I’m still waiting here at jury duty so I thought I’d take this opportunity to update all of you on the latest details coming from today’s Apple Music event. Here’s a summary of what you really need to know from today’s event:
Yes, Steve Jobs took the stage and had this to say: “”As you may know I had a liver transplant. I have the liver of a mid-20s person who died in a car crash. Without that, I wouldn’t be here without that person’s generosity.”. He encourages everyone to consider being an organ donor. Kudos to that thought!
iPhone OS 3.1 is available as of today. It will be free for iPhone and iPod touch users who have the OS 3. 3.1 will include bug fixes, some new features such as Genius playlist which will now work with apps from the App Store.
Next up, we have iTunes 9 with new features such as iTunes LP, Home Sharing, and Genius Mixes. The app also features a redesigned store and improved syncing. Here’s a rundown of the features of iTunes 9:
- iTunes LP is a new way for artists to share their creativity with fans by allowing them to be “immersed in an entire album with art, lyrics, liner notes, photos, and videos.”
- Debuts today with albums including Bob Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited,” Norah Jones’ “Come Away With Me,” The Grateful Dead’s “American Beauty” and Dave Matthews Band’s “Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King: iTunes Pass.”
- iTunes Extra is similar to iTunes LP except its for movies. You’ll be able to experience documentaries, deleted scenes, interviews, and interactive galleries. Select movies available with iTunes Extras include “Twilight,” “Batman Begins,” “WALL-E,” “Iron Man” and “The Da Vinci Code.”
- Home Sharing allows you to easily transfer music, movies, and TV shows with up to five authorized computers in your home. Family members will be able to view up to five iTunes libraries on their home network; see only the portion of the libraries that don’t already have; import their favorite content directly to their own libraries; and automatically add new purchases from other computers into their own library
- Genius Mixes is a new feature which is the end result of over 27 million music libraries with over 54 billion songs that have been submitted and analyzed by Genius.It’s like having a “Genius” DJ that automatically mixes up to 12 endless mixes of songs from your iTunes library
- Improved syncing in iTunes 9 allows you to organize your iPhone Apps in iTunes and have them appear the same way on your iPhone.
- iTunes Store on iPhone now features precut ringtone downloads with over 20,000 ringtones priced at $1.29 a ringtone.
OK.. so let’s talk about music players shall we? First up, Apple announces major price changes to the iPod touch product lineup. The 8GB iPod touch will now be available for $199. The 32GB model will be available for $299, and the 64GB model available for $399. No doubt some of these price changes were spurred on by the upcoming release of the new Microsoft Zune HD which will feature a 32GB model for $289. At $299, the 32GB iPod touch becomes a much more appealing player for the masses – especially with its support for the 75,000 app-large App Store.
It should be noted that the 32GB and 64GB models will offer up to 50 % faster performance and support Open GL ES 2.0 – basically bringing the specs in line with the latest iPhone 3GS. The 8GB iPod touch will remain the same as the previous specs.
Next up – price and model changes to the iPod shuffle. Apple will now offer a new 2GB iPod shuffle model for a starting price of $59 dollars. The 4GB iPod shuffle will go for $79 dollars with both models available in five colors – silver, black, pink, blue and green.
There will also be a 4GB special edition polished stainless steel model available for $99 dollars through the Apple Store and Apple retail stores.
Have a need for much more storage? The iPod classic gets a bump up in storage – with a new 160GB model available for a $249.
And finally, Apple introduced a whole new iPod nano player today with features such as a 2.2 inch color display, a built in video camera, built-in microphone, built-in speakers, a polished aluminum and glass enclosure, built-in FM radio with live pause, iTunes Tagging support, and a built-in pedometer.
The built-in video camera is perhaps the most interesting new feature of the nano. You’ll be able to capture H.264 VGA video (640 x 480) at up to 30 fps along with AAC audio. The new nano comes with 15 real-time special effects including Sepia, Black and White, X-Ray, Film Grain, Thermal, Security Cam, Cyborg, Bulge, Kaleido, Motion Blur, Mirror, Light Tunnel, Dent, Stretch, and Twirl. The built-in video camera on the nano puts other companies that sell portable video camcorders on notice – who needs to buy a Flip Video if they’ve got a video recorder in their iPod nano? About the only thing missing now is HD video capture and video capture on higher end iPods including the iPod classic and the iPod touch. It’s only a matter of time folks.
The other notable feature is the built-in FM radio (about time Apple) with Live Pause – allowing you to pause live FM radio and then resuming it later on.
Oh yes – wonder how far you walk in a given day? The new nano comes with a pedometer which uses the built-in accelerometer to keep track of the steps that you take. You can also couple the nano with Nike+ shoes, and the Nike + iPod Sport Kit (which is sold separately) for a complete training experience.
The 8GB iPod nano will be available for $149 while the 16GB iPod nano will be available for $179. Both nanos will be available in nine colors including silver, black, purple, blue, green, orange, pink, yellow, and (PRODUCT) RED.
Is this a groundbreaking day in the Apple music business? In truth.. no. Apple made small incremental changes to the entire iPod product lineup – just enough to keep the lineup fresh and ahead of the competition. To me – the most important change came with the nano’s new video camera which makes the nano a very appealing device to take with you wherever you go. If only the iPod touch had a camera built into the device…
Technorati Tags: Apple, iPod nano, iPod touch, iPod shuffle, iPod classic, iTunes 9
