"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."

http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0410photoipod.html

What a huge disappointment this would be. Apple has repeadetly declined such rumors ever since the idea of a color display iPod popped up. It's claim is that it's simply an impractical device. I completely agree to this. Why would you want to view images on a 2" color display with poor resolution that gobbles battery. iPod is and will always be an audio player.

^yeah i completely agree. do people really care about pictures so much that they want to carry them around in an ipod? i would think people that like to carry digital pictures around would already have a nice digital camara that can do everything the new ipod can and more, picturewise.

If you could connect the camera directly to the ipod (via usb or so) then it would be a great feature. When traveling you normally bring both camera and iPod, and then you have loads of space to store your pictures on. And of course if it syncs with iPhoto it makes it even eaasier to get them off the iPod.

About color screen: I like color screens. It usually makes the UI nicer, easier etc...

And if you have both above and a chip which can already decode JPEG, then why not include picture (pre)viewing also?

I think a color screen would be great, but only as long as you can copy everything from a camera or flash card to the player. There are devices for doing this already and they are popular (especially for long trips, I only have a 512mb card for my EOS for example), but why buy one of those and one of these when you can just buy one unit that does everything? Of course, then they would have to add format compatibility for viewing images, and keep them up to date with firmware upgrades. Not everything is in JPEG after all. I suppose easier viewing is an alright reason too, but if it cuts battery life by too much then I would say forget about it. In any case, I've never owned an iPod so I have nothing against them. With that in mind I think this new player is definitely cool.

Color LCD screens should use less battery than monocolor IIRC.