“Was the Mac Mini originally intended to sport an integrated iPod Dock? That’s the suggestion made by one electronics specialist who’s taken a closer look than most at the compact Mac’s internal workings,” Tony Smith writes for The Register. “The Apple machine’s optical drive connects to the motherboard not by a cable but is attached directly to an Ultra ATA-100 riser card which itself fits into a slot toward the rear of the Mini’s mobo. According to Leo Bodnar, the guy who figured out how to overclock the Mini’s G4-class CPU, that’s not all the riser does.”
“Leo’s hypothesis: that the riser was designed to feed an iPod Dock connector moulded into the device’s top cover… Whether the Firewire feature was dropped from the first incarnation, or was put in place ready for the Mac’s next revision isn’t clear. However, early rumours surrounding the so-called “headless iMac” that was to become the Mac Mini, did indeed mention an integrated iPod Dock, fitted to help encourage Windows-using iPod owners to switch to the Mac platform,” Smith writes.
Full article here.
That would have been nice.
AppleInsider reported back in Dec.:
“According to sources, the headless iMac was to include a built in iPod dock, though sources say this feature was scrapped and may reappear in future versions of the headless iMac.”
– http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=802
– Which opens up many different possibilities.
– Additionally, it wouldn’t be too difficult to make something that is just the Dock, Memory, and Ports. Kind of a BYOHD – Bring Your Own Harddrive. Just put the iPod in a dock, with wireless peripherals your computer would be nothing more than an iPod and dock.
Makes sense, iPods aren’t coming with docks anymore. Get a dock…get a Mac Mini.
apparently MDN thought it necessary to delete my post the first time…
The new Sony Walkman phone has been debuted that lets you transfer your music onto your phone using the Sony Memory Stick. While it won’t compete directly with the iPod, if the idea catches on with phone manufacturers and if eventually most of the new phones will include music playback features, much like many phones now include cameras, will this take away from iPod sales?
http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=802
I know this isn’t really relevant to the thread, but there should be a thread on this.
Off topic, but why is the main background blue today? Did I miss an announcement or is there something wrong with my iMac?
John
PS “Hope” nothing wrong!
accidentally posted the AppleInsider link twice…the sony mp3 phone is:
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=4140
king,
what I find interesting is that it supports mp3’s AND AAC!!! Way to go STEVE! I knew when i saw the Expo quicktime vid with the Sony CEO out there touting a movie camera of all things, I knew that that wasnt the only thing coming. I’ve known for quite a while that Sony was scrapping the ARTAC format, and was getting ready to support mp3, much to the dismay of its MD user base.
You guys have to read between the lines. Japanese are very subtle. Coming out there to show off a camera, if it had been to just show it off, would have been the head of video technology dept. The CEO of Sony coming out says “Hey, we’re cooperating on alot more than just video now, we’re going to work together so that, every moment, of every day, in your life, you’ll have one or the other in front of you.” ie…brand recognition. They’re making it a lifestyle to have your iTunes music, the Sony phone that syncs seamlessly to your mac with you at all times.
I was disappointed to see that its only triband instead of quad, and that there wont be any 800 or 850 support for it. Who knows, maybe that’ll change.
Magic Word: really …. as in Major Payne’s voice… Really…..
That is a good idea. I also think blue tooth and wireless a good idea
just because the the thing looks so right for moving around. I think IPOD s would be cool with a GPS or with star maps. If I were Apple I would give a fountain pen out with every powermac sold.
Hmmm…first the mysterious 5th pin on the shuffle, and now the missing iPod dock? Interesting…
“Additionally, it wouldn’t be too difficult to make something that is just the Dock, Memory, and Ports. Kind of a BYOHD – Bring Your Own Harddrive. Just put the iPod in a dock, with wireless peripherals your computer would be nothing more than an iPod and dock.”
That’s a great idea, especially with the talk of 80-gig iPods in the pipeline. Reminds me of the old DuoDock from days of yore. Trouble is, no backup. Lose or break your iPod and say hasta la vista to all your files.
How interesting…..with the increases in memory of the iPod, using it as your main hard drive might work. The idea of taking my whole computer with me on an iPod would be nice. No more worrying about having to sync data….
Now if I lost that iPod…..
I would not advise using your iPod as a boot drive all the time, as the hard drive in it isn’t designed for that type of intensive use, like a regular desktop drive is designed. You will burn the iPod drive out. It might be handy as a back up or for infrequent use, though. If iPod used a “real” (larger) hard drive that could stand being accessed as a boot drive would, then it would work.
iPod dock molded into the top. Would have been big mistake. Why would I want something like that on the top of my computer when I don’t have any intention of getting an iPod? There are still people who remember Apple used to be a computer/software company rather than a music company. Assuming the Mac Mini and iPod are somehow inseparable is presumptuous at best. Apple leaving off the dock was wise.
“iPod dock molded into the top. Would have been big mistake.”
I think that iMaki is correct. Slashdot has picked up on the story, and an insightful poster made the same observation, that using the mini as an iPod dock would have been aesthetically unappealing. The poster goes on to say that we should remember that FireWire was originally intended for video connections:
“The logical conclusion is that this bus is not here to support an iPod, but some sort of video hardware … like, say an HDTV tuner card?
This ties in nicely to the way that the mini seems tailor-made to be a media-center PC. If some sort of tuner card were plugged into this slot (say in a “Mac Mini Media-Center Edition” or something) you could plug a mini into your TV and be basically set with the ultimate convergence box.”
VERY interesting and insightful observation, especially given that Jobs declared 2005 “The Year of HD.”
I agree with both iMaki & Viridian – in addition to the unappealing aesthetic, it sure would make it in accessible if you bought more than one mini and attempted to stack them. I’d rather keep my ‘pod dock separate anyway – makes for easier transport.
A mini with an iPod as primary hard drive? Great concept, but I’ll wait for a 5400-7200 RPM iPod drive before I run my system full-time off an iPod. I have run off my 3rd Gen iPod and it has a very slow hard drive. Faster than my Mac LC’s drive, but not quite up to my standards today.
I like the Firewire as multimedia video streaming comment. It would make more sense in the big picture. An iPod as hard drive would still be a good idea, but more as a portable home folder or movie storage.
Greeting. What’s another word for Thesaurus?
I am from Great and now study English, give true I wrote the following sentence: “Selection nodded over sven clearly.When he felt the lock twenty materials later, all trend and information movies, his much merchandise was over operating, very.Early lucrative effect, karl.In it was, of all lockers, a ideal year.”
Regards
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