After three years of being synonymous with "digital music player," Apple's iPod will widen its horizons and gain photo-viewing capabilities within the next 30 to 60 days, highly reliable sources tell Think Secret.

The new iPod, which will sit at the top of Apple's fourth-generation line-up, will pack Toshiba's new 60GB 1.8-inch hard drive, a 2-inch color liquid crystal display, iPhoto synchronization, audio/video-out capabilities, and will sell for $499.

The new iPod is currently in production in Asia after delays from Toshiba in delivering its new 60GB drive hampered a planned early-September ramp up. Sources confirm Toshiba started shipping the drive to Apple in mid-September and iPod manufacturer Inventec began building the new device in the last two weeks.

The new iPod's form factor will be identical to the existing 4G iPods, sources report, but will be two millimeters thicker than the current 40GB iPod and marginally heavier.

The 2-inch color screen is identical in size to other iPods, but will sport a higher resolution for photo viewing. However, the new device's real shining feature will be its video-out port, which will enable users to tote their photo galleries with them, ready to be plugged into any television for big-screen viewing.

The 60GB iPod will feature only rudimentary built-in software for viewing photos, with no editing tools, sources say. Photo albums will be navigated in a similar fashion to music playlists, and a slideshow feature will provide transitions with user-specified background music, similar to iPhoto. Synchronizing features similar to iTunes will also be added to iPhoto.

The new iPod won't feature built-in flash memory stick slots for downloading photos from digital cameras, although such a feature will presumably be able to be employed through Belkin's $99 Media Reader.

Sources indicate that Apple will market the new photo iPod as being capable of storing 20,000 music tracks and 25,000 photos. As an added bonus for music fans, album artwork will be displayed on screen when it's available for a selected track.

Rumors of a 60GB iPod first surfaced in June, when Toshiba said that it was in the process of developing a 60GB drive and, much to the ire of Apple, confirmed that the iPod maker had already committed to buying it in quantity.[/i] - Think Secret - Original Article

Pretty sweet, eh? Not that I'd ever get a chance to lay my hands on one... But I wonder if Apple will follow the plea of many of their users:

"VIDEO IPOD!"



So, what do you all think of it?

I have doubts on the matter... Think Secret hasn't always been the most reliable rumor source... And keep in mind this is a 'rumor'. The words 'reliable sources' give it away right away!

Holy crap! Thats insane...so sweet! I would definately buy that! How on earth could they do that... crazy...very crazy...

although the thought of that makes me salivate like crazy, i highly doubt that it will look like the pic you have photoshopped there..... the fact that they would change colors is highly unpropbable 2 me, considering white is their trademark, and the thought of them reverting their button design back to the old 3g ipods is also improbable. I will give kudos tho 4 the good photoshop work....

Steve Jobs denied it. (Who would not?) But why would they want a PhotoIPod? You can't watch photos and videos while you're jogging, eh? And the battery capacity of the iPod is already low, and "a 2-inch color liquid crystal display" consumes a lot of energy. So photo slide-show for 2 hours on your iPod with music and then you have to look for a socket?!

If it is ture im getting it for sure.. i broke my ipod by accident the other day (stepped on it) lol my friend put it on the ground wen he went to pee then we were paintballing later.. boom rite on it( dont that suck.. y he leave it therE) i shot him with like 5000 paintballs

i would personally stick to my 3rd generation 15 gig ipod than a color screen, picture and video viewer that i would have no use for. i use my ipod for music, and if i wanted all those other features i would buy a pda. but, on the other hand, 60 gigs would be nice.

Sigh. . . . look here people http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product.aspx?code=MPA-AV380

Less than VPOD 60gig
80 gig
records videos
takes digital photos
Plays Mp3s
You can view Movies
you can View Images,
it has 3,8" built-in color LCD
And it looks alrite, not as cool lookin as Vpod. . . . but perosnally i wudnt care much considering its so damn awesome.