Video shows upcoming iPod Firmware Update to feature Cover Flow?

According to a video posted by gizmodo on YouTube, Apple’s iPod “will have its firmware updated soon, now featuring the Cover Flow view seen on iTunes.”

Direct link to YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFwEcmn26zI

[Attribution: Gizmodo.]
Real or fake?

39 Comments

  1. That would be nice, except it would be nicer if it had the reverse view too (like on iPhone). I vote the video to be fake, but would like to be proven wrong. It would be kinda strange to just put coverflow in there without changing the rest of the gui. I would love to see apple release a new gui (iPhone style) for leopard that extends across to the iPod too, that would be so soo nice.

    Hmm….Why are these videos always blurry?

  2. Cleverboy in the Gizmodo comments section:

    LOL. Guys… this is the same iPod video nonesense people have been jerking folks around with for a while. There will BE NO COVERFLOW on the current generation iPod. NONE. The iPhone runs MacOS X and uses Core Animation, therefore, COVERFLOW. The existing iPod DO NOT run MacOS X. It is an easier, and more sensible expense for Apple to develop a method to run current generation GAMES on the iPhone, than to mystically make Coverflow backwards compatible with the 5 and 5.5 generation iPod.

    If you love these tricks, you’re going to LOVE the tricks people will be playing when the iPhone is released. Hey, look at me, I’m running Vista on my iPhone!!! Now I’m playing Halo using Touchscreen! I am l33t!

    I’m going to compile a list of iPod video pranks for people at some point. It’s really funny what people will believe.

    http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/portable-media/exclusive-video-leaked-ipod-firmware-coming-enables-cover-flow-239726.php#c1021726

  3. On second watch… it does rather look like the touch wheel doesn’t match up with his finger that well, especially at the end when he goes to select a song to play. He scrolls down on the click wheel but it stays on the first song.

    Bummer… ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” /> Have to wait for the 6G

  4. Even my iMac slows down using CoverFlow. Of course, I have the cover images set to be about 800 pixels tall.

    On my old laptop with a P3 and integrated graphics card, when the artwork is the size of a shuffle it doesn’t really lag. It can barely handle iPod videos (640×480, 1500 mbps H.264) but can do coverflow with small album art just fine, so I don’t think it would be that hard for the iPod, which does iPod-size video no problem, to do coverflow with no problem. Besides, the artwork is gonna be optimized for the iPod, which would make it about 200 pixels tall, so there’s probably little chance it would lag.

  5. Real –
    Whether it is useful or not – vid is real.

    I like coverflow – Yes, it is easier to search other ways. Coverflow is not for searching, it is for Browsing. Looking for something that will catch your fancy at the moment, just like thumbing through LPs
    (Note: LPs are music discs made from vinyl. They came in various sizes, the most popular was the album that spun at 33 and 1/3 rpm and typically held about a CD’s worth of music. A needle rode in grooves pressed into the vinyl that caused a vibration that was amplified to create the recorded sound.)

  6. Even though it’s not that useful and that this most likely is a fake, it will give a different feel to the iPod, it’s a cool look.

    I’ll mess with it if I had that on my Nano.

    In response to the last Chris who posted about wanting Coverflow on an iPod Shuffle. Are you missing something about Apple’s and iPods?

  7. iTunes 7x trashed my ipod 3rd gen. model. And according to my favourite reseller I’m not alone. It wasn’t a total disaster as I’d just bought a 60 gig refurbished ipod photo. I just wish Apple would come clean over the problem with this model ipod. And it still hurts a bit because I now have an expensive paper weight.

  8. re: zunetang

    damn! i was just gonna install itunes 7 on my newly acquired mac iici! i have a 68040 accelerator though, maybe that will help!

    mw: systems. we should be able to have cover flow on our 18 year old systems! ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />

  9. Ron:

    Apparently it’s the gapless playback that causes the problem. After I set gapless playback (which is only for ipod videos, which I didn’t know at the time) all hell broke loose. The ipod froze. I then got a message that there was a software problem and iTunes asked to do a restore. I then clicked OK and then I got a mesage that it was unable to restore the ipod.

    After I disconnected the ipod I had the dreaded folder with an exclamation mark. I tried to do a reset but it wouldn’t work. It doesn’t happen to all 3rd gen. ipods but I guess I got the raw prawn. My reseller had some reports about the problem but Apple is real quiet about the matter.

    What is especially sad about the whole affair is that it was my first ipod and a birthday present from my wife and I guess I’m a little sentimental about it. Likewise it’s just not worth getting it fixed AND I’d have to go back to iTunes 6x.

    P.S. I may have got the reset and restore terms mixed up but you get the gist of the problem.

    P.P.S. I’m using a G5 iMac 1.8gz running 10.3.9 and I’ll be going over to an Intel iMac when Leopard comes out. Maybe then I’ll see about getting it fixed.

  10. FAKE!

    It looks to me like a bit of choreographed finger dancing over an iPod video. The two big giveaways that’s it’s a fake are the lack of sound and the BLURRED VIDEO!

    It’s a neat idea, but why do hoaxers always shoot blurry video? Don’t most video cameras have auto-focus? You have to work really hard to force the camera NOT to be in focus. Of course, if you’re trying to hide the flaws in your fake iPod video you blur it.

    One more thing: did you guys notice the lack of lag time between cover flow and the standard iPod screens? My dual 1GHz G4 PowerMac can’t flip into cover flow that easily and we’re supposed to believe a tiny, little iPod processor and just pop in and out of Cover Flow that fast? Puh-leese!

    I could have done a better job than this without trying very hard.

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