be color.
Now for the things I would like to see in the iPod 4G. I would love to see a 64 or even 128 MB RAM buffer. It would save battery life and it would make longer songs play without skips. I would like to see the iPod biggie get a little smaller using the mini scroll wheel/button combo and cutting out the extra space. I'm not sure Apple can do much about weight without cutting battery life or changing HDDs.
On a personal note, I would like to see the remote cable reengineered. I have now burned through 2 remotes on my 30GB iPod because the cable keeps fraying.
Boo-yah! vindication (http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0410photoipod.html) :D
Yes, yes. Good for you, but that's no reason to bump a thread that's been dead for over four months. Keep it in the new thread.
Lock! :)
vBulletin® v3.6.4, Copyright ©2000-2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.