1. Gapless audio
Quick, what’s one thing a ten dollar cd player can do that a six hundred dollar iPod can’t? That’s right, play gapless audio. Don’t get me wrong, I love my photo iPod. Showing pictures is cool and all and the album cover integration is sweet. Still, more than seeing the cover of Kind of Blue, I’d love to be able to listen to it in the original way it was intended. It is outrageous that a $600 iPod can’t do this.
2. An Equalizer
Another item that medium level walkmans have had for eons is an equalizer. The iPods’s current equalizer is limited to presets; you are stuck with generic settings like jazz, rock, etc. Apple needs to integrate a fully adjustable equalizer.
3. An adjustable UI.
The current iPod interface is renowned for its ease of use. But it is too simple for us power users. There needs to be an additional layer or way to navigate through the iPod. My friend [url=”http://www.bzzagent.com”]Dave[/url] brought up one great example: let’s say you are enjoying a randomly playing song and decide you want to listen to the next song on the album. The only thing you can do is navigate back to the setting menu, turn off shuffle, then navigate back to the album and pick the song. Ugh. There are countless other examples of where the UI falls short.
3. A sports iPod.
Remember those wonderful bright yellow sony wallkmans. They kept the elements out, and could survive the slings and arrows of portable music player misfortune with aplomb. Apple should come out with a sports iPod. Assuming it is a HD based device it would be able to absorb the shocks of a mountain bike excursion and the sand from a beach. A sports iPod would also have the benefit of being marvelously retro.
4. A Radio
This is another item that can be found in even the cheapest of walkmans and even in iTunes. But not in an iPod. This fall, on my bus ride home I didn’t want to listen to my iTunes Music Store purchases: I wanted to listen to the Red Sox cream St. Louis (sorry, Chris).
What would you like to see included in the new iPod?
5. FLAC Implimentation
As the world begins to jump on board the lossless audio bandwagon, Apple better be quick to embrace a format that all users can enjoy rather than holding tight to their own proprietary option with Apple Lossless. Implimenting the FLAC codec could make the iPod the only game in town for audiophiles (that and some better converters!).
And images please
I know it's a essentially a music player, but if a still and movie camera (QuickTime ?) application could be embedded along with wireless, it would severely dent the camcorder market. If I bought one I'd see it as not only a music playback device, but also something I could use as a journalist. If they kept the existing form factor it would make a great reporting tool ! Not much to ask, I know :-)
USB Host
I can think of nothing sweeter then selling an iPod Shuffle to ever HD based iPod user. Advertise how easy it would be to connect your Shuffle to your existing iPod to "juice up" on the go.
"Sports" i pod
Casio G Shock and Apple should have sex, and make a "tough pod"
Make it in Indonesia.