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AnonymousNoob

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Location: U.S.

iPod Flash

The Meat: Milano cookie. That's the basic principle. I like Tim-Tams, but that's just me. Rounded edges, flat, and tiny. We're looking at something that is about 2.5" long, 1.5" wide, and just .5" thick.

Get this: NO SCREEN. Got a cellphone with one of those flat joysticks? This is apparently how you'll get around on the screenless iPod. Left and right move between songs, up and down change the volume, and pressing straight down will play/pause your music. With any other company, I'd be incredibly doubtful that their techs would be able to pull off anything useable. Scroll through 250 songs in one big list? We're betting Apple has something better up their sleeve, and we'll hopefully be able to tell you about the interface in the next few days. Evenything goes in and out through a full-size FireWire port. Apparently, they are also virtually indestructible. We did a mock up of the iPod Flash in 3D. You can see how big it is compared to a business card (the same size as an iPod mini) and an Apple Firewire cable.

What does that tiny size mean? Well, the iPod Flash is meant to be worn around the neck. Yep, a nice little lanyard will keep the smallest of the iPod family twirling around your neck while jogging.

AppleInsider said "less than $200", but we we're told that the Flash iPod will be priced at $99. Freaking sweet, we're hoping that that's right on the money! There have been reports of storage capacities from 256 MB - 1 GB, which would correlate with that price. This release will make an iPod available to people in any price range.

UPDATE: Some clarification is needed, as I've been going over the topics on Slashdot and talking to readers and the rest of the staff:
a) The image is CG, done by Robert Padbury, so "OMG IT LOOKS FAKE!@!!!!! THE LIGHTING IS WRONG" is in fact, childish to say.
b) 256 MB for $100 is likely. No one ever said the 1 GB version would be $100.
c) The controls: Left and right change songs; up and down change volume; pressing directly in works as play and pause

Source: http://www.themacmind.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=618
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Pelican Sam

vs. The World

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:O Strange. It's too minimalist.
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sonicblue

Thundercougarfalconbird

Posts: 20,230

Join Date: May 2002

Location: South Florida

I've finally committed myself to the 20GB normal iPod. This looks pretty nifty but not as much space as I'd need. Looks really cool though.

Felix Blacke

Nerd

Posts: 39

Join Date: Dec 2004

I was hoping to get a 20 gig ipod from one of those websites. Or buy one when I get a job.

Pandas_UNITE

Positive Panda

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Join Date: Oct 2002

Location: I live in your heart ;)

Damn lil mario just appeared in the post reply button and i tried to catch him but like he was gone and apple makes great mp3 players wat can i say.
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Ninjazn

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Location: Richmond, VA

Not sure I like the idea of no screen. If I had money I might have looked into this.
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MetroidHunter

Lakitu

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Wow, only a hundred bucks? That's pretty cheap. I might save some Christmas money or do some work this summer. My MP3 is slowly dying. But it's really small, which I like. So this would work, but I don't know about no screen.

StJimmy

I'm in an Oasis

Posts: 3,144

Join Date: Sep 2003

No screen eh? I really wonder how they'll pull that off... it's gonna be difficult to find the song of your choice if all you can do is push "next track" or "previous track" to go through hundreds of songs. And I love my regular 10 gig ipod. Wouldn't give it up for anything (except maybe a 60 gig one...)
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JoeyJoJoJrShabadu

St. Patricks Day! Soon!

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...why? Who thought up the brilliant idea of leaving the screen out just to cut a few centimeters? Oh, and now it's round. Ish. Roundish. What a waste.

Stick to the usual, Apple. It seems to be working fine.
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Sephyr

It happens all the time

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Location: Solon, Iowa

Sooner or later apple is just going to start selling empty boxes, stating it's so small you'll never know it's there!

Derek

Illinois:The Cursed State

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JoeyJoJoJrShabadu
Stick to the usual, Apple. It seems to be working fine.

If Apple stuck to the usual we wouldn't have the iPod, the iTunes Music Store, or any of their other innovations of the years. The reason Apple stays in business is because they don't follow the examples of others, and they don't stop innovating just because they have a popular product.

Regardless, I'd have to see this screenless iPod in action to truly understand what Apple is thinking. I don't know how you would navigate hundreds of songs without a screen.

p-0man

too busy being delicious!

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Innovation and milking a cash cow aren't the same thing.

neophile

MAGGOTS!

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Location: Atlanta, Georgia

i hate everything about apple, always have and always will... except the ipod... this sounds interesting, not enough space for me though...

FunkMasterGeneral

Lakitu

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Join Date: Oct 2002

Location: Keene,NH

JoeyJoJoJrShabadu
...why? Who thought up the brilliant idea of leaving the screen out just to cut a few centimeters? Oh, and now it's round. Ish. Roundish. What a waste.

Stick to the usual, Apple. It seems to be working fine.

We're looking at a different machine here, targeting a different demographic. This iPod is probably for people with not too many songs, and probably using it while excercising, like those MP3 players with the shoulder bands.
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Dawson

Mr. Tambourine Man

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I will always be appreciative of Apple for the best music program ever made (I think they also invented the mouse?), but this thing sounds horrible. The one with the screen is much better. Yes

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Flynn

Formerly known as NekoSim

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Location: Ontario, Canada

MetroidHunter
Wow, only a hundred bucks? That's pretty cheap. I might save some Christmas money or do some work this summer. My MP3 is slowly dying. But it's really small, which I like. So this would work, but I don't know about no screen.

Actually it's a damn rip off considering you can get 20 gigs for 300.

MetroidHunter

Lakitu

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Join Date: Mar 2003

I have 13 songs on my MP3, I wouldn't know what to do with 1 GB much less 20.

Flynn

Formerly known as NekoSim

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Join Date: Dec 2002

Location: Ontario, Canada

You can also use iPods as a portable hard drive since that is pretty much what they are.
Helps me out a lot in college.

p-0man

too busy being delicious!

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Location: the farm

OMG IT LOOKS FAKE!@!!!!! THE LIGHTING IS WRONG

Derek

Illinois:The Cursed State

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Location: Illinois

Dawson
I will always be appreciative of Apple for the best music program ever made (I think they also invented the mouse?), but this thing sounds horrible. The one with the screen is much better.

They didn't really invent the mouse. Xerox invented the mouse along with the GUI, but sold the idea to Apple because they didn't see any use for it. Apple then developed their own GUI and ran with it. Apple's innovations have normally been taking an existing product that doesn't quite work right and perfecting it. There are a lot of cases where they have been truly ahead of their time, though, such as the Newton, which was the first PDA, but failed.

sonicblue

Thundercougarfalconbird

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This thing should at least have a screen that's really really small. Like a screen that's only tall enough to fit one line of 10 pt type and then stretches along the whole thing so that you can see one track at a time. Something.

Nin10do

Smooth Criminal

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Derek
They didn't really invent the mouse. Xerox invented the mouse along with the GUI, but sold the idea to Apple because they didn't see any use for it. Apple then developed their own GUI and ran with it. Apple's innovations have normally been taking an existing product that doesn't quite work right and perfecting it. There are a lot of cases where they have been truly ahead of their time, though, such as the Newton, which was the first PDA, but failed.

That's what they call "innovation through imitation". The greatest companies in the world are guilty of it. It doesn't bother me much as long as the idea is truly improved upon or used in an entirely new way. Kinda like how Nintendo transformed the touch screen from a basic point and shoot deal to an actual control method.
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