Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iPod Family, iTS, iTunes
iTunes 5, I am Jack's dull surprise
Allow me to play devil's advocate for a moment. Or as I like to call it, the John C. Dvorak Punditry Game. I won't just be discussing iTunes 5, but all the musical announcements rolled out from Apple today.First of all, I think there's no way you're going to have another revolution on your hands as you did when the first iPod was announced. Video iPod? No, by the time that rolls around the PSP/Xbox/Dingus synergy will be there. Don't get me wrong, a video iPod will be cool and maybe sell well, but the revolution will not be televised.
Instead of revolution we got a minor evolution. It's a shame Apple portrayed this as the second coming of Woz. Personally, I'm a little nonplussed. So the mini is gone. As some of you have pointed out, we now get a full 2 GB less storage for the same money. A color screen? It's smaller? I believe Adam Sandler said it best when he said, "whoopadeedoo!" It would appear Apple is sacrificing choice for simplicity. That's their way of course, but must we all be a party to it? I'm not saying they should go the route of Creative and come out with a dozen dinky players (none of which are worth the time to reason with)... But variety is the spice of life, you know?
I put the nano to the litmus test— my wife. She's a fan of Apple, but not obsessed (like me). She's wary of technology. She only learns a new feature or trick when she needs it. She's what we call your slightly-above-average computer user. OK, maybe a little more than slightly. Either way, she's no gadget freak, especially at the prices iPods go for. Her response, "is that it?" "But you can put pictures of the kids on there! Your calendars will be in color, and your address book in your purse, all in one teensy little package." She wasn't impressed. No nano for her, she'll keep trucking with her pink mini, thanks.
On to the new content for the iTunes Music Store. Since when did Madonna (once a pioneer in music, sort of) "waking up" to the digital revolution make news? Get with it grandma, and while you're in England, tell the remaining Beatles to get on the trolley at the station as well. Harry Potter in audiobook format? Thanks goodness! Since we've all read them already... Gotta do something while Rowling digs her way out of that last book... C'Mon guys, give me a break. Two million songs is cool, but I still can't get either Breakin' soundtrack. I want my Electric Boogaloo!
The new iTunes... When does a pre-existing feature become a new bullet point? Only in Steve's world. Search? You mean the Search Bar is now a new feature? Man, I feel so stupid using the old search tool. How, exactly, is this better? And yes, I see the little buttons like in Finder windows, I'm just saying it's not a quantum leap. Quite frankly I don't see all that much streamlining. The volume control isn't squirreled away under the playback controls. A little more info in the info window. It's not that fugly brushed metal. The Outlook sync is nice, if you're a Windows user (I know, this is important). I also like the folders. What, that took 5 versions to sort out? I guess fine-tuning the randomness is cool, but people have been hacking on that for a while, and I'd still like to see some control within the iPod itself. What I'd like to see are some bug fixes. At work we have the ports used by iTunes all blocked. If I accidentally click on the Store, Podcasts, or Radio I pretty much have to force quit. It's also fun trying to remove duplicates and discovering you actually deleted the only copy. How about fixing those?
I'm not exactly stoked about the fact that you have to restart your machine to install it either. And did anyone enjoy the little iPod ad during install? Classy.
The one ray of light from today was the iTunes phone. What was that called? Oh yeah, the ROKR. Sounds like a Vulcan ska band. Anyway, at $249 with a 2-year contract from Cingular I don't know if it'll be flying off the shelves, but I've been wrong before. Still, anyone lusting for iPod action and renewing their contract will probably give this a look. That's if they understand how easy iTunes/iPods are to use. My big question is whether the ROKR will suffer from some UI issues people have with Motorola phones in general. I like my V60, but some folks hate Moto... Go figure.
At the end of the day I still want a nano, only because I have yet to experience the color screen of joy. Maybe I'll wait until they get Linux working on it... I'd love to have a ROKR, but Cingular, well, don't get me started on Cingular. The sad fact is I'll probably wind up with a Hogwarts-branded iPod full of Vulcan ska then end up losing it in a terrible Quidditch bet. That's the way things go around here.
_thumbnail.jpg "Take a stroll down memory lane")
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Dave Caolo said 10:39PM on 9-07-2005
First of all, nice Tyler Durden reference. Secondly, you'll be so jealous of my black nano! No one can resist Mini Vader!!
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Mike Hackett said 10:41PM on 9-07-2005
Nice to know I'm not the only one who hates Cingular (rat bastards). Worst customer service, worst experience, just the worst. I might have considered the phone, might!, if it wasn't for Cingular.
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soundboy64 said 10:43PM on 9-07-2005
I think you missed the real big thing today... How over hyped it was by the media and us mac crazies... Sure the nano may not be as revolutionary as the original iPod was to you, but to me I see it as incredible, as the thing is about the size of a credit card and maybe 3 credit cards thick... It's incredible... Did you see how Stevie J. revealed it... Now that was classic... Sure iTunes 5 wasn't a huge overhall, but it's nice to have things located in better places. As for the Rokr... That was just way overhyped from the get go by the media... Yea it would be great if my Sony Ericsson S710a had iTunes in it, oh how I'd love that, but instead, it has a 1.3 mp camera, and I have a 40GB 4th Gen iPod... That's where the nano is revolutionary, it destroys everything in it's class in overall size... But people won't realize it until they hold it...
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Reid Bode said 10:45PM on 9-07-2005
You had to restart?
I didn't.
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Daniel Jalkut said 11:00PM on 9-07-2005
Everybody I've talked to today has the opposite impression. Yawn for the phone and yeehaw for the Nano!
It's the first time I've bought an Apple product within 5 minutes of hearing about it.
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Tom said 11:11PM on 9-07-2005
I think we need yet another UI in Tiger. So far, we've got: Mail (and Dictionary), Safari (Font Book, iChat, Automator, iSync, iPhoto, iCal, iMovie), Preview (Image Capture... why are these two separate apps again?), AppleWorks (I know, that streches it a little...) and now iTunes. Apple, what are you doing?
Also, why is the read out screen not color? I used to think that it was to match the iPod but now all iPods have color screens. Again, Apple, what gives?
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meatmcguffin said 11:21PM on 9-07-2005
the 'take it out of the jeans' piece was just too good. right up there with the 'we're moving to intel in a few years but this iTunes demo i just showed you was running on a MACTEL HA PWNED!'
i heard someone on the net say that an apple event is the industry's rock and roll gig so im glad steve's such a showman. has he done any other surprising/awesome presentations that have slipped my mind?
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LD said 12:03AM on 9-08-2005
How did Apple overhype this? Can you link me to older articles where Apple overhyped this? Where did Apple portray this as the second coming of Woz? Just a couple links would satisfy me, thanks.
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leobag said 12:06AM on 9-08-2005
go cry somewhere else. go let your wife run you life. and have a great day. +
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Jesse Gillespie said 12:39AM on 9-08-2005
The search feature is expanded in that it allows you to narrow searches by field. So if you if you're looking for the new We Are Scientists EP, you can just put in "we are" and click artist. On my itunes with a very large library, this new feature can actually be quite handy.
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Simon said 2:28AM on 9-08-2005
Whilst I'm impressed with the look and size of the nano it hasn't made me immediately buy one and it doesn't give me that wow feeling - I think the reason for this is I'm actually waiting and expecting a lot more from apple so am disappointed by each new announcement. Basically I believe they have the vision and capability to wow us again with a breakthrough in a fully integrated home and mobile multimedia entertainment system - this started with airport express but hasn't gone anywhere since. E.g. where is the wi-fi remote control with display to enable us to make best use of airport express, where is the video airport express to enable us to stream video and photos to the TV, where is the ability to switch the output of iTunes to different airport expresses using automator, where is a set-top box style mac that serves as a multimedia centre with our hi-fi's and TV's, where is the video iPod with capability for games (not PSP type games as it won't compete but something between moible phone games and those from www.gamehouse.com), where is the next evolution of iTunes store selling music videos (yes this has started but taking it's time) and games.
Don't get me wrong, my Imac G5 is fantastic, I can't live without my iPod and airport express is superb - it's just that I have very high expectations of Apple and Steve Jobs now and know they/he can deliver - so when is the next "wow apple did it again"?
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Joe Bella said 3:08AM on 9-08-2005
I'm convinced exposure to the internet makes people retarded. Why are people always so negative on the net? Apple added some nice enhancements to iTunes, and gives it away for free.. and people still complain. I don't even understand what you are complaining about... that it's almost useless for making french toast?
As for the nano... I think people consistently under-value the benfits of compactness. When the original iPod came out.. it didn't have the biggest hard drive... but it was smaller than most of it's rivals. Same goes for the mini. Small form factor in a portable device is probably the single most important attribute.
Instead everyone fixates on the megabytes (or megahertz .. or megabits .. etc). It wasn't that long ago when people were happy to pay $245 for an ipod mini. Now apples gives you one that is 1/3 the size, with the same storage capacity, but in solid state form, with a color screen for goddsakes... and now it's overpriced.
retarded.
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Guillaume said 4:37AM on 9-08-2005
iTunes phone, ray of light? I think it's the most disappointing announcement of the day. This phone looks pretty lame, both esthetically and technologically, compared to the one month old W800 from Sony Ericsson... Definitively not very Apple-like.
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Rick Ludwig said 8:34AM on 9-08-2005
Yeah, I was pretty disappointed too, but MUCH more so in the phone than the nano. The nano looks cool and all, but I'd never get one because I'm used to having ALL my music (not just some of it).
The biggest disappointment: Where's the high-end stuff??? Except for killing off the regular iPod and making the iPod Photo the standard, Apple has pretty much ignored the high-end iPod line. Between Apple coming out with the iPod Photo and now, they've released the Shuffle, new iPod minis (larger hard drives AND new colors), and now the shuffle and the phone, all on the low end. Come on Steve! I realize that the low end is probably where the sales are, but throw us a bone here! How about a little somethin something?
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Coollead said 8:57AM on 9-08-2005
It's overpriced when you think about it in terms of
4 GB iPod mini was $199.99
Half the capacity later
2 GB iPod nano is $199.99.
And after all that, it's just smaller, and has a color screen. Capacity is what counts, if you're going to charge the same price.
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C. Buckland said 8:57AM on 9-08-2005
Thanks for the Fight Club reference, it reminds me that I should pull that movie out of storage.
I would agree with Mr. Bella. I always enjoy little updates and additions to my favorite line of computers and gadgets. What's to complain about? Nothing. Well, almost nothing. I could complain about Madonna's fake British accent.
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lol said 11:50AM on 9-08-2005
She wasn't impressed. No nano for her, she'll keep trucking with her pink mini, thanks.
Perhaps my mind is in the gutter, but you might want to rephrase that...
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Dan said 12:06PM on 9-08-2005
The search is much faster on my 15 inch powerbook, Ambrose.
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Wilymon said 12:53AM on 9-10-2005
i agree with 12. people were total downers when the Shuffle came out, but i bought one and i love it! i think the nano is beautiful, and the more i see pictures of it, and the more i compare its size to things laying on my desk, the more i want to buy it. its thinner than my Shuffle!! people will buy it. people who are in the market for a Mini probably dont have that many songs to begin with, and so why wouldnt they buy the nano instead? gigs be damned, size is what matters to a teenager with a bunch of money to burn.
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