A Bluetooth iPod?
Apple’s continuing support of all things wireless has led to countless rumors of iPods with Bluetooth or iPods with wifi and a whole collection of other cable-less options. None of these have been confirmed, but the recent replacement of the three model iPod line with 2 models has sparked even more talk of what the yet unreleased high-est-end iPod flagship might include. 60GB? Color Screen? Bluetooth? Engadget posted this (probably fake) iPod ad that was “leaked” (read: photoshopped) which is more than likely just wishful thinking. In all honestly though, I can’t imagine something like this being too far off. It just seems like a natural progression for them.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
himandthedrinks said 4:16PM on 6-16-2005
Agreed. I don't think it's just around the corner, but it's definitely down the road. I certainly know that constantly untangling the headphones is MY least favorite interaction with my iPod, and I can only imagine that Apple has heard this from other consumers as well.
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ShiningBlue said 4:16PM on 6-16-2005
If it's true, I would like to experience it right away. However, I suppose it's faked. Photoshop will enable you to produce a lot of faked pictures.
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Bud Landry said 6:33PM on 10-02-2005
If you have ever heard the fidelity of a bluetooth headset you wouldn't buy the bluetooth ipod hoax for a single second.
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Sean Bonner said 10:34PM on 8-21-2005
Great point Bud, because the one thing you can count on with technology is that will NEVER improove.
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bedoughty said 4:16PM on 6-16-2005
BT is a terrible and slim protocol to stream files as beefy as music. Besides, do the math: airport express doesn't have BT on board, it has WiFi, which puts my cards on a 'down the road' wifi 'pod.
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Kieran said 4:16PM on 6-16-2005
If you do your research, bluetooth can offer variable data transfer rates. Knowing Apple as you do, they are right into bluetooth advancements (just take a look at this http://www.apple.com/bluetooth/) and they would give their customers the best quality bluetooth available. As for the picture being a hoax I think Apple would probably steal the picture and use it cause its so good. Anyway a bluetooth ipod sounds good and i think it is just around the corner
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bedoughty said 4:16PM on 6-16-2005
Yea bluetooth can offer a transfer rate some might call decent... but a range most would call 'insulting.' It has a 30 ft range. From what I've read there's an update coming that will allow for 90 ft. Might be decent... still wouldn't be a great idea considering the fact that a wireless iPod's greatest accessory - the Airport Express - is WiFi. Not BT. :P
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Rick Barrett said 4:16PM on 6-16-2005
Bluetooth headsets dont sound good because they are designed for speech, which is 300 to 4000 Hz. Class 1 Bluetooth can go 100 meters (330 feet) and Bluetooth is 723 Kb/sec which is sufficient for pretty good audio with MP3 compression... 150 KB/sec is CD quality. I would guess the first application is a Bluetooth transmiter for the iPod to connect to a home audio system, then a car Bluetooth adapter so you can just carry you iPod into the car and play your tunes. Apple doesn't want you running a Bluetooth radio station anyway... it is for personal use. Bluetooth is actually a really interesting choice.
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boenna said 4:16PM on 6-16-2005
I need this thing! Cables suck.
But realistically, there's another hurdle besides the possible sound quality: wireless gadgets are not allowed on most airlines. And the airlines are just so backwards on this so I think it will take forever before they change.
But if you turn it around - what if Apple released a hugely popular BT-iPod, how long could the airlines keep their medieval attitude before being forced to surrender to popular demand? :-)
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Gary E. Brant said 4:16PM on 6-16-2005
VeriTouch's iVue Personal Media Player will come standard with a wireless Bluetooth stereo headset with remote controls built-in, and an accessory allows connection of our player to any A/V device including plasma TV, car or home stereo. Apple wishes they had our edge.
Gary E. Brant, CEO
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-paul said 4:16PM on 6-16-2005
im certain the technology is available to apple even now. Think about the growth of the mp3 piracy industry vs apple's i-tunes buy your mp3 here. Its not in apples best interests to enable ipod users to be able to share mp3's wirelessly.
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Bret said 4:16PM on 6-16-2005
I would expect apple to integrate Bluetooth with the iPod if they knew what was good for them, and they usually do.
There are no problems with airlines; the FAA does not restrict any type of wireless usage such as Cell phones or Blue tooth. The people who restrict these things are the FCC. BT does not have the power that a cell phone does, therefore there will be no problems with this on the airlines (I am a pilot) No they do not interfere with NAV equipment or any other Avionics that are used.
As for piracy, I do not think syncing an iPod using Bluetooth is a plus. BT can only offer slow transfer rates, therefore I believe that OBEX could be integrated with the Car, Headphones and such but data transfer are not feasible. I hope this sheds new light on opinions. Have a great day!
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A hopeful optimist said 4:16PM on 6-16-2005
I just bought a BT-enabled vehicle (2005 Prius) and while I can use my BT cellphone, I can't do the same with my iPod... how I would love to have no wires dangling from the tape player (you'd think Toyota would have an AUX jack on the front panel by now, but what are you gonna do?) -- I can see it resting snugly in the cup holder mount, broadcasting wirelessly into the 9 JBLs, and bathing my head in distractingly loud music.
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