3D hard drive coming out this year. Will this kill the ipod?

[wacki]

http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/hardware/0,2000061702,39186986,00.htm

Hitachi Global Storage will come out with hard drives containing 230 gigabits of data per square inch, the company is expected to announce on Monday, which could mean a 20GB iPod mini.

230 gigs per square inch???? How many square inches does a 4 platter HD have?

3.5-inch platters..... pi*r^2

times 4 platters....

times 230 gigs per square inch...

= holy [censored]!

[istewart]

It sounds great, but the answer is no, here's why:

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Hitachi

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[wacki]

Eh, the technology can be leased to other companies. I don't hitachi will be the only one with 3D HD's for very long.

[wacki]

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40996000/jpg/_40996585_drive_hitachi203ap.jpg

[DougOzzzz]

[ QUOTE ]
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/hardware/0,2000061702,39186986,00.htm

Hitachi Global Storage will come out with hard drives containing 230 gigabits of data per square inch, the company is expected to announce on Monday, which could mean a 20GB iPod mini.

230 gigs per square inch???? How many square inches does a 4 platter HD have?

3.5-inch platters..... pi*r^2

times 4 platters....

times 230 gigs per square inch...

= holy [censored]!

[/ QUOTE ]

when you say "gigs" do you mean gigaBYTEs? Because the quote says gigaBITs. byte = 8 bits.

[mason55]

How will this kill the iPod?

[wacki]

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How will this kill the iPod?

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No need for the large size. This give the ipod mini the power of an ipod and you could even slide one of these things into a cell phone.

For the other gigabit/gigabyte poster, reread my post.

[mason55]

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How will this kill the iPod?

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No need for the large size. This give the ipod mini the power of an ipod and you could even slide one of these things into a cell phone.

For the other gigabit/gigabyte poster, reread my post.

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So they'll make a mini iPod mini. I'm sure apple can redesign the iPod, especially since everyone has all this iTunes music that they can only play on an iPod, Apple will have to do something. Maybe an iPod shuffle style device with a HD instead of flash and an actual LCD screen?

[wacki]

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Maybe an iPod shuffle style device with a HD instead of flash and an actual LCD screen?

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Exactly. I think the ipods days are numbered.

[Sporky]

Here you go wacki (http://www.physorg.com/news3361.html) over 1 terabyte per square inch.

[tpir90036]

[ QUOTE ]
....hard drives containing 230 gigabits of data...

[/ QUOTE ]
gigabit != gigabyte. it's still a lot of storage in a small area... but your math is off by a factor of 8.

[Voltron87]

IMO it's going to be hard to kill the Ipod, it's well designed, holds lots of songs and looks good. People who aren't tech savvy love the Ipod and aren't going to pick up on new things very fast.

Plus to most of the non techies who buy Ipods, the Ipod and the mini are more than enough for them. They look good, have a pretty good interface computerwise, and hold tons of songs. They are not going to care if it holds twice as many songs, since most of the people with 20G Ipods don't need any more space. Most of the people I know who have minis don't want more space. So something smaller offering more space is not going to appeal to non tech savvy yuppies, since the ipod is everything they want. IMO the ipod is not near dead.

[wacki]

Eh... The bold is a quote from the article. Also, I understand the difference between bits and bytes. I was sloppy and wasn't perfectly clear in what I meant when doing my math. But ya, you do need to divide by 8 at the end to get to gigabytes.

[Voltron87]

That was a pretty badly worded post, my point is that for 90% of the people who buy ipods, the people who have made it a success, there is not much that can be improved upon. More space isn't going to make these 90 go nuts.

[wacki]

Not HD space, physical size is what I'm thinking.

[Voltron87]

Eh, I think the mini is approaching the point where smaller won't get anyone else to buy it.

[mason55]

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Eh, I think the mini is approaching the point where smaller won't get anyone else to buy it.

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The shuffle is much smaller and it's selling well without many of the features of the regular iPod, so I think you're point has little merit.

[edtost]

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Eh, I think the mini is approaching the point where smaller won't get anyone else to buy it.

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The shuffle is much smaller and it's selling well without many of the features of the regular iPod, so I think you're point has little merit.

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the shuffle sells well because its cheaper than the others and apple has really good marketing.

[mason55]

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the shuffle sells well because its cheaper than the others and apple has really good marketing.

[/ QUOTE ]

?? I don't see how this means that consumers won't appreciate a smaller mp3 player? Are you saying people won't buy a full capacity iPod at the same price point as now just because it's too small?

The statement was that regular iPods are small enough for everyone now. Obviously the iPod shuffle shows that people are interested in a smaller player, therefore people will be interested in a smaller iPod, even at the same price point the regular iPod is now, especially if it has the same capacity due to the new smaller drives.

[Voltron87]

Are these new smaller ones going to be 99$?

[daryn]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In risposta di:</font><hr />
That was a pretty badly worded post, my point is that for 90% of the people who buy ipods, the people who have made it a success, there is not much that can be improved upon. More space isn't going to make these 90 go nuts.

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100% correct. also most people don't care about the size. it's not like the ipod is a brick, it's pretty small as is.

[mason55]

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Are these new smaller ones going to be 99$?

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No but people buy the bigger ones at $300, why would anyone think they wouldn't want a smaller one at the same price?

[edtost]

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Are these new smaller ones going to be 99$?

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No but people buy the bigger ones at $300, why would anyone think they wouldn't want a smaller one at the same price?

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because the market is saturated already?

[mason55]

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Are these new smaller ones going to be 99$?

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No but people buy the bigger ones at $300, why would anyone think they wouldn't want a smaller one at the same price?

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because the market is saturated already?

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There we go. That's the good point that proves me wrong that I was waiting for.


Good point.