iPod: 5th Generation

[Atahualpa]

Apple Unveils the New iPod; Fifth Generation iPod Now Plays Music, Photos & Video
Press Releases | Posted by Brandon Hill on Oct 12th, 2005 from In-House

SAN JOSE, California - October 12, 2005 - Apple today introduced the new iPod®, featuring a gorgeous 2.5-inch color screen which can display album artwork and photos, and play stunning video including music videos, video Podcasts, home movies and television shows. The new iPod holds up to 15,000 songs, 25,000 photos or over 150 hours of video and is available in a 30GB model for $299 and a 60GB model for $399, with both models available in stunning white or black designs.

"The new iPod is the best music player ever - it's 30 percent thinner and has 50 percent more storage than its predecessor - yet it sells for the same price and plays stunning video on its 2.5-inch color screen," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Because millions of people around the world will buy this new iPod to play music, it will quickly become the most popular portable video player in history."

The new iPod plays music, audiobooks, audio Podcasts, video Podcasts, home movies, music videos and popular television shows like "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives." The unrivaled combination of iPod and iTunes® 6 now provides customers with a seamless experience for buying, managing and playing video as well as audio content, including over 2,000 music videos, six short films from the Academy-Award winning Pixar Animation Studios, and five television shows from ABC and Disney Channel, including the immensely popular "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives."

The new iPod combines all of the ground breaking features that have made the iPod the best music player in the world with revolutionary new features such as the ability to view video content on a larger stunning color display. The new iPod features Apple's innovative Click Wheel for precise, one-handed navigation and the portable design is ideal for putting music, Podcasts, photos, audiobooks, home movies, music videos and popular television shows in a pocket for on-the-go viewing. iPod users can also watch their video content and slideshows of their photos on a television via optional Apple accessories.

Featuring seamless integration with the iTunes Music Store and the iTunes digital music jukebox, iPod features Apple's patent pending Auto-Sync technology that automatically downloads digital music, Podcasts, photos, audiobooks, home movies, music videos and popular television shows onto the iPod and keeps them up-to-date whenever the iPod is plugged into a Mac® or Windows computer using USB 2.0. The 30GB model features up to 14 hours of battery life for music playback and the 60GB model features up to 20 hours of battery life for music playback.*

Pricing & Availability
The new iPods will begin shipping next week for a suggested retail price of $299 (US) for the 30GB model and $399 (US) for the 60GB model through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. All iPod models include earbud headphones, USB 2.0 cable, case, dock insert and a CD with iTunes for Mac and Windows computers.

Optional accessories designed for the new iPod include: Universal Dock for $39 (US), giving users easy access to a USB port for syncing, IR support to work with the Apple Remote and a variable line out and S-video connections for integration within the living room; Apple Remote for $29 (US), providing wireless integration to the Universal Dock and quick and easy access to controls from across the room; Apple iPod AV cable for $19 (US), enabling television viewing of video content in full-screen; the iPod Camera Connector for $29 (US); and Apple Socks for $29 (US) providing six vibrant color socks to dress up and protect your iPod.

iPod requires a Mac with a USB 2.0 and Mac OS® X version 10.3.9 or later and iTunes 6; or a Windows PC with a USB 2.0 port and Windows 2000, XP Home or Professional (SP2) and iTunes 6.
http://www.anandtech.com/news/shownews.aspx?i=25070

My rant:
So they put a small display and let you view videos, great, but who's interested in that? The size is really nice, only slightly larger than the mini and that's the biggest problem. HDD players suck and the iPod nano sucks as well, because it's too small, it breaks and according to some people the display is scratched too easily. I'd want the mini back and instead of the HDD give it flash memory and that's it, they've got the next bestseller.
Now I can choose between the ridiculous 30GB HDD and a nice size or the 4GB flash and a filigree package.

I'll probably wait for the next nano generation, hopefully they'll make it a bit more durable.

[Gamecube64]

I'll buy an iPod once they have quality hologram projectors

[Asher]

What they don't tell you is it's an oldschool backlight LCD display capable of only 64K colors.

Even Creative's lowest end color displays are 262K color OLED displays.



^^ my next upgrade.

[Asher]

And does anyone else find it stupid that in the age of HDTV and 16:9 becoming the new standard aspect ratio, the video iPod has a 4:3 display?

I hate 4:3.

[Asher]

Steve Jobs also showed off the latest revolutionary feature of the iMac G5s: the ability to distort your webcam in realtime(!!!!)



sign me up!

[solar]

Asher, according to the footnote at the bottom of the website here, http://www.apple.com/ipod/specs.html, the ipod can display 262K colors too. Yeah, the small screen sucks, but it'd be even smaller if they tried to make it widescreen. It's the same price as the old ipod without video, so people will probably just buy it to play music on anyway, video is just an added bonus.

[Asher]

I stand corrected then on the color quantity.

It's still an LCD.

Edit: I find it funny that the only audio fidelity spec they list is the frequency response, because that's the only spec where it competes with the Zens. Noticably missing are their SNR, THD, crosstalk, etc.

[Atahualpa]

Hmm about the iMac, We've got one of these "desk-lamp" iMacs and I've got to say the monitor of it is awesome. It's crystal clear, I really like to sit in front of it.

The Zen Microphoto is using a HDD or flash memory?

[Asher]

It's a HDD, 8GB of Flash is way to expensive to be practical today.

[Imran Siddiqui]

20 hours of battery life as well. 30 GB for $299, 60 GB for $399. And it works with the universal dock and Apple remote (which seems quite nice)

[Asher]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui


20 hours of battery life as well. 30 GB for $299, 60 GB for $399. And it works with the universal dock and Apple remote (which seems quite nice)

"up to" 20 hours of battery life for music
"up to" 2 hours of battery life for video

And, like all Apple products, the battery cannot be swapped or replaced.

This is why full-length movies aren't available for the iPods yet, Apple knows it'd die before the movie finishes most likely. And it certainly would after a year or so of battery wear.

At least with the Zen Microphoto you can have multiple batteries.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Usually the battery lasts longer than Apple's claims, as you can check from any CNet review of an iPod.

[Asher]

The first few charges of LiIon batteries will always outperform realistic estimates.

[Asher]

And not everyone agrees the battery lasts longer than claimed.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3477497.stm

Apple investigates iPod batteries
Apple iPod
The iPod has been a major hit with music-lovers
Apple is investigating allegations that it misled people over the battery life of its iPod digital music player.

Five separate class actions were filed against the company in December 2003.

Complaints that the iPod's battery did not last as long as Apple said and degraded over time came to the surface when the latest model went on sale.

The iPod has dominated the digital music player market, with over two million of the white gadgets sold worldwide since its release.

'Unfair advertising'

In its quarterly financial report to the US Securities and Exchange, Apple said it had been named in the class action suits and that it would be looking into the claims alleging "misrepresentations by the company relative to iPod battery life".

Apple iPod advert
The legal action claims false advertising
The allegations detailed in the legal action, under the names Chin, Keegan, Hughes, Westly and Craft, include unfair competition and claims of false advertising, fraudulent concealment and breach of warranty, Apple says.

The lawsuits say Apple's claims about the built-in battery have violated California's competition laws, and that it has breached the state's Consumer Legal Remedies Act.

Since the end of last year, Apple has offered an extended warranty scheme which covers iPod owners for an extra year.

It has also provided a battery replacement for affected iPods, at an extra cost to consumers.

http://sillydog.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9847

The BBC's popular consumer affairs program Watchdog, has reported that iPod owners here in the UK are not happy
with the overall lifespan of the internal battery on their expensive portable music machines. This was not so much
about the number of hours the iPod is supposed to be able to run for on a single charge, but about the battery
becoming unrechargeable and failing completely, after only about a years worth of use.

The last one is vaguely related.

[Adrian Hon]

Asher: "The iPod sucks, Creative is better"
28 million people: "I'll have one!"



The 60gig iPod has up to 3 hours battery life for video. I'll admit that I'd never want to watch a video on the thing though - I find the PSP screen to be too small and annoying, let alone an iPod screen, even if it's 2.5". Still, they've kept the cost the same, decreased the size and improved the screen; even if you don't use it for videos, it's an improvement.