New 8GB Seagate drive could end up in next iPod mini

Seagate today announced the first 8 gigabyte 1-inch drive for portable media players. The new drives could end up in the next iPod Mini revision, expected later this year. Apple moved the Mini to the same Seagate ST1 drive in its 6GB form in February, introducing new colors and an improved battery life of 18 hours. Apple is expected to upgrade the iPod mini to a color screen later this year, according to BetaNews. In the first quarter of 2005, Apple reported shipping 5.3 million iPods. "Manufacturers such as Seagate have endeavored to boost capacity of shrinking hard drives to take advantage of the growing popularity of digital media players," the report said.

Seagate also launched its largest hard drive -- at 500GB -- designed for digital video recorders such as TiVo. Seagate calls this emerging digital lifestyle trend the 'terabyte life.' "Seagate's unique, unflagging ability to meet the demands of both the consumer electronics and traditional computing markets is why we are the industry's leading seller of hard drives and why some of the biggest brands in the world partner with Seagate," said company CEO Bill Watkins.

Seagate also said Wednesday it is planning to introduce an 8GB CompactFlash Photo Hard Drive that will work with existing digital cameras.

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