[genevish]

There's been much speculation about the new iPod possibly (definately?) having the capability to show photos. Some pundits say that portable video is the future? What do you think?

[MrForgetable]

Thanks, but I'm just fine with music.

[Nodnarb]

I voted for "Thanks but I'm fine with just music.", but it should say, "Thanks but I'm fine with just music but I know that it will have to change into photos and eventually video even though I just want the music still." (or something like that)

Do you think when they start making all the iPods for pictures/video or will they still have the much cheaper versions becuase I don't really want to have to pay for all those features that I don't want.

[genevish]

The main reason I posted this is that I think Apple has the right idea (if they do go with the photo feature). I have ~2200 photos in my iPhoto library and would love to be able to easily show them to family and friends when I travel. The "experts" who think video is the way to go seem to be regurgitating what MS is telling them. I have a digital video camera as well as a digital still camera and, although I enjoy video editing, it's a pain and I only have two edited videos after two years (but lots of raw footage, which is too long and boring to show to people as it is). The photos, however, are easy. Import to iPhoto, delete the one's that suck, and viola!

[Lancer409]

Originally posted by brandon420506:
I voted for "Thanks but I'm fine with just music.", but it should say, "Thanks but I'm fine with just music but I know that it will have to change into photos and eventually video even though I just want the music still." (or something like that)

Do you think when they start making all the iPods for pictures/video or will they still have the much cheaper versions becuase I don't really want to have to pay for all those features that I don't want.

i want insane battery life!

[swichd]

I voted for music, but adding nuclear batteries would be great. Then we could add a 24 bit TFT touch screen and watch movies, play games, and look at pictures! How about iMovie? Might as well throw in the PDA features as well and VGA/Component video out! That would be my dream iPod.

[posthumanus]

voice recording

[drive-thru]

I'm fine with music & non-colour screen.
But then I just want a cell phone which makes/receives calls & text messages, and has an address book (I don't need hundreds of ringtones, games, WAP). So what do I know about the digital lifestlye?

More battery life wouldn't go amiss. I'm hoping not to have to buy another iPod for a good 3-4 years yet, so I'm not concerned as long as it gets sorted out by then.

I think all the extras from Griffin, Belkin and others are a good way to add things like voice recording, radio transmition, media card readers stupid tiny flashlights etc which don't all need to be built-in.

[Gussy]

hows about a start button?

[C.J. Moof]

Voice navigation.

I really dislike navigating through my iPod while driving. It's not safe. It takes too much of my attention away from a far more important task. I want to pick up the iPod, press the "listen button", and say "Dire Straits, Brothers in Arms. Play Album" or "Browse, Artist, Sting, Play"

I don't see it happening soon, but I'd really like to be able to navigate it and drive with minimal distractions.

And if it was 60 gigs with a color screen that could display album art and my iPhotos that are iSynced into it, in a Mini form factor, all the better.

[Buck_Naked]

A color screen would be nice. BUT......
Apple should not complicate the iPod with excessive functions.
KISS is the appropriate saying in the case off the iPod.

[Link]

Better battery life and nicer headphones. My 2G 10GB can hardly get a friggin 2 hours of battery life though I've gotten it to do more before >_<

[DekuDekuplex]

Originally posted by swichd:
I voted for music, but adding nuclear batteries would be great. Then we could add a 24 bit TFT touch screen and watch movies, play games, and look at pictures! How about iMovie? Might as well throw in the PDA features as well and VGA/Component video out! That would be my dream iPod.

Before purchasing my PowerBook, I used to use a Sony� Cli� PDA, and since Switch�ing to my Mac, I've always wanted an iPod that stored at least 20 GB of music, backed up my PowerBook HD, and also did what my PDA used to do. My dream iPod would have the following features:

• an 80 GB HD (because I want it to play 20 GB of music and back up my 60 GB PowerBook HD)
• a backlit TFT color screen with at least 480x320 pixel resolution in at least 65,536 colors (the same specifications as for the new PEG-UX50)
• a built-in speaker, preferably with stereo sound
• a directly editable memo function
• a directly editable calendar function
• a directly editable address book function
• the same great music-related functions as on the current iPod
• the same great buttons as on the current iPod
• essentially the same great user interface as on the current iPod
• a matching sylus, for entering text in a memo function
• Bluetooth� syncing ability
• an addictive color game, such as Bejeweled
• compatibility with an online cell-phone-based RPG, such as Before Crisis�: Final Fantasy� VII (currently available for certain cellular phones in Japan)

If, for some reason, I needed to narrow down the list, though, I would focus especially on the following features:

• a backlit TFT color screen with at least 480x320 pixel resolution in at least 65,536 colors (the same specifications as for the new PEG-UX50)
• a built-in speaker, preferably with stereo sound
• a directly editable memo function
• a directly editable calendar function
• a directly editable address book function
• a matching sylus, for entering text in a memo function
• an addictive color game, such as Bejeweled

I used to use my Cli� mainly for keeping track of events, writing, studying, and occasional games. However, I don't want to get a separate iPod and PDA. There should be some way to integrate the two.

If that were not practical, I don't see why Apple couldn't develop an updated Newton�. Apple makes what I think is the best portable music player on the market; why can't they also create the best PDA?

-- DekuDekuplex

[DekuDekuplex]

(Sorry; I accidentally reposted this article, and somehow the Delete Now button doesn't work.)

Moderator: Is there any way that I can delete this accidental extra post itself (and reduce my post count by 1, accordingly)? I just want to retain my long post directly above, and delete this post itself.

-- DekuDekuplex

[d4nth3m4n]

wireless firewire.

DEDICATED VOLUME BUTTONS! i hate being buried in the menus when a new song starts that is way louder than the previous one. (and the remote is a mile long.)

[bender]

It's pretty close to perfect already. However, if they could build a radio tuner into the unit without making the ipod larger or heavier it would be worthwhile. I use my ipod when working out and sometimes I just want to listen to the radio and not music. The adapters are just too clunky for me.

[JHromadka]

AM/FM for listening to sports when I'm out.

[fhoubi]

* user-replaceable batteries
* excl. earbuds
* Sony's MDR-EX71SL in white
* songs skipable in fast forward/reverse-mode
* 7..10-channel equalizer.

[brapper]

a super long lasting battery.

[im_noahselby]

Originally posted by posthumanus:
voice recording

This is what I want!

I don't want to have to buy a seperate gadget to achieve this. It's simple enough that it should be built in already...

Noah

[swichd]

Originally posted by d4nth3m4n:
wireless firewire.

DEDICATED VOLUME BUTTONS! i hate being buried in the menus when a new song starts that is way louder than the previous one. (and the remote is a mile long.)

Why not add some kind of Dynamic Range Compression (its called AI Sound on my TV)? It equalizes the volume between the channels. I'd be cool in an iPod.

[ChillieMac]

My ideas for 5th Gen iPods:

Good:
20 Gig
64MB of cache (for better battery life)
iPod Home (Your user account folder that synchs up with Macs)
AM/FM Tuner (I want to listen to sports, news and talk)
Better battery (higher capacity)
Optional headphone that works w/remote
$300

Better:
40 Gig
64MB cache (as per above)
iPod Home
AM/FM Tuner
Better battery
Include a mini-dock & remote
Optional headphone that works w/remote
$400

Best
60 Gig
64MB cache (as per above)
iPod Home
AM/FM Tuner
Better Battery
Include a mini-dock & remote
Optional headphone that works w/remote
Color screen
A game like Simon (human memory based-colored spaces light up and make a sound, you repreat the pattern by pressing it after the pattern is done, it gets faster)

iPhoto synching, imports lo-res versions of your collection to display
Ability to import info directly from Sherlock, direction maps, flight info, tv schedules, etc
Abiltiy to connect to a tv or LCD projector to present iPhotos, Keynote & Powerpoint presentations, Quicktime movies

Lyrics-Ability to attacha lyrics data to songs via iTunes and view them on your iPod

iCal alarm that uses the iPod clock to give an audio cue (a OS X alert sound, maybe) and then automatically display the appointment or To Do item

Ability to display the visualizer from iTunes and Screensavers from OS X

[Nodnarb]

Originally posted by ChillieMac:
My ideas for 5th Gen iPods:

Better Battery


Ability to display the visualizer from iTunes and Screensavers from OS X

You can't expect to have a good battery life while playing the visualizer or screensavers. What the hell would the point of that be, to watch it while listening to music??? Awesome...

[turtle777]

Doing the laundry, dishes, ironing my clothes and cooking dinner.

Did I forget anything ?

-t

[Athens]

Originally posted by im_noahselby:
This is what I want!

I don't want to have to buy a seperate gadget to achieve this. It's simple enough that it should be built in already...

Noah

Agreed, but I think the mic part should be on the remote, it would be perfect for students at lectures, hours and hours of recording time. Then it can be listened to later for review.

[Peter]

Originally posted by DekuDekuplex:
Before purchasing my PowerBook, I used to use a Sony� Cli� PDA, and since Switch�ing to my Mac, I've always wanted an iPod that stored at least 20 GB of music, backed up my PowerBook HD, and also did what my PDA used to do. My dream iPod would have the following features:

• an 80 GB HD (because I want it to play 20 GB of music and back up my 60 GB PowerBook HD)
• a backlit TFT color screen with at least 480x320 pixel resolution in at least 65,536 colors (the same specifications as for the new PEG-UX50)
• a built-in speaker, preferably with stereo sound
• a directly editable memo function
• a directly editable calendar function
• a directly editable address book function
• the same great music-related functions as on the current iPod
• the same great buttons as on the current iPod
• essentially the same great user interface as on the current iPod
• a matching sylus, for entering text in a memo function
• Bluetooth� syncing ability
• an addictive color game, such as Bejeweled
• compatibility with an online cell-phone-based RPG, such as Before Crisis�: Final Fantasy� VII (currently available for certain cellular phones in Japan)

If, for some reason, I needed to narrow down the list, though, I would focus especially on the following features:

• a backlit TFT color screen with at least 480x320 pixel resolution in at least 65,536 colors (the same specifications as for the new PEG-UX50)
• a built-in speaker, preferably with stereo sound
• a directly editable memo function
• a directly editable calendar function
• a directly editable address book function
• a matching sylus, for entering text in a memo function
• an addictive color game, such as Bejeweled

I used to use my Cli� mainly for keeping track of events, writing, studying, and occasional games. However, I don't want to get a separate iPod and PDA. There should be some way to integrate the two.

If that were not practical, I don't see why Apple couldn't develop an updated Newton�. Apple makes what I think is the best portable music player on the market; why can't they also create the best PDA?

-- DekuDekuplex

no

iPod = music player, not a pda.

[Ruahrc]

Do you guys think that perhaps the reason we have not seen AM/FM in the iPod yet is due to the fact that the whole back and sides are metal? It would be hard to put an effective antenna within the iPod's form factor... since it is mostly metal and would block any radio signal from reaching the antenna. My best guess is that an external device would need to be attaached to the top like the iTrip to give AM/FM capability.

Or they could work something in where the antenna is the remote or headphone wire, that has been done before I think.

I think they should make an iPod remote with a display on it, and yeah don't bother with the photo crap just give me more battery life, more HD space, and more audio quality. I'm not sure what benefit a color screen would have (aside from photos) but a higher resolution greyscale LCD would be nice. What would be nice to add would be some sort of backup ability for your iPod- like having it back up your home folder and also instead of having your music on it twice (once in the iPod folders, once in the Home folder backup) have the iPod read the music straight from the home folder itself. That way I can back up my 60GB HD onto a 60GB iPod like I should be able to. I don't see why this can't be redone, even with current hardware. It just needs a bit of software reprogramming.

Ruahrc