Why don't they make a dedicated iPod just for...

These websites will report any seismic ripple when the Apple rumor mill starts rumbling.

www.macosrumors.com

www.appleinsider.com

www.thinksecret.com

www.macworld.com/news

It used to be that new product lines or model updates were launched at Macworld San Francisco [January] and Macworld New York [July], but these days Steve Jobs has been dropping bombs on us when we least expect it.

This may come as a really big surprise to you, but I don't think they see the market quite the same way that you do...

Consider if you will that they just sold 20M units in Q42005 - there is probably no real sense in Cupertino (where corporate HQ is) that they are missing an important segment of the market. I don't have the numbers to back it up but my educated guess is that the adoption rate of the iPod for the first 5 years is ahead of the CD, the DVD and most certainly DVD-A, SACD and HD in household penetration.

Which might lead you to the conclusion that the hi end audiophile market is not a particularly rewarding one - especially since what it appears you really want is the same thing for less... BTW IMHO a 60Gb Nano without a screen would be pretty much useless

As Onhwy61 points out, Apple is going to continue to push the video angle because video capability is a key to a new revenue stream - downloaded video. First the iTunes store, next the iTV store though I am sure they will have a catchier name LOL

Yes they do change DACs - they did from the Gen4 (Photo) to the Gen5 (video) The real issue is not the quality of the DAC, its everything in the circuit that comes after it. If you haven't, you should use the line out from the dock not the headphone out - big difference. Don't know if this is any consolation to you but Steve Job is a perfectionist and he hangs out with a lot of cool people who know audio (Bono for one) - he will always put the best DAC he can in the device

I would guess that they are on a 3 or 4x per year introduction pace right now. They seem to be intent on leveraging their lead and fragmenting the market to make it ever harder for anyone to come in and gain a foothold - kind of a float like a butterfly strategy - I'm here, I'm there and you mr competitor don't have the marketing budget to be everywhere I am at once

One thing is for sure, its never dull

Mdp0430,

Here's an article that more or less draws a parallel between your gripe with current iPod offerings and cellphones. It reinforces the idea of the trend towards micro devices that have multi functions. You don't have to read the whole article, the headline sums it up.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/19/opinion/garver/main1512934.shtml

Thanks for all of your responses and links so far... I don't have a problem with moving technology forward. The caveat is that the product should be better. From what I understand from looking at previous posts on the topic, those "in the know" state that the 4th Gen Ipod has the better dac. So we have a case where we have added more features with the 5th Gen but we have made the music playback a lessor priority by using an inferior DAC. Why not perfect the audio aspect first (digital out, etc), then move into incorporating video?

Second, I really don't see how this video thing is going to work. Are people going to download movies onto a 2.5" screen via ITunes? Wouldn't burning onto DVD and watching on laptops provide a far better portable viewing experience?

Thanks again!

You are out of touch with high tech product marketing. The lifespan of these products is too short to perfect the product. The goal is to get the product to the market first and then gain maximum market penetration in the shortest possible time. Adding video is an excellent way for Apple to expand the iPod's potential market.

Similar to audio, you don't have to watch the video on the iPod's screen, you can hook it up to a big screen display. A person can go to a friend's house with a whole season of "The Shield" plus dozens of albums and just hook into his system. Perfect? No! -- Amazing? Yes!