Slightly OT:New Ipods: I think Steve Jobs needs a kick in the pants

[terryj]

2 years I have been waiting to buy a new iPod.
and now this.

Tell me who else thought the same thing:

Ipod Touch, with a 160GB HD, would make for a killer 6G iPod?

What the heck happened?
This thing looks like a stripped down PSP, and we know how well
those sold...


Well, at least Apple did give me something for this Xmas...a
savings of $400.

[RabidDog]

Why buy an Ipod ? zen creative and others make far better machines at far lower cost. By purely sticking to ipod you are feeding Jobs ego, bank Account and stupidity. Break out of the Apple prison

[AntnyMD]

I think Apple is trying to stay true to their belief that 'iPod' is squarely an audio product, now with a few whiz-bang features like video and WiFi (iPod touch). iPod touch *could not* have as much storage as iPod classic, because (1) the vast majority of people have more music than video right now [not us forum people, who thrive on all thing video], and (2) iPod touch allows Apple to fulfill the promise of the Newton in a 21st century process plus provide a Palm user a fully functional PDA with music and video and WiFi in a package that not only is simple and elegant, but a device that "just works."

iPod touch has a smaller amount of storage so it wont compete with iPod classic.

Period.

[Cornucopia]

It may not compete with iPod classic, but it'll sure face competition from non-Apple models that could do it one better.
Not very "long-range" thinking by my book...

Scott

[AntnyMD]

All I can say is, I'm glad I bought a 160gb Archos instead of waiting for iPod touch.

[Soopafresh]

http://www.anythingbutipod.com/

[GMaq]

OK,
I am by no means an Apple fan, I do like my iPod however, Love or hate Steve Jobs et al, They were the first to have The Portable player, The LEGAL music and (later movie) downloads, the conversion/database software and streamlined concept all synergistically working together from the get go. Not to mention introducing us en masse to H.264 Video which at this time is unrivaled (for now). Microsoft could/should have done it but they didn't. GET OVER IT! They don't have an intellectual monopoly on good ideas! (neither does Apple of course) Everyone else is playing catch-up and some of them do briefly, many like the half baked "Zune" fail miserably. I don't think one needs to be an Apple zealot to see the cold hard facts.

[terryj]

I agree with Scott on this one.
You can't tell me Ant with all their forrays into pushing
on us for the last 5 years the "digital lifestyle"
and pushing forward with imovie, appletv,
itunes doing video, and the way the 5th gen
sold out the box, that the iPod Touch, with a 160GB
HD would have been the next logical step in the iPod Line
( and thus no need for iPod Classic?)

methinks sales will tell the tale, but this watching video
at 320 x 240 is getting WAAAAAY ridiculous,
and an innovator like Jobs should have
opened his window and heard the masses screaming
for WS viewing.

The only thing Steve Jobs did for me this christmas was save me $249.

[gerasimo]

I could not help giving my own ideas after having read so many anti-ipod posts. I think that the ipod-touch is just the right thing. You store some movies that you can watch over a long trip (flying from Europe to Japan (both ways) for example). Even the 8 GB model should suffice for this. You do not store all your movie library on it. Of course a 32 GB model would be much better but in any case one should not expect, for a flash-based model, anything close to the 160 GB of the ipod-classic. The latter is indeed made for storage and can contain all your music library.
There is a fundamental difference between the ways one enjoys movies and music. You can listen to the same song again and again. It is important that you have within reach as much music as you can. You watch a movie once or twice (and perhaps again after a long period of time). So you need carry with you only the movies you are going to watch and not all the movies you own.
And (although this argument has nothing to do with video or music) an ipod-touch can run apps just like the iphone.
Moreover I feel that the price is right, so not only am I buying one but I am offering one to my wife as a birthday present.

Of course anybody may hate Apple and the ipod. This is quite understandable: a quasi-monopolistic situation breeds hate. (I know, I am a huge Microsoft-hater. I never use anything Microsoft.) But, at least to my eyes, the new ipods are technically the right configuration.

[Cornucopia]

I actually like the iPod as a concept. It's just the "closed-system" sort of thing that pisses me off. And it seems it's just getting worse with the newer models--iPodVideo, iPhone, etc. But Apple isn't alone in this cramping mindset, MS and Sony do very much the same thing.

I'd almost take a no-name Generic Chinese/Taiwanese/Malaysian knockoff over them, just because it lets me do what I want to do at a reasonable (to me) price point. Problem with them is SUPPORT and longevity, so that's where I end up being hamstrung into buying the reg. models.

Do ANY of these companies actually ask us end-users what we want any more???

Scott

[edDV]

I actually like the iPod as a concept. It's just the "closed-system" sort of thing that pisses me off. And it seems it's just getting worse with the newer models--iPodVideo, iPhone, etc. But Apple isn't alone in this cramping mindset, MS and Sony do very much the same thing.

I'd almost take a no-name Generic Chinese/Taiwanese/Malaysian knockoff over them, just because it lets me do what I want to do at a reasonable (to me) price point. Problem with them is SUPPORT and longevity, so that's where I end up being hamstrung into buying the reg. models.

Do ANY of these companies actually ask us end-users what we want any more???

Scott

I think Jobs caved to iPhone sales fear and blew the scam bubble. It was stupid to reprice the iPhone when he was supposed to be promoting a new iPod line. Separate markets. He made iPhone users angry and blunted the iPod reception. He could have taken the apparent glow of the iPhone to iPod and waited a few days/weeks for the Mea Culpa on iPhone sales. He made no explanation. Again --- Jobs was stupid to announce anything controversial with iPhone during an iPod launch. A classic mistake.

He compounded the error by offering a rebate? credit ? (media is mixed) to original buyers? Whatever drunken bar decision, this again was stupid and only asking for more redress.

I'm a long term AAPL investor and I'm not happy in the least with this blunder. It will be a future classic B school case study for ruining a stock market ride.

[rumplestiltskin]

...snip...but this watching video
at 320 x 240 is getting WAAAAAY ridiculous,
and an innovator like Jobs should have
opened his window and heard the masses screaming
for WS viewing.

The only thing Steve Jobs did for me this christmas was save me $249.

C'mon; you know the iPod plays both 4:3 and 16:9 as most of the world still watches 4:3. If you don't like 320x240, then why not encode at 640x480 (which the 5G model has played to my TV set in excellent H264 for almost two years). The new "Classic" model (if that's not an oxymoron) also handles higher res video but you'll need to use the Dock connector for it; the AV port only supports up to 640x480 (and letterboxed WS) on an SDTV.

Of course, you can bypass the iPod and use an AppleTV for real widescreen viewing. I stream from an old 12" PowerBook that's sitting in a corner collecting podcasts (and into whose iTunes I drop videos, movies, etc.). Heck, I even dropped my cableTV service as there's way more cool stuff from other sources. Saved me $700/year.

Of course, as they say: Your mileage may vary.

[terryj]

Of course Rumple I know the 5G and 5.5G play 16:9 and 4:3,
but the screen and i'm talking about the one on the iPod is only
320 x 240. Sure I can port it out, and at one time I thought about
paying Target for this little gadget that would allow me to
have a premium viewing experience with my iPod as
a portable device,but the thought of lugging this AND a iPod kinda
defeats the purpose!


A WS iPod. It's what consumers WANT.
The stupid phone, minus the phone, minus the wifi,
minus the Starbucks and wifi Itunes,
nice ( 7+hr) battery life, and 160GB HD.

So that when I'm on break or lunch I can reach in my pocket
and finish my seasons of the Shield, Damage, Nip/Tuck,
finally watch Carnivale and Deadwood, keep up with my videocasts,
and replay the last three Sopranos over and over again.


And many of us have been porting out Video to TV from our
macs for years:
Elgato, Captv, Canopus boxes...heck even the Firewire SDK.
So AppleTV...ehh, doesn't impress me. Just a way for Jobs
to play middle man with the MPAA.

I will agree with you on this rumple, illegal or legal,
alot of people are dropping cable and accessing TV
through various means, and are only giving the cable companies
cash for the pipe to get it in.
Makes you wonder when the cable companies will figure this out
( they already are looking at bandwidth shaping) and start
charging just those of us who have "Internet only".

[yoda313]

an innovator like Jobs should have
opened his window and heard the masses screaming
for WS viewing.

That is too funny! Jobs would never open "WINDOWS" in his life (although of course now he can thanks to mactel and bootcamp

[KCAir]

The iPod touch seems like a iPhone without the phone. The Wi/Fi feature is a great add to an otherwise simple MP3 player. Does anyone know if Skype will work on it?

http://personafile.com/Apple-iPod-touch-16GB-3-500-Songs-MA627LLA-P885909100204.htm

[AntnyMD]

Its ridiculous to hate on Macs for essentially not being Windows machines that are Mac compliant. You choose Mac, you choose limitations! When I got fed up with encoding everything for iPod I bought an Archos.

And you know what? After alloting all that space to DVD quality movies, I found myself re-encoding them to (iPod friendly) H.264. Why? Not because of iPod.... but because I now owned multiple devices that supported a comman standard.

[Cornucopia]

...You choose Mac, you choose limitations!...

So what, the converse would be: "I choose NO limitations, so I choose NOT Mac"...??

Kinda what I was talking about before. Technical limitations are one thing, but Marketing- or Politically-based limitations are another.

BTW, I like common standards, too. I ESPECIALLY like standards that are not tied to one brand. I REALLY like Open, non-DRM, public standards.

Scott

[AntnyMD]

You leaped through every hole I provided, but missed the essential point.

If you want cross compatibility, (in my case,) all video capable iPods and the Archos can play H.264 content. "Problem" solved.

If you want to rip a DVD and play it without further conversion, your choices are limited, but that is neither Microsoft nor Apple's fault.

The PROBLEM with YOU mofos is you want the best of the best in each and every device. You wont get that. So it gives you room to bitch AND be correct.

You bore me.

[terryj]

The PROBLEM with YOU mofos is you want the best of the best in each and every device. You wont get that. So it gives you room to bitch AND be correct.

You bore me.

HEY!

if we "MOFOS" a syou put it want the best of the best,
then blame "Uncle" Steve for making us that way,
and spoiling us these last few years.
*shrugs*

Time will tell, as will sales. if the iPod Touch sales are phenomenal,
then I'll be proven wrong ( I admidt I was wrong about the
AppleTV).
But if the Ipod Classic outsells it, then Apple will be asking why.
And people will speak hopefully LOUDER this time where he can hear.

So far, from across the bloggosphere, many people are saying the
same thing, that the two devices should have been "married"
to make a killer 6th gen device.

I know that carries no weight with you Ant, old friend, but
translate that to sales, and we'll see a clear message.

[KCAir]

I think the iPod touch is great... especially the wi-fi capability. The ability to get itunes from just about any wif-fi spot.... including Starbucks.

In case you buy one here is a link to my personal file in mine.

http://personafile.com/Apple-iPod-touch-16GB-3-500-Songs-MA627LLA-885909121793.htm