Cameras, iPods need to talk to each other

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addition to hard-drive-based music players.

"It goes hand in hand with adding a color screen," Kevorkian said. Plus, she said, device makers will be looking for more features to add to fill up the ever-larger hard drives. "Adding digital photos makes a lot of sense as hard-drive capacities continue to grow."

"Adding digital photos makes a lot of sense as hard-drive capacities continue to grow."

--IDC analyst Susan Kevorkian

Apple introduced its photo-displaying iPod in October. However, that device can only display photos by connecting to a PC or Mac. Belkin does make a device that attaches to an iPod and allows photos to be stored on the hard drive. However, photos added in that way cannot be displayed on the iPod today without first uploading the pictures to a computer.

Moving pictures
While photo options are one way to beef up a portable player, the other big feature out there is video playback, Kevorkian said. However, such devices, like Archos' new AV4100, still tend to be thought of as a separate category. In general, those devices feature larger screens, making the overall devices considerably bulkier than music-playing devices.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been outspoken in criticizing the idea of a video iPod, though the market may grow more interesting to Apple and others if those who make movies and TV shows begin to release more of their content. Apple also criticized the market for flash- memory-based MP3 players for some time--and then Apple brought out its flash-based iPod Shuffle last month.

Analysts have said Apple is probably keeping its options open and building the necessary technology to offer a video player, should that market become more interesting and a significant threat to the company's dominant position in the MP3 market.

Indeed, PortalPlayer sees things much the same way. "We did a chip about two years ago that did video," Michael Maia, the company's vice president of sales, said in a December interview. "We didn't see a market for it."

Another feature that many have wanted in the iPod is Bluetooth, a short-range wireless technology. That would allow people to more easily listen to the music on their devices through a car stereo or with wireless headphones. They might also easily share their music with friends' nearby devices. That's also technically feasible, Maia said, but runs the risk of irking music labels unless the music was shared in a way that protects copyrighted files from being duplicated.

"I think it's more of an '06 thing," Maia said. "A lot of people are talking to us about that. "It's really not a technology barrier. It's more of a political barrier."

Uh, you can do this with iPod

The iPod can download pics direct from Compact Flash cards by using a Belkin adapter.

Sorry, didn't see Page 2

I didn't see that your story has a page 2 which discusses the Belkin connector. Apologies.

Four things...

1) I'm sure Apple's iPod will have the digital camera pictures direct to MP3 player capability. Their just not saying so to keep their competition in the dark.

2) Personally I would like to be able to put my pictures from my digital camera directly onto my MP3 player without using a PC. But why would I do that just to print the picture from my MP3 player when I can print directly from my digital camera? The printing part does not make sense to me. Why not just go from the digital camera to the printer instead of the camera to the MP3 player to the printer? The second way has an extra and unnecessary step involved.

3) Don't know about you, but I would prefer having a cell phone, camera, and MP3 player all in one rather than three separate devices. It's hard to believe this article states the opposite is prefered.

4) Bluetooth would rock! Sharing music with near by friend's devices... 2006 here I come!

iPods, Cameras, Cell Phones, Bluetooth, Oh My!
<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://allwaysmusic.modblog.com/" target="_newWindow">http://allwaysmusic.modblog.com/</a>

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[larryennis18466]

iPod needs to talk to cameras.

Apple already made a deal with HP with the iPod, HP
should make a deal with Apple with HP's Cameras.If
HP can make a camera with Bluetooth.It should not
raise the price of the camera too much. And the
samething with Apple. It can add Bluethooth to the
iPod.But there is one hurdle, the color screen needs to
be bigger, and the cost of this display. Not only Apple is
on the brink of creating a device like the Argos and the
PSP. Apple made music and it's iPod big. They can do
the same thing like the iTunes Music Store and it can
be called Apple's Movie Store. There is a lot of big
things Apple can do with the iPod.

[jafalcont]

The Future Ideal Ipod

I Agree with the things the Ipod should have and I would add the following:

1) Built-in FM-Tuner capable of recording songs or programs to the ipod har disk.

2) Built-in microphone in order you can add voice notes.

3) Built-in Infrarred and Bluetooth ports in order to exchange songs with other ipods and the bluetooth to send pictures taken with cell phones directly to the ipod without going throug any other device.

4) On any Ipod including the Mini, the setting for putting a wallpaper in the main screen and this wall paper could be a photo or a image, as well as having some visualizations, some sort of the kind you can see in the itunes, or win amp, od real player or even the windows media player.

[davehm]

now i know

i read the article and thought "who would want this?" then i read the replies.

[rslc]

Nothing New? IRiver can already do that.

Thats USB OTG (on-the-go) for direct connection
to camera.

Iriver can already do that.
Nothing New.