iLounge

With over 2,900 votes from iLounge readers, our latest poll—“What should Apple do with the iPod shuffle?”—has ended. Readers were given the choice between keeping the shuffle, killing it, or changing it in one of several ways.

While 16% of responding readers said that the iPod shuffle was “perfect as-is,” more than twice as many (34%) voted that it should be discontinued in favor of less expensive iPod nanos. Yet a full 50% of voters said that the shuffle should be updated into a third-generation version, varying in what they wanted to see a new shuffle do. Many readers (19%) wanted to see Apple merge the simple iPod shuffle features into a different shell, such as a watch, earphones, or another device. Another 15% wanted to see Apple make the iPod shuffle wireless, while 11% wanted more storage capacity. Only 5% of readers wanted to see Apple shrink it further. Thanks for your responses!

Our new poll is a follow-up to one we launched last month. Right after Apple announced the iPhone 3G, we asked whether you would buy it. Now that voice, data, and SMS prices have been announced in countries all around the world, we want to know whether those prices have changed your mind about making a purchase. The new poll, “Have recent iPhone 3G rate plan disclosures changed your mind about buying one?” lets you answer that question. As always, the iLounge Poll is on the left hand column of the main iLounge.com home page. Cast your vote today!

With over 3,400 votes from iLounge readers, our latest poll—“What should Apple do with the iPod touch?”—has ended with some interesting results. Readers were given the option to change iPod touch’s storage space, screen, or pricing, as well as keeping it the same.

Storage capacity was the most requested reader upgrade. Over 60% of readers felt that some sort of storage upgrade would be a good idea: 32% preferred a little more storage in the form of flash memory, while 31% preferred a lot more storage in the form of a hard disk. A total of 24% of responding readers wanted to see Apple improve the screen, while 32% would be satisfied with the same device at a lower price point. Only 3% responded that nothing should change in the iPod touch. Thanks for your responses!

Our new poll, “What should Apple do with the iPod shuffle?,” has just been opened. As always, it’s on the left hand column of the main iLounge.com home page, and provides a handful of possible changes Apple could make to the device. Cast your vote today!

With over 6,000 responses, our most recent iLounge Poll—“Will you buy the iPhone 3G?”—has just ended. The results were surprisingly strong in favor of the “yes” vote, which was picked by over 64% of responding iLounge readers. Here’s how the numbers broke down:

Of the 64% of readers voting yes, roughly two thirds were people who did not currently own iPhones, while the remaining one third planned to upgrade from current iPhones to the new model. Of the 36% of readers voting no, a little under half were current iPhone owners, while a little over half did not currently own an iPhone.

Thank you for your votes! Our new poll, “What should Apple do with the iPod touch?” gives you a chance to vote for how Apple should improve the only touchscreen-based iPod model. What direction do you think Apple should take with a 2008 update? Vote now: the iLounge Poll is on the left-most column of the iLounge.com homepage.

Interrupted during our transition to the updated iLounge web site, the last iLounge Poll, “How will Apple’s new $49/$69 iPod shuffles affect you?” has just ended. Though a 47% response rate to the option “I don’t care; I wouldn’t buy one” would suggest a general lack of interest in this iPod model, that number left 53% of responding readers as either shuffle owners or interested in some way in the shuffle lineup. Fifteen percent said that they were more likely to buy a shuffle as a gift, 12% were more likely to buy one for themselves, and 9% more likely to do both. The remaining 16% already had shuffles, and indicated that they didn’t care about the lower prices for any reason. Thanks for your responses!

With discussions about video iPods reaching historic heights in recent weeks, we’ve just opened our new poll, “What type of videos are you watching on your iPod or iPhone?” We’re not looking for genre responses—we want to know how you’re getting videos onto your iPod. Are you a buyer, free downloader, DVD ripper, or combination? Cast your vote from the main iLounge.com homepage by looking for the iLounge Poll header in the left hand column, and click on the arrows to open the poll. We look forward to your responses!

Our most recent iLounge poll, “Which current model iPod do you personally use the most?,” has just ended. With over 4,200 votes cast, the results were surprising: while a plurality of responding readers (26%) said that they use a non-current iPod, mini, nano or shuffle the most, the 2007 iPod classic came in second with 23% of the vote, followed by the iPod touch (21%), iPhone (16%), and video iPod nano (10%). Interestingly, only 2% of voters picked the current iPod shuffle—the same number who said they read the site but didn’t use an iPod at all. From what we gather, the higher-capacity the Apple device, the more popular it is with our readers.

Because of the low iPod shuffle numbers, we wanted to hear your thoughts on Apple’s February announcement of new 1GB iPod shuffle pricing and a new 2GB model.  Our new poll, “How will Apple’s new $49/$69 iPod shuffles affect you?,” asks whether the new pricing and 2GB version will lead you to buy a new shuffle for yourself, or as a gift, or both, or whether the shuffles don’t matter to you for one reason or another. Cast your vote from the main iLounge.com homepage by looking for the orange iLounge poll on the left hand column!

With over 3,000 votes counted, our most recent poll—“Are iPod touch’s 5 new apps worth $20?”—is now closed. Though the results changed a little from day to day, the proportion of voters saying “yes” and “no” stayed close during the last two weeks, with 40% of responding readers voting yes, and 60% of readers saying no. Interestingly, users who actually own iPod touches were somewhat more likely to say “no” to the question, while “yes” responses were even between owners and non-owners. Thanks for your vote!

Today, we’re opening a new iLounge poll: “Which current model iPod do you personally use the most?” We’re interested in seeing whether you bought something in Apple’s late-2007 iPod and iPhone lineup, or whether you’re primarily using an older iPod model. Cast your vote now by looking for the orange-labelled iLounge Poll on the left hand side of the iLounge.com homepage!

Our last poll, “Which likely 2008 Apple product are you most excited about?,” has closed. The results were interesting: with 3,957 votes taken, readers appeared to be more excited about more powerful touchscreen devices than anything else. A plurality (41%) voted for “a more powerful touchscreen iPod,” with 21% interested in a “3G iPhone” and 20% interested in a Mac tablet or sub-notebook. Only 11% registered interest in a less expensive, stripped-down iPhone, and a meager 6% were excited about a revamped Apple TV. Thanks for your votes!

Our new poll, “Which add-on do you most want right now?,” has just opened. Cast your vote now by clicking on the iLounge Poll link found on the site’s main page, left column. We’re anxious to see what interests you!

We’ve just closed out last month’s poll, “What do you use your iPod(s) for?,” and replaced it with a brand new poll, “Which likely 2008 Apple product are you most excited about?”

The results of the past poll were interesting. Of the nearly 3,000 survey responses we received, audio was obviously the number one use of the iPod—everyone uses their iPods for audio, and 25% used their iPods only for audio—but other uses were common, as well. Video was the second most popular use, with 61% of responding readers; photos were used by 56%, data storage by 46%, and games by 25%. Roughly a quarter, or 26% of responding readers used the iPod for audio, video, games, and photos, with 14% of all respondents using it for all four of those purposes and storing data, as well.

Cast your vote today in the 2008 Apple product survey! You can find it on the main iLounge.com page’s left hand column under iLounge Poll.

One of our earliest iLounge Polls—back in June 2005—asked readers “What do you use your iPod for?” Today, we’ve launched a modified version of the same poll to see how things have changed since then: “What do you use your iPod(s) for?”

The updated question lets you provide an across the board answer for one or more iPods, and provides options ranging from audio to photos, videos, games, and data storage, highlighting the ways that iPods have grown over the past two years. Cast your vote now in the iLounge Poll, found on the left-most column of the iLounge.com home page!

Our prior poll, “Did Apple drop the ball with iPod touch’s storage?”, is now closed. With over 4,250 votes cast, the majority of responding readers (56%) said “yes,” and that they wouldn’t buy iPod touch because it didn’t have enough storage capacity. An additional 25% agreed that iPod touch had too little storage space, but said that they could live with the constraints for now. Eight percent said “no,” that they were fully satisfied with the 8 or 16GB storage, and an additional 8% said that they already had or planned to buy an iPhone, and didn’t need iPod touch. A tiny 3% said that they were never going to buy a device like iPod touch, and didn’t care about it. Thanks for your responses!

Before Apple introduced the new slate of iPods, we ran a poll asking which potential new iPod interested you the most. The responses were clear: 80% of iLounge readers most wanted a hard disk coupled with a large touchscreen display.

Now that Apple has revealed the iPod touch, coupling an iPhone-like screen and interface with iPod nano-like memory capacity, we want to know your thoughts. Did Apple drop the ball on this product, creating something you wouldn’t buy, or have you decided that you will be satisfied with its 8GB or 16GB or storage capacity? Cast your vote now in the iLounge Poll, found on the left-most column of the iLounge.com home page!

Our prior poll, which way would you most prefer to play your iTunes media, is now closed. The majority of readers (62%) said that they would prefer either an iPhone-styled Cover Flow interface (34%) or an iPhone-like scrolling list with finger gestures (28%), while 19% preferred the classic iPod Click Wheel and scrolling list interface, 12% liked a mouse-style interface with iTunes, and few people preferred computer-based Cover Flow (4%), Apple TV interface (2%), or any other control scheme (2%).

The results of our last iLounge Poll are in, and the message is clear: 94% of responding readers really want new video-ready iPods.

A staggering 80% of the over 3,300 voters said that they wanted a hard disk-based touchscreen video iPod, with over two-thirds of that group hoping that the device would also include wireless wi-fi functionality. An additional 14% said that they were looking forward to smaller, flash-based video iPods: 6% said that they wanted a nano-sized iPod with a 2” video screen, while 8% indicated a preference for a thinner, flash-based version of the fifth-generation iPod similar to the “spy shots” that circulated last week. Only 6% said that they were most interested in cheaper, higher-capacity versions of today’s nano or shuffle models.

These results are especially interesting when considered in combination with our last poll, which was taken during the introduction of the iPhone. At the time, it was obvious that the demand for next-generation video iPods was soundly outstripping demand for iPhones, and that fewer than 1 in 10 responding readers were satisfied enough with current models not to want to upgrade.

We’ve just launched our new Poll, “Which way would you most prefer to play your iTunes media?” Find the poll on the left column of the main iLounge.com page, and submit your response today!

Voting continues in the latest iLounge poll—“Which of these potential new iPods interests you the most?”—and we really want to know what you want.

Cast your vote from iLounge.com’s main page by looking for iLounge Poll in the left hand column. So far, the results are heavily favoring several different types of video iPods; do you feel the same? Vote now!

A new iLounge Poll has been posted to the left-hand column of our main page: “Which of these potential iPods interests you the most?” The poll presents several options, including cheaper current-model iPods, high-end video iPods, and options in-between. Cast your vote now to see the current results!

The last poll, “Which do you want more, an iPhone or a new iPod,” ended with interesting results. Nearly 1/3 of those responding said that they were interested in either the 4GB iPhone (3%) or the 8GB iPhone (28%) rather than a current- or next-generation iPod model. However, 56% said that they wanted a next-generation video iPod, with 6% hoping for a next-generation iPod nano, and 1% for a new iPod shuffle. Only 8% said that they didn’t want any of these options, as they were satisfied with what they had already.

The results of our most recent iLounge Poll are in, and they’re surprising: a shockingly high percentage of iLounge readers said that they were planning to line up for the iPhone’s June 29 release.

With nearly 2,500 votes cast, a total of 42% of iLounge readers said that they’ll stand in line for the iPhone launch, with only a small fraction (1/7 of that crowd) saying they’d go just to see the iPhone, and not buy one. The rest said that they were planning to buy the iPhone so long as AT&T’s contracts weren’t too expensive—a little over half of the “yes” votes said they’d buy iPhones no matter how much the contracts cost. Around a third of the “yes” pool said that contract pricing might stop them from buying an iPhone.

The remaining 58% said “no,” they wouldn’t line up for iPhone—a number that increased as Apple released more information, and early reviews began to appear. Some users said that they were not at all interested in iPhone, or that they were interested, but not at current prices. However, some “no” votes were people who wanted to see or buy iPhone but were unwilling to wait in line to do so.

Our new poll, “Which do you want more, an iPhone or a new iPod?” is now live on iLounge.com’s main page, in the left-hand column under iLounge poll. Please register your vote today!

Following iLounge’s report yesterday, MTV Networks and Apple today announced that television programming from MTV, MTV2, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and The N is now available on the iTunes Music Store.

A total of 14 new shows have been added, including MTV’s “Laguna Beach,” “The Gauntlet 2,” “Beavis & Butt-Head,” “Jackass,” “Punk’d” and “My Super Sweet 16”; MTV2’s “Wonder Showzen”; Nickelodeon’s “Dora the Explorer,” “SpongeBob SquarePants,” and “Zoey 101”; Comedy Central’s “South Park” and “Stand-Up”; and The N’s “South of Nowhere.” iTunes now offers over 40 TV shows.

The most recent Lounge Poll, “What was the most important iPod & iTunes event of 2005?”, is now closed.

Over 6,400 votes were cast in the poll, which covered 7 key events and included a “something else” category. By far, iLounge readers chose the October release of iPod (with video) and the addition of paid video content to iTunes. A 51% majority picked this option over all others, which was 27% higher than the number two option, the September release of iPod nano (24%).

Complete results are available at the Lounge Poll archives. Our new poll, “What iPod accessory are you most hoping to receive for the holidays?”, is now open. You can find it on the left column below Ask iLounge - please cast your vote!

The most recent Lounge Poll, “Have you purchased video content from the iTunes Music Store?”, is now closed.

Over 7,000 votes were cast in the poll, which was split between 5 “yes” answers and 3 “no” answers. Collectively, “no” won by a wide margin, with 72% of readers saying that they had not purchased any iTMS videos. More than half of those who had not purchased videos (37% total) said that they did not think they would purchase any. The remaining 35% were open to the possibility of paying for video downloads in the future.

Of the 28% of total “yes” votes, the most popular response (12%) had purchased only one of the three categories of video currently available - music videos, TV shows, or movie shorts - but not the other two. Only 6% of readers said that they’d purchased all three categories of content.

Complete results are available in Read More below, and at the Lounge Poll archives. Our new poll, “What was the most important iPod & iTunes event of 2005?”, is now open. You can find it on the left column below Ask iLounge - please cast your vote!

The most recent Lounge Poll, “What do you think of the iPod with video?”, is now closed.

With over 5,100 votes cast, opinion was almost evenly split between people who said they’d buy the newest iPod, and those who said they would not or were waiting to decide. Fifty percent said that they planned to buy the new iPod, with 31% saying that it was exactly or almost exactly what they wanted, 10% saying they’d buy although videos were too low quality, and 9% saying they’d buy although the screen was too small for video. Twenty-seven percent said they would not buy, with 5% citing video quality, 12% citing screen size, and 10% citing general dissatisfaction as reasons they won’t buy one. The remaining 22% were waiting to try one, or for a review, before forming an opinion.

Complete results are available in Read More below, and at the Lounge Poll archives. Our new poll, “Have you purchased any video content from the iTunes Music Store?”, is now open. You can find it on the left column below Ask iLounge - please cast your vote!

The most recent Lounge Poll, “Which feature do you most want Apple to add to iPods?”, is now closed.

With over 5,700 votes cast. the two most popular requested features were a replaceable battery (26%) and FM radio tuning (24%), with video playback rounding out the top three at 21%. Bluetooth wireless support was nearby at 17%, while features such as more games (5%), sports features (pedometer etc, 2%), and “something else” (6%) trailed considerably.

Complete results are available in Read More below, and at the Lounge Poll archives. Our new poll, “What do you think of the iPod with video?”, is now open. You can find it on the left column below Ask iLounge - please cast your vote!

The most recent Lounge Poll, “Which iPod nano will you buy?”, is now closed.

With over 7,300 votes cast, a majority of responding readers indicated that they preferred black nanos to white ones, with almost twice as many picking black 2GB models (7%) over white 2GB models (4%), and black 4GB models (44%) over white 4GB models (24%). Most interestingly, six times as many people indicated interest in the more expensive 4GB model as for the less expensive 2GB model, with only 11% of respondants opting for 2GB, and 68% opting for 4GB. We were also surprised to see just what fraction of readers said they would buy a nano: 79% said they’d buy one of the four models, while only 21% said they would not.

Complete results are available in Read More below, and at the Lounge Poll archives. Our new poll, “Which feature do you most want Apple to add to iPods?”, is now open. You can find it on the left column below Ask iLounge.