The new iPod shuffle and nano - Holy **** (2 Viewers)

[Ray Chuang]

Don't be surprised if Apple releases a 16 GB nano at Macworld in January 2007.

 

[mattCR]

I think the Nano is going to replace the regular ipod; and the others will be video.

But I'd bet that at somepoint, WiFi comes to the Ipod.

 

[Brian Perry]

I think the next iPod will be similar to the current 80gb, but with a wide screen and smaller control wheel (to make the overall unit the same size).

 

[Christ Reynolds]

don't bet on that. there are plenty of people who need (or want) much more than 16 GB. i have a 60 GB ipod with video, and i bought it to use as a portable jukebox, even though it won't hold all of my music. a 16 or even 32 GB nano would be useless to me, in the way i intend to use it. regular ipods aren't going anywhere.

CJ

 

[Mike~Sileck]

Just a quick question. I was under the impression that the older shuffles had a USB port attached (I'm like 99% sure this is true...at least from what I recall).

But it seems as though the new ones do not have a built in USB plug. This means two things for me. A) I cannot bring my new ipod shuffle to school and work and use it as a backup usb flash drive unless I have my trusty apple USB cord with it. and B) Unless someone has a readily available solution they can think of, I won't be buying one.

I was really excited for the new shuffles to .. Apple seems to be going proprietary on this one though. Any thoughts? Ideas?




Although I Can understand how this provides for expansion of the product, it is annoying to me, because I just wanted the convienience factor. Heres what I think may be possible? Maybe not. You guys tell me. What if I took one of Apple's USB cords, cut out the entire cord portion, and soldered the USB plug onto the "dock connector". Connecting all the other wires and stuff along the way. That would make it a very small attachment...one that I could technically solder into my ipod shuffle, and have my own USB plug, without compromising anything really, except the overall size of my ipod.

Any thoughts on this?

 

[ThomasC]

Yes, the older Shuffles connected through the USB port. The new Shuffle is actually too small to have the USB port attached, so that's why a dock is used.

 

[Ken Chan]

They are selling additional docks for $29. Given the way the jack (the part that plugs into the shuffle) sticks out perpendicular to the dock, you might want to leave a few inches of cord, so that you have flexibility when trying to plug it in different places. That would be fairly portable. Some third party might also come up with something better shaped.

 

[Ray Chuang]

I think once the nano (or its successor) reach 16-20 GB in flash memory storage, don't be surprised that Apple will make 50 GB as the minimum size for their "regular" iPods.

 

[MarkHastings]

Yeah, with the iPod is still being an Apple product, it doesn't make sense to add to the size by making USB compatibility without a connector.

 

[Mike~Sileck]

I didn't mean to call firewire "proprietary" by any means...

I merely meant that they were using the dock connector port, which is, a proprietary Apple port..am I wrong?

All I was trying to get across was that I couldn't plug the new shuffle directly into either a USB or a firewire port, hence a reason why I might not buy one. Thats all, no opinions on firewire, sorry...



Thanks for the suggestions though.

 

[MarkHastings]

Ah, sorry.

 

[Christ Reynolds]

by the time the nano reaches 16 GB, the smallest ipod will have reached 50 GB naturally, apple will not have to "make" the smallest one 50+ GB on purpose.

CJ

 

[Diallo B]

the gapless playback works as advertised with one minor caveat.

if you rip a cd to iTunes the gapless works with no issues and no abnormalities.

BUT, if you import files to iTunes and attempt to run it gapless there will be a small audible click between tracks.

my workaround for albums that i do not have a physical cd for is to burn a cd on a cd-rw using nero to make it gapless and then rip that cd-rw to iTunes.

 

[Christ Reynolds]

only if the cd is quiet enough for you to hear it. the only cd i could hear the click (when i was listening for it) was dark side of the moon, between brain damage and eclipse. didnt hear it on tommy, quadrophenia, or abbey road. haven't listened to any other candidates yet.

CJ

 

[Dave Scarpa]

Yeah I've ordered the new Shuffle I hope it sounds as good as the original one. I use it for music and Podcasts.

 

[Will_B]

If there's no screen on the shuffle, how do you select what album/folder you want to play?

 

[Michael_K_Sr]

The songs in the playlist need to be played in either sequential order or shuffled. The control button allows you to skip forward or in reverse through the playlist.

 

[Thomas Newton]

There's a Red iPod Nano now. 4 GB, like the other "colored case" ones.

 

[Ken Chan]

Except that $10 goes to fight AIDS in Africa.

 

[Will_B]

I visited some stores to see the iPod and the iPod Nano in person, and the iPod is just still too bulky. I like the Nano.

I'm sorry the 8GB is not available in a variety of colors -- I'd have chosen the brushed silver color, or white. But the 8GB only comes in black. I realize they're trying to make black seem "cool" by making the 8GB exclusively available in black, but come on, black is only cool when it's 1973 and you're a hick picking a color for a Camero.

Despite the bad color selection, the 8GB iPod Nano is looking good.

Is there a website where people share what engravings they chose (there's 23 characters available for the first line and 23 characters available for the second line)?