This message was sent to Apple’s iPod team by e-mail on November 23rd, 2005 at 17:31 CET
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Hi there,
Here are 2 features I’d like to see as an enhancement for the iPods:
– an onscreen keyboard which exists as the first option in all screen menu. when I choose the onscreen keyboard, I can enter a keyword for the item I’d like to select further down in the menu).
e.g.
-> go to music -> artists
-> choose first menu item „on screen keyboard“
-> use the scrollwheel to select the letters
-> press play to enter the selection
-> the ipod jumps to the matching entry in the list
The reason: when I’ve got 10000 songs on my iPod and I know which song I’m looking for, it takes a long time to scroll through the list. The same is true for artists. There are around 3000 artists on my iPod and when I want to select „ZZ Top“, I spend a minute scrolling down to the end of the artist list.
Have you ever tried using your iPod to DJ at a function… when people walk up to you and say „can I request this song“, you say „sure, I’ve got it on my ipod“ but then it takes a minute or more to find the tune because you have to scroll down to the bottom of the list… the songs people request always seem to be at the bottom of the list 😉
– the second feature would be a „Front Row“ system for the iPod. Let people connect their iPod to the TV and then use a remote control like the one of the new iMacs. The iPod would display the „Front Row“ menus on the TV screen and use the iPod disks to play the content.
This asks for a special accessory consisting of a remote control and also a IR sensor connected to the iPod. Maybe a little cradle with all those features to charge the iPod as well (like the Kensington Stereo Dock for iPod). The craddle could connect to the TV and make sure the Front Row menus display nicely.
Maybe the Front Row menus don’t have to be so nice as on the iMac — to make it easier, just display anything on the TV which is displayed on the iPod screen. The remote control would still be required to browser through the menus or to enter the characters in the on screen keyboard…
Just some ideas to make the iPod more versatile and userfriendly… I’m looking forward to seeing those features in the next firmware update 😉
Thanks for listening,
Joe.
PS: I’ve got 3 iPod’s:
1st generation 5 GB iPod
60 GB iPod Photo (still not large enough to hold my music collection of 87 GB)
4 GB white iPod nano
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Update 12th September 2006:
Today, Apple introduced the search feature with an on-screen keyboard on its latest Video iPods. Macintouch linked this article… I guess Apple listens to feedback afterall… 😉
However I reckon, I’m not the only person wanting that kind of feature. More people must have demanded it to make Apple implement it. I wonder if the old iPod Photos could be upgraded to include the search box…
Engadget had a picture of the search feature. Read the full article…
PS: Please note that the Euregio.Net Support Blog is mostly in German. The English category includes a couple of articles. Euregio.Net’s home page can be found here…
