[Unbeliever]

Here`s what i found on ipodlounge.com this morning. they are reporting that MacityNet.it had taken pics of the iPod Flash banner and that it WON`T have screen and hold 240 songs (which implies 1GB card).

if the "no screen" part is true, that is a total deal braker for me. iPod without a screen is as useful as Windows on my comp, which means utterly usless :/

my sister wanted to buy one and i wanted to get one to accompany my 3G 15gigger but no matter how well Apple implements it, iPod without screen just seems pointless to me. I`m hoping it`s not true. Screen (UI) and wheel is what makes iPod stand out from the rest of the crowd.

MaccityNet
iPodLounge

[Moonmonkey]

"We cannot show the images of the new iPod because we were forced to delete them from our cameras, but we can describe it."


What a load of rubbish, the posters are real, but "we were forced to delete them from our cameras" is a crock.

[InactionMan]

"life is random" I don't like that slogan. Don't know why, I just don't. Seems to work for the no-screenie iPod. Sync a playlist, hit play and listen. It's random because there is no freaking screen so you don't know what's coming next. Doesn't need a screen anyway, I keep my iPod in my pocket most of the time and only look at to check the time.

[Messiahtosh]

I wouldn't use an iPod unless it had a screen. Hopefully there's some clever way to get around this. Maybe through-headphone speech of what the next song will be? haha

[MacRGood4U]

Apple doesn't put posters or banners up until late Monday evening/early Tuesday. They are immediately covered up. In all previous MW and Paris Expos this has been the case. Also, no new product is taken out of the sealed crates until that time. At approximately 12 noon on Tuesday right after the Keynote, admission to the show floor will begin. During the Keynote, those banners are uncovered and the new product is also uncovered, having been previously under tarpaulins. All the competition flash players in the $150 price range have a screen. Apple's will. iPodlounge is just quoting somebody else. It's all B.S. It gets the sites more hits. We'll know in about 30 hours.

[Messiahtosh]

Originally Posted by MacRGood4U Apple doesn't put posters or banners up until late Monday. They are immediately covered up. In all previous MW and Paris Expo this has been the case. Also, no new product is taken out of the sealed crates until that time. At approximately 12 noon on Monday, admission to the show floor will begin. During the Keynote, those banners are uncovered and the new product is also uncovered, having been previously under tarplins. All the compeition flash players in terh $150 price range have a screen. Apple's will. iPodlounge is just quoting somebody else. It's all B.S. It gets the sites more hits. We'll know in about 30 hours.

Ahhh, a voice of reason.


Welp, time for Spanish class...

[Unbeliever]

Originally Posted by MacRGood4U Apple doesn't put posters or banners up until late Monday evening/early Tuesday. They are immediately covered up. In all previous MW and Paris Expos this has been the case. Also, no new product is taken out of the sealed crates until that time. At approximately 12 noon on Tuesday right after the Keynote, admission to the show floor will begin. During the Keynote, those banners are uncovered and the new product is also uncovered, having been previously under tarpaulins. All the competition flash players in the $150 price range have a screen. Apple's will. iPodlounge is just quoting somebody else. It's all B.S. It gets the sites more hits. We'll know in about 30 hours.

i know it`s fishy, that`s why i put a questionmark in the title

[MacRGood4U]

I have a feeling that the flash iPod is the main attraction and that any low-priced or headless Mac is a red herring and really doesn't excist. When was the last time Apple introduced two new hardware products at a MW? (I'm not talking about any upgrades to excisting ones).
As far as the slogan, it's OK. It depends on how it is used in the context of the media and tv ads. I went to the site to look at the banners. I would be terribly disappointed if there was no screen. I really don't think Apple would do such a thing.... or should I say, I hope.

Updated thoughts. "Life Is Random" certainly is a clue to there being no screen.... just shuffle play. Price $129.

[Daveydweeb]

Originally Posted by MacRGood4U When was the last time Apple introduced two new hardware products at a MW? (I'm not talking about any upgrades to excisting ones).

MacWorld 1999: Apple released the iBook and Airport within half an hour of each other ("So, we needed a consumer laptop - check it out, its the iBook. But there was just one more thing - let me show you the intarweb on this thing! *wakes up iBook, fires up IE 4.5* Wait... you guys over there can't see, can you? *picks up laptop, walks across stage* Oh, wait a sec. Introducing Airport.")

Then he got Phil Schiller to jump off a lighting rig to prove it's wirelessness...

Good times.

They've done it before, they can do it again, and they can do it with style.

BS....bet that is the solgan for iLife 05'

[Messiahtosh]

I bet it isnt the slogan at all.

[BuonRotto]

Well, the pics that I saw looked real enough, but I only saw the green banner, the slogan mentioned, and what looked like the shuffle icon (crossing arrows). I either missed the graphic of the new iPod on that banner or else it's just their word on the subject.

Apple's banners typically have little aphorisms on them, but aren't necessarily the tagline for the product(s) shown. For example, when OS X came out, they had all sorts of banners in NYC with OS X icons that said different things.

[Messiahtosh]

Originally Posted by BuonRotto Well, the pics that I saw looked real enough, but I only saw the green banner, the slogan mentioned, and what looked like the shuffle icon (crossing arrows). I either missed the graphic of the new iPod on that banner or else it's just their word on the subject. Apple's banners typically have little aphorisms on them, but aren't necessarily the tagline for the product(s) shown. For example, when OS X came out, they had all sorts of banners in NYC with OS X icons that said different things.

How could you have seen this?

[Paul]

Originally Posted by Messiahtosh I bet it isnt the slogan at all.

maybe not THE slogan... but definitely A slogan... and the silhouette certainly implies iPod



the thot plickens...

all this security and all you had to do was stand by the window!!!

I do think they are lying about having gotten pictures of the actual device... but I guess anything is possible...

[thegelding]

adding shuffle to all their iPods doesn't mean there won't be any screen at all

soon enough we will know

g

[johnq]

Originally Posted by Messiahtosh How could you have seen this?

What are you so 'd about?

[jccbin]

Geez,

You guys walk around for decades with your Walkmans, drive around with your CD players showing "Track X," proving that hundreds of millions of people will buy devices that don't show what is playing.

Why? The frigging "skip" button.

Even if you've got a 10-CD changer in your car, I bet you subconsciously know what songis next, what CD is next, and skip from song to song to CD to CD to get to where you want.

No screen. NO BIG DEAL.

[LoCash]

I don't mean to burst anyone's bubble, but couldn't these just be new iPod ad campaign banners? I don't necessarily see anything in that picture, or about the slogan, that says, "We built a flash based iPod, omg wtf!"

I do think we'll see one, but that banner doesn't really prove it.

[murbot]

I can't believe Apple is letting a guy wearing a shirt like that handle the banners.

[BuonRotto]

That's just it, LoCash, it's not really indicative of anything in particular as-is.

[jccbin]

Unions suck.

[709]

Well, Apple *did* just introduce the 'Shuffle Songs' option in the main menu:

Do the iPod Shuffle You can put the Apple Click Wheel to use the next time you want to set your music to shuffle. Right there on the main menu — where it’s very easy to find — you’ll spot a new option — Shuffle Songs. Everyone’s favorite option for mixing things up, Shuffle Songs randomly plays the songs in your music library. You’ll never guess what’s coming up next, so you’re always surprised by startling juxtapositions — like a melodic Coldplay song hot on the heels of a Caballé aria.

This might be a foreshadowing to a new screenless iPod...who knows. Apparently Apple's R&D Dept finds most user's knickers get moist with this option...me, I didn't even know it existed until today.

[thegelding]

i actually always use shuffle...hardly ever look at the screen...doesn't mean that i don't want a screen though...even a simple one line screen would make people feel better and would help when a song comes on that you have forgotten the name of and just need to know right now what it is...happens to me jogging from time to time


g

[psmith2.0]

Two things:

1. I don't think that black stuff on the green banner is a "silhouette dancer". It looks so angular and sharp...instead, I think it's black vinyl or something covering images underneath. Just my opinion...

2. The folks at that site said they didn't see a screen. If all they saw was the front of this thing (describing it as "more vertical" - skinnier? - than the iPod mini, then what about the notion of the display being on top, where, at a casual glance of a "front-on" photo, you indeed wouldn't see any display). It's hidden from view, on top. Kinda makes those "two line display" rumors make a bit more sense, right?

Imagine this thing being a tad narrower than the iPod mini, BUT maybe just a bit deeper, front to back. That could hold a little two-line display, kicked slightly to one side to allow just a bit of room for a headphone jack?

I'm imagining a pack of Bubble Yum or some other thick pack of bubble gum...narrow (almost square, but not quite).

[BuonRotto]

Paul, doesn't the black marking on the banner that we can see look like the shuffle arrows? One arrow dipping down on the left, the other coming up with the arrowhead on the top right. That much seems pretty clear to me anyway.

[709]

I completely agree that you need a screen if you're using it as a music player primarily. But, what if...and this is a big what if...Apple's decided to tout this as not only an iPod, but also a file transfer device. Sure, *we* know that, but I really couldn't tell you the amount of times I've brought in an iPod to agencies and whatnot, whipped out a FW cord, and they're all big-eyed "What are you doing?". Seriously. A GB USB flash-drive thingy is ~100 bucks, why not tout that much overlooked feature as an extra bang-for-the-buck? And yes, on your way to the client you can listen to music too.

[LudwigVan]

A quote from the Italian site:

So here we are: what's new. A new adverstising photo that show the brand new iPod. A special one, because it will be narrower and probably without a large display.

And a little later on the text reads:

We cannot show the images of the new iPod because we were forced to delete them from our cameras, but we can describe it. It is without any screen (that's maybe because the slogan is "Life is random!"), small, with a shape more vertical than the other iPod. The color is white, and it seems like a small remote control that fits confortably in a single hand.

I can't quite reconcile the "without large display" with "without any screen"; if anything, it leaves room for the small screen as described on the ThinkSecret site.

Either that, or someone's slightly tenuous grasp of English caused this confusion for me.

[psmith2.0]

BuonRotto: ...okay, I can kinda see that now. Yep, I believe you're right, about the arrows and all. Sorry, my mistake.

[johnq]

I didn't think that would be so confusing for people.

[johnq]

It's probably all a series of signs based on various playback buttons, nothing specific to a new product.