[arfo]

Why? Because the whole case is the battery. Do a search for Lithium polymer batteries. They were developed for use as body panels/batteries in electric cars. If you're jogging along and you drop your iPod you better hope and pray it doesn't crack. Along with a screwed up hard drive you'll probably kill your power supply.

[Frumpy]

Riiiight. I'm sure that the only people that would spend $400 on the iPod would be dumb enough to put it in a place where it can be dropped to the point of breakage. Like i said, riiiiiight.

[SMacSteve]

Originally posted by Frumpy:
<STRONG>Riiiight. I'm sure that the only people that would spend $400 on the iPod would be dumb enough to put it in a place where it can be dropped to the point of breakage. Like i said, riiiiiight. </STRONG>

Hey, he has a point! Accidents do happen and people do stupid things. Stupid.

[arfo]

Originally posted by Frumpy:
<STRONG>Riiiight. I'm sure that the only people that would spend $400 on the iPod would be dumb enough to put it in a place where it can be dropped to the point of breakage. Like i said, riiiiiight. </STRONG>

I'm just stating the facts as unfortunate as they are. It is supposed to be a portable device that's to be carried on your person. I doubt this thing is built like a Motorola Saber or HT1000.

[dtriska]

I'm more concerned about the operating temperatures. Apparently, the iPod is only rated to operate between zero and 45 degrees celsius. That doesn't bode well for me, as my city's had snow since Saturday.

Oh, then there's the 90-day limited warranty. I'm a little worried about that.

[kidtexas]

If it is that cold in your city in the winter, I still think you should still be fine. Unless you plan on strapping this thing to the bottom of your shoes, it should stay plenty warm enough in your shirt pocket, under your massive winter coat, etc. Not saying that it will work, but within reason, if you keep it under your coat, it should be fine.

I found that limited operating range strange also. What could be inside there that wouldn't like sub zero (32F) temps? The display might get sluggish or freeze up, but LCDs thaw out when they get warm.

Perhaps the battery doesn't like cold temps? I would imagine keeping it in your coat would keep it warm, or for that matter, perhaps the hard drive would keep it warm for you.

As to dropping it, I don't really plan on dropping anything I paid $400 for. For that matter, my Nomad II doesn't seem like it would take too well to a drop either. It wouldn't cost $400 to replace though.

[nana2]

A hard drive doesn't like sub zero temps. And they don't like high altitudes either.

Riiiight. I'm sure that the only people that would spend $400 on the iPod would be dumb enough to put it in a place where it can be dropped to the point of breakage.

Huh? You mean a stupid, drop-risky place like...in one's own hand, three feet above the concrete sidewalk? That's kind of hard to avoid...

[rjenkinson]

1. we're talking about a product that we've only read about in a press release.
2. the ipod is not made of paper maché or action movie glass.
3. "apple surely doesn't test its products before they are released!"

-r.

[ 10-24-2001: Message edited by: rjenkinson ]

[CRASH HARDDRIVE]

Originally posted by &lt;Dumb enough?&gt;:
<STRONG>

Huh? You mean a stupid, drop-risky place like...in one's own hand, three feet above the concrete sidewalk? That's kind of hard to avoid...</STRONG>

LOL! Personally, I've owned all sorts of fragile hardware, and have never been DUMB or clutzy enough to drop them, even 3 feet, over a concrete sidewalk! That's WAY EASY to avoid actually!

I'd love to see how my little plam-sized DV camcorder with all it's tiny, fragile parts, would take a 3 foot drop onto the sidewalk... no, on second though, I take that back! I'd love to see how YOUR palm-sized DV camcorder took that drop, NOT mine!

Of course, when I'm routinely tossing it around, from hand to hand, or spinning it on my finger 'globetrotter style' over a nice hard sidewalk, it could just possibly be too hard for me to avoid slipping and totally destroying it.

I'll have to keep that in mind next time I toss the camcorder out of the pool, across the cement to my wife..."here hon, quick! Get a shot of me juggling my PDA, eyeglasses and cel phone... before I drop them!"

Can people at least wait 'til they have the thing in their slippery little butter fingers before kvetching so much about it?

[Cipher13]

Originally posted by dtriska:
<STRONG>I'm more concerned about the operating temperatures. Apparently, the iPod is only rated to operate between zero and 45 degrees celsius. That doesn't bode well for me, as my city's had snow since Saturday.

Oh, then there's the 90-day limited warranty. I'm a little worried about that.</STRONG>

That rules out me being able to use it during summer...

[nana2]

90 day limited warranty? Oh yeah, this baby is going to last for years and years

[mortis999]

Don't plug in your ipod to your car or home stereo.
You can't. The ipod has no line out jack.

Think different.
Think audience
Think ahead next time.

[GORDYmac]

Originally posted by &lt;Dumb enough?&gt;:
<STRONG>
Huh? You mean a stupid, drop-risky place like...in one's own hand, three feet above the concrete sidewalk? That's kind of hard to avoid...</STRONG>

Hmm, do you really think Apple didn't think of this? After all, iBooks can withstand that kind of drop.

[Uncertain]

Originally posted by mortis999:
<STRONG>Don't plug in your ipod to your car or home stereo.
You can't. The ipod has no line out jack.

Think different.
Think audience
Think ahead next time.</STRONG>

You don't need a line out jack to hook something up to a stereo. You just have to adjust the output volume until the distortion stops. I'm all for pointing out the iPod's weaknesses (especially price), but let's not make stuff up...

[Jerommeke]

oh yes, and do not bake it, I guess it wont last then either.

[nana2]

Originally posted by Uncertain:
<STRONG>

You don't need a line out jack to hook something up to a stereo. You just have to adjust the output volume until the distortion stops. I'm all for pointing out the iPod's weaknesses (especially price), but let's not make stuff up...</STRONG>

Yes, let us all enjoy the unnecessary distortion provided by the headphone amp.

[Mr_Solar_Wind]

My guess is the range of operating temperatures has more to do with the battery than anything else-- one unfortunate problem with current battery technology is that charge tends to dissipate, especially in the cold. That's why you always hear about people with dead car batteries in the wintertime. Another affect of this phenomenon is that currently the only places in the US where rigorous testing of electric vehicles is being pursued are those areas with the mildest climates-- southern California for instance. Using them in other climates would result in a shorter "range" which could be driven between fuel-ups, increased expense as the batteries would leak more electricity just sitting in a parked location, and decreased battery life over the lifetime of the car-- a battery can only be charged so many times-- and the cost of the batteries used in electric vehicles easily cost more than the car itself (less government subsidies).

Solar

Originally posted by Mr_Solar_Wind:
<STRONG>My guess is the range of operating temperatures has more to do with the battery than anything else-- one unfortunate problem with current battery technology is that charge tends to dissipate, especially in the cold.</STRONG>

With lithium ion technology the batteries lose a lot of their capacity below 50 degrees Fahrenheit. That's probably a big reason for the temp ranges listed.

[BobVB]

Originally posted by mortis999:
<STRONG>Don't plug in your ipod to your car or home stereo.
You can't. The ipod has no line out jack.
</STRONG>

Yes you can, its just some people won't - you know how some people are

From the iPod FAQ:

<STRONG>Q. Can I connect iPod to my home stereo?</STRONG>

A. Yes. Third-party stereo adapters are available for listening to your iPod music library using home stereo speakers. Compatible devices must be self-powered and support audio output through a 3.5-mm headphone jack. For optimal sound quality when using external speakers with iPod, set the iPod volume at less than half the maximum output, and adjust your listening volume through your stereo controls. This prevents overamplification, which can cause distortion and a reduction in audio quality.

[doctre]

Just as a bit of info

The Rio line of MP3 players don't have a line out either. At least my 800 Extreme doesn't.

[marusin]

The iPod does indeed have a separate tiny little battery along with the hard drive.. TechTV opened one up last night during The Screensavers and showed the guts of it..

I always love when people that can't get something or do something make up excuses to make that something look bad... ie: "The iPod cannot be hooked to a stereo" or "The iPod is one big battery and if you drop it, it'll catch the floor on fire".. Whatever...

The assumption that the case in fact is the battery is a sound one. I would still think it's true and the battery you saw was to maintain the various settings between charges. That or the 10 hour battery life is with two or three MP3 files in memory with the iPod turning off the hard drive after the files are initially loaded and the volume at it's lowest setting.

[bertrandl]

I'm not too worried about casual accidents that could happen to an iPod, but rather the long term use of a hard drive in a very dynamic environment (ie movements).

[context]
1 1/2 year ago the company I work for bought 8 VST Firewire drives to help us exchange files (since they didn't want to upgrade our ethernet network). As of today, only one drive is still "alive", the 7 other drives slowly got bad sectors as we manipulated the drives around the building going from one person to another and so on.
[/context]

So lets say you were to listen to your music while jugging (or dancing like the guy in the commercial) how long would the HD survive. A year?

I mean, getting bad sectors on a MP3 player that you paid 400$ is not something I'd like to have. I guess only time will tell.

[CRASH HARDDRIVE]

Originally posted by bertrandl:
[QB]I'm not too worried about casual accidents that could happen to an iPod, but rather the long term use of a hard drive in a very dynamic environment (ie movements).

[context]
1 1/2 year ago the company I work for bought 8 VST Firewire drives to help us exchange files (since they didn't want to upgrade our ethernet network). As of today, only one drive is still "alive", the 7 other drives slowly got bad sectors as we manipulated the drives around the building going from one person to another and so on.
[/context]

Big deal. Change out the IDE HDs inside them. I've still got my original 4 gig VST Firewire HD from 1998, still going strong. I just don't play ping-pong with it when I 'manipulate' it around a building.

I think perhaps you should wait until someone tests it to see what the battery life is. I also think the idea of the whole case being a battery is ridiculous. Imagine if you set the unit down on a tack, you could puncture the battery and let the caustic ooze out. I doubt Apple is that stupid.

Originally posted by &lt;batteryman&gt;:
<STRONG>The assumption that the case in fact is the battery is a sound one. I would still think it's true and the battery you saw was to maintain the various settings between charges. That or the 10 hour battery life is with two or three MP3 files in memory with the iPod turning off the hard drive after the files are initially loaded and the volume at it's lowest setting.</STRONG>

Actually there's not much if any paste type chemical in lithium polymer batteries.
http://www.3m.com/front/lith/
http://www.powerpulse.net/powerpulse...a_080601a1.stm

[bertrandl]

Originally posted by CRASH HARDDRIVE:
<STRONG>

Big deal. Change out the IDE HDs inside them. I've still got my original 4 gig VST Firewire HD from 1998, still going strong. I just don't play ping-pong with it when I 'manipulate' it around a building.</STRONG>

I don't really care about those VST drives actually (I did not pay for them the company did). But if I were to buy an iPod and carry it around would I need to buy another drive after a year to fix the old one? A 1.8 inch drive cost as much as the actual iPod!

And I'm pretty sure that something like jogging would shake the drive a lot more that just walking around the building with the VST in hand.

[macaddled]

Originally posted by bertrandl:
<STRONG>
And I'm pretty sure that something like jogging would shake the drive a lot more that just walking around the building with the VST in hand.</STRONG>

Shouldn't matter 'cause the drive will stay parked most of the time.

regarding the fragility of an iPod:

My 5 year old PowerBook 5300ce (yes, we all know the quality craftsmanship that went into this baby) has been dropped several times (4 times that I can remember) from waist-hight onto hard surfaces (the parking lot once, a thin carpeted floor over concrete, a tile floor and... one other place I can't remember). This thing has taken massive abuse during it's life with me the past 5 years - I'm a bit more careful with stuff now, yes - but the thing is that it just keeps on trucking for me, and this is a product that a billion times more heavy and, from my own experiences, not what one would consider a example of super design or construction. I don't even have a crack in it. My PowerBook has a hard drive in it, and it still works fine (lord knows how many hours that things logged...).

laptop drives are designed differently than your garden variety 3.5" desktop drive - they are designed to be able to withstand being moved around while spun up, and they are for the most part shock proof. Toshiba builds excellent drives.

Ok - yes, I'm getting one (an iPod that is), so maybe I'm trying to make myself feel better . I can't wait for it to come!

Eliott