So word on the internets is that Steve is planing on releasing a new iPod today. Seriously? When is he gonna slow down a tick? Can’t we just chill with the iStuff we have? I have a 80Gb Classic and it’s ace. Before that I was chilling with a mini for almost 2 years.
And honestly, I haven’t even got used to having an iPhone. I feel powerful knowing I can whip out my iPhone and completely disengage from any conversation, no matter how important it is. I gotta have more cowbell! Tink tink tink. :-D
Apple hype and over consumption is like a thorn in my side these days. I recently watched “Manufactured Landscapes”, a startling documentary following Canadian photographer, Edward Burtynsky, as he documents both the destruction and creation of humanity. The sheer magnitude of e-waste ie., computers, tvs, cables, phones, dvd players, iPods is literally astonishing.
50% of our recycled computer waste ends up in China where workers heat up the circuit boards and hand strip the components of all the precious metals which are mostly toxic. As you might imagine, this isn’t so good for the people living in these e-waste dumps or the earth “in general”.
The point is: I love new gadgets with a firey passion, but I think the world could live without another new iPod. WALL•E FTW!
Since I wrote this post and my blog was down for a while, thanks WPCandy :/, Apple did in fact release some new shiny iPods.
I have to admit, that ditching the small & stumpy nanos for a rainbow of slim & sexy design is way cool. As for the new Touch… having the iPhone makes it obsolete, so.. yeah. What do you think? Are you gonna buy a new iPod? & most importantly:
Afif Tabish
September 9, 2008 at 2:08 PMWell we don’t need a new iPod, WE WANT IT. The new ones are sweet! Steve Jobs delivered. PS: I love Apple hype!
Later
Cheers.
Mark
September 9, 2008 at 2:11 PMI agree. The problem is, is that Steve Jobs knows that if he brings out a new product then people will rush to buy it. I remember watching some videos of you running around the UK looking for the knew iPhone?
Holger Eilhard
September 9, 2008 at 2:11 PMWell, I guess nobody really “needs” a new iPod. I’m still using my now 2 or 3 year old 5G iPod and the 1G iPhone. As long as they work I won’t buy a new one, but I’m glad they are updating their stuff.
They have to update their iPod line or the shareholders won’t be happy, granted they aren’t happy at the moment either. ;) Plus the other companies are not sitting or their rears…
Daynah
September 9, 2008 at 2:12 PMThe new iPod nanos are really cute, but I won’t buy it. All you really need is an iPhone/iPod Touch and maybe a shuffle for those jogging days. :)
Urkel
September 9, 2008 at 2:15 PMMaybe you want to use this image in your article.
http://cache.gizmodo.com/assets/ipodletsrock/ipodletsrock46.jpg
They had a slide pointing to how this is the most environmentally friendly iPod yet.
-Arsenic-Free glass
-BFR Free
-Mercury Free
-PVC Free
-Highly Recyclable
Anyway, I don’t care about the constant iPod upgrades. I’m more concerned with the fact that there have been 3 iPod and 2 iPhone press events between now and the last time they updated the Mac lineup (not including the Air which is a niche product. Sorry).
Duane Storey
September 9, 2008 at 2:15 PMYup, way too much iStuff. How about they fix Leopard instead? That would make me happy.
I had the original iPod, the iPod Nano, the iPod touch, and now the iPhone. I’m iBroke now.
Yan
September 9, 2008 at 2:17 PMIt’s just a new version of a current iPod model. New features is always good.
Miiitch
September 9, 2008 at 2:17 PMWe definitely don’t need a new iPod nano, especially so soon after the recent redesign of the old iPod nano from tall and skinny to short and fat — and even more so if they’re going back to the “tall and skinny” design.
However, I wouldn’t say no to any price drops Apple may give. For those of us who don’t have a lot of money lying around (I believe you include yourself in this category), the newest iGadgets are usually out of budget… and I’m definitely willing to wait a month if good ol’ Steve is gonna reduce the price by a hundred bucks.
Neil Cowley
September 9, 2008 at 2:18 PMCheck out what interesting people do with all the stuff that’s left over: http://makezine.com/ or http://hooptyrides.blogspot.com/ for more of a vintage feel….
Tim
September 9, 2008 at 2:19 PMThe new iPods are nice, but I think it’s bad that you can only buy a 120 GB model of the iPod classic (yesterday I bought one, with 80 GB for the same price….).
Ed Lau
September 9, 2008 at 2:23 PMBut Steve told me I need to buy one!
You’re totally right in that…well, we don’t really need it but when do we really need anything? Don’t you have a Macbook, a Macbook Pro and a Macbook Air or something? Sure, we could just get by on only what we need but c’mon…isn’t life a little short for that?
Stu
September 9, 2008 at 2:28 PMAlso loving Gadgets, I see your point, but I’m one of these ‘just cant help myself’ kind of guys, Apple know that if they keep busting out pretty colours and sexy toys people like me will purchase them, as a business you can’t blame them. I do kind of agree with you, as much as I love the new Nano, I could live happily with my iPhone and Classic for a good year or so yet before bordem kicks in.
I do like the new iTunes 8 tho! have you all upgraded? the new video super cool :)
fotoeins
September 9, 2008 at 2:52 PMBlasphemy! ;-)
… though truth be told, I’m waiting for Google to get in on the hardware action.
Mathew Ballard
September 9, 2008 at 3:05 PMI agree with you for the most part. For people who just got one last year, no you don’t need a new one. But, for someone like me who has had one for a couple of years at least and wants the new features then yes you do.
But, I was really hoping for Macbook news today. Oh well, guess we’ll have to wait a bit longer.
flo
September 9, 2008 at 3:28 PMDunno if this was mentioned already, but there was no totally “new” ipod released, just the existing product lines were updated.
chris
September 9, 2008 at 3:30 PMI agree. Something we do need, however, is another Harry Potter book. Preferably an e-book. That can be read on an iPhone or iPod Touch.
Lyndon
September 9, 2008 at 3:32 PMNo we don’t really need another new iPod. But I’m not going to complain though.
The only benefit of have an Apple Fanboy as a best friend, I get to buy his old Apple products at a fraction of the price of a new one. He gets to feed his technology fetish and I get a good product cheap.
Loving my new (well old iPod Touch) Now if only Apple had released a new MacBook Pro; I could use a new laptop :)
Amanda (DrifterMama)
September 9, 2008 at 4:07 PMI agree Apple is slowly turning into the car manufactures. Who needs a new car every year? Same with an iPod who needs a new one every year? Why not wait every 3 years that’s a good time for stuff to start breaking (same with cars). But alas until people stop buying either of them it’s not going to happen.
Peter
September 9, 2008 at 5:59 PMHey man, I’m still happy with my 512mb USB stick mp3 player. Flash drive this!
kristarella
September 9, 2008 at 8:10 PMNup, I’m not gonna get a new one unless mine breaks, which doesn’t seem likely. Even then, I’ll probably eventually get an iPhone and won’t want an iPod at all (unless music drains the battery too much).
I don’t think this one will sell as quickly as the previous releases, but maybe Pasquale is right.
Adam
September 10, 2008 at 1:12 AMAnother new iPod, shocking…
Another step forward in technology what were they thinking? Those chaps at Apple should just calm down with all
this thinking and do nothing, especially don’t improve things! I mean they could just be like Microsoft and do as little as possible. Although it seems like Microsoft is getting in on the Apple act, but alas they failed to produce a funny tv ad, much like they failed to produce a Mac OS X like operating system…
Do we really need another new iPod. Clearly they are selling, so I guess they Apple thinks so.
Brad Ruggles
September 10, 2008 at 2:09 AMLisa, I’m proud of you for writing this post – especially since you’re such an Apple fan (as am I).
I can really see your point – when will we stop craving the latest techno-gadget or lusting after the latest “must-have” piece of geek-ware that is going to transform our life forever? The short answer? Never.
Western culture is becoming more and more consumeristic with each new Apple keynote address and flat-panel TV price reduction. It’s not something we should be proud of but it is reality.
Do we need another new iPod? No. Could we live with the ones we had before the new ones came out? Sure. Will hundreds of thousands flock to Apple stores and web sites to snatch them up? You better belive it.
I think the toughest thing about all of this hype is that I find myself so caught up in it. And yet I keep trying to remind myself that for every new techno-gadget I’m looking at, there are millions around the world without even access to clean drinking water and are dying of curable, preventable diseases.
Kinda puts things in perspective, huh?
Gary
September 10, 2008 at 3:12 AMI still have my ipod mini. It’s waiting for a fresh battery and a compact flash card memory upgrade. My nano is still cranking. It holds all of my podcasts, most / Cd’s, and 500+ iTunes songs. Upgrade to what? Ask me in a few years. I’m busy.
Andy
September 10, 2008 at 3:26 AMHey ho,
after the Apple-presentation I ordered the new touch.
My IPOD MINI with 4GB is toooooo OLD! ;)
Andy from Germany
Dan
September 10, 2008 at 3:28 AMThere should be 3 iPods. The shuffle, the classic (perhaps made slightly smaller) and the Touch. and we certainly don’t need weekly revisions of all of those.
The new Nanos look ok but I think i liked the old one more. The new Touch however, with the exception of the built in speaker, is a complete money making scam. It’s pretty much the same but actually has what Pasquale joked about, a 50% shinier backing.
But yeah, apple should consolidate and perfect rather than release, release, release.
Mark Cohen
September 10, 2008 at 5:16 AMSo agree with you. Changing the form to make old ones – well.. old – is just tapping into the extreme consumerism that turns natural resources into waste very efficiently.
Yes - we do need another new iPod | Being Primitive
September 10, 2008 at 7:47 AM[…] the workers “recycling it”. The post also attracted a lot of responses (mine being oneof them). I get the feeling that she doesn’t feel the world needs another iPod (or iTouch […]
Tawcan
September 10, 2008 at 9:25 AMIt’s a market hype…some people just HAVE to buy the newest and the greatest. It’s true for so many tech gadgets… cell phones, computers, cameras, etc etc. A lot of companies are coming out with products on a 6 month cycle or so just because that’s the “hip thing” to do. If they don’t, the company stock will go down and the company will crash and burn. Sadly that’s how the world works now.
As for getting a new iPod or not. Considering I don’t even have an iPod chances are I won’t be getting one anytime soon.
JonV
September 10, 2008 at 8:44 PMNo thanks, today’s event was ho hum. I like the 3G Nano for it’s slim size, not into tall. I’m keeping mine. I even have a Sandisk Clip that is amazing light and easy to use without a special case on the go. I’m looking more at the Zune120 with the new features even if I need to start up vmware & windows. It seems to do so much more and there really isn’t anything special this season from Apple, so why not try something new. :)
Gordon
September 11, 2008 at 12:06 AMI completely agree that Apple has strayed from the nice, cool little computer company they began as. They’re on the way to becoming Microsoft.
As for the iTouch being redundant, I disagree. Call me uncool but I don’t want an all-in-one gadget like the iPhone. I just want to play music without the potential of being contacted.
Dave
September 11, 2008 at 1:12 PMSo torn… As an I.T. person, I’ve always been an ‘odd man out’ of sorts because of my affinity for Apple. I’m afraid however, that they may be a little too full of themselves. While I appreciate all the little upgrades here and there, I wish they would wait until they have enough ‘improvements’ to justify a new model of xproduct. Constantly releasing new models for one or two new features is total asshattery.
Christopher Blunck
September 11, 2008 at 3:46 PMApple (and other companies) seem to be moving in a “lots of caches of your data” direction. Your AppleTV, iPod, and iPhone all contain mirror copies of your digital content that you host on some centralized (and often well connected) system. They distribute this content through thick pipes (USB/1394/802.11n/g) when you physically connect the device and they create a little cache on the device.
This is great for a lot of people who go off-network frequently and would like access to their digital media.
But there’s an increasing number of people who are on-network for a substantial amount of time. And when we’re off-network we aren’t using our portable devices. We’re enjoying being off-network. For example …
When I’m at work I have a decent enough pipe I can use to stream some video and all of my audio from my home server. When I’m at the gym I have a WiFi connection I could use to stream audio … if my iPhone supported it.
I think Apple (and other companies) should move towards a more network-centric model that combines both streaming and caching. Synchronizing and mirroring is a pain in the ass. Let me just stream my content from home and I’ll be happy. The iPhone has all the parts necessary – a processor for decoding, a wifi transceiver for the intertube beams, and a display for playback.
Andrew Lock
September 11, 2008 at 11:01 PMLisa,
I have to confess that I’m a relatively recent convert to Apple. I haven’t gone all the way yet, and I’m not sure that I will end up buying a Mac because of all the exclusive PC software that I need to use, but I WAS won over by ‘the dark side’ (or maybe I should say ‘the white side’) to get an iPhone.
I am SO impressed with the iPhone, it’s simply light years ahead of any other phone I’ve ever used. I LOVE how I can see a FULL web page, not some crappy little pocket PC ‘optimized’ version that only displays one corner of a site, if you’re lucky. I’m also impressed with the fact that it doesn’t need a 300 page manual – come to think of it, it doesn’t need ANY manual.
Bearing in mind that I’m a ‘stif upper lip’ Brit who finds it hard to heap praise on anything, my comments should be taken as an endorsement of epic proportions. Now that we have an iPod AND phone in one combined device, it’s clear that mankind has taken the biggest leap forward since the fake moon landings…
In all seriousness, the integration of the iPhone/iPod with iTunes is iMazing. It’s SOOOO easy to download and watch or listen to ANY type of content.
I resisted the iPod and iPhone for the longest time but now I realize that resistance is futile, and I wish I’d been converted sooner. Any minor niggles that are talked about in tech blogs are just that, they’re trivial in the grand scheme of things.
Of course, this latest batch of pods that Apple has cooked up will further enhance their hold on the mp3 player market. Microsoft should just surrender the Zune immediately, apologize profusely to all users, and give them a voucher for a free iPod…
I love your blog Lisa. ;)
Andrew
subcorpus
September 18, 2008 at 8:16 PMhave an iPod nano …
the fat one …
not gonna buy a new one …
good post …
PS :: the new nanos are tempting … hehe …
Jin
September 18, 2008 at 9:28 PMApple stock went down 5% after the new ipod announcements. Tells ya something!
Gory
September 29, 2008 at 6:01 PMyea. i mean they make these ipods with so much song capacity. u cant even get the thing full without another ipod coming out. in my opinion they should just keep te ipos touch/phone and make it updatable for new features. in my opinion.
JeffDM
October 3, 2008 at 9:28 PMApple really needs to stay “ahead of the curve” design wise. Keeps the product fresh and interesting.
Nobody really has to upgrade, it’s just that people seem to want to upgrade anyway, maybe every other year.
@Dan, it’s not so simple as you say, the Touches were dropped in price too. I reallydon’t think Apple had to do that, because it’s such a deal compared to the iPhone, the advertised iPhone price is really a subsidized price, not that those complaining about the “high” Touch prices care to admit that.
Charline Shomer
May 3, 2010 at 12:28 PMAs a newbie, i’m usually looking for posts that will help me understand and your web page did, big thanks from me to you