“According to our lead both the 2GB and 4GB shuffles are definitely set for release. As is a new 8GB iPod mini – Apple is allegedly planning to keep the 6GB version and ditch the 4GB with this addition to the mini family,” T3 reports.
Full article here.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
CSFB: Apple to unveil iPod shuffle, iPod mini units with greater disk space ‘throughout the year’ – June 29, 2005
Apple lowers price of 1GB iPod shuffle to US$129 – June 28, 2005
Report: Apple preps 2GB and 4GB versions of iPod shuffle for June, August releases – May 27, 2005
20GB Apple iPod mini possible in 2007 – April 04, 2005
add a screen to the shuffle and I am there!
“our lead” heh heh
Buy a closeout iPod mini. Lowered prices now make it the “shuffle with the screen”.
Could some of you who have shuffles comment on how you use them day to day. I am specifically interested in those of you who also have a higher capacity iPod. Have you noticed a difference in your using habits?
I need a shuffle for snowboarding and jogging, but i am wondering at 4 GB whether it might replace my 20GB iPod altogether. How does the shuffle’s battery life hold up in the cold?
Do you remember Sergej Bubka? Bestest pole vault jumper there ever was. With the regularity of a clockwork, he bettered his own personal records, centimeter by centimeter. As no one else could better him, he could and did set the pace of those small improvements, cashing in nicely on the bonuses for jumping yet a bit higher. There is no doubt, that he could have bettered himself with much larger increments, it is hard to believe that he got better by one centimeter every 6 months.
I see the same thing happening with the iPod. It is very hard to believe that the R&D boys, combined with the engineers that shape the machines, would just happen to better the last product by a tiny improvement every few months, regular as a clockwork.
Apple is bleeding the consumer for every penny he’s worth, by not skipping enlargements/improvements that have already been passed by by what’s been designed, but isn’t sold yet.
Fair enough, if the consumer is silly enough to pay for that, but this is where a semi-monopoly leads, people.
What M$ is for operating systems, Apple is for the digital content player market. Stifle the competition and bleed the market dry. Should anyone ever invent something better, or just different, their ass is grass and Apple is the lawnmower…
I’m waiting for the Apple of the digital player market to stand up kick Apples ass!
Agree with erk. I’ll consider my first iPod once the Shuffle has a display screen or the iPod has a hard drive capacity of greater than 100 gigabytes. Not everyone uses low MP3 sample rates such as 192 kbps.
I bought my 1GB shuffle in early February and I love it. I also have a 40GB 3G and a 60GB iPod Photo Rev A. The shuffle works great for trips to the gym and on the el to work. Plus, the battery life is at least 17 hours so I can get a good two days plus out of it, even listening all day at work. And I put it on pause last week and forgot to shut it off when I got home. It still had several hours of charge left when I picked it up a few days later.
Forget the screen, people. Geez, you know wtf you put on it, just let it do it’s job and shuffle. If you don’t like the song (why you wouldn’t is beyond me since you added it) hit the next button and be done with it. How many times are you looking at the screen anyway when you’re sweating your *** off on the treadmill???
Lurker_PC:
no offense, but i don’t think you’ll buy an iPod ever.
it’s like some one says, I’ll buy a BMW when it’s under 10000$ or it has wings?
I use my 1GB shuffle when mowing the lawn. I can hang it on the laniard underneath my shirt and have the headphones come upthrough my shirt as well so nothing is in danger of getting caught up on the mower or on shrubs and whatnot as I mow. The sound is aweseome on the shuffle at high volume…I dare say better than my 30GB iPod Photo. My son listens to the shuffle in his bed at night before he goes to sleep.
My son and wife both have the shuffle and they both absolutely love it. My son and I use his when we mow and he uses it when we go on long car rides. It hasn’t been cold here since he has had his, but so far battery life hasn’t been an issue. My wife listens to her’s when she is working around the house. She loves it, no issue with battery life on it either.
Great product for when you are involved in something physical that you can just turn on and listen to it without having to fiddle with the controls.
The main thing Apple has to be careful is unsold inventory. The 1 gig shuffle wasn’t getting sold so they had to drop the price. The 30 and 60 gig colour pod also wasn’t selling well so they merge the color pod with the 20 gig pod which apparently is in high demand.
Personally I would have preferred a 30 gig color pod for 299. I’ve got a 3G 15 gig that is now full. Still now the 60 gig looks interesting. I’ll wait for the prices to come down before I replace the 3G.
I don’t know if a 8 gig mini or 2 gig shuffles would sell. I’ve heard that the 6 gig mini isn’t doing as well as the 4 gig. Apple may have decided that the 4 and 20 gig drives are the sweet spots for customers and competing on price is a better way to gain market share. I agree – by selling more pod Apple get cheaper prices on components and their overhead is lower. Therefore they can maintain their profit margin whilst grabbing more customers for iTMS
I have an Original 5GB iPod, a 20 GB 3G and a 20 GB ClickWheel….. When I got my 1GB shuffle this year, I could afford to donate my original to another family member…. Now, I’ve got my sites set on a Color iPod Photo and I’ll pass on the 3G as well…..
These things are great and make cool gifts for graduations and such. Especially the Mini’s, which I don’t have YET!
You have to admire people like [B]Monopolies are bad…[/B] who manage to create a conspiracy out of coincidence.
The pace of change in terms of capacity for Apple is dictated by technology improvements at Hitachi, Seagate, Samsung and others: when Hitachi start shipping the 8GB microdrive reliably, Apple will – inevitably – incorporate the improved product into an iPod mini, as they will when the 10GB version ships. This isn’t screwing the consumer or anyone – in reality, the consumer will benefit from having greater capacity and more efficient power consumption, especially when combined with new silicon from PortalPlayer.
Likewise, the development of more capacious shuffles will come about because the memory foundries of Samsung and the like are being forced to create increasingly dense RAM/NVRAM modules whilst costs remain static due to oversupply: Apple are merely leveraging a given memory foundry’s competitive differential advantage to create a better product.
>Sergeï
The point is that for iPod mini (as an example), there is only one bigger hard drive available. As soon as Toshiba and co are making them available, Apple use it. I understand and agree with the fact that monopol of Apple is baaaaaaad, but your arguments don’t match reality…
I’ve been using my 1GB shuffle for trips to the gym, grocery store, and on recent flights… I have no complaints about it, and battery life has yet to be an issue, as I only use it for 1-2 hours at a time. I don’t mind it not having a screen, as I just skip a song if I don’t want to hear it.
I have three iPods — a shuffle I use almost every day walking to work, a mini I got from work for 5 years of service, and a 30GB 3rd gen ipod that I use mostly in the car (not very often, as I live in Boston).
I’d use the mini more, but by the time I got it, I was used to using the shuffle.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” /> I like the shuffle a lot with the exception of a couple things:
– if you don’t turn it off with the switch on the back immediately after stopping a song, it may revert back to the last place in your music at which you actually turned it off correctly.
– The ‘random’, while marketed like crazy, isn’t random. It’s just a different order. If you go backwards and forwards, you get the songs in the same order, and when you reach the end of the list, it just starts over.
– I loaded it with PodCasts yesterday before I left work, and none would play for some reason. 🙁
– I remember now, why consumer electronics — especially portables — are not usually white. My shuffle has ink stains on it from a pen that leaked in my pocket. 🙁
>Forget the screen, people.
Nah… I think I’ll remember the screen.
—
>Geez, you know wtf you put on it, just let it do it’s job and shuffle.
While not having basic control and functionality works for you, it’s simplistic and plain stupid for many others. It’s one notch above having a radio… even though a radio has a display.
… and WTF for someone who has the patience to use the Shuffle, you sure seem impatient with your response.
—
> If you don’t like the song (why you wouldn’t is beyond me since you added it) hit the next button and be done with it.
Hmmmm… I have a large collection of artists in the M-T range (Mintzer – Tyner). That’s a lot of hitting the next button so I can eventually be done with it… Again, fun for some, idiotic for others.
—
>How many times are you looking at the screen anyway when you’re sweating your *** off on the treadmill???
So Apple’s target is the treadmill ***-sweaters. Granted! Now how about everyone else who wants a very small and portable player with basic controls and functionality?
But you’re right… Apple is right on target with treadmill ***-sweaters.
>Forget the screen, people.
Nah… I think I’ll remember the screen.
—
>Geez, you know wtf you put on it, just let it do it’s job and shuffle.
While not having basic control and functionality works for you, it’s simplistic and plain stupid for many others. It’s one notch above having a radio… even though a radio has a display.
… and WTF for someone who has the patience to use the Shuffle, you sure seem impatient with your response.
—
> If you don’t like the song (why you wouldn’t is beyond me since you added it) hit the next button and be done with it.
Hmmmm… I have a large collection of artists in the M-T range (Mintzer – Tyner). That’s a lot of hitting the next button so I can eventually be done with it… Again, fun for some, idiotic for others.
—
>How many times are you looking at the screen anyway when you’re sweating your *** off on the treadmill???
So Apple’s target is the treadmill ***-sweaters. Granted! Now how about everyone else who wants a very small and portable player with basic controls and functionality?
But you’re right… Apple is right on target with treadmill ***-sweaters.
>Forget the screen, people.
Nah… I think I’ll remember the screen.
—
>Geez, you know wtf you put on it, just let it do it’s job and shuffle.
While not having basic control and functionality works for you, it’s simplistic and plain stupid for many others. It’s one notch above having a radio… even though a radio has a display.
… and WTF for someone who has the patience to use the Shuffle, you sure seem impatient with your response.
—
> If you don’t like the song (why you wouldn’t is beyond me since you added it) hit the next button and be done with it.
Hmmmm… I have a large collection of artists in the M-T range (Mintzer – Tyner). That’s a lot of hitting the next button so I can eventually be done with it… Again, fun for some, idiotic for others.
—
>How many times are you looking at the screen anyway when you’re sweating your *** off on the treadmill???
So Apple’s target is the treadmill ***-sweaters. Granted! Now how about everyone else who wants a very small and portable player with basic controls and functionality?
But you’re right… Apple is right on target with treadmill ***-sweaters.
” I’ll consider my first iPod once the Shuffle has a display screen or the iPod has a hard drive capacity of greater than 100 gigabytes. Not everyone uses low MP3 sample rates such as 192 kbps.”
I don’t think Apple is losing any sleep over you not buying an iPOD dude.
And if you think you can hear the difference between a 192 kbps and one of the higher rates on a portable, then there is no point in trying to use logic to convince you to do anything.
Stick to your Walkman cassette player and enjoy Windows XP!
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”LOL” style=”border:0;” />
RE Mike K.:
I bought a 512MB shuffle in late January and promptly sold my 40GB iPod 4G.
– I worry less about cosmetically damaging the shuffle, so it actually gets used more often.
– I don’t miss the screen because it’s only 100-120 songs of my own choosing, so I know that I’ll like whatever comes up on the rotation.
-I’m never away from my computer for more than 24 hours at a time, so when I grow tired of the song selection on the shuffle, I just plug it in to the iMac and change the selection.
YAAAWWWNNNNNN!!!!
This isn’t even close to being news or even a decent rumor!
The “prediction” that a digital device will have more memory (or be faster, smaller, more intuitive) doesn’t take a psychic. Hell, even my 5 yr old nephew knows that!!!
So, what’s next? The awesome prediction that the Mac mini will be faster, that iMacs will have more memory and more things standard? How about the incredible prediction that all Macs will soon come with iWork pre-installed AND have a spreadsheet-like application? OOOoooooo…. so mystical!!!
Shut the f- up and get a f-in’ life!!!
>And if you think you can hear the difference between a 192 kbps and one of the higher rates on a portable, then there is no point in trying to use logic to convince you to do anything.
Most people don’t care about that extra frequency range.
Most people are willing to sacrifice fidelity and rich sound for portability.
… and you fit into the “most people” category, so you feel obliged to ridicule those who want something more than what you’re satisfied by.
FOr me, a 100GB iPod would be awesome. The extra space will let me go lossless or uncompressed *and* stay portable.
>Stick to your Walkman cassette player and enjoy Windows XP! LOL
Stuff like this just makes posters look dumb. LOL
>And if you think you can hear the difference between a 192 kbps and one of the higher rates on a portable, then there is no point in trying to use logic to convince you to do anything.
Most people don’t care about that extra frequency range.
Most people are willing to sacrifice fidelity and rich sound for portability.
… and you fit into the “most people” category, so you feel obliged to ridicule those who want something more than what you’re satisfied by.
FOr me, a 100GB iPod would be awesome. The extra space will let me go lossless or uncompressed *and* stay portable.
>Stick to your Walkman cassette player and enjoy Windows XP! LOL
Stuff like this just makes posters look dumb. LOL
>And if you think you can hear the difference between a 192 kbps and one of the higher rates on a portable, then there is no point in trying to use logic to convince you to do anything.
Most people don’t care about that extra frequency range.
Most people are willing to sacrifice fidelity and rich sound for portability.
… and you fit into the “most people” category, so you feel obliged to ridicule those who want something more than what you’re satisfied by.
FOr me, a 100GB iPod would be awesome. The extra space will let me go lossless or uncompressed *and* stay portable.
>Stick to your Walkman cassette player and enjoy Windows XP! LOL
Stuff like this just makes posters look dumb. LOL