AppleInsider passes on some rumors about the 4th-generation iPod, some of which just sound too good to be true. While it’s a no-brainer that the next version of the iPod will have a larger harddrive (AppleInsider says 50GB), the rumor of color screen seems somewhat less likely, and the ability to connect to television sets to display video seems improbable at best. To be able to decode video streams, the iPod would need a much more powerful CPU, yet I don’t think Apple would bother including video out if it were only to be used to display static images. What would be even better—and there is no mention of this—would be a new battery for the iPod, one that would put its run time nearer the range of the 15-20 hour playback times of the Creative MuVo and Dell Jukebox.
Update: And wouldn’t you know it; as soon as I open my fat mouth to prognosticate, Lindsey Smith from playerblog brings to my attention a press release from PortalPlayer, the people who make the iPod’s media decoding insides, which describes a new chipset that will allow—wait for it— MPEG decoding and video playback on an integrated LCD screen or out of an on-board video-out interface. The question is, does this press release substantiate the rumors, or did it start them?
Read – PortalPlayer press release
