“A big reason for the success of Apple Computer’s iPod is that it’s designed to do one thing — play music — really well. I recently had a look at the newest iPod and some of its hard-drive-based competitors and quickly came to the conclusion that the product that does least does it best. Extra functions are nice, but they come at a price in usability,” Stephen H. Wildstrom writes for BusinessWeek.
“Until you turn it on, the new iPod photo ($499 with a 40-gigabyte drive) looks just like a standard iPod, although it’s a tad thicker. The color display is much brighter and easier to read than the regular monochrome screen, but aside from that, its music-player functions are identical to those of its older brother. What’s new is the ability to download pictures — from iPhoto on a Macintosh or Adobe Photoshop Album on Windows — and display them on the 2-sq.-in. screen,” Wildstrom writes.
“The problem is the display. It’s just a bit bigger than a 35mm slide, and the screen provides relatively low resolution, a little more than half the pixel density of the new palmOne Treo 650. So the pictures are tiny and don’t look very good. You can hook up the iPod to a television and get a slide show with music if you’re willing to fuss a bit. All in all, I’m not sure the photo feature is worth an extra $100,” Wildstrom writes.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We want iPod photo for the color screen (and the greater battery capacity). Sure, we’ll use the photo features, but even if we used it “only” as a traditional iPod, we’d rather have the color screen for album art, better readability, nicer solitaire, and just plain better looks. The extra $100 is easily worth it to us.
don’t want it myself… don’t need it yet. happy with my 15 gig 2nd gen iPod
hurray… first post…. now i can die happily…. since it matters for some reason….. ??
Rest in peace anyway DanK.
not sure it’s worth extra $100
The iPod photo is for those who think it is worth the extra $100, want the photo view and slide show features, and those who have more money than God, and a $100 bill is the same as a kleenex to them.
When it adds the ability to display PowerPoint and Keynote presentations, and maybe the ability to hook up to a projector, then it will be a very useful tool for presentations. Maybe Rev B, can always hope.
I’m at the Apple Store on State Street in Chicago right now. Just had my first expierence with the iPod photo. Its ridiculously amazing.
To notice that the picture is not in perfect quality you have to look at it through a magnifying glass, so for a 2 inch screen, it does the job.
Still don’t want one though…
price differentiation.. look it up sometime businessweek.. it’s pretty basic stuff.
why do you think students get a discount??
Ipod photo is still too thick. Wish there would be a 20 Gig with color screen.
definately need it for better solitare, i just hate not being able to tell the difference between diamonds and spades! 😀
Add direct downloads of files from digital cameras (even if I can’t view them right away) would be the clincher for me. Until then, too expensive – especially in light of the MSI X2 MEGA View for a whole lot less money.
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/ia/ia/pro_ia_detail.php?UID=604
Twilight Moon, can’t you just save presentations as jpgs and then show them on the iPod photo? I read an article somewhere where the guy was doing that.
If I did not already have a 3G 30 gig iPod and was getting one for the first time I would get the iPod photo of course but the differentiation is not great enough for me to buy a new one just for what is offered now. I would especially like to see the ability to download a cam into the iPod and view the photos right away. If I understand correctly you can download flash media with a 3rd party accessory but it stays as a file and you have to first put it on your computer and then add it to the photo library on your iPod.
Wish list for when I buy I new iPod:
The above functionality
built in mic
built in AM/FM radio and ability to capture it (lets get greedy -on timer)
video and video out so you can play videos on a TV or projector
That should do it.
Add a small camera like those cell phones have. Then it will really be an iPod Photo.
Jack A
Twilight Moon, can’t you just save presentations as jpgs and then show them on the iPod photo? I read an article somewhere where the guy was doing that.
First off, Twilightmoon is all one word, not 2.
Second, of course you can use workarounds. I’m talking about integrated abilities here, where you don’t have to change the format. Presentations based on .jpgs are guaranteed to be static, whereas you can include interactive or video elements in your presentations with default file formats. Plus don’t forget about custom transitions. Whenever you have to do something like convert a presentation file into another format like a .jpg you are making a compromise. Using the iPod photo as a presentation platform should not be about compromises.
Third, to your list, I would add:
1. the ability for 3rd parties to write software, like game software
2. a version of the iPod as a phone and PDA (with some way to add data to the iPod directly).
3. smaller size at the same time as longer battery life (why not want it all).
I had a 3rd gen 15 gig. Loved it but i filled it up fairly quickly which
was pretty frustrating.
For my birthday I got myself a 60gig photo (more for the hd space
than for anything else). It turns out that the screen is fantastic.
Amazingly more usable than the b/w one. Well worth the cost
to me.
album art: nice but don’t really care.
slide shows: the A/V out of the headphone jack is perfect. pointless to use for powerpoint. but if you have kids it’s excellent for annoying people with the photos.
battery life: noticably better.
video: There is no way this thing can’t do video. The smoothness of
the slide show transistions shows that. But for the most part I wouldn’t
buy it just for that even if it was supported. With the a/v cable
you could use it for video playback (annoying kid videos). But the screen is just too small for watching a movie on a bus/train/etc.
PDA/programming: with just the scroll wheel for input this sort
of stuff isn’t really attractive.
dave
slide shows: the A/V out of the headphone jack is perfect. pointless to use for powerpoint. but if you have kids it’s excellent for annoying people with the photos.
Pointless for you if you don’t use PowerPoint or Keynote for presentations. Not pointless if you do. Carrying around a device that you attach to your hip to run off a projector for a presentation is a lot more convenient than having to lug your laptop to a sales or business presentation.
As far as the headphone A/V jack, you could include a cable that plugs into the iPod connector at the bottom that converts to standard signals that run off a projector other than A/V if that was necessary.
PDA/programming: with just the scroll wheel for input this sort
of stuff isn’t really attractive.
That’s why you’d combine that with a stylus, and touch screen.