Filed under: iPod Family, iTS, iTunes
iTunes in the sky
How
many times have you been on a plane, rocking out on your iPod, when you realize you want to Get
Jiggy Wit It. You stare at horror upon your entirely Will Smith devoid iPod and sob quietly in your seat.This may soon be a problem of the past, since Apple is in talks to bring iTunes to an inflight entertainment center near you. Supposedly, the airlines would like it if people could connect to the iTunes Music Store and download songs directly to their iPods from 20,000 feet. How this would work has not been covered, but it would be very cool.
Thanks, Gordon Werner.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
rollie said 5:05PM on 4-10-2006
I don't know if I have any need to pick up music while on a plane... but if seats could be equiped with USB2.0 so that I can connect&power my iPod from my seat - that would do me greatly.
I wouldn't have to worry about running out of power while on 2 leg flight.
.rCr.
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Brendan said 5:38PM on 4-10-2006
I would be very handy, but I can think of better songs to download!!
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jbelkin said 5:42PM on 4-10-2006
The future evolution of the iPod will clearly be the iPod as a er pod.
The first step in the next releases will undoubtedly be wireless/bluetooth,
et, al but before long (and of course, long before anyone else gets it right), Apple will fix the iPod so you can dock it in a mothership pod to buy music & movies.
Apple will probably add to their stores first and then, it will be a fight
to see who gets it next. Like the intent on vending machines which is to
draw in foot traffic and who knows, that customer might buy something else
thats all you would need. A space or a wall will do nicely.
These iPod motherships would be perfect on campus, in company cafeterias, in
airports, and in countries where homes are smaller or a more social societies (pretty much the rest of the world) where people tend to gather in the streets, in plazas and coffeehouses, the un-tethered iPod is perfect people can dock in while buying a coffee, or waiting in line ... and since it looks like we'll be vending our won meals on the plane, why not buy some tracks.
Theres still plenty of work to be done the whole authorization issue,
security issues regarding accounts, etc (perfect for an Apple iPod phone
that adds your purchase right to your Apple mobile phone bill :-)
But you can see the possibilities are endless.
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Adrian said 6:04PM on 4-10-2006
What whould be cool is if this wouldn't have anything to do with iPods. Imagine having access to the whole iTunes library during the flight. Not just 30s samples but the whole thing in full length.
This would be a great plus for the airlines to modernize their inflight "radio" and also an opportunity for Apple to promote the iTunes store to all the passengers (like they discover a great album during the flight and buy it once they landed).
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Thomas said 6:05PM on 4-10-2006
I'd rather listen to all songs, full length. It's built into the plane so I can't exactly steal it. But I could click on the new Rascal Flatts CD and hit play. No 30 second previews, the entire cd for my listening enjoyment while on the plane. Then, if I like it, I can buy it in iTunes when I get home.
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Brent said 8:29PM on 4-10-2006
I wish airlines (and trains for that matter) could have internet access available to passengers. I'm sure it's not far away.
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James said 9:33PM on 4-10-2006
It's not quite iTunes, but in Cathay Pacific's business class, you can create your own playlist from the library of music they have onboard. Not the most intuitive interface and as with most inflight entertainment, the remote control response is slow to say the least, but at least I don't have to listen to songs I don't like, nor do I have to wait for the end of the inflight entertainment program in case I miss a song I enjoy.
Do other airlines have the same facility?
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mathmonkey said 9:38PM on 4-10-2006
I'm guessing this is all about videos.
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Brendon Chrus said 9:39PM on 4-10-2006
Very Cool Ideas, I think TUAW should have a post asking where they think itunes will go. They would get a million comments if they did. I can see vending machines becoming huge. Especially if you could pay a few bucks for a super quick recharge. I would pay that in a second especially in airports.
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Sir Not Appearing in this Blog said 9:59PM on 4-10-2006
So they're going to do what, exactly? Give passengers the ability to buy from the iTMS at 30,000 feet? Oh, joy! My dreams have come true! Forget making the seats larger, or giving them more legroom. Maybe if they can buy TV shows and music while they're in the air they'll forget how we've got 'em crammed in like sardines!
Bah. I wish they'd fix the serious problems before trying to provide more entertainment options.
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Gene said 11:09PM on 4-10-2006
It's worth noting that the airlines are now charging fees for a packet of nuts, an aisle seat, and a pillow. I really doubt that they are interested in anything for passengers that makes them more comfortable -- no, they're interested in anything that could separate us from yet another dollar.
And I guarantee that if they ever find a way to bring iTunes Music Store to a plane, a song won't cost only 99.
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Edward said 1:54AM on 4-11-2006
At least in the UK, some train operators are offering free WiFi in first class. No reason why airlines couldn't do the same throughout (although I don't know if I want to sit between two laptop users on every flight).
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starwxrwx said 2:33AM on 4-11-2006
on a luthfansa flight last year (frankfurt - singapore) I could have paid for some wifi time on board
pity the economy seats didnt have power outlets :/
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Douglas F Shearer said 5:44AM on 4-11-2006
Wireless iPods? Would be a great use for such an implementation. I'm sure Apple would come up with some sort of DRM style connection protocol that would prevent iPods connecting to each other, and only allow download from the music store or your own computer.
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theun4gven said 9:28AM on 4-11-2006
So do I have to make the computer on the plane my "home" and erase all fo the music on my iPod to do this? Otherwise I'd have to set my iPod to manual mode and then transfer over the song, just to get back home and realize that I can't move the song(s) I just paid for onto my home computer that my iPod is "linked" to.
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