At Apple’s “It’s Showtime!” event on September 12th, the rumors flew about what would be released, from the popular suggestions that Apple was planning on unveiling an addition to the iTunes Music Store that will allow customers to download not just TV show episodes as they’ve been able to, but to download full feature length movies from the store as well. A good number of people expected a full-screen iPod with a touch display, perfect for video content, and a few people even expected a real iTunes cellphone from Apple this time around.
Well, in the end, some of them were right, and some of the lesser-heard pundits were spot on; Apple did refresh the iPod lineup, but no touch-screen huge-display iPod this time around. The new iPod looks exactly the same as the old generation did, so it’s not really a new generation of iPods-but the new iPods feature longer battery life for both music playback and video playback, a significantly brighter and crisper 2.5-inch screen, and comes in a 30GB model and an 80GB model, shattering the previous largest iPod size limit. There was also a $50 USD price break, the 30GB model selling for $249 USD and the 80GB model selling for $349.
The iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle also got serious makeovers; the iPod Nano got a slew of new accessories, a sleek new aluminum case, and now comes in five metallic colors; silver, black, pink, green, and blue. The case design is a little more rounded on the edges, as well. The new Nano sports 24-hours of battery life according to Apple, and comes in 2GB (silver only) and 4GB (silver, pink, green, and blue) and 8GB (black) for $149 USD, $199 USD, and $249 USD respectively. Sound familiar? That’s right, the new iPod Nano looks almost exactly like a tiny version of Apple’s much-loved and highly regarded iPod Mini, which should make the iPod Mini fans thrilled; they really are attractive, and you can check out Apple’s new ad for the iPod Nanos here:
[ Apple iPod Nano Ad ]
The iPod Shuffle, formerly recognizable as kind of a white stick of chewing gum, got another redesign and is thinner, sliced in half with a larger navigation wheel, and a clip on the back. The new iPod shuffle comes in only one size, 1GB, and runs you $79 USD, and has a clip on the back so you won’t lose the tiny little thing.
Along with the new iPods, Apple released the newest version of its iTunes software, iTunes 7, which sports a redesigned interface, new ways to view your music (in either album format or cover art form, both of which are very attractive and give you a better way to flip through your music collection), and supports a couple of long overdue updates for iTunes: First, gapless playback. If you have a CD or a set of tracks that are continuously mixed but are in separate mp3s, you can now play them in iTunes and on the iPod as a single track without gaps in between “songs.” This is big news for fans of DJ mixed music, where a CD can have 13 tracks, but they’re meant to be listened to as one, with flow from song to song. Second: cover art download; iTunes will now, as you rip CDs and add them to your iTunes library, automatically download the cover art for your music and store it in the iTunes library. Very very nice.
Of course, mentioning iTunes 7 wouldn’t be complete without the fact that you can now download full-length feature films through the iTunes Music Store (although I suppose it’s just iTunes Store now) in 640×480 screen size, perfect for watching either on your iPod or more importantly, on your television screen or on your laptop screen. Steve Jobs called it “near DVD quality,” but in reality it’s probably much closer to standard TV quality, but hey-I can’t argue with 480p. Movies will be released on the iTunes music store the same day they’re released on DVD, which can save you a trip to the store, and in the future its expected that iTunes will offer downloadable content before the movies are released in the store, giving iTunes users advance screening of popular movies as they come out. The movies will be $12.99 USD when pre-ordered and during their first week of availability and $14.99 USD after that, and old catalog titles will be available for $9.99 USD, putting the prices within striking range of DVD prices. Very intelligent pricing scheme. ABC and Disney are again, the first two groups offering up content for the new service.
Finally, games, at $4.99 USD, are now available for download from the iTunes store, which should play on any 5th gen iPod-games like Zuma, Bejeweled, Tetris, and more.
All in all, Apple did make waves with its new announcements. It was no iPhone or wide-screen touch-screen iPod, but the iPod refresh and the new features in iTunes 7, especially the new video store, pave the way for some significant advances in downloadable content and delivery. This all leads into another announcement Apple made at the event, codenamed “iTV,” which looks something like a settop box that will allow people to wirelessly download and stream video and music content from any Macintosh or Windows PC with iTunes installed straight to their televisions. Compelling idea? We think so. More on that shortly.
[ MacWorld :: Apple “It’s Showtime” Event – Complete Coverage ]