Well, what are these secrets, man? How does the author know there are "secrets," and why doesn't he let us in on them?

Abilty to play many more formats, but just needs to be 'unlocked' - somehow.....?

Only an idea.

hiding a color screen in there with the ability to play back video.

Last night I walked into my office and caught my iPod redecorating the room and listening to show tunes. Weird!

it's an internal bluetooth module for listening to music without wires. Maybe it will be activated when the headphones make it to market.

Who knows.......

All I can say is if they do have something exciting built in that I find is something i want I will upgrade then, but at this time I don't see that need. I like it but I also like the 3G I have now and don't want to go and spend money for the new one unless that must-have feature shows up.

I'm still waiting for the day when I can delete iPod's tracks and playlists using the device itself, because once I've returned to my computer, I can no longer remember which songs I don't ever want to hear again.

Here's an idea, just give it a rating of 1 star. Then sort your iTunes by rating and you're off.

To me, the new "Shuffle" feature runs both hot and cold. Apple says "shuffle songs in the main menu" and it's true, though it might not be what you imagine. Once you tap the command, it starts shuffling through your whole library. Certain people I know are fans of this kind of potluck playing, and I am capable of enjoying the serendipity. Still, I would prefer that the real Shuffle option, from Settings, be placed in the main menu. That way you could toggle between your shuffled and ordered experiences — genres versus albums, for instance — without seven extra button taps. (Also, the Shuffle algorithm is still less than satisfying: while shuffling through 1,643 songs, two of the first eight tracks it pulled were from the Beastie Boys.)

First off, did the shuffle feature in the 4G change to allow shuffle on genre? Because my 3G doesn't do that.

Also, the shuffle algorithm is just a random generator (which is what it should be). You're just as likely to get two songs from the same artist as you are from two different artists. And its hard to judge his statement for he doesn't say how many BB songs he has (for if he has 200 of them, you're going to hear them more often). Because once you start saying "Its no good", then you have to come up with a better algorithm, and what should that be based on? Don't play the same artist within 20 songs? Or should it give precedence to songs that haven't been played recently? Or should it give precendence to higher-rated music, or to music played more often, or how about less often. Its easy to complain, but everyone also has their own ideas on how it should work (and how much battery life are you willing to sacrifice so it can act 'more random'?

"Last night I walked into my office and caught my iPod redecorating the room and listening to show tunes. Weird!"

Oh man, they're going to bring back the rainbow Apple logo, aren't they?

Could it be the ability to make excellent quality recordings "in the field?"

"Also, the shuffle algorithm is just a random generator (which is what it should be). You're just as likely to get two songs from the same artist as you are from two different artists."

Actually that's not true. If you have more then two artists (assuming roughtly equal number of songs each), any two songs played in a row are more likely to be from different artists than from the same artist. Anyway, statistical probability aside, just from practical experience my iPod must not have a true random generator. In a playlist of roughly 450 songs from about 2-3 dozen different artists I get two songs in a row from the same artist (and usually same album) far too often for it to truly be a random selection.

Maybe the iPod is part of the upcoming October Surprise?