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Apple`s iPod line, first released in 2001, has a consistent history of getting thinner and lighter with every generation. The future of the iPod series is likely to go even further as recent patent applications by Apple hint at their next step. Each one will also gain other predictable changes- greatly improved flash storage, longer battery life and Apple`s new strategy which seems to be cutting-edge prices. By setting the retail price of their products at the same level as the cost price for retailers to buy it from Apple they have held the price down. Apple then make their profit with sales from their Apple stores while other retail sales act as advertising for them and as loss-leaders for the retailers.

Even their most powerful mobile devices, the iPhone 4 and the iPad 2, are now 9.3mm and 8.8mm and are about to hit one of the simplest limiting factors to their thinness: the 3.5mm headphone jack. The patent filing is for three new socket designs that accept a standard 3.5mm headphone jack but by expanding when it is plugged in allow the device that contains the socket to be narrower, even narrower than the 2.5mm of the miniature jack currently in use. It remains to be seen if Apple choose to use this idea rather than designing their own flat connector as tying users into proprietary or unique designs has been a common choice in the past.

The current line up of four iPod types: the Shuffle, Nano, Classic and Touch is likely to be reduced to two or three devices as users get more used to touch screen interfaces and demand for a physical interface falls. The iPod Classic line is likely to be discontinued, leaving the very simple Shuffle and the touch display Nano and Touch.

In the future the Touch will almost certainly remain very similar to the latest generation of iPhone, though the amount of memory lags by one generation, using the same hardware and styling and lacking mobile data. The screen and battery life will be improved greatly as the Touch is aimed at dominating the portable media market for films and TV Shows. It is possible that the market for the Touch will be squeezed by the iPhone and iPad, especially if streaming media for mobile devices, such as Netflickz, continues to grow and becomes the usual way of watching media, making the Touch`s lack of mobile data crippling.

Apple`s Shuffle and Nano models may merge into one device aimed at the designer end of the MP3 player market as the falling price of touchscreens makes the the iPod Shuffle`s lack of a screen of no longer worth the cost saving. They are guaranteed to keep getting smaller to the limit imposed by being too small to use. It is not clear what technologies Apple may try to apply, possibilities include wireless Bluetooth ear buds, especially if wireless power for such a small device could be perfected with the iPod powering the earbuds. The earbuds would then be two separate items, one for each ear unconnected by the clutter of wires and as visually and physically unobtrusive as possible.

Much as the Apple iPhone does for smart phones the iPod series are still dictating the design and pace of MP3 player development.

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In this How-To we’re going to show you how to change the “Do not
Disconnect” circle/slash icon that endlessly and annoyingly flashes all the
time on our desk. We replaced ours with the Engadget logo, the Sony
CEO, and Hello Kitty but any graphic will do. You can also change battery
icons, power status, boot up logos and fonts, or so it seems. We sprinted to
write this up, so we might update it as we try some new things. Now on
with the How-To!
For this hack you’ll need an iPod, obviously. We’re using the iPod photo,
but it should work with most iPods.

Next you’ll need a Windows PC with Apple’s iPod software installed.

Download and install the Apple software, this software contains the
firmware we’re going to add our own graphics to. Warning: When you do
this, you will be restoring your iPod and will loose all data, etc…Also, this
most certainly voids your warranty, so if something happens, you’re
screwed. But hey, you’ll have your own branded iPod, that’s hot and well
worth it, right?

Next up, download “iPod Wizard”

We’re not sure if Apple is going to freak out about this, it’s just like
changing icons in Mac OS X, so it shouldn’t be a problem.

Unzip the file, and start iPodWizard.

Click Open Updater and choose the Apple Update Application you
downloaded, it should be in Program files > iPod.

Once open, choose the firmware for you iPod, we hacked the iPod photo
first, so it’s the IDR_FIRMWARE 5.4.0, we didn’t try all the others out
yet, but we’re guessing folks will post which one is for which iPod as they
start to hack away at it. The color one was easy, once you select the
firmware you can click the arrows to see the icons, in our case, they were
color.

Find the image you wish to replace, we wanted to replace the circle / slash
icon. Once you find it, click Save Bitmap and save the file to your system.
From there use any bitmap editor to edit the image, we used PaintShop Pro
and pasted the Engadget logo over the icon then saved it. Click Load
Bitmap and load in the image you just created.

Click Write, this will edit the firmware on your PC and then prepare it to
restore to the iPod. Once that is complete, open up Apple’s iPod update.

Make sure your iPod is plugged in, and iPod updater will look for what
firmware you can restore to, for us, it found the iPod photo and we had the
option to restore, which will then add the new firmware with our custom
image.

Click restore, and in about 5 minutes you’ll have the new image you made,
keep in mind this kills all your data, so back up before you do this. Here’s
ours…

The other one is Hello Kitty, since we know it’s just a matter of time until
someone starts selling a Hello Kitty branded iPod.

Here’s Sony’s CEO holding the Network Walkman upside down. We like
this image to remind us that even if you’re Sony and invented the
WalkMan, someone like Apple can come along and beat you hard.
We also made one for our pal Leander from Cult of Mac. We think this is
a great way to protect your iPod if someone steals it, too. Add your picture,
name and phone number, it won’t stop the thief, but it’s still a good
measure.

On a side note, Apple and every other music player maker should make
this part of the software that comes with their device, we all change the
icons, desktops, and everything else on our computers, so it makes sense to
be able to brand our music players any way we want.
Here are some of the other graphics that you can likely change, lots of cool
stuff for sure. Please post up links to your images in the comments, if
someone does something really wacky, we might give out a prize or
something.

For more information on all this, and some troubleshooting, post up in our
comments or over on where it all got started and where folks are still trying
lots of things, on iPodHacks.
iPod Wizard, whoever you are, nicely done!

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Software you will need:
1. 3GP Converter (free)
• Official download page: http://www.nurs.or.jp/%7Ecalcium/3gpp/
2. Apple’s iTunes (free)
• Official download page: http://www.apple.com/itunes/

[ 1 ] First start up 3gp Converter (if this is your first time
using it, you will need to select “English” for the language).

[ 2 ] After selecting “English”, then select “Model: MP4, for
iPod” in the upper section of the 3gp Converter window.
After that click the “Apply” button.

[ 3 ] From here just select the “Output Directory” and drag and drop
the .avi file that you wish to convert to the top section of the 3gp
Converter window.

[ 4 ] After dragging and dropping the .avi file in to
the 3gp Converter window, it will now start to
convert the file for you.

[ 5 ] After converting, 3gp Converter will automatically start up iTunes and place the newly converted file you
just made in the play list window.

[ 6 ] In the iTunes window, right click the file you just made and click “Get Info”

[ 7 ] On the screen that pops up, click the “Info” tab at the top, and then begin to fill out the details (Name, Artist, Album,
etc.). The file name can be up to 255 characters in length if you wish to change it. You also have to re-add it to the play
list if you decided to re-name it.

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If you have a new iPod you probably want to transfer the music and playlists from the old one to the new one. To make an 1:1 clone from one iPod to another:

- Quit iTunes.

- Move the folder “iTunes” located at /Users/YourName/Documents/ to the desktop.

- Start iTunes (everything is empty now).

- Quit iTunes (no joke, this forces the creation of the library file on disk).

- Create a folder “iTunes Music” in /Users/YourName/Documents/iTunes/.

- Use iPod2iTunes to transfer all tracks and playlists to iTunes (your disk must have enough free space to hold the entire contents of the iPod!).

- Disconnect the iPod and attach the second iPod.

- Use iTunes to transfer all playlists to the second iPod.

- Quit iTunes.

- Move the iTunes folder located at /Users/YourName/Documents/ to trash.

- Move the iTunes folder on the desktop back to /Users/YourName/Documents/.

Please note: If you have any data other than the music on your old iPod you must copy this data via the Finder to the new iPod.