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I’ve discussed before why the previous version of the iPod Touch wasn’t enough for me, but I still don’t own one, even though those requirements were met.

Why?

Because the Touch really ought to have a camera.

The more I think about this, the more it makes sense. Not only are companies sticking mp3 players into everything (including even tasers), but cameras are becoming ubiquitous. It’s true that smartphone companies need to make non-camera versions for people who work in high security clearance jobs, but every phone has the option to have one. Most computers and netbooks have built-in webcams, admittedly frequently pretty poor quality ones, but that’s beside the point.

Cameras are everywhere.
Including, as of Sept ’09, the Nano, which Apple introduced to a lot of confusion. Even saying it’s a Flip Mino competitor seems like a stretch to me.
Surely this is an affront to the more advanced Touch, which actually has the ability to utilize a camera in interesting ways via apps.
Why would a higher-end product get short shifted, while the entry-to-mid-level product stands out as actually getting an upgrade?

Theory one immediately brings one to think of another very similar Apple device, the iPhone.
To many, the Touch is just steps away from being an iPhone without the contract. Indeed, the insides are quite similar, minus the obvious difference of cellular capability and storage.
But the iPhone has a camera, and the Touch does not.
With the addition of a mic and speaker, the Touch inches closer and closer to being the contract-free iPhone many are wanting.
Why would Apple want to keep these two devices separate?
True, the iPhone is a pricier device, but most of the money spent on it actually goes to the carrier, not Apple (unless they are paying far more to Apple than I’m thinking). Would they really lose out so much?

Theory two popped up days before the announcement.
There was an issue getting the camera to fit/function properly. But why would there be such a late delay? Surely they would have worked out things much earlier, having planned the release date far in advance.
But technological mishaps are not always predictable, or easy to fix, so while a bit of a stretch, it’s plausible. And this rumor arrived just in time to make people feel very disappointed about the Touch receiving little to no improvements over the previous generation. The Nano getting a camera was just rubbing salt in the wounds.

Will the Touch get a camera in the next iteration?
I certainly hope so.
Do I need a camera in my mp3 player?
No, but the Touch is more than just an mp3 player – it is the gateway to hours of entertainment fueled by both music & movies as well as games & other apps.

I won’t buy a Touch until a camera is added (or, I suppose, my Gen5 iPod bites the dust hard – it’s chugging along, still) because I feel that if I do, Apple will finally add one right afterwards.
Tech is always advancing, so having the “newest stuff” as a condition only lasts about a month or less.. unless you have a lot of cash to burn (and I would note that such a method of spending is largely a waste), but when you can see an improvement coming (such as the storage upgrade), it is better to wait for it than to buy now and regret it later.

I look forward to the day when I can write up a review for an iPod Touch with a camera ♥

Please make it happen, Apple!

So, it’s been a couple weeks (more?) since I last updated this. I’m pretty sure “Sporadic Updates” would be my middle name, if I didn’t already have one.

Apple did release a 64GB iPod Touch, and I am tempted to buy it. However, because of all of the camera rumors (supported by a disassembling of the new Touch) I think I am ultimately still going to hold off. An image Zannah posted on plurk cemented my thoughts pretty well – making mention to the fact that Apple may be planning to just sell bunches of new Touches only to release one with a camera post-holiday season. (It isn’t as though such a thing hasn’t happened before – the 32GB Touch was released this way.)

So I’m going to wait. And even if one doesn’t come out post-holiday, it’s sure to have gotten at least a bit cheaper by then anyway… win-win really I suppose XD
Getting a new, more functional laptop is most important at the moment anyway. Ai is cute and everything but she has some problems…. and I’m probably working her too hard, realistically speaking. October is my target month, a little after Windows 7 has been released. After that point, it’s just a matter of good specs and the best deal.

In the meantime… I’ll occupy myself making jewelry.

Okay so it’s almost September.

Last time I remember, it was just the beginning of August.

There were, of course, a couple weeks of Family Time in there so that probably sucked up most of the month.



But, September! That is exciting.



If you are wondering why, then you probably don’t have an iPod and/or are not waiting to upgrade your mp3 player to one.



Finally, finally, finally! my desires for a 64GB iPod touch will be fulfilled. The iPhone has increased to 32GB, and on top of that, rumors are flying about the touch getting a camera (?!) and a microphone! I am so glad I waited XD

But I’ll post more about that when it’s released and I buy one, likely in the next couple of weeks.

Instead, I’d like to talk about my experience with my netbook-as-laptop-replacement so far.
In general, it’s not bad. I can still do all of my net stuff, listen to music, and work on creative projects. All good things.
However, there are one or two things that are really bothering me.
1) Video playback is subpar to impossible. Streaming is by far the best method for watching stuff, but even that is laggy.
2) Any form of gaming is pretty much impossible. Lately I’ve been missing the Sims, and wondering about The Sims 3, which, of course would not at all work on this underpowered machine.

So, it’s not perfect, and really, it’s not meant to be a permanent replacement. But I am reaching my limit.
Even though companies like Dell are offering free Win 7 upgrades, that’s not all I’m holding out for.
I’m waiting for technology to move just a little further, for deals to get just a little better, and to find a machine that really makes me feel completely confident that it’s what I want, and will want for the next 2-3 years (at a minimum).

Occasionally I’ll peak at company websites, compare configurations and prices, but nothing’s struck me as perfect yet.
The wait is feeling longer and longer, but maybe some new shiny tech will help tide me over for a while :D

In my long, torturous journey to wait for a sufficiently sized iPod Touch, I’ve though only of reaching the 64GB mark. 64GB was to be my trigger. Apple would release it (possibly this month), and I would buy it. Seems simple.

But now. Now I am thinking, “if I’ve been waiting this long, why buy mid-cycle just for a size upgrade?” Increased storage is not a major hardware revision, what if iPod Touch 3rd Gen is something incredibly awesome? This seems unlikely, mind you, I can’t imagine what they could add that would make me feel like it was absolutely necessary to own; my phone has GPS and runs various internet-related apps fine. I have a camera that I would never replace with the meager 2MP that’s in the iPhone right now, or even 3MP should they dare to upgrade. If I wanted a combination device with a good camera I would have bought a different phone, that’s for sure.

What could they add?

The problem is, because I don’t know, Apple might catch me off guard. I hate being one-upped by companies who release versions every year, only to be caught between the cycles I want. My iPod isn’t broken yet (and this, this is also bad logic. If something of one brand breaks, why buy another model of the same brand?) so there’s no need, and this has held me over for a long time. I am not sure how much longer it will last, though.

My resolve may very well break if a 64GB version appears in the next few weeks.

(Or: Why, Yes, I Do Need My Whole Music Library)

In my constant search for news on a possible 64GB iPod Touch, I run into forums where about 50% of the people are snubbing even the concept of a 64GB touch, saying that a) it’s impossible to fill up that space!!!11! or b) why do you need so much with you all the time?!?!?
My answers to these cries are a) no, it’s far from impossible. I have 45GB of music, right now, and if you add some videos and apps to that, it’s not so hard to fill up (^ ~) Plus it’s always nice to have room to grow – who wants an MP3 player that JUST fits their music/video collection right now? It’s bound to increase, someday, maybe sooner than you’d think, so why play so close to the edge?
and b) this is a multiple-part answer, and it can be broken down into just 2 simple facts:
1) I am fickle.
2) Music is my lifeblood
The first is pretty simple to understand – my mood changes suddenly, unexpectedly, and even I can’t completely predict it. How am I supposed to know what songs I’ll want to listen to today? What if I want to share some song with someone else, but I haven’t been listening to it lately? What if I’m out of the house for several hours/don’t have time to customize my iPod playlists because I leave? It’s just much easier to have all of my music with me all of the time.
By this point, you might be thinking “You spoiled girl! If you don’t have exactly the music you want, just suck it up and live with it!” and this brings me to my second point:
Without music I am fragile. When I say music is my lifeblood, I don’t mean that I’m an audiophile, because in general, I’m not. I have music ripped at 128kbps and don’t mind that much – I can tell when it’s better quality, sure, but it doesn’t bother me because it’s not so much the quality of the sound, but the heart behind the music, and what it makes me feel. Music calms me down when I’m nervous, allows me to function the way society expects (with the small addition of one headphone covering one ear), keeps me from emotionally exploding, gives me energy, helps keep me moving, propels me forward even when I don’t really want to be going anywhere. It’s like magic, it is magic, the way it affects me. Music has more control over my moods than I do – if you could figure out the exact way, you could probably emotionally control me like a puppet.
“But wait,” you might be thinking, “If this is true, why not just listen to whatever music you have with you at the time to move out of your desire for other music?”
There are times when this is okay, but I often get stuck on wanting something in particular. And nothing will move me from this want. Like I said, I’m fickle.

Originally, I wanted my New Year’s Resolution for this blog to be one entry, no matter how small, everyday. But my year started off with a vacation, and I tend not to bring my laptop with me on trips anymore { it’s bigger than my last one, and the extra weight + size pushes me over the edge. for a 4 day trip, it was not worth it. } and I can’t really blog to here from my phone so I’m a little late in starting!
{ Maybe I’ll make five extra entries here or there to make up for it… XD }
So today! January 6th. Macworld keynote. The last Macworld ever, I think, since Apple is pulling out. Am I sad? No, not really. It isn’t as though Apple is going under, or disappearing. Just not planning to announce things in such a dramatic fashion anymore, and to be honest, what I’m waiting for will likely not be announced this month anyway. I’m also not an Apple fangirl, just a recent equal opportunist. After working with Macs in a multimedia computer lab setting, I became more comfortable with the interface, something I had previously completely objected to using. But all computers and operating systems have their flaws, not to mention individual applications.
The only Apple products I’ve ever owned have been iPods – the 4th gen photo after it was announced, and the 5th gen video, a year or so later. The reasons I didn’t look into iPods earlier were fairly simple:

- no color screen. I hate monochromatic screens, and this is the big reason I am not jumping on the kindle. I love to read, but I don’t want to be held back by black & white.

- battery issues. For a non-user-replaceable battery, it previously had a pretty bad track record for holding charge and overall play time.

- I was unclear as to how you could sort through thousands of songs on such a small interface, and this was due to my own disinterest to do research XD My first interactions with mp3 players (back in 1996/7 or so) had prepared me for a system that only allowed for less than 10 songs (usually) which meant sorting and organization was unnecessary. Even minidisc players (yes, I had those!) worked under the same principle, although you could easily swap out media for more choices. How could I deal with my entire music collection on one device? And why would I even want that?

Once I had it, I never wanted to go back. Playlists are fairly simple, and I’ve only recently discovered the ease of smart playlists. Genius playlists aren’t that useful for me, since it only really works well for songs that are in some iTunes store (international is okay, but other than that). I have around 45GBs of music currently, and this has kept me from upgrading to an iPod touch, despite the lure of apps. I’m not excited about a touch-only screen, I prefer buttons (reason #1 why I don’t own an iPhone), but in the end, apps win out over moving laterally to the Classic.

So I’m waiting. I have serious doubts that Apple will announce a 64GB iPod touch at this keynote. It wasn’t announced last year, just suddenly appeared for sale at the beginning of February. This is probably because it wasn’t a great technical step forward on Apple’s front – they just found a supplier of properly sized 16GB flash chips (the touch uses two flash slots while the iPhone only uses one, halving its storage capacity). I believe 32GB flash is just around the corner (if they aren’t already here!) so I’m holding off, patiently. I can’t wait until 64GB flash exists, however, so once the 64GB iPod Touch comes out, I’m buying it XD

Okay so I got a new cell phone, the Sony Ericsson w580i, which is pink, and cute, and works great. This post is not about getting a new phone, not really.
My 5th gen iPod Video (60GB) will be two years old this summer, and while it still functions, I’m enticed by this whole flash memory thing and occasionally take a look at the iPod touch. I’m keeping track of the memory upgrades, although 32 isn’t quite enough for to flip over yet, upon further inspection, even 64 wouldn’t be enough – there are some major things missing as Apple decided that it wanted to make the touch just a partially disabled iPhone. The one thing that really gets me is the inability to edit calendar events on the device. This completely ruins it as a pda for me – the whole point of having a calendar is the ability to edit it on the fly! So I turn to the device Apple really wants to push – the iPhone. If I got one, it would be more an iPod replacement than a phone replacement. I need the app capabilities, and I need the storage for music. Wifi, 3G? it’s all just extras. I doubt the iPhone’s going to suddenly jump to 64GBs of space this summer (when supposedly the 3G version will be announced) but if it steps its game up to 32 I’m going to be sorely tempted. But the 64GB would be a done deal, no questions asked. Well, at that point anyway, I assume. I’m doing extensive research on the device right now so my questions should be little to none XD The only way I’d change my position is if Apple changes its position on allowing the iPod touch to be the digi.tech it has the potential to be.
But the 64 jump won’t come until at least Christmas, if not much later in 2009, I would think. Unless flash memory develops and drops price much faster than everyone is anticipating, anyway…