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Superchicken · Oct 19, 2003, 12:45 AM

We see Micro drives out there. 1-4 gigs last time I checked. Once they reach 5 gigs we could have something with the same space as a 1G iPod but it could fit on your key chain! Heck they could even make it just head phone based! You know something that slips on your ear then slips around to the other side? Anyway no mater how they built it a small Apple built MP3 player would be pretty sweet and help them dominate even more in the small market sector. if I could buy for 200 a 5 gig mini iPod with even a 1-3 gig HD I'd do it, and I know a lot of other people who would. Not EVERYONE is a massive pirate who wants to fit on every song they've ever stolen. Some of us have bought CDs and still have less than 100 of them.

Misanthrope · Oct 19, 2003, 12:48 AM

Anything that small means people will lose it easily OR it'll probably break easily.

fireside · Oct 19, 2003, 12:50 AM

erm how are they going to fit an interface on something that small?

Superchicken · Oct 19, 2003, 01:00 AM

hmm that's true... perhaps they need to maintain a similar shape... haha either way they could stick on buttons or something...

Cipher13 · Oct 19, 2003, 01:01 AM

Originally posted by Superchic[k]en:
We see Micro drives out there. 1-4 gigs last time I checked. Once they reach 5 gigs we could have something with the same space as a 1G iPod but it could fit on your key chain! Heck they could even make it just head phone based! You know something that slips on your ear then slips around to the other side? Anyway no mater how they built it a small Apple built MP3 player would be pretty sweet and help them dominate even more in the small market sector. if I could buy for 200 a 5 gig mini iPod with even a 1-3 gig HD I'd do it, and I know a lot of other people who would. Not EVERYONE is a massive pirate who wants to fit on every song they've ever stolen. Some of us have bought CDs and still have less than 100 of them.

Not everyone with lots of music is a pirate

1. Microdrives are far too expensive; the mini iPod would cost more than the larger-capacity version.

2. Microdrives are very, very fragile.

3. Microdrives are not designed for intensive and consistent reading or writing.

4. As Fireside said, interface?

5. The market wouldn't accept it. The iPod is small enough as it is.

6. You're an idiot.

Superchicken · Oct 19, 2003, 01:05 AM

Originally posted by Cipher13:
6. You're an idiot.

This form the guy who calls 1st Corinthians a story

nvaughan3 · Oct 19, 2003, 01:14 AM

Originally posted by Cipher13:
Not everyone with lots of music is a pirate

1. Microdrives are far too expensive; the mini iPod would cost more than the larger-capacity version.

2. Microdrives are very, very fragile.

3. Microdrives are not designed for intensive and consistent reading or writing.

4. As Fireside said, interface?

5. The market wouldn't accept it. The iPod is small enough as it is.

6. You're an idiot.

Coming from someone who cannot distiguish between micro drive and Microdrive.

the closest right now to what you are talking about is the rio nitrus although in comparison the HD size is only 1.5GB.

macvillage.net · Oct 19, 2003, 01:21 AM

Originally posted by Cipher13:
Not everyone with lots of music is a pirate

True, iTunes.

1. Microdrives are far too expensive; the mini iPod would cost more than the larger-capacity version.

Now, I believe the thread is in regard to the future.

2. Microdrives are very, very fragile.

The extra room compaired to normal drives would leave quite a bit for protection material, and be lighter, more reliable, and smaller.

3. Microdrives are not designed for intensive and consistent reading or writing.

True. But that will change.

4. As Fireside said, interface?

Who says interface has to get much smaller? Could go thiner for example.

5. The market wouldn't accept it. The iPod is small enough as it is.

Not necessarally. The chief complaint on the iPod is that it's not as small as some of those solid state players (keychian sized in some cases).

Apple meeting it's only complaint... would make it the ultimate device.

Microdrives would use less electricity as well, improving battery life.

Lastly, more room for protective material to protect the drive... more durable product.

And thinner.

That's attractive.

6. You're an idiot.

No comment.

There are advantages. But I don't see it happening soon.

Cipher13 · 05:26 PM

Originally posted by nvaughan3:
Coming from someone who cannot distiguish between micro drive and Microdrive.

the closest right now to what you are talking about is the rio nitrus although in comparison the HD size is only 1.5GB.

Heh, can't distinguish? Incase you didn't notice, he capitalised "Micro".

EDIT: Typo. Distinguise. Odd.

Powaqqatsi · Oct 19, 2003, 06:44 AM

Originally posted by Superchic[k]en:
This form the guy who calls 1st Corinthians a story

It IS a ****ing story. LOL.

faragbre967 · Oct 19, 2003, 10:10 AM

Originally posted by Cipher13:
4. As Fireside said, interface?

The interface could be on something to the effect of the remote Apple already offers here. Obviously it would need a screen though, could be like a walkman interface, though that's a little too simple for Apple.

Ken Masters · Oct 19, 2003, 10:42 AM

I think manufacturing a 20G drive cost nearly as much as manufacturing a 100Gig drive.

So i think its not going to happen. If it uses SmartDisk its going to be expensive, and the last time i checked at my local store in AUS 2Gigs of SmartDisk media cost nearly as much as a new iPod. $500AU dollars.

cdhostage · Oct 19, 2003, 02:50 PM

The iPod is friggin ginormitiny already! The half-deck-of-cards is about as small as you can get. I am speaking completely and utterly out of my toes, but as long as the medium is a spinning glass platter, the whole iPod can only be a flattened square more across than the diameter of platter, or some other shape (round?) at least as big in at least one direction as the platter.

Perhaps another technology would be better - it's a shame MRAM isn't ready yet. By the time many GB of MRAM could fit in the hand, the market will have moved on. Not beyond music players, of course, but the difference between Game Boy and Game Boy Advance. The expected capabilities of the iPod will have moved on to the player/pda/computer. The recent addons and software abilities have started it that way. Hmm, run the computer on OS X on a GB of MRAM

Brien · 05:47 PM

I made a quick mock-up of the MiniPod, and this would approxamately be the actual size. Note the microphone on top.

Size compared to:

cdhostage · Oct 19, 2003, 04:02 PM

That's actually reasonable size mockup (if you can make a 50 GB drive fit into a MicroDrive housing). What I'd rather is they take the size of the 2G iPods like my 20 GB (the size of a used pack of cards) and the aforementioned very, very dense hard drive, and fill as much space as possible with Lithium Polymer battery.

teszeract · Oct 19, 2003, 05:14 PM

Originally posted by brien:
I made a quick mock-up of the MiniPod, and this would approxamately be the actual size. Note the microphone on top.

At what screen res? I'm running 1280 x 1024. For someone with 800 x 600 the image will be much larger.

benb · Oct 19, 2003, 05:23 PM

Originally posted by Cipher13:
Heh, can't distinguise? Incase you didn't notice, he capitalised "Micro".

Ha.

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=distinguise

Cipher13 · Oct 19, 2003, 05:25 PM

Originally posted by benb:
Ha.

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=distinguise

Wow. A typo. Will ya look at that.

*prods typo*

It's dead, Jim.

Apple Pro Underwear · Oct 19, 2003, 05:25 PM

Originally posted by Cipher13:
Not everyone with lots of music is a pirate

1. Microdrives are far too expensive; the mini iPod would cost more than the larger-capacity version.

2. Microdrives are very, very fragile.

3. Microdrives are not designed for intensive and consistent reading or writing.

4. As Fireside said, interface?

5. The market wouldn't accept it. The iPod is small enough as it is.

ciph,

i agree with you but i believe if apple researched this and made one correctly with the perfect blend of features...it would kick ass

:XI: · Oct 19, 2003, 05:27 PM

Originally posted by teszeract:
At what screen res? I'm running 1280 x 1024. For someone with 800 x 600 the image will be much larger.

And if they are running 800x600 on a 20" it will be bigger still.

fireside · Oct 19, 2003, 05:33 PM

Originally posted by :XI::
And if they are running 800x600 on a 20" it will be bigger still.

why would you buy a 20" monitor to use 800x600? give that damn thing to someone who will use it correctly.

and please, dont capitalize my name.

talisker · Oct 19, 2003, 05:33 PM

Don't use microdrives or whatever, just stick to, say, 256 or 512MB flash memory. Wouldn't hold nearly so much as the regular iPod so wouldn't need any sort of detailed interface, but would be robsut and great for running, short journeys etc. Not a replacement for the other iPod, but aimed at different situations. That said, it wouldn't be anything that doesn't already exist, so why should Apple bother?

nvaughan3 · Oct 19, 2003, 05:35 PM

Originally posted by Cipher13:
Heh, can't distinguish? Incase you didn't notice, he capitalised "Micro".

EDIT: Typo. Distinguise. Odd.

he also seperated the two friggin words!

Cipher13 · Oct 19, 2003, 05:41 PM

Originally posted by nvaughan3:
he also seperated the two friggin words!

Superchicken isn't known for his grammatical skills.

That relates more to spacing than to capitalisation, which he seems to have a semi-decent grasp on.

Worst case scenario: either is as likely as the other, which still supports me, not you.

Deal with it.

Brien · 06:49 PM

Originally posted by brien:
I made a quick mock-up of the MiniPod, and this would approxamately be the actual size. Note the microphone on top.

Size compared to:

Originally posted by teszeract:
At what screen res? I'm running 1280 x 1024. For someone with 800 x 600 the image will be much larger.

Edited for your consumtion.

Synotic · Oct 19, 2003, 06:18 PM

Another idea...

benb · Oct 19, 2003, 06:30 PM

Originally posted by Cipher13:
Wow. A typo. Will ya look at that.

*prods typo*

It's dead, Jim.

Yet you seem to overlook the fact that other people could make typos as well.

Not that we don't expect this hypocracy.

SomeToast · Oct 19, 2003, 07:40 PM

Originally posted by brien:

You can't completely replace the center select button with the play/pause button.

SomeToast · Oct 19, 2003, 07:45 PM

Originally posted by Superchic[k]en:
Not EVERYONE is a massive pirate who wants to fit on every song they've ever stolen. Some of us have bought CDs and still have less than 100 of them.

And some of us have bought CDs and still have over 1,100 of them.

Brien · Oct 19, 2003, 08:03 PM

CollinG3G4 · Oct 19, 2003, 08:06 PM

..and it can be yours for the low low price of $1,500!

ASIMO · Oct 19, 2003, 08:14 PM

Originally posted by Cipher13:
Not everyone with lots of music is a pirate
...

6. You're an idiot.

I do not believe I have ever caught myself laughing on these boards. Until now.