The new iPods — The situation gets more complex

I previously posted my frustration with the fact that the new iPod firmware version 1.2 does not provide search for 5G iPods. A number of people on the Internet have suggested that this was due to new hardware that somehow enables search in the 5.5G iPods that were just announced. That seemed like a reasonable explanation until I came across this. Interestingly, the article shows that the 5.5G iPod uses the same player chipset as the 5G units. There are some minor differences, but none of them look to be in areas that would affect the availability of search. I keep watching this thread and hope that someone figures out how to enable the feature. One interesting data point is that Apple seems to state that older 5G iPods won't support search in this link. It still makes no sense to me that older are not supported and yet there is not material difference between the two units. Is this strictly a marketing move to try to differentiate the new units from the old? Not sure, but either way it stinks. Hopefully, Apple will either add support to the old units or someone will figure out a way to hack it.