iPod nano, iTunes 5, iTunes Phone 815
adpowers writes "Lots of updates today on the Apple front. First we have the iPod nano, which is an iPod photo-esque replacement for the iPod mini. It comes in 2 and 4 gig varieties and is half the thickness of the mini it replaces. A new iTunes is release as well, which looks similar to Mail.app. I'm not sure I like the cosmetic changes. It also touts an improved search bar, but I can't find an explanation of what that means. Finally, Apple, Motorola, and Cingular announced the ROKR E1, which has the iTunes on a cellular phone. (Theorized last week.) It syncs with iTunes just like an iPod." Coverage of the Apple news extravaganza available at The NYT, Forbes, Gizmodo, Mobiledia, and Macworld.
Re:iHuh? (Score:4, Insightful)
It's not particularly nice looking, either, so Apple probably wouldn't want their style of name on it regardless.
Re:iDuh (Score:3, Insightful)
It's a Motorola/Cingular product that has an exclusive license.
(and regardless, according to the USPTO, the IPHONE trademark is live for at least two registered companies—both marks involve phones, natch— so Apple's claim to such a mark is tenuous)
Re:On first look, quite nice (Score:4, Insightful)
Apple makes a very handsome profit on iPods. You don't have to fill them with iTMS songs (MP3s work just as well) but the pairing of iPod with iTunes now accounts for over a billion dollars annually in sales for Apple.
Re:iHuh? (Score:3, Insightful)
Not compatible with mt-daapd (Score:2, Insightful)
I assume there with be a workaround, but for the moment, don't upgrade if you rely on this functionality (like I do).
Re:On first look, quite nice (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm sure we would all want porsche to sell their cars for $50, and 60" plasma displays for $75, but those companies need to make money too. In a free market economy if a product is overpriced, then people won't buy it. Since it has a 70%+ market share, then I would guess they are doing the right thing...
Re:No more apples for me (Score:5, Insightful)
I got a freeipod.com ipod, noticed how it just worked when I wanted it to, no stupidity involved. This inspired me to get a PowerBook, and guess what? It works. All the time.
Apple makes awesome hardware. Microsoft makes bad OS's. I dunno about your gtkipod problem though. Good luck with it.
Re:Re-releasing the same products... (Score:5, Insightful)
If competitors are releasing music AND video players 'for cheaper', and not making money, maybe it means two things:
1) Bad product
2) No market
If the competitors make a bad product, then of course the only remainging good product (iPod) will win. Apple just has to wait, review the market, and keep designing until it has a good product, even if it's a couple years late. Would you rather have a bad product now, or a good one next year?
If there is no market, then what's the point?
New look for iTunes (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Re-releasing the same products... (Score:5, Insightful)
They only released two that I know of, but I could just be out of the loop.
The GBA SP added functionality, like a built in rechargeable battery and backlit display, all at the same price as the previous model.
The iPod nano offers flash memory, increased battery life, a color display, ability to play photos, in a much smaller package. There's tons of added functionality.
while many, many competitors have been releasing music *and* video players for almost 4 years now *for cheaper than apple's music only players*..
I can release a cell phone the size of a VCR, have it play DVDs, DivXs, run various emulators, and do my taxes, that doesn't change the fact that it's poorly designed and not very attractive. Apple is about simplicity. If you want a swiss army knife MP3 player then there's manufactures catering to you, but you're a minority in that desire.
Re:On first look, quite nice (Score:5, Insightful)
and didn't see anything offered less than $200 - and that's just one component of the iPod Nano.
2) Apple makes more money by selling the iPods than it does with the iTMS.
3) Most songs on people's iPods don't come from the iTMS - so why should Apple provide bargain-priced iPods when they won't necessarily make any profit from them?
But is it accessible? (Score:2, Insightful)
This release, despite the whole digit change, doesn't change this. This is all the more ironic since Tiger now ships with an integrated spoken user interface [apple.com]! Blind folks, as a generalization, are at least as passionate about music and technology as the rest of us. This is a real shame.
RE: Duplicate song detection. (Score:3, Insightful)
Of course, calcing an MD5 would not find duplicates that are actually two differents rips of the same song, say at different rates or two downloads from eDonkey of the same song, etc. But it would find cases where the file got accidentally duplicated. Like if you have to move your music collection onto another disk or something.
Re:Digital Photographers rejoice (Score:3, Insightful)
One word - Never.
Why? Because any self respecting photographer will not murk around with hacks (remember, you still have to provide the interface - be it compact flash, etc. soldering required) when near 100% reliability is needed - i.e. in their work.
Most photographers I know, myself included, will spend extra cash on memory based on its perfomance and reliability. So destroying nanos is not going to be popular at all.
Just my 2 cents.
Re:On first look, quite nice (Score:3, Insightful)
You have a fundamental misunderstanding of why things cost what they do. Things aren't priced based on "fairness," they are priced naturally on market demand.
So far, the market thinks they are priced nicely.
Re:DRM changes in 5.0? (Score:2, Insightful)
Everyone seems to love Apple but no one talks about the dirty tricks they play on non-iPod users who still like iTunes (for example, in one release of iTunes, all files it found that were converted by JHymn were permanently locked!!)
Out of curiousity: why would you iTunes, which was designed for use with an iPod, with an MP3 player not officially supported?
Isn't that like using Real Jukebox and complaining when it doesn't work with the iPod? I'd say you take your chances using any music/ jukebox software with an unsupported MP3 player.
Re:More like a Shuffle (Score:2, Insightful)
Jupp, that's great news! No problems to see what you're looking at. Not at all...
This device is not intended to offer all the features of the iPods with video out. They have photo support just because they can. People do like to use ipods to temporarily store pictures for whatever reason. I think the primary reason for the color screen on this is because it looks better than black and white. Plus showing the album art is helpful.
Re:Re-releasing the same products... (Score:1, Insightful)
GBA
GBA SP
GB Player (attaches to Gamecube)
Nintendo DS
GBA Micro
Make your own ROKR (Score:5, Insightful)
Buy 5 cents of sticky velcro.
Attach to existing phone.
Pros:
Listening to tunes won't drain your phone battery.
Doesn't cost 250 USD (only 200).
Doesn't tie you to Cingular for 2 years.
About as thick as older phone models.
Holds 5 times the songs.
Can be undone at any time.
Cons:
Applying sticky substance to shiny new iPod.
Everyone will point and laugh.
Re:ROKR questions (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:On first look, quite nice (Score:5, Insightful)
- Would I "maximize" profits by providing good products at a fair price, enabling a steady and dependable stream of customers?
- Would I "maximize" profits by creating great products at a premium price, ensuring fanatical customer loyalty?
- Would I "maximize" profits by investing heavily in R&D so that future growth and revenue is possible?
- Would I "maximize" profits by investing in my employees, minimizing turnover and producing a highly productive, highly motivated, highly competitive workforce?
And as stated, a company, like, say, Ben & Jerry's can have other values, like having minimal impact and being environmentally friendly. Investors "know" they have those values and that money will go to support them. That's one of the reasons they made the investment.In short, as the various approaches to "maximize" show, profit is not always the only, or even the highest, consideration.
Re:On first look, quite nice (Score:3, Insightful)
Believe that's backwards. iTMS is used to drive sales of iPod, their profit on iTMS is pretty slim.
Yes, it's sexy, small, and cute but 4GB doesn't do me all that much and I would constantly worry about losing it, damanging it, or out and out destroying it.
I mean if you want an enormous "portable" music player have at it. Get a good stereo, a car battery, and an AC/DC converter and you're ready to go. Generally, most people want portable players to be small, though.
Re:iTunes Linux Support (Score:3, Insightful)
1) Apple has no connection to GNUstep.
2) The number of people running GNUstep is miniscule.
3) Very little Mac OS X software could be "just recompiled" to run on Linux/GNUStep. Apple has nothing to fear.
Re:$50 more, 2GB less (Score:5, Insightful)
This is just how smart companies price products. It's like a big fat arrow pointing up the ladder. They don't really care if you think it's a good deal: they want you to spend as much as you can convince yourself to.
Re:ROKR vs. Treo (Score:3, Insightful)
Even though Apple is about image, this particular case is about Motorola trying to associate itself with Apple via iTunes. The Motorola phone is not good looking at all, and the only advantage to it is that it is iTunes enabled. I, for one, won't be getting it anytime soon. Hopefully, the less discerning iPod/iTunes junkies will realize this as well (but don't bet on it).
Obligatory (Score:4, Insightful)
And, one other precious gem from the original [slashdot.org]...
Re:No more apples for me (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:On first look, quite nice (Score:1, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:On first look, quite nice (Score:5, Insightful)
You ask Has any public company anywhere ever been sued for "not maximizing the profit of its shareholders"?
You should ask: "Has the management of any public company anywhere ever been removed for "not maximizing the profit of its shareholders"?
Frequently.
Re:Always a deal-killer. (Score:5, Insightful)
2) Go into iTunes, then iPod options. Click "Enable Drive Usage" wow... my iPod is now a drive under Windows AND Mac, and I've seen it done with Linux. Unless you're touching the files needed for the music player, the iPod is simply a USB hard drive. Shut up troll.
3) And why should they bend over backwards for your measly $300 for their iPod when you're too stubborn and arrogant to support a popular standard. I don't bitch at Sony about where my copy of Sin City on BetaMax is.
Wait and see all you want. You won't buy one. People just like to bitch about something they can't have or can't afford.
Re:On first look, quite nice (Score:1, Insightful)
1) I just looked on froogle for: flash memory 4GB
Yeah, I'm sure Apple is using Froogle and consumer packaged memory for their player. Memory has historically been one of the products where the individual components (board and supporting chips) are cheaper then the finished consumer product. I remember quite a few people using our electronic lab back in the early 90's making making memory simms from pre made circuit cards and individual chips. Back then, 1MB cost about $40 at the store, about $15 to build it yourself.
2) Apple makes more money by selling the iPods than it does with the iTMS.
This is disputed all the time (including in the child posts to your comment) and people can show links to prove either way which one makes money and which one does not. Just for reference.. Wal-Mart, Rhapsody, Yahoo, Napster and others ONLY sell online music (and many even less then the $0.99 that iTMS does) and do not have hardware to fall back on to subsidize. How the hell is their business plan going to make money but yet Apple is not with iTMS at the same with higher prices? If iTMS is NOT making money, has anyone thought about what is going to happen when the iPod sales saturate or peak? What is the long term plan for iTMS? Maybe you do not agree but can you throw me some forecasts or plans on how this is going to be sustained? Is there a point where it is going to achieve self sustaining and will that include a price increase which will effectively screw over those locked into the iPod-iTms only option because there is no other choice at Apple's choice? I am not knocking the iPod or iTMS in any way. I just have a hard time believing that such a business model as people describe it can stay around long term. Either it will not stay around or people are stretching the facts or twisting the facts on what does and does not make money. What if Apple did not spend $50-100 Million promoting iTMS/iPod per year (some random number for arguement sake). Would they make money then? I honestly think iTMS/iPOD is much bigger then Apple and everyone thought it would be at this point. I honestly do not think Apple would have took such a risky business chance with the iTMS/iPod system had they thought they could not make money with it at much lower subscriber levels at this point in time. That is why I find it really hard to believe iTMS is "not making money" for Apple.
3) Most songs on people's iPods don't come from the iTMS - so why should Apple provide bargain-priced iPods when they won't necessarily make any profit from them?
No comment on that.
Re:This Apple Ad Sponsored by Slashdot Zealots.... (Score:2, Insightful)
It is a real legitimate question to ask: why do people feel it is fine for Apple to do these things, and anathema for MS to do similar things? Why, for example, if MS were to start taking people to court for running Office under Wine, would there be a universal outcry, when if Apple starts taking people to court for buying and running X on Dells, an awful lot of people here would applaud?