Apple 'Special Event' on September 7th

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ckohler

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From MacMinute:
Apple has sent out invitations to members of the press for a "Special Event" on Wednesday, September 6 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, notes CNET News.com. "1,000 songs in your pocket changed everything," the invitation reads, alluding to the release of the first 5GB iPod nearly four years ago. "Here we go again." As usual, details on the announcement have spawned a plethora of rumors, but CNET notes that "Record company executives have said recently that Apple has been seeking licenses to distribute a wide variety of music videos through the iTunes music store, and that the computer company has told them of plans to unveil an iPod that plays video."

CNet.com Article
 
I just sold my old one to a guy at work after hearing the news today - I've been waiting for the 5G's to come out for quite a while now. Crossing my fingers for a complete redesign, too - I think the current casing's been played out way too much.

However, if the video models are anymore than $450 US, I may have to skip out on those and just get a normal 20/40GB.
 
Video iPods just sound so unappealing. I think they'd have to do a major redesign of the iPod to really make video functionality any good. The color screen on current iPods is nice, but it would need to be MUCH better. And who the HELL would want to watch music videos (don't answer this)? I think there are a lot of improvements that should be made for a 5G iPod, and video isn't one of them. Make an upgrade worth the money, rather than the lame pseudo-4G.
 
Video iPods would have a point if combined with an iTunes Movie Store. Especially if the iPods have a built-in video-out as well. Maybe adding easy-to-use DVD-ripping to iTunes as well. 100 films in your pocket? That would warrant their 'here we go again' tag. PSP shows the market for portable video is there. Whether Apple have managed to secure the agreements to do all this is another matter all together though. No one saw the Music Store coming though, so you never know.

I'd be more excited about wireless iPods though. Streaming music to Airport Express, other iPods, and wireless syncing would be very nice.
 
Slurpy said:
I can't fathom any person not being satisfied with 60GB for audio. Goddamn.
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Depends on how much music you have is all. I can't fit all of my mine on my 60 GB iPod (ripped at 192 AAC), and that's not even factoring in a couple hundred bootlegs that I'm not going to compress.

If this is a video iPod, it'll be interesting to see if Apple can create a market for such a device.
 
I am interested with the "Here we go again." They really tossed the industry on it's ear, first with the opriginal "huge" ipod, and then later on with iTMS (and also at each interval the largest hard drive player you could buy). will be interesting to see if it's just smoke, or if they really are set to debut something impressive. can't wait (and glad I held off on an ipod the past few weeks).
 
I wonder how much they'll redesign for the fifth gen iPod.

While I personally love my iPod and I don't have any issues with the UI or design (far from it)... I am also rather hankering for a proper, ground-up redesign. Rumours say there will be a fairly major one coming to the software at least, but I wonder how far they'll change the hardware. I know Apple isn't keen on video (neither am I to be honest), but any hypothetical video iPod would need a hardware configuration re-shuffle to fit a good widescreen LCD for video and the lovely (but space-consuming) clickwheel.

Ah well, we don't have long to find out.
 
Fowler said:
I wonder how much they'll redesign for the fifth gen iPod.

While I personally love my iPod and I don't have any issues with the UI or design (far from it)... I am also rather hankering for a proper, ground-up redesign. Rumours say there will be a fairly major one coming to the software at least, but I wonder how far they'll change the hardware. I know Apple isn't keen on video (neither am I to be honest), but any hypothetical video iPod would need a hardware configuration re-shuffle to fit a good widescreen LCD for video and the lovely (but space-consuming) clickwheel.

Ah well, we don't have long to find out.
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they could have a touchscreen which is also the wheel. Actually the wheel IMO is somethign that holds them back while simultaneously being one of their iconic designs. Its great for getting somewhere fast, but not so good at moving only 1 or 2 places in a list.

And they could do with a shuffle on/off button - going back to the main menu is stupid.
 
I wonder if this is related at all.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20050824-5237.html

While replacing the iPod Mini hard drive with flash memory would have obvious benefits (more battery life, less weight, greater durability), conventional wisdom says it would be too expensive. Conventional wisdom be damned. From Red Herring, Nam Hyung Kim, analyst for iSuppli (no, really, that's their name), says that Samsung is offering Apple prices on its 4GB chips comparable to hard disk prices of the same size--half the price such flash memory normally sells for--and the South Korean memory giant is offering a lot of it.

"To support production of its Flash memory-based iPods, Apple has booked as much as 40 percent of the NAND output of Samsung for the second half of 2005, according to our industry sources."
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Ooh, I hear you on Shuffle on/off, good call!

Actually my rather expensive and outlandish idea was to keep the original iPod design and form factor etc... and then stick a bloody great LCD on the back. The iPod shape is fairly close to 16:9, so a nice widescreen LCD would fit perfectly across the back. The idea is that the clickwheel is a lot more useful for music than movies, so you'd pick the movie you want to watch and flip the iPod around to view the big screen on the back (control would be handled by a small flat row of buttons under the screen that only activate in movie mode; conversely in movie mode the clickwheel goes off). Then if you were listening to music, that screen and those buttons would be off, and you'd use the iPod normally -- since you don't need the battery-draining giant LCD for MP3s.

I realise there are about six billion issues with this plan (it'd make the iPod too thick, usability, scratches, cost...), but I thought it'd be a neat idea :-)
 
I have nothing against iPods, but I want to see some... Macintosh stuff. New revisions of the existing model line, the fate of the low-end eMac and the high-end PowerBook that's been in a holding pattern forever, progress on the x86 migration, a hint of a new Intel Macintosh? An iPod, honestly, could be done any old time as far as I'm concerned, but their silence after announcing the move to Intel makes me far more jumpy.
 
If the rumors are true, I just hope it plays more than just music video.

80GB portable music + video player = hot tech sex
 
Lo-Volt said:
I have nothing against iPods, but I want to see some... Macintosh stuff. New revisions of the existing model line, the fate of the low-end eMac and the high-end PowerBook that's been in a holding pattern forever, progress on the x86 migration, a hint of a new Intel Macintosh? An iPod, honestly, could be done any old time as far as I'm concerned, but their silence after announcing the move to Intel makes me far more jumpy.
Click to expand...

Any Macintosh announcements will be at the Apple Expo in Paris at the end of September.
 
Nash said:
Any Macintosh announcements will be at the Apple Expo in Paris at the end of September.
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yeah.. this is specifically an Apple Music Event. The Mac stuff will happen in a few weeks.

My guess is they have some really huge news coming on all fronts (computer and DAP) and are running separate events as to not have huge news get lost in the shuffle (pun intended :P).
 
The betting seems equal between the Motorola iTunes phone, and video iPods at the moment. Think Secret says 5th Gen. with video, and they've been spot on to the point of being sued in the past.

I think the phone will definitely be there, but the 'here we go again' hype seems too much for just that. Especially as the leaked manuals and photos make the phone seem nothing special at all - just old model coloured white with iTunes built-in, you can't even access the Music Store just copy them across from PC/Mac.

And video on it's own wouldn't be enough either, it's got to be something more than just music videos. So gonna be interesting to see what comes out of this event.
 
Here is what I think:

1. iTunes 5 will come out. They have been milking version 4 for a while now.

2. Could very well see the Motorola/iTunes phone. Personally, I consider this minor news.

3. I think some sort of video iPod launches.
 
borghe said:
yeah.. this is specifically an Apple Music Event. The Mac stuff will happen in a few weeks.

My guess is they have some really huge news coming on all fronts (computer and DAP) and are running separate events as to not have huge news get lost in the shuffle (pun intended :P).
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Ugh. I just ordered a new PowerMac yesterday. Was it a bad time?
 
I need a 80 gig player. At this point I don't care if I have to join the Apple bandwagon.

Edit: It better play MP3s and not that aac or acc or caa or abcd stuff either!
 
Nash said:
Any Macintosh announcements will be at the Apple Expo in Paris at the end of September.
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Fair enough, but I'm just anxious about the whole thing.

Deku Tree: I think your PowerMac will be alright, depending on its specs (speaking of which, what are its specs?). Computers lose their cutting-edge status almost as soon as you buy it, but your PowerPC CPU should be well-supported for at least several years by the Apple developer community and the manufacturer, but this remains to be seen, of course. Enjoy your new machine! :)
 
Deku Tree said:
Ugh. I just ordered a new PowerMac yesterday. Was it a bad time?
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There will definitely be one last update to PowerMacs and PowerBooks before the switch to Intel. Both are overdue now, and there's been rumours of dual-core PowerMacs for ages.

The Paris Expo at the end of September is quite likely, because Macworld in January will probably be focussed round the plans for the Intel Macs. I don't think they've really used Paris to announce much in the past though, not with the pro line anyway, so it's hard to say for sure.
 
Lo-Volt said:
Deku Tree: I think your PowerMac will be alright, depending on its specs (speaking of which, what are its specs?). Computers lose their cutting-edge status almost as soon as you buy it, but your PowerPC CPU should be well-supported for at least several years by the Apple developer community and the manufacturer, but this remains to be seen, of course. Enjoy your new machine! :)
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Dual 2GHZ, 1.5gig ram, 160gb hdd, superdrive + 23-inch Cinema HD...

I went for the low end processor to save money. My dual 500mhz G4 still seems fast, so I saw no reason to get the higher end processors...
 
vatstep said:
Video iPods just sound so unappealing. I think they'd have to do a major redesign of the iPod to really make video functionality any good. The color screen on current iPods is nice, but it would need to be MUCH better. And who the HELL would want to watch music videos (don't answer this)? I think there are a lot of improvements that should be made for a 5G iPod, and video isn't one of them. Make an upgrade worth the money, rather than the lame pseudo-4G.
Click to expand...

What if it is a portable DVR?
 
Diablos said:
Why is everyone getting so excited over this?
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Maybe because Apple kickstarted this whole market in the first place, and the invitation is implying they are going to do it again?
 
Deku Tree said:
Dual 2GHZ, 1.5gig ram, 160gb hdd, superdrive + 23-inch Cinema HD...

I went for the low end processor to save money. My dual 500mhz G4 still seems fast, so I saw no reason to get the higher end processors...
Click to expand...

I have a similar setup in my office (except 2 GB RAM). You will be very pleased.
 
Diablos said:
Why is everyone getting so excited over this?
iPod = ripoff.

Get an iRiver, people. Seriously!
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Dude, you might want to contribute a little more than that if you plan on avoiding ze banning.
 
Apple inked a deal with Cingular to get the ROKR in stores before the holidays, so I think it's a given that the iTunes phone will be unveiled next week. Rumors suggest it will hold about 100 songs, which ain't bad for a phone, but isn't going to replace the iPod all together, which is what Apple wants of course.

The invitation does suggest that a refresh of the iPod line is in the works, and the "here we go again" line makes it sound like it's more than just a simple upgrade to the hard drive size. Apple's take on a video player will be interesting, but I already own an Archos AV 420, which kicks major ass. It literally is a portable DVR, so I'm not sure what new things Apple has to bring to the table. On top of that, I don't think I'd be too excited to pay for music videos either.

iTunes 5 has been in the works for awhile now, so hopefully it will be released. Anyone know what the features of the next iTunes will be?
 
As the iPod was so closely tied to the Music Store, the obvious thing would be that a video iPod would be tied to it as well - like an iTunes Movie Store. Can't see the film studios agreeing to that though. But what if Apple went along the TV route?

iTunes Video Store - individual TV programmes, music videos, trailers etc.

Think that could be quite popular actually, and it's more practical as well.
 
shantyman said:
I have a similar setup in my office (except 2 GB RAM). You will be very pleased.
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Awesome... but the IT guy at work just told me that he didn't put the order in yet... I wonder if I should wait.
 
Deku Tree said:
Awesome... but the IT guy at work just told me that he didn't put the order in yet... I wonder if I should wait.
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Well the Apple Expo starts on September 20th, personally I'd wait with it being only 3 weeks away but it depends on how quickly you need it. What you were going to order is definitely a nice set-up though and would last you for a good while anyway.

Here's the current rumours:

Macobserver reports that according to one research note, some are expecting Apple to make some major new product announcements at Apple Expo Paris in September 2005.

We believe that Apple is preparing new G5 PowerMacs based on IBM's dual-core 970 PPC, G5 Mac Minis based on a new IBM low-power processor, and new G4 PowerBooks based on next generation processors from Freescale Semiconductors."

This reports provides few details as to the source of these expectations. It may simply be pure speculation or simply regurgitation of circulating unconfirmed rumors.

A previous rumor report did point to updated Powerbooks at the Paris expo. Meanwhile, a dual-core PowerMac G5 is certainly expected after the announcement of Dual Core 970MP processors by IBM back in July.
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Steve Jobs is scheduled to do the keynote, and he doesn't usually do that unless he has something to announce.
 
shantyman said:
Why is Diablos trolling in this thread?
Diablos = stupid.

Go suck a dick Diablos, Seriously!
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I'm not trolling. I'm trying to understand the fascination with the iPod. There's no better place to figure that out than right here, where lots of iPod owners are posting. So please, instead of telling me to suck a dick, please tell me why you like the iPod so much. And I promise I won't "troll" you.

btw, outside of 60 or 80gb iPods, perhaps they'll introduce one with video playback?
 
actually this thread was about ipods, and you came in and said ipod=ripoff. The way I see it, we aren't the ones who need to explain the ipod to you. how about you explaining exactly why they are a ripoff instead of just trolling and then asking us to ward of your trolls.

anywho, tomshardware has this

http://www.tomshardware.com/hardnews/20050829_173857.html

Details about this new iPod are scarce but according to our sources, the device will be introduced as fifth iPod family (next to the iPod, the U2 iPod, iPod mini and iPod Shuffle), sport a different but simplistic white design and will be capable of playing audio and video, the latter at least in MPEG2 and MOV file formats. Other specs may include a 640x480 pixel color screen with a size of at least 3 inches as well as a 1.8-inch harddrive which will come in sizes of up to 80 GByte.
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A Creative Zen 40gb is $280-300. A 20gb iPod is $299.

They do the same thing. And to me, the iPod is nothing THAT special, and to my understanding (based on a review I read, so correct me if I'm wrong) once you have songs stored on your iPod, you can't transfer them back to your PC, you have to delete them.

If you can get 20 more gigs for the same price... why buy an iPod? Unless you have a lot of MP4's I just don't see a reason.
 
The Zen is larger than the iPod as well, and the interface isn't as clean nor easy to use. On the other hand, many people say that the Zen sounds better, while others say that it's just LOUDER! :)

The iPod has become iconic. My mom has no idea what a Zen is, but she sure as hell knows what an iPod is. Apple has created a device that is simple to use, sounds good, offers plenty of storage, and looks great. Sure, other companies have done similar things, but when you couple the iPod with the iTunes Music Store, you have a winning combination that no one else has been able to duplicate. On top of that, all the accessories available for the iPod are just icing on the cake. There are tons of wonderful add-ons for the device to help you extend it's functionality. In short, the Creative Zen will let you listen to music on the go, and does a pretty decent job by most accounts. The iPod on the other hand, has inspired a lifestyle.

Now, before you start pointing at me that I'm an Apple fanboy and clouded by the fact that I have an iPod, you should know that 1. I am an Apple fanboy. The MacOS is elegant, and stable, and easy to use. There hardware is rock solid as well. I respect Apple a lot. and 2. I DO NOT own an iPod. I own a Rio Karma, which is an excellent player as well.

BTW, you can copy your music back to your computer from your iPod. Who ever wrote that didn't know what they were talking about.
 
Ok, points taken, but... inspired a lifestyle? :lol Come on!! The zen almost looks identical in size, though I've never actually seen one. I have seen an iPod though.
 
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