[blessingx]

See here or here (TheMacMind is down at the moment). With Apple being all about usability, I have serious doubts about the lack of screen suggestion. We had a thread about Apple flash players awhile back.

With Macworld SF around the corner, which marks a year since the introduction of the iPod mini (anyone remember the craziness in the portable forum that day with the price of $249... when most were guessing $99?) and I was wondering what you're expecting ol' Steve to announce?

 

[Taphil]

If it's true, I bet it'll be an instant failure...

1) No one cares if it's that small. People would rather buy something 2-4x bigger with a screen because at that point size doesn't matter.

2) No USB. No one (ie, the average consumer) wants to use firewire if they can help it.

 

[Zanth]

I would find that a bit too small to deal with personally. Though while running it would be VERY convenient. Of course...my main concern lately is capacity. In that case...the HD-based players are more to my liking.

I'm okay with only firewire, but it is not a standard feature on the majority of PC's which would be the majority of the market. I think only Sony Vaio's come stock with it (perhaps some other major companies that I am not current with).

 

[kunwar]

I can just see someon ebeing careless and dropping it and it slips through a grill cos it is too small

.

 

[blessingx]

My recent Toshiba laptop and a friends HP laptop both came with 4 pin Firewire ports. I don't know how common it is, but at least the last two PCs I know of have it. Course USB2 is more common, though Apple as the originator/owner of Firewire (I believe, correct me if I'm wrong) has an interest in pushing it.

I greatly prefer Firewire, but unless it's Mac only (which I would doubt... though a delay to Windows is always possible) USB2 seems essential.

BTW, TheMacMind site seems back up.

 

[fr4c]

whats the point of a mp3 player if you have no idea what song you are playing (lack of screen/ID tag display)? might as well use a standard CD player.

 

[leon]

I'm already using a player that's the same diameter as the mini's scroll wheel. Trust me, you're going to like that size, that's the real embodiment of being unobstrusive.

Mine's got no display. MP3 players are usually all about extra information, so when you buy something without that it's like consciously trying to let go of that control. I can definitely live with that, especially if there are arrangements to skip by group/folder like the B&O player. If I want control I've got all my .m4b files on my mini and I can scroll till my fingers twitch

 

[viator122]

I guess what I dislike about it is that except being white and having a round control wheel, it doesn't seem to take many design cues from the iPod and the mini. Apple seems to like having this harmonious, consistent design theme running through its products, which I think is nice, but which it poorly implemented here.

I can see the sense in not putting a screen on it to make it smaller, but I think they could have played around with the configuration to get a small screen on there. Find a way to put the screen on the back or something.

It is tiny though, which is cool.

You can really see how Apple is trying to grab all price points and consumers. They recently introduced the 60 gig iPod photo at $600 and dropped the 4G to $300-400. The mini is popular at $250 and now they're going to introduce this flash thing at maybe $100 or $125? So you can have an iPod product with any budget from $100 to $600. Great product development and building on their success.

 

[pank2002]

Other good rumors: 5 gig iPod minis

 

[Taphil]

That's why I sold my iPod mini. But an additional 1GB isn't going to make the mini that much better.

 

[raisin]

I can see this becoming almost an accessory to the regular ipod, download just a quick playlist, for a jog, a trip to the mall, the drive to work...

 

[Thisp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fr4c whats the point of a mp3 player if you have no idea what song you are playing (lack of screen/ID tag display)? might as well use a standard CD player.

It has an Apple logo on it. DUH!!!

 

[ChickenScrtchBoy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thisp It has an Apple logo on it. DUH!!!

No. It'd the white iBuds. They are totally worth the (projected) 100 dollars.

 

[aaroncort]

Its funny that a flash player would have firewire only since the amount of space on it is going to be so tiny. its not like it would take much time even with a USB port to fill it up all the way. Go figure.

 

[kugino]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Taphil If it's true, I bet it'll be an instant failure... 1) No one cares if it's that small. People would rather buy something 2-4x bigger with a screen because at that point size doesn't matter. 2) No USB. No one (ie, the average consumer) wants to use firewire if they can help it.

yeah, just the way the ipod mini failed, right? or the way the whole ipod thing was way too expensive to catch on, right?