Apple Rolls Out Cheaper iPods

[Hachiko]

A tech article, though non-Japanese...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Apple Computer Inc. on Monday introduced lower-priced versions of its iPod digital music player with longer battery life, positioning itself against rivals trying to use lower prices to undercut iPod sales.


Apple said the new model iPod has up to 12 hours of battery life, compared with eight hours in previous models. Poor battery performance in some iPods has drawn criticism.


The 20-gigabyte model, which can hold about 5,000 songs, has a list price of $299, lower than the previous price of $399 for a 20-gigabyte iPod. The 40-gigabyte model costs $399.



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Yahoo! News (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=738&e=1&u=/nm/20040719/tc_nm/tech_apple_dc)

[playaa]

I still don't see the point.. Call me wierd but the MP3 players never got to me, maybe this would be different if I lived in Japan or New York, places where you do not drive much, but I simply burn CD's and use my car's cd player.

[TwistedMac]

i have no car =(

[RockLee]

hehe...well I think apple is 3vil :sick: so I wouldn't buy it in a 100 years!
hehe..you got a drivers license ?? :D

[TwistedMac]

no.. and everyone is bugging me about it.. my grandfather has this slick car and he told me to atleast back out the driveway and feel what it is to move a car... dude is crazy! i wouldve wrecked it for sure!

i think apple are the opposite of evil... i just think they're a bit stupid...

Steve Jobs was the only guy to stand up against Palladium though, and with that he earned my respect.

[Lina Inverse]

Well, the previous problems had serious problems with the battery... hope they fixed that now and not only put in a larger capacity battery :relief:

[-]5pace.pirat3]+]

i cant image how much it must take to spin up a harddrive(so much for no moving parts :cheer:) minidisc longplay players have been past the 200 hour mark for years

[Flashjeff]

I had an iPod and I love it to death! I take it with me everywhere, and since I don't own a car, it makes taking my music with me a whole lot easier than lugging around a portable CD player and a bunch of discs.
:-)

[Anyuni_Nakashima]

Is this only in America and when is this lower price gonna start. I've been to Best Buy and Future Shop and no prices have changed. Doesn't matter anyway is still to pricey. There are so many Mp3 players on the market that are less, than half the price of the Ipod.

[-]5pace.pirat3]+]

sure but those cant hold a micron of the amount of data as an ipod

[Flashjeff]

I agree with space pirate. The iPod not only holds an insane amount of music (somewhere around 10,000 songs on the 40GB model), it can also store pictures files, be used as an address book (which I currently do), it even has a couple of games. As the old saying goes, you get what you pay for, and for the money, you get a lot with an iPod!
:cool:

[Faustianideals]

iPod's are evil!

[Flashjeff]

iPod's are evil!

Well, if that's the case, then I don't mind being corrupted! :D

[Faustianideals]

Well, if that's the case, then I don't mind being corrupted! :D
You must think your very cute, eh?
Apple iPod's are horrible things. It deleted my music library when I plugged it in because it wasn't from the iTune's store.
I still kept my iPod because I recieved it as a gift. That's the only reason I still have it.

[Keiichi]

Stuff happens... and that has never happened to me, and I've never used iTune's store even once.

Keiichi

:souka:

[Kei_Shugojin]

maybe thor had a different version of the Ipod?

[ragedaddy]

I still don't see the point.. Call me wierd but the MP3 players never got to me, maybe this would be different if I lived in Japan or New York, places where you do not drive much, but I simply burn CD's and use my car's cd player.

The Answer is:

I had an iPod and I love it to death! I take it with me everywhere, and since I don't own a car, it makes taking my music with me a whole lot easier than lugging around a portable CD player and a bunch of discs.


Yes, I have to agree with flash Jeff, because I have probably close to 400 cds, and being able to put all of them on a MP3 player saves me the effort of carrying around numerous books of cds. Especially if you are going on a trip, now you are able to fit a lot more things into your carry-on. Also, if you are rollerblading, or jogging, man it is extremely light to be carrying this MP3 player around. I guess I never got the concept of MD, although it was huge in Japan, it never was really successful here in the US. I have a 400mb in memory, but I think I'm gonna get hustled on the battery change (Since I have an older version), because they charge you mega bucks in order to change the battery. I heard it's about $60 to get the battery changed....man this new generation of I Pods look sweeeeeettt!!!!

[Flashjeff]

You must think your very cute, eh?
Apple iPod's are horrible things. It deleted my music library when I plugged it in because it wasn't from the iTune's store.
I still kept my iPod because I recieved it as a gift. That's the only reason I still have it.

Really? never heard of that happening! I've got a boatload of downloaded music in my iTunes library from LimeWare, not to mention a few from Napster (Shhhh! Don't tell anyone!) and never had a moment's worth of trouble! Heck, I don't even have anything from the iTunes store. You may have had some sort of software conflict. Technogeek I'm not, so I can't say for sure. In fact, I'm saving up my pennies for the brand new version which is sweet!

[jspecdan]

my ipod crapped out on me recently. and lucky for me, my PC with all of my music and my firewire card is back home in the US. how awesome is that? luckily i know a few people who have ipods so they might be able to reformat my ipod and put in music that i've downloaded/ripped while in japan. i got mine as an xmas gift last year and it's been awesome...but i might look into getting an MD player. i unfortunately regret asking for an ipod.

[budd]

minidisc (in japan)

[Flashjeff]

A penpal I have swears by the minidisc. That was supposed to be the next great medium for recording music that would replace the cassette when it came out back in the early 90's, but CD recorders hit the market first and the minidisc was effectively doomed.

[DoctorP]

Minidiscs are actually used quite a bit here in Japan. I see many cars with MD players and most of the home systems you see have them as well. I personally have never used them...I sure would like to get my hands on an IPOD though!

[-]5pace.pirat3]+]

A penpal I have swears by the minidisc... but CD recorders hit the market first and the minidisc was effectively doomed.

i never heard of cd burners in 1992, cd's have higher capacity than the hdd's of the early 90's :blush:

md is the only way to go for portable hi-fi, with amps that provide 64x cd sampling rate (+1000hz) and standard built-in equalizers(ipod "sound quality"? please :sorry:) but they're still not the most convenient or no0b friendly

[Sally_Hawn]

The good thing is Apple actually made more profits in the last quarter. The bad thing is Apple, once an icon in the computer industry, has lost its positioning. Maybe it will change its name to Apple Computer Inc. to Apple Ipod Inc...

By the way, I never try Ipod... got stuck with a MP3 + CD player.

[Flashjeff]

5pace.pirat3]+']i never heard of cd burners in 1992, cd's have higher capacity than the hdd's of the early 90's :blush:

md is the only way to go for portable hi-fi, with amps that provide 64x cd sampling rate (+1000hz) and standard built-in equalizers(ipod "sound quality"? please :sorry:) but they're still not the most convenient or no0b friendly

Well, if memory serves, the first CD burners, made by Pioneer I think were slow in coming out back then, and were expensive as hell at around a grand a pop. Nowadays you can buy 'em for just under $200!

As for the sound quality of my iPod, perhaps I have a tin ear, but the music I hear from them sounds pretty damn good to me, even with the accompanying bud headphones which do nothing for me.

[Twisted]

I just got an iPod Photo as a Christmas present. I'd never buy one myself, because they're way too expensive, but i love it to death. It's just insane how much music it can hold.

First thing i did is turn off the auto-sync function in iTunes though. That's probably what caused Thor's problem.

Sound quality is not an issue. When you're (illegally) downloading music you're dealing with over-compression and often badly ripped files. People commonly blame the mp3-player for the bad quality of the sound, but it's usually the files themselves. But they don't hear that on their home equipment, because then your in an environment with loads of background noise. Rip a cd with the lossless compression iTunes offers and then judge again.

[Flashjeff]

I just got an iPod Photo as a Christmas present. I'd never buy one myself, because they're way too expensive, but i love it to death. It's just insane how much music it can hold.

You're not lying about how pricey the new models are! That's the only thing keeping me from buying a new one. I particularly like the U2 model (black in front with a red scrollwheel and the band members' autographs on the back) which looks really cool. But, as with all electronic gizmos, the price on 'em will come down in time, so I'll just be patient.
:cool:

[Carth]

For me, I find it useful especially when I go jogging, I hate to carry around a CD book containing over 40 CDs. With an iPod, I can store almost 5,000 songs in one convenient storage place.

Better yet, there are accessories that can be used to plug it into your car.

[Flashjeff]

For me, I find it useful especially when I go jogging, I hate to carry around a CD book containing over 40 CDs. With an iPod, I can store almost 5,000 songs in one convenient storage place.

You are so right, Carth! Carrying around a CD player and a bunch of discs just plain doesn't make sense. I play my iPod going to and from work, it sure beats listening to the mindless chatter of fellow transit riders. And once I get my hands on a pair of noise cancelling headphones, I can block that noise out!
:cool:

[Twisted]

I want this one: http://www.dension.com/main.php?pageid=50&topid=42
Find it a bit expensive though.

[Flashjeff]

Not bad looking, Twisted! If I wasn't obsessed with saving my pennies for a HDTV, I'd upgrade my iPod in a New York minute!
:D

[jerry4]

how much does one cost?

[Twisted]

I saw this particular carkit advertised for 110 Euros.
I think i might go for a lighter charger instead (still 45 Euros) and create a DIY cable from the iPod headphone socket to the CD-changer connector of my stereo.

Another option is swapping my current stereo over for one with a cassette-player. I still have one of those cassette-adapters lying around here.

[calsonic]

The bono edition ipod is the shizzle.

[Tamer Brad]

For everyone looking for a cheap alternative to the iPod, check out the Rio Karma. You can see a review of it on mp3.com

[Doc]

In need an ipod, and not for the music either. I'm a hobbist in graphic design, and I love Mac! So make a long story short, I really want a device that can manage my files from PC to Mac without any problems. Why does it have to cost so much though?!:bawling:

Doc:ramen::happy: