ipod news..

from thinksecret.com

EXCLUSIVE: iPod mini to move entirely to flash and color, shuffle and phone details emerge
By Ryan Katz, Senior Editor
September 2, 2005 - Apple will upgrade both its iPod mini and iPod shuffle lines of music players, but most likely not at its media event next week, Think Secret has learned. The media event will instead be devoted almost exclusively to the new iTunes-enabled Motorola phone and the company's partnership with Cingular. The new phone will reportedly be available in two capacities, 256MB and 512MB, capable of storing about 70 and 140 songs, respectively. Users will not only be able to plug the phone into their computer to tap their iTunes Music Library for tunes, but will also have the ability of buying songs on the fly over Cingular's network, probably for about $2 a song, sources report. The ability to download songs from the phone represents a departure from Apple's original design. Months ago it emerged that cell phone networks Apple was in talks with, eager to share revenue that a music download service could generate, were uninterested in carrying the phone unless such a feature was included.Cingular will be the only carrier of the phone in the U.S. at launch, while London's Times reported Thursday that O2 will be the exclusive carrier in Britain.

Color-screen iPod mini flash
While expected to be separate from next week's phone announcements, updates to Apple's popular iPod mini are also on the horizon. The music player will ditch its hard drive and move entirely to solid state, flash media, a move that sources familiar with the new design say will shave 20 to 25 percent off the size of the unit.The new iPod mini, which will probably be introduced at Apple Expo Paris on September 20, will be available in three capacities: 4GB, 6GB, and 8GB. The iPod mini will sport dual NAND flash memory chips to achieve those higher capacities, and Apple has already locked in for the rest of the year a majority of Samsung's new 4GB flash modules. To further the size savings, the new iPod mini will sport a color screen that's slightly smaller than the current version. Sources say the screen will measure 1.467 inches, down from 1.67 inches, but will feature a higher resolution: 176 x 132, up from 138 x 110, as Think Secret reported in February. It's likely, while uncertain, that the iPod mini's scroll wheel will also see a small reduction in size.Pricing is not entirely clear, but the new 4GB and 6GB models may remain priced at $199 and $249, respectively, while the 8GB iPod mini could cost as much as $299. At that price the 8GB iPod mini would cost as much as a 20GB iPod, but Apple reportedly is not worried that equivalent pricing will affect sales of the iPod mini as sales of the full-size iPods have lagged far behind iPod minis in recent quarters.News of a forthcoming flash-based iPod to replace the mini line was first reported by the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

iPod shuffle to see 2GB bump
At the same time as it revamps the iPod mini, Apple will also introduce a 2GB iPod shuffle and drop pricing on current iPod shuffles. The 512MB iPod shuffle is expected to fall to as low as $69 while the 1GB model will reportedly drop to $99. The 2GB model is expected to land somewhere between $129 and $149.

Video iPod?
Sources remain conflicted over details of a video iPod. While the grapevine has been abuzz about a video-enabled iPod, fueled by comments from record label executives, it appears that a video iPod may not in fact debut in September after all, although full-size iPods might still see a bump in capacity.Reliable sources at both ends of the spectrum have both confirmed and denied that a video iPod will arrive soon, leaving Think Secret to conclude that this one is "too close to call."