After all the wait, the apple music event finally happened. This event was mainly expected to showcase a whole new line of iPods. And i am sad to admit that our expectations weren't met.
THE RETURN OF JOBS:
Steve jobs returned to the stage with this event after a long gap of six months. he received a standing ovation from the audience and sounded healthier than before.
THE BEST THING: iTunes 9
Let me get to the best part of the event first. And this is the only best thing announced in the event. Apple announced the latest version of its jukebox; iTunes9. This is the best iTunes i have ever seen. It is snappier, feature rich and is much better than the old versions. iTunes LP has been introduced into the iTunes store. The store has been revamped with a new interface. There's a new feature called the genius mixes, which is your built in DJ for your library. It can make mixes of songs in your library which go great together as steve jobs said.Also available is a feature called Home sharing. This feature allows you to share your library and other details like contacts, podcasts etc between different computers on your home network which share the same iTunes account. Finally, for iphone and iPod touch users, there is a better way to manage apps in iTunes itself. This is the best way a user can manage his apps on the ipod or iphone. That's all with iTunes.
NEW iPODS?NO, THERE AREN'T ANY:
Apple played a marketing gimmick yesterday to keep the iPod momentum going.
iPod touch:
Well, we expected a camera, a built in mic and some other features for the touch. unfortunately, the iPod touch didn't get any of these. Just an introduction of a higher capacity iPod touch was all that was an upgrade. A new 64 GB iPod touch has been introduced which is snappier and uses OPEN CL 2.0 platform. Also , there is a 32 gig version which is available and runs on the same platform. There is an 8 gig itouch which runs on the old processor. Only god knows why, but i cannot understand the reason for the availability of an 8 gig iTouch with an old processor. Sorry Apple, but this is a poor move. other than the above said updates, there is no other charm added for the iTouch which could force people to upgrade to new ipod touch. Oh yeah, the new (?) iPod touches ship with the 3.1 software.
iPod CLASSIC STAYS:
I don't know whether this was a sentimental move or not, but i sure know that this is one of the most foolish moves apple made. The iPod classic stays on, and all apple has done to keep it alive is by reintroducing the 160 GB capacity. I dont find the point here. First they had an 80 and 160 gig version, then there was a 120 gig version and now there's a single 160 gig version. All in all, the classic hasn't been upgraded since the last three years. The lack of any new feature will mean that there will be very few classics sold this year. BOO!
The NEW NANO: some icing added to the old cake!
The new nano has a video camera! Are u excited? i am sure, you arent.. An ultra cheap VGA camera has been added to the iPod nano for shooting videos. Oh yeah, as if this is the update we have been longing for! The placing of the camera in the nano is also not proper since you might end up blocking the cam with your fingers if you are right handed. I dont know what apple is trying to prove by adding a video camera to the nano and not to the touch. The nano can't even do still photography. All in all this video camera thing doesn't seem to be all that useful as of now even though the video quality seems to be pretty decent.
The next new feature added to the nano is FM radio. This is a welcome feature actually. It is the first time ever that an iPod is sporting an FM radio. Also, there's an in built speaker and mic too for the iPod nano. The voice over feature from shuffle is now available on nano. Compared to the other iPods , this is the only iPod which has got something we can cheer about.
WHAT THE NEW iPods SHOULD HAVE BEEN AND WHAT WE EXPECTED:
Apple has made a big mistake by not refreshing the classic. Perhaps, they could have added an FM radio just like the nano. A built in speaker would have been just great for the classic. And, if the nano could get fm radio and video camera, why couldn't the touch be bestowed with a 3.2 mp camera and fm? And talking about the nano itself, why is there an ultra cheap vga camera which cant even do still photo in the first place? urggh! There wasn't any need at all to hold a media event to just announce few games and price refreshes.Perhaps Apple wants to keep the iPod momentum going.And talking about the touch, i think Apple doesn't want the iPhone sales to get affected by giving more powers to its younger brother. Seems like a lame reason though, but its true that this is all for this year's iPod line up. only time can tell whether there will be a decline in sales or a boost in sales for the iPod line up this year. If i were to be asked, i would prefer the first option; most of us would.
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