Apple event confirmed for Sept 9

Re: Apple event confirmed for Sept 9

Guess I'll order my 24" iMac then.

Re: Apple event confirmed for Sept 9

This is probably the most thoroughly leaked Apple event in some time.

We know we're getting:

New iPod nanos. Back to the tall, slim form factor of the 2G model, but w/ bigger screen and video.

iTunes 8. New visualizer, new grid album view. Some kind of "Genius" thing which supposedly analyzes your collection and builds playlists for you as well as suggesting music you might like from the iTunes store. I will turn this feature off immediately after installing the upgrade.

Almost definitely getting:

iPod Touch refresh. Looks like minor form-factor tweaks (similiar to iPhone 3G). Price drops for sure. Questions: GPS included?? 64GB version??

iPod Classic refresh. Maybe the last year for the classic HD-based iPod, for those of us who like the large capacities (the flash-based devices should get big enough (128GB) next year). Question: What would they change over the current models?? Maybe more colors?

iPod Shuffle refresh: I'm thinking they keep the current form-factor. Probably add a 4GB model. New colors again.

Maybe getting:

iPhone software 2.1.

What we won't be getting:

Anything to do with the Mac. No new Macbooks, MacBook Pros, iMacs, displays, iLife, iWork. Those will come in a later event.

Tomorrow's Big Unknown:

Will Apple announce an "all you can eat" iTunes subscription plan?? There seems to be a growing consensus that this will happen. No problem here as long as I can stay on the current a la carte plan.

Re: Apple event confirmed for Sept 9

My thinking exactly. I am FULLY prepared to be completely underwhelmed. Either something big has remained off the radar or its gonna be a dud.

I'd settle for Blu support but so far I dont see me rushing to give Apple any dough this holiday...

BTW, Rock Band2 comes out next week, coincidence? =p Hehe likely just back to school week....

Re: Apple event confirmed for Sept 9

As someone who is using 52GB of their 55GB iPod, I'm really hoping for an iPod touch that is 64GB but I'm not holding my breath. 32GB will let me house half of my collection, might be enough to sway me to buy one. Otherwise if they update the iPod Classic I might buy one of those. The Nanos are too small (storage-wise) to be useful to me.

Re: Apple event confirmed for Sept 9

The touch doesn't have the battery power to handle duties as a 'hold everything' media device. Once you get used to the idea of having to be thoughtful about what you do and don't put on it 16GB is plenty. What I'd rather see go into it at the same size is GPS and a bigger battery and maybe even an onboard speaker for games, all of those would be far more useful to me than the MINOR size bump a doubling in storage would bring compared to what is possible on a hard disk based PMP. I know some are clamboring for a camera too but I'd put Camera behind memory in my personal priority queue.

GPS>Battery>Speaker>Memory>Camera but YMMV.

Re: Apple event confirmed for Sept 9

Well it looks like it's going to be a 120GB iPod Classic (most likely the last refresh in this line) for me. 16GB for the Nano is still too small (and my collection is all music, no movies/videos/pics). I'm one of those who likes my entire music collection available all the time.

I was tempted by the 32GB Touch, but my phone contract expires in early 2009 so I'm planning on getting the next gen iPhone (which I hope will be out by then) so it really doesn't make sense for me to splurge $399 now and then again for the iPhone early next year.

Re: Apple event confirmed for Sept 9

Yep, only one Classic model - 120GB. Glad I picked up the 160GB model last year.

They did add a speaker to the iPod touch. They've also added built-in Nike+ capability. Pretty nice. Prices range from $229 for 8GB to $399 for 32GB. Not as low as some were predicting. It's clear they are trying to maintain a price differential between the Nanos (which top out at $199) and the Touch.

The new Nanos are pretty much what had been leaked. The "shake-to-shuffle" feature is cute, but I hope it can be turned off - it could be a real annoyance during vigorous exercise (not that I would know anything about that... ). 9 colors, 8GB for $149 (available today), 16GB for $199 (available Friday).

iTunes 8 - again, pretty much what had been leaked. They're really pushing this "Genius" playlist ability. For me, the grid album view looks more useful.

iTunes Store - Big news here is NBC is back on board. Plus - HD TV shows at $2.99/episode.

Finally, iPhone 2.1 software is announced, and available Friday. Sounds like a major bug fix release.

The big no-show - the iTunes subscription plan some had been expecting did not materialize.

Re: Apple event confirmed for Sept 9

Oh, and I can't believe they're using the tagline "The funnest iPod ever" for the new Touch.

Re: Apple event confirmed for Sept 9

-HD TV shows on iTunes-$2.99 for HD and $1.99 for regular SD. Viewable direct from PC/Mac as well as iPod and aTV
-NBC is back on iTunes. Heros, Monk, Battlestar etc
-iTunes 8 official - "Genius"=smart playlists on steroids. Grid view.
-160gb ipod classic killed, 120 is the new classic, $249. ONLY ONE Classic now, not two.
-New nano confirmed. All as suspected. Thin, aluminum, tall, with accelerometer and curved screen. Genius function built in, calendar, stopwatch and voice recorder. Shake to shuffle. Worse battery life, 24 hours music 4h video. $149 for the 8GB model, $199 for the 16GB model 8 in stock today, 16 next week. Green manufacturing. Black, purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, violet, red
-New $79 headphones with built in mic and back/forward buttons. Engadget photos make em very Sennheiser like, looks good.
-New form factor for touch, similar to iPhone. Volume controls, speaker and Genius features. Nike+ integration built right in, get transmitter for your shoes. New UI.
-100,000,000 apps downloaded on app store. New games coming. Spore and Soccer zzzzz. D-Pad overlay could be a nightmare. Need for Speed.
-iPod Touch works with the new headphones. 36 hours for music, 6 for video. Environmental conscience. No size bumps. 8GB $229, 16GB $299 and 32GB $399. Weak. All starting today.
-"Funnest iPod ever." Double weaksauce.
-iPod software 2.1, inc Nike+ and Genius playlists. 2.0 Touch owners get a free update to 2.1, $9.95 to go to 2.1 from 1.x. Available today.
-Lots of bug fixes in 2.1 "Fewer dropped calls, big battery life improvements. No crashes with Apps. Backing up is faster"
-Jack Johnson performed, so thats it for one of the weakest Apple events ever
-Per Slashgear "Considering how "rock" the event started out, an acoustic performance by Jack Johnson seems a big strange ". Seriously.

Oh and wooo, they added new colors to the shuffle

Re: Apple event confirmed for Sept 9

The only thing I saw today that I had not already read on appleinsider or macrumors was the new headphones. BFD, really.

There was a post on macrumors I think from someone in the press saying that Apple told him that the event was "something big" or whatever, and he should not miss it.

If that were true, I would say that Apple should now have ZERO credibility with that fellow. A bunch of new iPods, and a new iTunes? Again, big whoop, and virtually nothing that had not been leaked over the last couple weeks.

Of course, I am right now about to pull the trigger on a new Touch. I setup an Apple Express to stream music from iTunes to my 2 Channel rig, and am going to use a Touch with the Remote App to control it. I was waiting on the announcement to see what the prices would do. I had planned to buy a refurb 8gb, but the new 8gb is only $20 more, and really only $10 more since the refurb would have had to get the 2.1 upgrade for $10. For a $10 differential, I will get the new 2g Touch.

Brian

Re: Apple event confirmed for Sept 9

This is one of the reasons many were expection an announcement on a subscription plan, which would have qualified as "something big" IMO.

So yeah, not an exciting announce, but mainly because iPods are old hat now. Really, what else can be done with them??

Re: Apple event confirmed for Sept 9

Looks like they still have some of the 160GB ipod classic models available in Apple Store clearance section, asking $299 for them. I may pick one up to replace my aging 40GB. Last chance to get a large capacity ipod maybe?

Re: Apple event confirmed for Sept 9

Wifi song sharing. (Just cause the zunes sucks doesnt mean apple couldnt make it cool)
GPS / LBS / LBS media sharing on steroids
Line by line directions
More comprehensive artist selection (Beatles, AC/DC etc)
Bluetooth stereo headset support
Extensibility to hardware (plug in keyboards and joysticks)
Camera integration

Just off the top of my head

Apple's unhealthy insistance on 'thin' and 'control' rule a lot of that out, and also lock in thinks like battery life that cannot be user serviced.

Re: Apple event confirmed for Sept 9

Yeah, I would say we're two-three years away from flash-based models getting up to the 128GB-256GB range. If you need the capacity I'd grab it while the grabbing's good.

Re: Apple event confirmed for Sept 9

Big "meh" for me. Besides, the only way to make it cool would be DRM-free, and you know the record companies would have a heart attack over that.
Another "meh". Not sure why you want to turn a music player into a GPS.
An iTunes Store issue, not an iPod issue, and I'm sure they're working on the holdouts (hey, they finally got Metallica, didn't they?)
OK, I'm with you all the way on this one. It woud be my number one request.
Yeah, OK, but I see Bluetooth as a better solution here.
Meh, who needs yet another substandard camera to carry around?

I think you want an iPhone without the GSM radio, and i just don't think that's going to happen. Apple's always going to reserve features like GPS and camera for the iPhone, as differentiators from the iPod line. Is there any other vendor that has a camera or GPS in a standalone music player??

Re: Apple event confirmed for Sept 9

Woohoo! The two upgrades I care about have been added to the nano: 16GB and large screen. My entire library is 10GB, and I have to manage playlists with my 4GB nano. A 16GB nano means no more music managment: it all goes in the iPod. The new widescreen means it's a nano reasonable for watching video. And, it's $50 cheaper than my 4GB nano was! This may be my Xmas present

All the other single-song oriented features seem odd to me. Do people listen to individual songs, and puzzle over which song to listen to after the current song? I tend to listen by album or playlist; or listen in the car where it's inconvenient to select single tracks.

The shake to randomize looks fun, though.

This could be a big deal for HTPC'ers. AppleTV won't play DVDs (without hacking). Macs wouldn't play iTunes HD content. So there was no full-service Mac HTPC option. This changes that, and makes the Mac a more complete HTPC option.

Re: Apple event confirmed for Sept 9

I dunno, HD begins at BluRay for me... But I'm not a big TV guy.

Craig, that wasnt your question tho, you asked what else COULD be added.

Re: Apple event confirmed for Sept 9

Pulled the trigger on my new 120GB Classic. Am syncing, should be done in about 10 minutes. Looking forward to giving it a spin. Upgraded from a 5G 60GB, so it's my first time with the new GUI, Genius, and of course the thinner form factor. The 60GB was the thicker of the models 2 gens ago when it was released. The 120GB makes that one feel like a behemoth!

Re: Apple event confirmed for Sept 9

Reading the rumor sites, I thought Genius would be another BFD, but having it now with iTunes 8, I am having some fun with it.

Being of a certain age, for me music means albums. While I do have a few playlists, I never got into it, and Shuffle just produced way too random results. On top of that, the existing Smart Playlist option on iTunes was really nothing but fancy filtering.

But Genius really does produce some interesting results. What I am enjoying most about it, is that it has created playlists that include a bunch of tracks that I did not recall ever having. Specifically, I am a pretty consistent downloader of the free tracks Apple makes available every Tuesday. Its kind of cool finding those in the Genius playlists that I have generated based on songs I knew I had.

It does not appear that my 5g 60g iPod will be able to get an update to include "on the go" Genius capability but it is fun to experiment with it in iTunes.

Brian

Re: Apple event confirmed for Sept 9

You COULD add an egg beater or a grout remover. But let's remember that it's an MP3 player.

Re: Apple event confirmed for Sept 9

One benefit of the 120GB over my old 5G 60GB (other than space). They changed something in the signal chain [sensitivity? resistance?] so that my Ultimate Ears Super-Fi 5 Pro in-ear monitors no longer have audible hiss. On my 5G the hiss wouldn't be too audible while music was playing, but during quieter parts of songs and especially in between songs you could clearly hear the hiss. Now, all but gone. Yay!

Unfortunately I must not have enabled (or sync'd) Genius correctly so it's currently not working on my iPod. When I get home I'll re-sync and see if I can get Genius working.

Re: Apple event confirmed for Sept 9

Update: I don't know what did it, but I simply started iTunes, clicked on Store -> Update Genius, let it do its thing, connected iPod, sync'd iPod and now Genius works.

I know Genius is supposed to get smarter as the database grows, but it's pretty darned good right now! I'm totally grooving on the Genius recommendations it made to "Don't Make Me A Target" by Spoon. This is going to make road trips so much better!

Re: Apple event confirmed for Sept 9

It's reducing the backseat iPod squabbles already!

Re: Apple event confirmed for Sept 9

I'm of a similar age, and also don't use playlists heavily. And I don't rate my music consistently, so autolists aren't very effective for me. But I gave a quick go of Genius on a favorite song and got a playlist that looked quite decent. I'm looking forward to playing some more with it.

Re: Apple event confirmed for Sept 9

Ditto on the album mentality (I'm in my early thirties). And I don't use playlists at all. But the Genius results have been good enough to warrant my use.

Re: Apple event confirmed for Sept 9

A few interesting comments on iTunes 8, and Genius in particular from Macworld.

Macworld | Review: iTunes 8

Brian

Re: Apple event confirmed for Sept 9

Too funny only because I can sympathize...