Apple has had one long-standing tradition, that I really wish they would stop. Historically speaking, when they introduce new iPod features, they withhold those features for new iPods only.
Unfortunately, yesterday’s announcement was no exception. Apple introduced a great new search function for the iPod. Even though this should be a simple software update for existing iPods, Apple refuses to let us have it. They were more than happy to give us an iPod update to make our existing iPods compatible with iTunes 7, and the new store, so we would continue to buy their music… but if we want the new features, we have to shell out the cash for a new iPod.
I could kind of understand this if they came out with a totally new iPod, but other than a brighter screen, the current 5G iPod is pretty much the same as my 5G iPod. Apple didn’t even bother to change the version number. If they are both 5G, why don’t I have the new features?
C’mon Apple, do you really think anyone is going to buy a new iPod just to get the search function? Why are you withholding these features? Just give them to us already!
I give it about a month before the firmware is ripped and the search function is available as a hack.
This is mega lame. For existing 5G iPod owners, what incentive is there to upgrade? If you have a 60 gig already… Let’s see, for $350 you can get 20 more gig and a search feature, right? Not going to happen. What if you have a 30 gig and just want the search feature? $250. DEFINITELY NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.
Maybe I’d pay $10 for the search feature, but it really should be included for free in the 5G software update if you ask me. Hopefully someone will find a way to load the update with search feature on the existing 5G units soon.
How about gapless playback? Do existing 5G users get that?
I haven’t tested it yet, but we supposedly get that, because it’s primarily configured through iTunes.
Cool. Yes, it’s too bad we don’t get the search feature, it would be nifty. Like you said – this is one of Apple’s habits that I would definitely like to see the last of. I have installed Front Row on my first generation iMac G5 and my parents’ iMac G4. They work just fine but it would’ve been a lot easier and better if Apple had given me that functionality via a Software Update instead of forcing me to resort to a hack.
I’ve tested gapless playback and it works on the original 5Gs.
Also, when scrolling through large lists on my iPod, I noticed it popsup a box with the current first letter of the items. Try going into your artists list and scrol down really fast.
won’t it just take someone with a new iPod posting a disk image?
Wow – bummer, looks like a great feature. I did notice the alphabet blocks when scrolling fast, I thought that was a nice touch. How about we send some emails!!! Ha Ha – not likely to get us anywhere. It is weird that they left that out – and there’s no way I’m upgrading for that.
It wouldn;t cost them a dime to add the functionality!
Hi,
I’ve bought “2” 5G 30gig ipods in Singapore last week, but unfortunately in both of that there is no “SEARCH” feature included!!! I really wonder why??? Paying $600 U.S dosent mean worth paying for!!!! Although an Ipod is Stable in terms of music and warranty, there should be some way to update the software of the 5G ipod owners withe the latest software with the SEARCH feature added to it. HOPE APPLE DOES SOMETHING TO SOLVE THE ISSUE!!!!!
With regards to the gapless playback, existing 5g owners will get that feature for free, and when scrolling rapidly through songs, albums, or artists, a gray-box comes to the forefront with the a letter on it, thus allowing you to more easily scroll through your songs.
with regard’s to phil, how will all the existing user’s get that?????? Is there any software update for the existing user’s????? Pls. keep in touch…..
Ram, yes… there is an iPod 1.2 softare update. It should download automatically through either software update, or iTunes 7. You can look on your iPod to see what version you have installed. Go to ‘Settings’, and then ‘About’.
with regard’s to paul, I’ve updated both my ipod’s with the latest software update which is 1.2, but still i can’t find any search or gapless playback in it!!!! And it is really weird about it!! Is there any way that v guy’s could get that 2 features??????????
You won’t get the search feature, that’s not part of the software update. Unfortunately, the search function is reserved for new iPods only.
As for gapless playback, there are no visuals associated with it on the iPod. It’s something you set in iTunes, through the get info command for albums. You can get more specifics on this by searching the built in help files in iTunes, for “gapless playback”.
I’m so with you on that.. it’s such a simple thing to include and useful as. I’ve been hanging out for this to be added at some stage. Particularly when you’ve got 8000 songs on your 60 gig pod and it’s still not full.. by the way does anyone have any ideas what could have turned the text in my itunes into little squares? I’ve done every uninstall,reinstall,move folders etc etc under the sun, gone back to vers 6.. you name it, and all the main command text little boxy square.. song titles and artist etc ok.. win xp, sp2, centrino duo, some input would be well appreciated.. I can’t read any of the text!
I updated the firmware… but I don’t even get the box with a letter on it …
I got my iPod on August … As soon as I used it, I though that a search feature would be nice (that’s the way I find the songs on WMP). Now, you can have it … if you buy a new iPod.
Apple sucks. iPods are pure brand.
I found a way to somewhat replicate the alphabet search function on my ‘old’ 5g. You lose the genre field but I never looked for music there anyway. I tag my music in comments and use the smartlists to organize by tag.
As for the alphabet search…I sort by artist in itunes then mass update the genre field to the letter of the alphabet corresponding to the artist.
It did take some time to multi-select then multi-change the genre field to the letter of the artist name but not as long as it takes me to find the bloody song I want to listen to with the clickwheel!
Be certain the checkbox is checked next to genre field in info and all multi-selected files will be updated with the change.
Now, when I go to genre sort on the ipod, I get a list of the alphabet and chosing a letter shows me all artists that start with that letter.
I feel like I have gained control of my music and while giving up ‘genre’ might not do for some, it was a piece of cake for me.
P.S. Be prepared to wait a long time for your ipod to synch with itunes the first time you do this because each song has been changed and if you have a large library of songs it will take longer than usual.
Hope it helps. Oh, I almost forgot, I use @123 in the genre field for the numbers and symbols artists.
I just received mine this morning, I didnt even know they were released with a search function until I turned it on.
This is the ONLY thing I have wanted in an iPod.. and is it worth $699 NZD for it? Yup!! After 5 generations of iPods, i finally get search.. stupid – but hey, its my opinion.
5.5g owner: Can you post the search feature online from the firmware?
with regard’s to Matt, V all r waiting for he same feature!!! Can u do it pal???
Guys , what is gapless playback actually ?
Another function i found useful is the brightness control . It really helps saving the battery life .
ANyone tried the 4 hours video playback features? Isit available for the new 5.5g only?
DavidZMetal, Gapless playback is something you’ll never use, unless you have albums that were meant to play that way. Some albums were meant to play without a gap between the songs, like Pink Floyd’s, The Wall. The songs on those albums were meant to play as one continuous song. Previous versions of iTunes (and iPods) would put a gap between the songs. It’s a feature that most albums won’t need.
You are corect about the battery life. You need a 5.5g iPod.
i havea 30g and i just saw my friends brand new 30g and he showed me the search…..its nice! it makes me mad how little difference there is between mine and his. its just the software.
I went into iPod Help thru iTunes, it let me download a pdf guide to the iPod. Funny thing is, Apple’s website was able to get the serial number of my updated 5G 60GB ‘pod to figure out which manual to get. Well the manual talks all about searching and my iPod can’t do it! I bought it last November. It does the gapless playback and the letters while scrolling. It even will play the games the ITMS has. Just no search which is the feature i wanted most!
this whole situation sucks. i don’t have anything to add; i feel the same as all of you. i just wanted to post something so i would be notified when one of you *geniuses* finds a way to get search working!
this is an outrage, i bought a 60gb ipod not long ago, the most expensive ipod ever created, and what does apple do? They go out and lessen the price, add the search feature, give it a more brighter screen, and add 20gb to it. It is unfair especially to those of us who paid for those 60gb ipod videos and now we can’t even update it to get the simple search feature, but instead must waste another $400 on a new ipod, this is stupid and ubsurd and apple always screws people over like that. Apple really needs to get their act together and make the search feature available in a simple update.
yea, thats kinda dumb, i went to an apple store and i seen the search feature and couldnt wait to get home and try it out on my ipod, but it was nowhere to be found, this irritates me, i dont want to pay $250 for the search feature, or download linux that will mess up my ipod
I am with you guys, I got my 5G / 30GB last December (for $299) after a lot of thought due to the none replaceable battery ….. and I can’t even get the search feature !!!! I was using a Sony MD before and I had a search feature besides a custom EQ …. Just give us the search feature and I forgett about the $50 cheaper price
I’d rather Apple got around to fixing all the broken shit in the last firmware upgrade before adding the search. You know, like making it so that my iPod doesn’t randomly reset on podcasts or MP3s that used to play normally.
yea, so that scroll feature is automatic with the 1.2 upgrade. I have a 30G iPod video that did not come with that feature. Now(after the 1.2 version) when i scroll fast it automaticlly comes up. but not every time
Okay, I’m not crazy. Before heading out on vacation I had the sense to print the Ipod manual so I could finally figure out how to search – I figured I’d have plenty of time on the beach to figure this out. No luck, I burned the crap out of myself reading the manual describing the “Search” feature and then trying to find it. Along with the burn, I reset the settings so many times that I now know how to do that blind. I could NOT find the search.
Now, I see why. Apple, please post a reason for this. If there is a technical reason for not providing software updates for this, then say it. If not, then you are wasting very good customer loyalty capital. Hell, sell me $100 worth of music and give me the update???? Lets be more creative than toss your old one.
Thanks to everyone for this great information.
F*ck Apple for being so lame.
Robbo: did you figure out the problem with the boxes-replace-text in your iTunes? I’ve encountered the same thing out of the blue. Makes it pretty tough to navigate. Thanks, Joe.
bleh…………….its the same for the videos too…i got my roomy one for xmas and she has search and what not….tell me how they can update my screen brightness settings and not a search bar……………………*cries*
My Mate’s got a new ipod 5G he had this year and his has got search, but mine is the original 5g first model and i want a search, NOW!!!!! not to wait for next update
If anyone still wants the search feature and a bunch of cool features such as background, advanced backlight settings (Fade in and out), parametric equalizer, etc. You could switch to RockBox firmware. The scroll seems a little slow but you can always switch between the original firmware and rockbox. There are loads of skins that you can download. Try it.
hey! does any one know why when i open up iTunes all the main text and song titles etc. come up as little squares. i’ve tried uninstalling and then reinstalling but it still comes up as squares. i can’t read anything!
Carrie, it sounds like you’re missing a font. Have you made any changes to your system lately? Are you on a Mac or PC?
Also, try this… select a song in the library and “get info” on it (Command + i on a Mac or Control + i on a PC). Is the song info displayed in the resulting dialog box?
That is absolutely ridiculous. It has made me so mad! That is the one thing that would make my iPod worth more to me. And like so many people have said before me… it would cost apple absolutely nothing to put it on the older 5G ipod! ahhhh… but nobody in their right mind would pay for a new ipod just for a bit more storage space and a search feature.
I can’t believe this functionality still has not been added to the 5th Gen Ipod. I thought Apple was better than Microsoft, but I guess not. This is absurd that they can’t provide this a new firmware update. It is just a code change nothing to do with the limitation of the hardware. Thank you Apple??? geez. This is my last Ipod I plan to buy.
and the best thing is, apple tells me i CAN get the search function, even though i can’t:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304338
citing:”iPod nano (Second Generation) and Fifth Generation iPod (Late 2006), both announced 2006-09-12, allow you to search iPod for songs, album titles, artist names, podcasts, and audio books.”
wtf??!!
Forgot about asking Apple for this functionality. They obviously seem not to care. To me it is absurd that they just couldn’t add this as part of a software upgrade. But yes they can add the ability to rent movies, etc. No way Apple! One day this will come back and slap you in your face.
Now back to Search, come’on Hackers, I don’t want to have Ipod Video or Iphone on my Ipod. I just want to be able to search. I don’t care for the other updates although they are nice, but come’on just crack this functionality. Because asking Apple to give it to us does not appear to make any headway. Screw you APPLE!
i bought a 30 GB ipod and i had search. now its gone. i dont know how its gone but it just dissapeared as soon a s i put songs on it.
this is a load of doodoo
I got the same problem, search is gone??????
Hey guys i hv iPod 30 gb 5G, Rockbox firmware would change the music quality?and if i have installed Rockbox firmware can i uninstall it later?Any idea how to get the other equilizer i mean setting in decibels?
Pl reply urgent