Offering a slicker, cooler designed case, improved battery life and click-wheel navigation, the new fourth-generation iPod by Apple is almost upon us.

"According to Newsweek magazine, the two new models will offer greater capacity for the same price as the current lineup. A 20GB iPod will sell for $299, while the top-of-the-line 40GB model will retail for $399. Currently, Apple sells a 15GB version for $299, a 20GB version for $399 and a 40GB model for $499."

No word as yet on the availability date but one can only assume that its soon.

overpriced and no Ogg Vorbis support

i'll stick to my i-River iHP-140 ta very much

ogg vorbis?

OGG is a popular (I think) alternative to MP3. Extremely high quality and reasonable compression.

the new 1000 song i-pod? which would be the smallest one. i hear it's silver.

To be honest this is basically a face lift and a little tweak to the OS from what I've heard. They really need to keep innovating to keep the iPod as one of the best HD players. If you look at the iAudio or iRiver they offer remotes with displays, recording without the need to be connected via a PC, built in mics, wide support of audio formats. I'm still very happy with my iPod 40gb but if I was buying again I couldn't say that I wouldn't be considering the iRiver and iAudio more strongly than the iPod.

Slightly different note but still involving Ipods. All 1600 some freshmen at Duke University are recieving an Ipod on their first day. I heard this on the radio this morning comming to work so I don't have any links or anything. But I thought it was a pretty cool thing to do, wish I would have gotten some free goodies like that when I started school.

my next toy

Atrak3, like Ogg Vorbis is a "lossless" compression method. It shifts distortion to certain octaves that the human ear is less sensitive to.
I will also use the minidisc as a data drive to archive my pictures. Minidiscs are bulletproof- media and players. If they only make one with a memory stick slot to copy without a pc I will be as happy as a kitten in the cream

New look. Battery issue is still not solved. Minor revisions. Although some people would say that the iPod is perfect, there are still some kinks Apple needs to work out. Plus they got to improve a lot before the competition catches up. The "cool and hip" factor only lasts so long.

ATRAC and Ogg Vorbis are "lossy", not lossless like FLAC.

You are absolutely correct, but they are considered among the least 'lossy' high-compression codecs. I apologize for being over- simplistic for a change

Ogg and atrak are great for loud music (rock, rap, metal, techno) and I defy anyone to notice the difference in comparasion to an original wav. Classical or music with alot of transients can suffer however and flac might be a good substitute. I kick myself in the **** for not using it or monkey when I ripped my cd collection (400+ discs). It would of taken forever though.

Damn, I did not realise how small the 4GB iPod mini was.:eek:



It makes me want one.

Must resist...

Must resist...

It's not really that small...

And the storage space is even more of a turn off.

I'd rather get the 40GB and live with the extra 1.5" width.

you will want both.

My sister has a regular IPod, I think a 20 Gig one but not sure, she loves it. I have a 64Meg little flash one it works good enough for me, I only need about 1 cd to listen to at a time, I only really use it for when I go running or when I'm mowing the lawn (have those little headphones that fit in your ear, then I wear those ear muff type things that you can get for shooting guns).

And the colors looks like something I might find in my Easter basket...

I like to have one of this new iPods.
For me its still not affordable despite the decrease in price.

Yeah, it's still pretty expensive for "just" a music player.

But a nice toy if you have the cash.