Do you think the next iPod will have Bluetooth?

I think it will. With all of the new Macs coming standard with it, it looks like the logical way to go. Plus it'd be really cool! I'm selling my old Canon A75 camera and upgrading to a pocket-sized Nikon S6, which has built-in wifi for wirelessly transferring photos to a wifi-enabled computer. Having the same functionality in an iPod via Bluetooth would be too neat

I don't really know what Bluetooth would be used for except for connectivity to the computer and headphones. I mean yeah those are major things I guess, but I don't see why I would want wireless headphones. First off, they'd get lost. Second, I just think the whole concept of earbuds with no wire would be sort of ugly. I would like the wireless connectivity to the Mac/PC though. I hate always fishing around for the wire when I just wanna connect quick to upload a new song.

Wouldn't a bluetooth connection versus the current USB 2.0 or Firewire be horribly slow? It would take forever to transfer songs that way. It may be viable for wireless headphones, but it would kill an already fragile battery life.

I wouldn't use it for either. I think it seems stupid. Except to connect to those headphones that you can use with your cell phone and iPod, but I wouldn't use that either. I guess if they made Bluetooth enabled receviers it could be sort of like a built in iTrip and that would be cool, but I don't need it to upload songs (it'd be slow, and I have a dock anyway).

I have a Bluetooth phone and it takes about 5 minutes per song (3-5mb). I also have a USB2.0 iPod Mini and dock, and it takes about 8 seconds per song.

USB > Bluetooth

Yeah, the only way I could see bluetooth being viable is if it was able to stream music from your ipod to your car radio. Some of the new Acuras and other higher end cars have bluetooth builtin for your cellphone. If you could use it for music that would be nice.

It seems that the only people who use bluetooth these days are the ones with the bluetooth headsets, and those that bought Apple's bluetooth keyboard and mouse. We owe it to these three things for bringing bluetooth back from the dead. Other than that, its a useless technology.

surfwax95 said:

I have a Bluetooth phone and it takes about 5 minutes per song (3-5mb). I also have a USB2.0 iPod Mini and dock, and it takes about 8 seconds per song.

USB > Bluetooth

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Wow, that's horrible. Wifi sounds like a much better option. The camera I'm picking up next week has built-in wifi (Nikon S6). I'll see how much I like it.

Isn't there supposed to be an Apple event this coming Tuesday? I haven't seen much speculation on new iPods at the rumor sites. I want to pick up a 30-gig iPod, but if the next ones are coming out soon I'm content to wait.

Are people really this dense? I don't think anyone that knows anything about what they are talking about has ever said that bluetooth would be an ideal way to transfer music onto or off of an iPod. It IS however a great way to remove wires between headphones, speakers, car radio interfaces, etc. It IS a great way to remotely control iPod function and/or remotely display currently playing information etc. If you think that wireless headphones and the like are not going to become the standard extremely soon...I've got a wonderful rotary telephone I'd love for you to have!

mcsenerd said:

Are people really this dense? I don't think anyone that knows anything about what they are talking about has ever said that bluetooth would be an ideal way to transfer music onto or off of an iPod. It IS however a great way to remove wires between headphones, speakers, car radio interfaces, etc. It IS a great way to remotely control iPod function and/or remotely display currently playing information etc. If you think that wireless headphones and the like are not going to become the standard extremely soon...I've got a wonderful rotary telephone I'd love for you to have!

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I agree for the most part, though maybe not with the "extremely soon" part. Bluetooth is an inevitable addition to the iPod if Apple wants to keep up with the technology in other MP3 players. Wireless headphones already exist, and it's only a matter of time before they become wildly popular.

ya i cant really see the ipod having much use for bluetooth

I was reading an article about this and it seems that the biggest concern would be battery consumption, since most bluetooth devices need a way to turn it on and off in order to save on battery. Using it for headphones or anything else would seriously cut down on your battery length. Use it to watch movies and you would be lucky to get an hour out of your iPod.

Mikhail said:

I was reading an article about this and it seems that the biggest concern would be battery consumption, since most bluetooth devices need a way to turn it on and off in order to save on battery. Using it for headphones or anything else would seriously cut down on your battery length. Use it to watch movies and you would be lucky to get an hour out of your iPod.

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Definately. This was one of my concerns when I saw the photoshopped full-screen iPod, the one like a PDA. No way you could watch more than one or two movies with that; the screen is simply too big. Also, my cell phone has Bluetooth and it cuts the battery life by nearly 2/3.

Well...while bluetooth may very well be too much of a battery hog to fulfill such requirements (although I don't really think it is such of a hog in my experience)...The point being is that going wireless is only a natural progression of technology. Why would anyone want wires if a wireless solution was available that was practically equivalent in performance sans wires? I don't see anyone pissing and moaning about how they'd get better performance and longer battery life if they could just jack into a Gigabit RJ-45 at their local Starbucks instead of using 802.11 wireless...this inane going on dogging on people wanting wireless options in an iPod is just FUD and it's pointless...it's going to happen people...it's only a matter of time. Maybe not bluetooth per se...but some incarnation of wireless techno will be in an iPod in the not too distant future. If you don't like it...keep having fun with your click wheel and don't buy a new one.

Why would anyone want Bluetooth on their iPod? For WHAT? To transfer data across 2 feet when the cable is lying right there?

The point of bluetooth is a unified generic technology that makes sense for a computer to communicate with devices like mobile phones, that are made by several manufacturers and have different cables. Bluetooth solves this.
iPods work with any computer, and they all have the same cable that comes with the iPod and it works with iTunes which is free. If I would connect my phone with a cable to a pc then I would need drivers. Bluetooth solves this for me.

But iPods can't really benefit from bluetooth, which is essentially a technology invented to ease compatibility issues.

iPods with WiFi would bring options like music sharing and buying songs off iTunes at any hotspot, so WiFi MIGHT be an option, but is also a bit overboard considering wha the iPod is: a simple product that carries your media. It's already very featured for my taste, I don't think I'll need photos or an FM Radio on my iPod.

my bluetooth phone dies 4 times as quickly when i am using bluetooth. an ipod will probably run for 2 hours using bluetooth before it died

bluebooth ipod would be horribly slow for transfering songs.

but would be cool for wireless headphones. or they could build in wireless networking so that when you come in contact with another ipod you could play there music and they could play yours.

chris tm

As a side note, one thing I hate about iTunes sharing is that you have to put in the account information for the copy-protected media files from the shared computer. My sister-in-law just bought a MacBook yesterday and I was showing her how to access shared media files in Front Row (had my Windows laptop sharing my music & movies). I went into the iTunes TV show section to show her Lost, but it wouldn't activate. Took me a minute to figure out I had to punch in my iTunes account information just to play it across the share. Dumb, especially considering the fact that you can't copy the file through the iTunes share.

I would love some wireless earbuds.

yogi said:

Why would anyone want Bluetooth on their iPod? For WHAT? To transfer data across 2 feet when the cable is lying right there?

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Wireless Headphones/Speakers etc...that's why. I don't know any of the most ardent of idiots that actually wants Bluetooth for file transfer capabilities (For the umpteenth time). That said...wireless connections are better than wired ones when performance can be closely matched...its as simple as that.

I think the only idiots running around are the ones who keep bringing up how bad transferring songs would be over bluetooth...Puh Leeeze. Maybe you guys have heard of the "straw man" persuasion tactic?