Cart (0)
VIDEOThe Hits and Misses of Apple's Music Event
By
Mike Schuster
Sep 01, 2010 3:40 pm
Steve wows the crowd with new iPods and iTunes 10, but Apple TV still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
 |
|
That isn't to say every product was a mediocre letdown, but then again, not everything lived up to its potential.
Right on schedule, Steve Jobs took the stage at 10 a.m., spouted his routine pleasantries of new Apple stores and iPod sales, and made a few digs at Android's (GOOG) daily activation numbers.
Next came a demo of Game Center -- iOS 4's new social gaming service that connects iPhone and iPod Touch users for some competition. Other than featuring some of the worst scripted banter between developers from Epic Games, the service looked intriguing and should prove to be popular in the portable gaming arena.
Wireless printing was shown off for the next iOS version headed to the iPad, which, up until now, didn't have the ability to print without a third-party app. AirPlay, formerly AirTunes, was demoed as another iOS 4.2 sneak peek, allowing for streaming of video as well as audio.
But then it was time to unveil the updates to the iPod line -- or as Jobs said, "The biggest change in the iPod lineup ever." The Shuffle, Nano, and Touch were all given significant modifications.
First, the Shuffle. After an unpopular decision to lose the buttons in the third generation and replace it with voice controls, Apple reintroduced the buttons but kept the VoiceOver playlists. The small, clippable device retained the look of the second generation Shuffle, albeit squared off. With added Genius Mixes and 15 hours of playtime, the 2GB device will sell for $49.
Next came the Nano with the most dynamic evolution of the three iPod models. Gone is the long narrow case with Hershey Bar dimensions, and in its place, a colorful touchscreen on the minuscule device. With roughly the size and shape of the Shuffle, the Nano now looks like an iPod Touch choking hazard without the app variety. The resolution is sharp, has Nike+ (NKE) capabilities, and the screen is adjustable to any orientation. The nifty little gadget retails for $149 for the 8GB version, $179 for the 16GB version.
The new, thinner iPod Touch made its debut and came equipped with some expected updates: Retina Display, FaceTime with a front-facing camera, three-axis gyroscope, and HD video recording with a rear-facing camera. With a boost of RAM and battery life, the iPod Touch updates were nice, but would have been spectacular with a storage upgrade and a price reduction.
A nicer demonstration was given to the new iTunes 10 -- sporting a brand-new compact disc-less icon. The list view layout is revamped to eliminate the redundancy of album titles. In its place, the album cover art sits beside the track listing on the left. But the feature everyone will be talking about is Ping -- Apple's new music-based social network to add to the glut we already have. Intended as social music discovery, friends as well as artists can recommend music and generate a top 10 listing of suggested music based on your interests.
Jobs said, "It's like Facebook and Twitter meets iTunes. It's all about music."
Unfortunately for now, Ping lacks the ability of keeping iTunes libraries in the clouds or sharing tracks with friends rather than just sending links to an "Add to Shopping Cart" button. The Facebook-style interface will be familiar to newcomers and it automatically comes with iTunes 10, available today.
The last product fell under the "One more thing..." heading -- or, to be more accurate, "One more hobby." Yes, the rumors were true, Jobs unveiled the wholly renovated Apple TV. And yes, the device still misses the mark.
Coming at one-fourth the size of the original and looking a tad like a hockey puck in a matte black color, the new Apple TV will focus on rental streaming rather than storage. In its introduction, Jobs spewed a number of inaccurate assumptions about the home media center user.
"They don't want a computer on their TV -- they have computers. They go to their TVs for entertainment." As well as, "They don't want to manage storage. They don't want to think about it. They just want to watch movies and TV shows. And they don't want to sync to a computer."
Believing that users would rather stream their content from Apple's walled garden and never truly own the things they watch, Jobs and Co. turned the Apple TV into a Roku Box. It's Netflix (NFLX)-enabled, compatible with Flickr, and able to receive streaming content from one's laptop or iPad. They've also reduced the rental price of TV shows and HD movies -- at $0.99 and $3.99, respectively. ABC (DIS) and Fox (NWS) are already on board and Jobs hopes the other studios will come around.
Now, at $99, Apple TV is just fine for the average home user, but anyone who wants a truly open home media center continues to be out of luck.
The device still has the unusable USB port in the back, silently mocking anyone who wishes they can stick a high-capacity external hard drive in there. And with a focus on rented content, the internal storage space is a mystery for the new Apple TV. Users are still tied to the iTunes Store in terms of content, and streamed files must be in the right format. No DVR, no Blu-ray drive.
The new Apple TV will give Roku a run for its money -- and could actually be a decent little device if Hulu was enabled -- but why should users be forced to rent their content instead of own it? Are we expected to shell out a buck every time we want to watch a particular episode of Community and waste five bucks if we want to watch Hot Fuzz to a new set of friends? A person's media library should be under their control, with the freedom to watch what they want without having to pay to do it.
It's been a pretty eventful day for Cupertino, with a number of new and evolved products that will surely rake in more money for the company. But despite Apple's expertise on audio, it's still missing the point on video.
Twitter: @mcs212
No positions in stocks mentioned.
