Apple's News Conference: "Completely Remastered"
Music gadget geeks (like us) have been dialed in to the 1 pm EST Apple news conference via Engadget's live blogging exploits. Here's the quick and dirty on how Apple plans on taking your money this holiday season:
First up, iPod. Looks like everyone was hoping for a video iPod (as distinct from an iPod with video -- someone, please explain the difference?), but Apple had some hardware tweaks and cost cuts in mind instead; look for a 60% brighter screen, longer battery life (from 4.5 up to 6.5 hours on the big model), and price for the 30GB set at $249. This generation's iPod also comes closer to our dream of triple digit memory with an 80GB model, clocking in at $349. In addition, we're given a new text-based search feature (so those click-wheel thumb sprains will finally heal), gapless playback (for smooth segues in your favorite concept albums), and games for purchase (so you can get back to spraining those thumbs).
Next, Nano. The slogan for the new generation is "Completely Remastered" (see picture). They're offering a new, aluminum-only, 1GB model (that's even thinner than before) for $149; a 4GB at $200 (available in blue, green, black, pink); and a black-only 8GB at $250. And the Shuffle's also launching a second generation, one with a built-in belt clip and, yes, an aluminum body (Reynolds Wrap inventory in grocery stores will be noticeably diminished for the remainder of '06).
On to iTunes 7: The Movie Store! Jobs seemed enthused about the updates to his cash cow, bragging about its current position as #5 retailer of legal music (and poised to take #4 from Amazon soon); guess bringing movies to the fold was inevitable. The resolution on purchased flicks will be near-DVD quality and, though the initial catalog (from Disney-owned studios like Disney, Mirimax, Pixar, and Touchstone) will feature only 70 films, it's sure to grow just like their TV show roster (from five to over two hundred within a year). The iTunes application itself will get some cosmetic upgrades but remain fundamentally unaltered. Says Engadget:
It's the same but different -- tidier, cleaner, more whitespace and more obvious organization of items. It's as if design guru Jeff Bekes gave it a makeover.
And finally, the iTV video streaming box. It's wireless, it's like a flattened Mac mini, and it's available in early '07. The device enables you to stream your iTunes video content from your iTV to your television, via its "wirless component video." (Finally! We are so sick of tripping on that DVD video-out wire.)
Expect Engadget to have some in-depth analysis of these products. Expect everyone to buy everything anyway.
Posted at 2:22 PM
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awesome!
but i guess everyone already has an iPod by now...
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i was really hoping for a video iPod!
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#5 retailer of legal music downloads? huh? Who's 1 through 3? Amazon sells legal music downloads?
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I believe the difference between a video iPod and an iPod with video is that the video iPod is an iPod with a display that takes up the entire surface of the device, not just a small rectangle at the top. Instead of a physical click wheel, there would be a virtual one that would appear on top of the display screen whenever you placed your finger on it. The idea was that it would make movies and TV shows easier to see, as well as get rid of any moving parts, making the iPod a purely digital device.
I know it sounds geeky, and there wasn't much proof that Apple was working on it other than a speculated prototype, which was probably just some person's Photoshop experiment. Oh well. Maybe next year, eh, Steve?
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Does it annoy anyone else that you can't browse by subcategory or subgenre in iTunes? Has anyone figured out an easy way of organizing their iTunes library without having 150 "genres". Is there a better program out there for cataloging digital music? They keep adding bells and whistles to iTunes without actually improving the core navigation and architecture. ARG!
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boohoo, no widescreen ipod. and i so wanted one.
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Dude, who needs to watch a movie on the subway? Music is enough. The whole point of having an iPod is being able to put it in your pocket and fucking forget about it.
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No downloads, Dean, just legal music retailer. (iTunes has 88% market share of legal downloads.)
The retailer list:
#1 Wal-Mart
#2 Best Buy
#3 Target
#4 Amazon
#5 iTunes
Jobs says iTunes will have Amazon's ass by January.
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I'm not really feeling the design of iTunes 7. It looks cheap to me. Too much navy purple/blue shading. The new iTunes Icon looks like it has sacrificed tidyness for shinyness. The results looks videogame-y and overdone. What happened to simplicity, Apple?
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YES! GAPLESS PLAYBACK! ALBUM COVER BROWSING!
I can't wait to get home from work and check this out.
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I'm not crazy about how they went back to blue for the iTunes icon. It was blue in a version long, long ago, maybe even as far back as OS 9? Anybody remember offhand?
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"Cash cow?"
The iTunes (Music) Store barely makes a profit. I suggest you read the definition of "cash cow."
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why did i just buy a nano a month ago? i really hate technology.
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Devin: This iPod update kinda makes sense. There was rumbling that the true "next generation" iPod wasn't going to make an appearance until 2007, and this just proved right. The iPod was just given a couple of new features to tide people over. There will be a widescreen, touchscreen iPod, it just wasn't ready yet.
Ian!: From what I've read it was iTunes 2 that sported the blue musicnote, so I'm pretty sure that was available for OS9.
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>>gapless playback
FINALLY! Worth the price right there alone.
(ok, now I'll got read the rest of the post)
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That top 5 list is surely just for the US though.
Anyway, this little article wasn't exactly what I was expecting to see. I was thinking something more along the lines of this article...
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/11092006/101/ipod-phone-complete-ready-roll-analyst.html
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That top 5 list is surely just for the US though.
Anyway, this little article wasn't exactly what I was expecting to see. I was thinking something more along the lines of this article...
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/11092006/101/ipod-phone-complete-ready-roll-analyst.html
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That top 5 list is surely just for the US though.
Anyway, this little article wasn't exactly what I was expecting to see. I was thinking something more along the lines of this article...
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/11092006/101/ipod-phone-complete-ready-roll-analyst.html
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Erik: "Dude, who needs to watch a movie on the subway? Music is enough. The whole point of having an iPod is being able to put it in your pocket and fucking forget about it."
4.5 hour busrides to Boston, 4 hour busrides to DC, plane trips, car trips, waiting for the doctor/dentist, waiting to board your plane, those poor bastards coming in from SI or buttfuck queens, boring motel rooms in the middle of nowhere with crappy TV, visting family who haven't cottoned on to cable or dvd players, etc etc etc.
You don't have to use a feature every single time you use the product in order to make it a nice little option.
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what's up with this post? did apple give you free ipods to post this?
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OMG this iPod is like totally so wicked. It like only took them like 8 months to catch up with Creative's Zen Vision M! Like that is so rad... I would never buy a non-Apple product cause capitalizing the first letter of your product's name is totally lame, and it's like some kind of Microsoft marketing ploy or something! Maybe one day too they'll like totally include rad accessories like ac adapters and fm tuners too, they're so ahead of the game. LOL Apple rulz.
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David, you obviously have no eye for design. Creatives products look like they asked their engineers to design the casings for them after they finished the insides. Maybe apple slightly lacks the speed of rollout for products.... but at least it's not embarrasing to be holding an ugly brick. As technology becomes more and more portable and visible... style and design plays an important role. Apple is classy.
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This is the not the best message to send out.
http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.engadget.com/media/2006/09/dsc_1027.jpg
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Waiting forever for iTunes to determine gapless playback information totally sucks. It'll be worth it though.
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Cover Flow is the sexiest thing I've ever seen on a computer. And iTunes downloads high-res covers for you!
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Am I missing something?
30 GB for $249 or 8 GB for $250. It makes no sense.
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30 GB has spinning disk, 8 GB is a Nano and has flash memory. It's also tiny, and doesn't have video. Just depends on what kind of device you want and why. Having 8GB in a nano is really valuable to some people. not me, but some people.
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I have yet to get this "Get Album Artwork" thing to actually work.
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"I have yet to get this "Get Album Artwork" thing to actually work"
The artist & album names will need to match the ones iTunes hold... plus it needs to actually be available on the store.
"30 GB for $249 or 8 GB for $250. It makes no sense"
Flash memory is more expensive than hard disks are, and holds many benefits (smaller size, longer life span, almost indestructible, no skipping...) so you have to pay more, for less capacity.
"That top 5 list is surely just for the US though."
Yep, Steve said that iTunes is the largest retailer of legal music (downloads, or hard copies) throughout Europe.
CoverFlow has been around awhile, but Apple bought the technology and integrated it into iTunes (it was a stand-alone app before, that would operate as a front to iTunes), and the results are fantastic. I would like to see some indication of what the slider means though (like how far along each letter starts), instead of just jumping around aimlessly.
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