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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Consumer Hardware & Components > Advanced iPod Dock

Advanced iPod Dock
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subego
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May 9, 2003, 09:12 PM
 
     
Yoda's Erotic Piggyback
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May 9, 2003, 10:16 PM
 
Sounds like more loop rumors bullshit to me.
     
MaxPower2k3
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May 9, 2003, 10:21 PM
 
if you look at the dock connector, it has easily 20-30 pins on it, while even Firewire + USB2 + line out is only 14 or so at the most, so i've wondered if there was something else that could use that port in the future
     
Producer
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May 9, 2003, 11:00 PM
 
look Apple has to add some form of video output for the ipod eventually... let's say it's the year 2005 and the ipod 120 gig is released.... ummm that is a lot of damn music... let's see 30 gigs = 7500 songs at $1 per song... so 120 gig = $30000 in your pocket

They have to add video capabilities for people to want more space....
     
slider
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May 9, 2003, 11:17 PM
 
Um, couldn't they just make it smaller and have longer battery life. Why does everyone assume that the only succession of the iPod is bigger HD. You made the point yourself, there is a max that people are willing to pay for. It's an MP3 player. This obsession some people have with video is nuts. I have absolutely no use for such a device. OOhhh woopie, I can hook it up to any tv I want and watch the matrix on the go, please.
     
SupahCoolX
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May 11, 2003, 01:20 AM
 
Originally posted by slider:
Um, couldn't they just make it smaller and have longer battery life. Why does everyone assume that the only succession of the iPod is bigger HD. You made the point yourself, there is a max that people are willing to pay for. It's an MP3 player. This obsession some people have with video is nuts. I have absolutely no use for such a device. OOhhh woopie, I can hook it up to any tv I want and watch the matrix on the go, please.
I agree 100%.
I would take anything MacWhispers says with a grain of salt. I don't think they've ever been right about anything (except when "reporting" what others have already said). Besides, I think I remember hearing that the guy from MacWhispers (or was it LoopRumors?) is an Apple stockholder just trying to create some buzz to raise the price or something. Either way, it's not cool
     
dettociao
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May 11, 2003, 06:45 PM
 
Originally posted by slider:
This obsession some people have with video is nuts. I have absolutely no use for such a device. OOhhh woopie, I can hook it up to any tv I want and watch the matrix on the go, please.
Agreed 100%. What the hell do people want a portable video player for?
-.-
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Yoda's Erotic Piggyback
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May 11, 2003, 07:28 PM
 
Originally posted by dettociao:
Agreed 100%. What the hell do people want a portable video player for?
They just want to show off.
     
SupahCoolX
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May 11, 2003, 08:33 PM
 
Originally posted by Yoda's Erotic Piggyback:
They just want to show off.
Only problem is that no one cares.
Jim: "Hey Bob, look! I can play some short MPG's on a 2 inch color screen!"
Bob: "... "
     
Axo1ot1
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May 11, 2003, 09:15 PM
 
Originally posted by SupahCoolX:
Only problem is that no one cares.
Jim: "Hey Bob, look! I can play some short MPG's on a 2 inch color screen!"
Bob: "... "
LOL word

Pretty useless unless it's got like...a fold-out 17" screen...

     
mrgaskell
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May 11, 2003, 10:09 PM
 
You also have to remember that people use the iPod for both music and storage. In fact, there was an article on the Apple site on how a scientist kept an entire genome (A,T,C & G's) on his 5gb iPod. At 30 trillion+ letters, I'm sure that's one hell of a Word file! I use my 10gb iPod for 7gb of MP3s, 1 gig of school and web files for backup, and 2 toast CD images so I can run games w/o CDs. .8gb left!

jg
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Zim
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May 12, 2003, 08:22 AM
 
Originally posted by dettociao:
Agreed 100%. What the hell do people want a portable video player for?
You guys don't get out much, or you should invest a quarter or two to buy an entry-level imagination....

Portable video-out (motion and still) would be a nice feature. I take plenty of pics and movies with my digital camera. Being able to easily transport and show those pictures to friends would be nice.

Cut to commercial... technically-challenged Dad take pics with new digital camera... download (plug and play) to his Mac... copies fro m iPhoto/iMovie to his ipod... goes to grandma's house, plugs cable to the video-in on her TV, shows her pictures, movies.

Yes I can burn to a JPEG/pic CD, and a VCD, but having just spent several months searching for the all-in-one home DVD player, I can tell you without a doubt that very few of your friends will have one that will play even correctly burned discs of these types.

This market is all about convergence whether the mp3-purists like it or not. That 30G of storage needs to be usable to do more than just play music.

Mike
     
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May 12, 2003, 09:56 AM
 
I agree that Vid OUT would be nice, but playing it on the screen is useless. But Pretty soon the iPod would just be a really powerful PDA.
     
Eug
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May 12, 2003, 10:12 AM
 
Um, couldn't they just make it smaller and have longer battery life. Why does everyone assume that the only succession of the iPod is bigger HD. You made the point yourself, there is a max that people are willing to pay for. It's an MP3 player. This obsession some people have with video is nuts. I have absolutely no use for such a device. OOhhh woopie, I can hook it up to any tv I want and watch the matrix on the go, please.
1) The smallest drives get discontinued eventually. Remember that Apple does not make the drives.

2) The price of the drives stay the same. ie. If Apple kept the iPod price the same then the size of the iPod drive goes up by default. Mind you they could reduce the cost of the iPod... but for the time being there isn't a big need to reduce it a huge amount since the iPod clearly has a huge dollar value market share already.

3) People use it for storage. eg. Backup hard drive, etc.

4) The iPod apparently ALREADY has a record function. It'd be cool if this could be supported officially and expanded.

5) I watch video on the go all the time. I've had to use my laptop for this, but it'd be cool to have it on a 2x3" screen. Mind you that'd probably add to the cost a significant amount, so I don't see it as a priority.

I'm personally waiting for a 40-60 GB iPod myself. I don't mind waiting another year. I just hope there ends up being an unamplified line out directly on the unit, instead of just on the dock.
     
kovacs
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May 12, 2003, 10:49 AM
 
Originally posted by Eug:

I'm personally waiting for a 40-60 GB iPod myself. I don't mind waiting another year. I just hope there ends up being an unamplified line out directly on the unit, instead of just on the dock.
Hmm... I don't think you will hear anything if the output is unamplified , the line out just has a fixed amplification, just turn the volume of the iPod full up and you have the same output as the line out ( just tested this and it's not really the same, maybe the line out has a stronger output signal ). Maybe someone can test this connect your ipod to your stereo through the line out and switch between the same song played on a CD and your iPod and listen which one sounds louder...
     
Eug
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May 12, 2003, 10:56 AM
 
Originally posted by kovacs:
Hmm... I don't think you will hear anything if the output is unamplified , the line out just has a fixed amplification, just turn the volume of the iPod full up and you have the same output as the line out ( just tested this and it's not really the same, maybe the line out has a stronger output signal ). Maybe someone can test this connect your ipod to your stereo through the line out and switch between the same song played on a CD and your iPod and listen which one sounds louder...
The line out on the dock supposedly bypasses the main amp circuit, and thus has been reported to sound better than the amplified headphone jack when hooked up to a stereo.

I would hope to have BOTH an unamp'd line out and an amp'd headphone jack on the unit itself. Several MP3 players have this feature. It's more convenient.
     
wjdennen
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May 21, 2003, 05:43 PM
 
Here's a dumb question. I have power speakers that I usually have hooked up to my portable CD player's headphone jack. (I have to adjust the volume on both devices, the speakers and the CD player).

Can I just plug this same set of speakers into the line-out port on the iPod dock?

I'm just paranoid. Afraid of using the wrong thing in the wrong place.

Is the lineout port the same as a headphone jack... except that it doesn't go through the iPod's volume circuitry?
     
mqa
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May 21, 2003, 09:34 PM
 
All you video iPod people are forgetting one thing: what processor are they going to use to decode video on the fly that doesn't a) triple the size of the iPod, and b) doesn't cut the battery life to nothing? Decoding video is no simple task, it will be quite some time before a reasonable video iPod can be produced.
     
Zim
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May 22, 2003, 08:27 AM
 
Originally posted by mqa:
All you video iPod people are forgetting one thing: what processor are they going to use to decode video on the fly that doesn't a) triple the size of the iPod, and b) doesn't cut the battery life to nothing? Decoding video is no simple task, it will be quite some time before a reasonable video iPod can be produced.
The Archos Jukebox does it TODAY (and has been out almost a year). Yes it is bigger than the iPod (partly b/c they do not use the small Toshiba HDDs)....and I believe the Archos battery time is better than the iPod too (again, bigger size helps). But since we tend to expect Apple to be better than its competitors, where is Apple's smaller version of the Archos MMJB?

Next apologist wanna take a stab?

Mike
     
n~s
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May 22, 2003, 09:00 AM
 
Originally posted by mqa:
All you video iPod people are forgetting one thing: what processor are they going to use to decode video on the fly that doesn't a) triple the size of the iPod, and b) doesn't cut the battery life to nothing? Decoding video is no simple task, it will be quite some time before a reasonable video iPod can be produced.
Maybe the processing could be done in the fancy, optional dock and the iPod just used to stream the raw data out? I'm thinking iPod -> Dock -> Audio/Video out cable, not displayed on the tiny screen.

I'm getting a feeling my iPod is going to cost more over time, a few months and I'll need the microphone add-on, a few months later they'll release a fancy dock with cool features, a few months later something else.
You are not your signature.
     
starman
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May 22, 2003, 09:05 AM
 
If it's bullshit, it's the first bullshit my friend has told me about from the rumor mill, and he's always, ALWAYS right. He's out in SV and has a lot of contacts at Apple. When I told him my problem about no new accessories for the new iPod he told me to wait for the new Dock that's coming. All I knew about that one was USB2, Firewire, Line In, and 802.11. I didn't hear anything about video.

Expected announcement around MWNY.

Mike

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mqa
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May 22, 2003, 03:41 PM
 
In terms of volume, the Archos player is 2.4x larger (ok, so its not triple) and twice as heavy. Additionally, they claim 7 hours for MP3 playback (already lower than the current iPod), but make no mention of battery life for video playback. Being generous, I imagine it would have about 3 hours playing video, although I can't be sure.

So, both my points still stand.
     
SummitWynds
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May 25, 2003, 01:29 PM
 
Panasonic 4 in 1 player (priced the same as a 10GB iPod) - smaller than the iPod
Panasonic Ewear
     
MaxPower2k3
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May 25, 2003, 01:53 PM
 
that ewear is 7.81 cubic inches
the iPod is 6.1 cubic inches

not to mention the ewear probably doesn't do any of those things very well (takes bad pictures, bad video, and average sound quality) and the iPod has 240 times the storage included.

Oh, and it's the price of the 15 gig, not the 10 gig.

the ewear is not for anybody that is serious about any one of its functions, those people get dedicated devices like an iPod and Digital Camera. sure, you spend more money, but it's a lot less disappointing too.
     
SummitWynds
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May 25, 2003, 02:24 PM
 
I wouldn't want one. I am happy with my 5 GB iPod, a very nice digital camera and camcorder. This is the sort of gadget that people are wishing their iPod could be.
     
   
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