iLounge

1

What’s up with the battery life being cut down to 8 hours?  I noticed its using a lithium ion battery instead of the lithium polymer battery the current ipod uses.  I have to admit, I do like the design of the new ipod, but honestly the current design is better.  The ability to create playlists on the go is a definate plus, but since there are no new buttons for this feature, i dont see why they just dont update the firmware to include this feature.  I guess they know people will pay for a new ipod just for this feature alone, i know i thought about it. Still no fm radio, which is becoming a standard feature for all new mp3 players, even some not so new players.  All in all its a good design, but I dont think its worth the price tag if you’re upgrading, but definately worth it if you dont own one.

Posted by Doc in NJ on April 28, 2003 at 11:19 AM (PST)

2

Boy, the new iPod is sexy, and I’m really considering selling my 20GB on eBay, and getting the new 15GB. Why? Because I’ve never managed to fill it up, even using it as a portable hardrive. I love the new dock, and the new design, and the new button setup, and the new games. I haven’t seen it yet obviously, but what are you thoughts? The main reason, MAIN REASON I want that new baby is how thin and light it is. That would be SO much nicer for biking and skiing and stuff. But what about those iPod jackets, the burton ones? I really want to get one, but since it doesn’t have a FIREWIRE port, it just has the dock thing… what do you think? Oh well, let’s see how it goes.

Posted by Mlohsihc Tterb on April 28, 2003 at 4:05 PM (PST)

3

Well… I like these new software features (On the go playlist, syncable text notes, and new games…) but I DON’T plan to buy a new one.
Since the internals are probably the same (except button layout), I think it’s time for some uber-hacker to figure out how to use the new iPods’ software on our old models.

Tterb: the Burton jacket doesn’t connect through FireWire, but rather through the remote-control command, I think (it WOULD make sense at least). Which doesn’t solve your problem because the new remote seems to have a different connector than the old one.

Posted by GanzoLoco in x. on April 28, 2003 at 4:30 PM (PST)

4

They are already selling converters for the remote.

Posted by pbox on April 30, 2003 at 12:35 PM (PST)

5

When is Itunes going to be available for PC’s ?

Posted by beetle66 in NY on October 2, 2003 at 3:27 AM (PST)

6

> What’s up with the battery life being cut down to 8 hours?

I have an Archos. When I wanted to up the battery life, I swapped out the 1400 mAH NiMH for 2300 mAH and now I get around 13 hours.

> I’m really considering selling my 20GB on eBay, and getting the new 15GB.

I swapped out my 20GB drive for an 80GB drive. Took all of 10 minutes. Didn’t have to buy another device. Why can’t you do this with an ipod? Greed. See below.

> i dont see why they just dont update the firmware to include this feature (playlists)

Greed. See below.

> The main reason, MAIN REASON I want that new baby is how thin and light it is. That would be SO much nicer for biking and skiing and stuff.

There is no RAID-1. SO you are risking a fragile hard drive. Be sensible, hard drive mp3 players do not welcome vigorous activity. Get a solid-state player for this, an iRiver.

> I like these new software features (On the go playlist, syncable text notes, and new games…) but I DON’T plan to buy a new one.

If it wasn’t for Apple’s greed, then you wouldn’t need to buy a new one. See below.

The Archos Recorder is a big, ugly piece of junk and I love it and hate it. I have an ipod because it’s small and all, but it lacks a lot of stuff I need. So I got an Archos off ebay when I saw what this bunch of hackers had added to it. Check out the list!
http://rockbox.haxx.se/docs/features.html

Now, I’ve looked inside the Archos and there is basically nothing going on in there. Yet they managed to add some amazing playlist functionality, plugin architecture, and games.

I look inside the iPod and there is a hell of a lot going on. Yet Apple basically does very little with the available resources. We should be able to play WMA and OGG and FLAC on our devices. We should be able to display bitmap rendering. We should be able to create an open plugin system.

Yet we can’t. That’s because Apple doesn’t want iPod expanded in case people hang on to them. THey want us to throw them away and buy new ones for trivial firmware updates. This sucks.

I am going to hang on to my ipod as long as possible but I am not going to get another Apple product until I see evidence of a change in their treatment of existing customers. I saw them screw Apple II people for the Mac, and then screw 68K Mac people for PPC. Then they screwed OS9 people for OSX. It’s a pattern of abuse.

Posted by fetish on October 2, 2003 at 7:54 AM (PST)