Author Topic: Apple Showtime Event  (Read 9941 times)

Offline gpw11

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Apple Showtime Event
« on: Tuesday, September 12, 2006, 09:30:19 PM »
Somewhat unimpressive, yet with some interesting stuff.

1.) iPod Shuffle 2nd generation.
http://www.apple.com/ipodshuffle/

On one hand it's cool how small it is.  On the other it's still too damn small, still has no screen, and is pretty bare as far as features go.  But it may be a good idea.  If you want something this small (read: too small), what other options do you have?  Except maybe that cube one someone here posted about a while ago, which was also cool...but too small.

2.) iTV

Basically a wireless media center you plug into your tv so you can stream multimedia files from your pc.  I'm still on the fence about these products in general, but this one looks like a half-sized mac mini so a bunch of people will buy it.  I wonder how DRM will play into it?  It's not out until next year, so there haven't been many details.

3.) iTunes 7

New interface, but I'll probably still not use it at all.  You can also now buy movies (although this information has been out for a while).  Sadly, they didn't fix the pricing or offer any kind of rental type thing, so it's still fairly unattractive to most people.  $12.99 usd for new releases, anywhere from $9.99 to $14.99 for older titles.  Seems steep for what you get (A non tangible, drm ridden version with a lower resolution).  Whatever, I guess the portablity may be worth it to some people....but it's only Disney movies as of right now (including studios like touchstone).  You can also buy ipod games like Bejeweled and tetris for $4.99.  That's pretty cool.  There are also new resolutions for tv shows, but more on that in a second.

4.) Updated 5G ipods.  The same as the current 'ipod with video' but now comes in 30 and 80 GB versions. Apple claims a 60% brighter screen, longer battery life, and higher video resolution support.  And that's could be an issue.  The new resolution announced for TV shows may not be supported by older 5G ipods...which would kind of be a smack in the face.  It's also uncertain if older versions can play these new games.  There's also a new 2 gb nano with a brighter screen and longer battery life.  It looks like a lot of these changes were to compete with Creative rather then to do anything really new.

Everyone was kind of let down because they were hoping for a new ipod generation more geared to video playback, but apple will probably sit on that until sales start to stagnate again.

Offline Xessive

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Re: Apple Showtime Event
« Reply #1 on: Wednesday, September 13, 2006, 12:42:08 PM »
The only interesting part for me was the new iPod Shuffle. That thing is tiny!

Offline DrSbaitso

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Re: Apple Showtime Event
« Reply #2 on: Wednesday, September 13, 2006, 12:54:52 PM »
The new nanos are fugly. I was waiting until after the event to buy one (my mobile phone headphone connector is slightly foobared) but now I'm not going to bother.

Offline Xessive

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Re: Apple Showtime Event
« Reply #3 on: Wednesday, September 13, 2006, 05:47:07 PM »
The new nanos are fugly. I was waiting until after the event to buy one (my mobile phone headphone connector is slightly foobared) but now I'm not going to bother.
I know! They look just like the iPod mini! They took away the nice glossy look and gave 'em a matte surface too.

Offline ren

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Re: Apple Showtime Event
« Reply #4 on: Wednesday, September 13, 2006, 06:53:52 PM »
I prefer it this way. No scratches and smudges all over it.

Offline scottws

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Re: Apple Showtime Event
« Reply #5 on: Wednesday, September 13, 2006, 06:55:56 PM »
The new nanos are fugly. I was waiting until after the event to buy one (my mobile phone headphone connector is slightly foobared) but now I'm not going to bother.
How are they ugly?  They look the same as the old ones except the sides are rounded off.

Offline DrSbaitso

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Re: Apple Showtime Event
« Reply #6 on: Wednesday, September 13, 2006, 08:14:57 PM »
How are they ugly?  They look the same as the old ones except the sides are rounded off.

The old ones were glossy, clean, and stylish. The new ones look like something I'd expect to get out of a candy machine. I've really lost faith in Apple's designers lately. The new nanos have the exact same design as a product that was discontinued a year ago, and the new iTunes looks like something I'd expect to find in Linux (i.e. a very grey interface). For shame, Apple. For shame.

Offline scottws

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Re: Apple Showtime Event
« Reply #7 on: Wednesday, September 13, 2006, 08:19:19 PM »
Unless Jennie somehow already has iTunes 7, it looks identical to iTunes 6 to me.

Offline DrSbaitso

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Re: Apple Showtime Event
« Reply #8 on: Wednesday, September 13, 2006, 08:48:14 PM »
Perhaps the new UI is an OS X only thing. They basically took everything that wasn't grey and made it grey, and added these awful all caps headings ("LIBRARY", "PLAYLISTS") to the sidebar.

Offline gpw11

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Re: Apple Showtime Event
« Reply #9 on: Wednesday, September 13, 2006, 09:56:04 PM »
Yeah, from the pictures I've seen I don't like the new gui as much as I like Aqua (people are saying that there's a good chance this is a sneak peek of the new osx version's gui).  Of course, The second someone says this on digg.com the mac addicts jump all over them saying that the gloss of aqua is so overdone these days...even though like three days ago they were still praising it. 

Anyways, iriver announced a (in my opinion) new shuffle killer today.

http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/portable-media/iriver-s10-slam-dunks-the-shuffle-one-day-later-200312.php

I'd take the screen over the longer battery life personally, but more then 8 hours is pretty short.

And a funny quote from a comment to the story:

'2GB. But I'm not sure what the screen is for, no video support.'




Offline scottws

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Re: Apple Showtime Event
« Reply #10 on: Wednesday, September 13, 2006, 10:15:02 PM »


Seriously, what is different about that compared to iTunes 6?  Granted, I don't use iTunes pretty much at all, but I've seen Jennie use it and it looks exactly like that.

Offline gpw11

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Re: Apple Showtime Event
« Reply #11 on: Wednesday, September 13, 2006, 10:22:43 PM »
The buttons look a little less glossy, but it might just be the screenshot.  I haven't really used itunes in a long time, but fired it up and that's the first thing I looked at.  It still took me a bit to notice.  there also seems to be a few different buttons.  Either way, it's not a huge difference.

Offline idolminds

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Re: Apple Showtime Event
« Reply #12 on: Wednesday, September 13, 2006, 11:52:59 PM »
Woah, that iRiver is pretty kick ass. Tiny, screen, 2GB? With a decent price I might be interested.

I'm loving my new player, just because its awesome having a bunch of music on it to listen to whenever. I've got a ton of stuff on it and I dont think Ive even hit 1gb on it.

Offline DrSbaitso

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Re: Apple Showtime Event
« Reply #13 on: Thursday, September 14, 2006, 11:11:35 AM »
Sidebar is redesigned, buttons/scrollbars have grey instead of blue highlights.