I don't know what this would do to the iPod mini market if it turns out to be true, but according to DigiTimes daily IT News, Samsung Electronics and Toshiba are working to ramp up production of "8Gbit NAND flash chips, as Apple Computer plans to roll out 2GB and 4GB versions of its iPod Shuffle this June and August, respectively, according to sources at NAND flash makers."Of course, Apple has not confirmed any of this and neither have Samsung or Toshiba.
If Apple does come out with these larger-capacity iPod shuffles, I would hope they would incorporate some sort of mini-screen in the design. I mean, 512MBs to 1GB of music is easy enough to keep track of, but when you get into 2 & 4GBs of music, I'd be worried that songs would, er, get lost in the shuffle, so to speak.
[via fscklog]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-16-2005 @ 4:19PM
narco said...
Well, Macrumors claims that Digitimes' "rumors" are consistently inaccurate, so to take this news with a grain of salt. I'm all for a smaller iPod "regular" though -- possibly the size of the current mini?
Fishes,
narco.
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6-16-2005 @ 4:19PM
Brian said...
I think the mini is still safe. Sorting through 200 songs without a screen...ok. Sorting through 1000, no thanks. I do think the shuffle has its place, but so does the mini.
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6-16-2005 @ 4:19PM
tim said...
Have to agree. I have the one-gig Shuffle and find that's overkill. By the time I get through the 5-10 podcasts at the top of the playlist, there's not nearly enough time to shuffle through the remaining songs before its the end of the day/commute/workout/etc. and time to resync.
My money's on an even thinner Shuffle as the next iteration in this particular line, not more capacity.
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6-16-2005 @ 4:19PM
Tan Hoang said...
Well, I heard the hard disc makers for the mini have up-ed their drives' capacity so it kinda makes sense that they would up both the mini and shuffle. Although it shouldn't be news, it's what we all expect. Still waiting for that video iPod. Still waiting...
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6-16-2005 @ 4:19PM
Jordan Merrick said...
there's only so much random you can take with music - any more than a gig and you really gotta use a screen! besides, going off the current pricing system for apple, they would probably be more expensive than the current 4gb mini. personally, 4gb really needs a screen
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