iPod: 5th Generation

[Agathon]

Originally posted by our_man

Speaking of this, when on Earth are they going to release this. I thought they claimed it was going to be out in early September! I've been holding off buying a Zen Micro/any mp3 player because I've wanted to wait until the next generation comes out, but I'm not sure how much longer I can hold off. The new iPod is looking tempting.

Every time someone buys an iPod, God kills a little bit more of Glonk's reason.

[Asher]

http://news.com.com/Apple+bloggers+hot+for+iMac%2C+not+for+iPod/2100-1041_3-5894360.html?tag=nefd.top

Apple bloggers hot for iMac, not for iPod
By Jennifer Guevin
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: October 12, 2005, 9:10 PM PDT
Tell us what you think about this storyTalkBack E-mail this story to a friendE-mail View this story formatted for printingPrint See links from elsewhere to this story (TrackBacks/Pingbacks)TrackBack

Bloggers were quick to report the news coming from Apple Computer's highly anticipated event on Wednesday, but if early reactions are any indication they may be slower to buy the new products.

For more than a year, many people have said it was only a matter of time before Apple released an iPod capable of playing video, despite the fact that CEO Steve Jobs himself claimed doing so would be a move in the "wrong direction." But for all the speculation about when Jobs might reverse his opinion about the importance of adding a video iPod to Apple's lineup, the final product met with a relatively underwhelmed crowd.

While many Apple fans praised the new iPod's thin design and reasonable pricing, the prevailing sentiment online was that the video quality, show pricing and lineup of available shows offered on the iPod aren't good enough to move people to adopt the device as their new medium for TV consumption. And the fact that videos can be downloaded only at a size that fits the iPod's screen means few people will be buying them to view on their PCs.

The new version of iTunes came as a surprise to most people who blogged about or mentioned it in online discussion forums, primarily because Apple just released iTunes 5 a few short weeks ago. While many thought the addition of video to iTunes was a good move, the fact that videos are shown at such a small size diminished excitement for this new feature.

The word from the Web...
• Is it just me, or is the new iPod really not that exciting? Apple are trying to make it sound exciting, yes, but a large part of me (the part that would usually be reaching for the credit card about now) really couldn't care less. Are the magic reserves starting to run a little dry at Apple?

• In terms of downsides, I see one major one: 320x240 would look ridiculously bad on my TV, and unlike the world of music where plenty of people can't tell the difference between lossy and lossless codecs, everyone will be able to see the difference here between standard definition and QVGA. I can't really see this being something I'm interested in until we cross beyond the SD barrier and up into HD, but then we're talking about 350MB or so for an hour of TV, and that's obviously not possible. Some middle ground is needed, but QVGA is just too poor for my taste. I can't see too many people abandoning BitTorrent for this.
- Ars Technica

i don't care about price. i care about quality. if it was 1080p-5.1, i'd slam down my credit card right away. but LOWER than BT (BitTorrent) resolution? this is an insult.
- JediFonger on Ars Technica discussion forum

• Only two hours of video playback per charge? Come on, Apple! My 2 year-old RCA PMP gets better battery life than that.
- Kevin Robinson on Engadget discussion forum

• iMac = sweet, iTunes 6 = whatever, 5th Gen iPod = dissapointing and somewhat useless.
- ones and zeros

[Agathon]

cry more

[Asher]

I have no reason to cry, it's you mmmmmmmmmmmmaaaaaaaaaaan.

[Atahualpa]

Bloggers are overrated, no one gives a damn about them

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Asher
I have no reason to cry, it's you mmmmmmmmmmmmaaaaaaaaaaan.

Then why have you spent this whole thread squealing like a stuck pig.

You have no credibility on this issue. You have been wrong since day one, and I predict this trend will continue.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Agathon
Then why have you spent this whole thread squealing like a stuck pig.

You have no credibility on this issue. You have been wrong since day one, and I predict this trend will continue.

I've only been wrong since day one because you make **** up about what I've said.

I said the iPod will not continue to dominate forever, and now the rapid decline in sales increases are showing that is true, not false. Jobs has resorted to a product that he himself didn't think was a good idea, just to try to keep fresh.

And I haven't been squealing like a stuck pig, I'm always arugmentative. Especially when it's so easy, like your "it's popular because it's good, you are wrong loser/idiot!!!" Philosophical arguments.

[Atahualpa]

As for some of the criticism

Is it just me, or is the new iPod really not that exciting? Apple are trying to make it sound exciting, yes, but a large part of me (the part that would usually be reaching for the credit card about now) really couldn't care less. Are the magic reserves starting to run a little dry at Apple?

WELL, I think it's a solid product. It's got 30GB and about the same size as the iPod mini (only about 10mm broader and longer - which is next to nothing). That alone makes it attractive. Same with the iPod nano, generally it's a solid product, but people were just expecting more.They (especially the early-adopters) expected some kind of killer-feature that Apple didn't provide and now are disappointed.
What must be understood is that the new iPod is not a product for early adopters, as it's hardly worth the upgrade. That doesn't mean it will sell bad though.
Still there is a chance now for other companies to get them to try their products and this is potentially dangerous for Apple. It'll be interesting to see if the competition can take advantage.

[Asher]

As a sidenote, Voodoo now makes an ultra small form factor PC.

http://www.voodoopc.ca/system/quotekitchen.aspx?productID=1088

1.86GHz Pentium M (2MB L2 cache)
1GB DDR400
120GB HD
DVD/CD burner
Radeon 9200 video card
Gigabit ethernet

[Atahualpa]

OMFG they stole the iMacs on/off button!!!

[Zopperoni]

... and the rest of the design is copyrighted by the postal service

The slit and the color really make it look like a letter-box

[Snotty]

or a petty cash tin

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Asher
What's kinda funny is while Future Shop has tons of iPod Nanos, they're either sold out or have a couple units left of the older Zen Micros.

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10058284&catid=

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10062105&catid=

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/pro...58278&catid=19

Six nanos at Futrue Shop is hardly tons of them.

Besides, Next you'll be saying: music stores don't have LPs in stock so that proves LPs are popular, and music stores have lots of CDs in stock so that proves no one is buying CDs.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Tingkai
Six nanos at Futrue Shop is hardly tons of them.

Where do you get six?

Their online store alone has:

95 white Nanos: http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/pro...gon=&langid=EN
66 black Nanos: http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/pro...0066801&catid=

Compare this to either 0 or 1 in stock, depending which color Zen Micro you want...

Besides, Next you'll be saying: music stores don't have LPs in stock so that proves LPs are popular, and music stores have lots of CDs in stock so that proves no one is buying CDs.

Yeah, that makes sense. There's a difference between carrying a product and being sold out of stock (ie, Zen Micros at Future Shop) and not carrying a product at all and having none in stock (ie, vinyl -- I assume that's what you mean anyway, because today LP is usually synonymous with a full album...even on CD).

The fact is, Apple is crying about how the demand is staggering and outstripping supply. Meanwhile, FutureShop and CompuSmart and Best Buy are sitting on piles of them -- both the online stores and the retail stores. It gets even more suspicious when they blame everyone else for their problems -- apparently the supply issue is due to a surprisingly unnamed component supplier, and they won't even mention what this supposed component is. They're so used to lying because their fanboys eat it all up without even thinking twice about it.

Interestingly, the above stores are more or less completely sold out of their Zen Micro stock. Which is odd, because apparently nobody wants a Zen Micro and 28 million people want iPod Nanos. Go figure, something isn't adding up here.

Maybe you've been drinking too much of Apple's punch. You say Creative is dead because it is only making ~1M in profit, but you neglect to mention this happened at the quarter that sales were up 60%+. It's not an uncommon strategy, taking a "lean" couple of years to gain marketshare. Microsoft did it with the Xbox, and Creative is doing it now with the Zens.

A smart consumer knows where the better deals are.

[Drake Tungsten]

The morning after, this thread seems more pathetic than funny...