Apple announces $99 iPod

Brian Ambrozy 11 Jan, 2005 at 3:41pm ET Article published in Tech

Check out how small it is! This might be the perfect compliment to an iTunes account, and not a budget buster at a mere $99 for the starter model. They also offer a 1gb model.

This is the big “flash based iPod” that everyone’s been hinting at. I predict that Apple has made a serious score with this thing.

Source: Apple.com

Comments

11 Jan 2005 ~ 3:46pm BlackHawk Sounds nice and everything but I don't like the no screen part. I guess I just don't like playing my playlist at random.
11 Jan 2005 ~ 3:47pm Madball That looks sweet! The price is great for what looks like a well designed and quality player. I was never interested in an Ipod because I didn't really have a need to spend that much to carry my entire music collection with me.
11 Jan 2005 ~ 4:18pm primesuspect You can use it in "playlist mode" too - it will play your songs in the order that you listed them, or can just switch to shuffle mode.

It basically seems like a USB key with an audio chip. It's a great idea, and that $99 pricetag is gonna bring this thing to a LOT of teenagers on limited budgets.
11 Jan 2005 ~ 4:42pm Gobbles Did you read this at the bottom..

1. Music capacity is based on 4 minutes per song and 128Kbps AAC encoding.
2. Do not eat iPod shuffle.
3. Rechargeable batteries have a limited number of charge cycles and may eventually need to be replaced. Battery life and number of charge cycles vary by use and settings. See www.apple.com/batteries for more information.
4. Some computers require either the optional iPod shuffle Dock or a USB cable extender (sold separately).
11 Jan 2005 ~ 4:46pm BlackHawk Well with how fruity they look, one could've been mistaken
11 Jan 2005 ~ 5:03pm EMT

Gobbles wrote:

2. Do not eat iPod shuffle.

Hahaha, I didn't even know the unit was called iPod shuffle when I read that.

Looks like they're cashing in on their popularity and I don't see any reasonable way this could flop.
11 Jan 2005 ~ 7:36pm croc_ If it had a keyring loop I would buy it!
11 Jan 2005 ~ 7:41pm Sputnik i do need a big flash drive..... playing music is just a nice bonus
11 Jan 2005 ~ 10:11pm Camman looks kinda cool, but it still boggles me why apple "invents" something that other companies have versions of that are usually cheaper or has already been around for a while and everyone calls it revolutionary and people buy them. Alot of iPod sales are based on being trendy, I know plenty of people who wanted a digital music player and said they only wanted an iPod only because they didnt know anybody else made the same thing.

"Starting at $99" for a 512 version, pretty weak. The Creative Nomad MuVo is the exact same thing and it's been around for a couple years now, around the same price point too, has the same "w00t omg mix it up" feature too....its called shuffle, can be found on pretty much any cd player or mp3 player or....anything that plays music.

Honestly, I do like the iPod design, but I won't be buying one until they support WMA w/DRM (which means I wont ever be buying an ipod because I doubt that will ever happen) because I use MSNMusic for all my tunes, they're foolish to leave their ipod and itunes locked up in a proprietary format that they wont let others license, and even combat companies (Real/Rhapsody) that try to make their stuff compatible, but I suppose that's the way it's done over at Apple.
11 Jan 2005 ~ 10:23pm fatcat iWant
11 Jan 2005 ~ 10:30pm TheSmJ I agree with Camman. This player isn't anything special at all. My old Rio PMP300 has more features than this (it even had a DISPLAY!), and I bought it over 6 years ago for only $50.

The only thing that makes this player "special" is that it's made by Apple "The iPod guys", and that's purely subjective to your individual point of view because really, this is just an old player with the Apple name slapped on.

Oh, and Apple is selling products which are affordable to the vast majority of people in the market. I guess that’s “special” too…
11 Jan 2005 ~ 11:35pm primesuspect I think it's freaking sweet and I want one.
12 Jan 2005 ~ 1:20am Thrax Now a $99 iPod is something I can lend a complimenting nod to.
12 Jan 2005 ~ 3:02am TheSmJ But that's just the thing; It's not anything like the other iPods they sold before. This is an entirely different product. It's the same as the older "regular" MP3 players, only this one costs more and doesn't have a display.

It’s a total ripoff.
12 Jan 2005 ~ 10:15am primesuspect You're forgetting one factor: You are a PC expert and you don't use iTunes.

The iShuffle has full iTunes support, and even more importantly, it's VERY EASY to use with iTunes. This is what will make it appeal to the target market.

You guys aren't the target market. For you, it is a ripoff. For an iTunes user who doesn't know how or doesn't want to screw around, you plug it in, push a button, and go. Easy, cheap, VERY SMALL, and 12 hours of playtime.