shorttrini said:

I'd bet good money that it'll be here in 1 or 2 years.

Nothing's definite about the marketplace of course, but computers doubling in capacity is far more predictable than the stock market.

Cinnie said:[quote]

Brendan said:

Oh, man.

It doesn't sound like even a 240GB hard drive will work for you.

I had a 60gb video which I filled pretty quickly once I started to put my dvd collection on there, so if you want your movies portable a 160gb would be perfect. I went to the apple online store and they had refurbished ones available. I managed to drop my 60gb running for the bus and it's now just a sleek bit of sculpture on my bedside table that rattles when I shake it and I swear at occasionally

I still have a 30gb from 3 or 4 years ago and it's sooo not the same. I have to chop more than half music and no movies to go (I travel quite a lot and it was cool being able to take my boot vids and tv series wherever I wanted)

The the 32gb itouch is tempting but I cant justify spending that much on another device *yet*. I'm tempted to get the 160gb because of the size capacity and I've seen them for much less than what I spent on my 60gb. Just typing this is helping me make a decision

mynameisnotsusan said:

Well, like I was saying before. I only have 27GB of music on it, which consists of old music,nothing recent,(I only download oldies and I do that only when I think of a song that I have not heard in a while), 2 podcasts and no movies. I was looking at the refurbished 32GB touch and it is only $319. It offers the same guarentee that brand new one gets, plus I can always get the applecare for it.

shorttrini said:

I wonder if I can get applecare from Future Shop or Best Buy, or if it is just an Apple dealer thing?

I have the 160 gig ipod, and ripping at 320 will give you tons of room, I use 320 and lossless

I have 9k plus songs and 83 gigs. I often go back a re-rip some of the stuff I did yrs ago when 40 gig was the biggest and I had to use 192aac.

Cinnie said:

I do believe that some stores do offer it. I am not sure though, you could look on the web.

aalloca said:

right on.

i'm afraid my ears have been spoiled by coming up in the CD era where everything was as pristine as possible, so no way am i going to consider encoding lower to save space.

I was reading a bunch of arguments about "Who needs a ___ GB iPod?"

Someone added




[Edited 11/29/08 21:27pm]

Cinnie said:

You can go lossless but it will only fit I think like 400 albums, 320AAC is a nice compromise. Cd generation was good and bad. The level of compression on today's discs take any of the achievements of the cd and put it back to a poorly done dolby nr blank tape from back in the day.

Get the 160, you seem to have a ton of stuff, this way you have no compromise. You show up to a party and you have everything you would want to play for friends.

shorttrini said:

I am quite surprised that you don't have more digital files? Have you ripped much of your vinyl??

Brendan said:

I just read this..




I know I have at least 2000 if not closer to 3000 CDs, so... 240GB could work.


Did you actually read some rumors about a 240GB in 2009?

I am in the curious spot right now of either tracking down a 160 gb or waiting.

I won't get to rip my CDs until the new year anyway..

If APPLE is smart they will chill with creating anything new especially in these times. APPLE was one of 15 retailers listed as "being in trouble" and cutting work forces. Its like anything else, you have your run at being "popular" and then something comes along and you arent in anymore. But with the decline in the music industry, 65% in 5 years overall, iPods are just becoming a place to store music that no one paid for in the first place.

lastdecember said:

Well we know either it wasn't paid for or it came from iTunes... either way it is a growing market so I don't see why Apple would slow down now?

I was actually quite surprised they got rid of the largest storage iPod... certainly no one's collection is shrinking.
[Edited 11/29/08 22:00pm]

Cinnie said:

Actually that "growing market" is because one is eliminated, not by choice. But digital sales are nowhere near where they should be considering that music retail is gone and cds will be gone. Apple will slow down because thats just the way it goes, its already slowed which is why they were listed going into the 4th quarter this year. The thing is that iTunes is not the booming business people think it is, the iPod sale and the music store sales are not even close. The only reason digital sales are up is becuase cd sales are down 65% in 5 years, but you are still losing tons of people in the transitition.

As for iPod sizes, many are finding that there is an even poorer sound quality with larger memory iPods than those with smaller ones, due to the technology stretching capacities.

lastdecember said:

Word?? Break it down

what about this design?

Cinnie said:

remember the shit with 8hour video tapes as opposed to 6 hour video tapes, same deal different decade. The memory is being stretched but other things are being sacrificed, thats the reason for the pull till they can work out something.

Cinnie said:

speaking of Kanye, I saw this iPod design concept on his blog



Ipod Touch Nano concept Designed by Isamu Sanada
concept features a 2.8-inch touchscreen display, a 3.5mm headphone jack, dual dock connectors besides the removable game controller

lastdecember said:

makes sense.

i keep reading how 120GB was as large as Zunes went, inferring that Apple getting rid of the 160GB model and offering 120 suggests "Microsoft must have known something".

bboy87 said:

Those controller add-ons are ill. Is that lil circle that looks like a camera actually the new thumbdial?

Cinnie said:

Hmmm...

I have over 3,000 CDs myself, but they are a real mixed bag of encoding types.

If I were to start today based on the space that I now have (I have a terabyte hard drive), I’d definitely go with all 320kbps encoding.

For 320kbps encoding I would estimate the following:

100MB per album (based on an average of 45 minutes per CD). Could be a low estimate if one owns a disproportionate amount of newer music that has no vinyl equivalent.

That’s roughly 10 albums per Gigabyte.

Now a 240GB hard drive is only the marketing size (a lie/half truth).

It means 240 billion discreet storage locations in decimal (base 10) but the iPod or any computer will naturally only work in binary (base 2) and so the hard-drive space will actually be 223.52GB.

240GB hard drive = 2,200 45-Minute Albums @ 320kbps encoding + high quality artwork for each.

==

240GB and 320GB micro hard drives are here today. It’s just a matter of them reaching a price point where Apple feels they can make a similar profit margin as they do today, mixed of course with other factors -- most importantly, what the competition is doing and what the consumers are demanding.

But it’s almost certain that a new hard drive will be placed in the Classic for the fall lineup of 2009 (perhaps earlier and perhaps as late as the first quarter of 2010).

This is me talking based on the logic of what has happened in the past, not on anything I’ve heard. Besides, Apple would just play dumb on the subject until the day the new models are announced so that they can make the sell today.

== oh, hell! ==
[Edited 11/29/08 23:35pm]

Thanks for breakin' it down, Brendan.

What about what lastdecember was saying about the quality being compromised for more space?

Cinnie said:

If a 4-and-a-half-minute song encoded at 320kbps (about 10MB) sounds different amongst different iPods of the same price point, then that would have to do with an myriad of factors and variables unrelated to storage capacities (including headphones that can range in price from 10 dollars to 750).

Most people (including some audiophiles) seem to be mostly satisfied with the sound that they get from their newer iPods. I don’t know because I only own the older 60GB version, as I’m now waiting for something that can hold my entire collection plus future growth.

I’m in your boat. I need major space.

I don’t know. Talking sound quality can be such an unbelievably subjective thing that it even makes liking an album or not seem factual.

But, seriously, you could take the hard drive (or solid-state memory) out of an iPod and drop them into something entirely different (Apple doesn’t make this stuff) and their sound quality would be based on that playback equipment.

If Apple is skimping on sound quality, and I have no evidence of this, then they are skimping based on seeking new ways to make more money.

These larger hard drives (which they don't make) are only selected once they reach a price point that is equivalent to the last hard drive that they used for the same model (adjusted of course to any price changes).

But it's a dog-eat-dog world, so it's impossible to prove, as I don't work for Apple. They could certainly pay more in one area and try to make it come out even by saving elsewhere.

I just haven't seen anything yet that convinces me that this is true in any significant/measurable way.

=====
[Edited 11/30/08 0:58am]

I tell ya.. I bought my iPod Touch back in april.. and didn't fool with it until they recently updated the version to 2.2.. and I am back in love with it. I had no clue the games were as spectacular looking as this.. and i hardly play games etc.. it's just an all around bad ass pocket fun machine

I have the 16 GB iPhone 3G and it's good enough for my music needs.

I learned the hard way when I bought a 60 GB black iPod back in '06, that thing broke down in a year and I lost most of the songs on it. My problem was that it was a hard drive iPod, not a flash based one. And I used to run everyday, with sweaty palms, in the park with a 60 GB hard drive in my hand -- sometimes dropping it. I even ran a marathon with that iPod. That thing skipped and jumped like crazy in less than a year's time. And it's now in my closet somewhere dead and useless as a brick.

So nowadays, I keep my iPhone 3G on me in a Agent clear case [that thing has been so good to me, I've dropped my phone several times and it's worth the investment], plus I have my super-small iPod nano 4 GB. I'm actually thinking of selling it, since my iPhone is so useful.

Dayum! What's the largest capacity flash based iPod

Cinnie said:

?? I saw it on the Touch too.

Cinnie said:

No. I haven't. Before I got my Mac's I had always wanted to do it. Now that I have them, I guess I am too lazy to do it. I will though. That just might be my Xmas project. Most of my vinyl, consists of 12" house music records. The others are old Jazz, R&B, etc. I have about 1200 vinyl recordings. This is going to be a task.

The thing with apple is way overpriced. I have a sandisk and it has FM too although and u can get online for real cheap.
And u can also have better compression formats like ogg which takes half the size as compared to mp3 with better quality.
So basically u have doubled ur mp3 capacity bt doin that