Apple's Lets Rock - New Nanos/iTunes/Headphones/iPod Touch

[Dizzy]

Conference Coverage: Live from Apple's 'Let's Rock' event in San Francisco - Engadget

What are some of your impressions regarding the conference today?

I've got to say, Genius sounds pretty cool. It will automatically create playlists based on any song you play by similarities.


$2.99 HD TV shows is decent.


New thinner iPod Nano didn't really impress me.


Headphones are probably pretty lame, not worth $80.

But "They ship with 3 earbuds, and they've got 2 drivers each, a woofer and tweeter"
Which doesn't sound half bad.

[Gow616]

1. Playlist feature is a meh...I know what sounds great together and they can't account for my musical tastes because most of my artists are not on the iTunes Music Store and 80% of them are not mainstream.

2. $2.99 for HD TV...quality is 720p or 1080p? Xbox360 has the 720p, I forget the price though but either way both probably bite because it is a watch so many times or DRM'd for specific devices only. Let alone they probably will not use the VC-1 codec (made by Microsoft and used on Blu-Ray) or the x264 (Blu-Ray quality at half the size) but instead go with Quicktime, which is an alright codec.

3. I could care less...more capacity and cheaper price combined with audio quality and codec support is more important. 16gb Flash player for $200 is not good, especially when I can get a 32gb USB flash drive for about half that. 32gb not 16 gb...so where is the big drop in price? Why isn't there a 32gb flash player for $200 and a 64gb flash player for that $250 mark...especially considering Apple has a deal on the flash memory.

4. Microsoft includes them with the Zune 2's, Apple wants to charge you $80 for them? What are they made by Etymotic or Shure? Jays? V-Moda? No? They are made by Apple...not really...they are made by Foxconn and they are charging $80? I smell a rip-off.

[Carlos]

Best part.

[stkr]

The Genius feature sounds really nice. I'm installing iTunes 8 as I type this to see how everything works. I really like the new Nano. It's very sleek, though I'm still doubtful about the screen. I'm surprised that they dropped the 160GB iPod Classic, but the demand probably wasn't there. As cool as the new iPods look, I see no reason to buy any of them if you currently have a good high-capacity player. Nothing mentioned makes me want to upgrade, which is disappointing.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Gow616

1. Playlist feature is a meh...I know what sounds great together and they can't account for my musical tastes because most of my artists are not on the iTunes Music Store and 80% of them are not mainstream.

4. Microsoft includes them with the Zune 2's, Apple wants to charge you $80 for them? What are they made by Etymotic or Shure? Jays? V-Moda? No? They are made by Apple...not really...they are made by Foxconn and they are charging $80? I smell a rip-off.

Exactly, that's something that Apple wants to change. They offer and profit largely from mainstream artists (Jonas Brothers and Hannah Montana are up on the top 5, if memory serves, along with other such crap) and as a result will try to do anything they can to lock you in; once you've bought one Apple product, they find ways to get you "in." The iPod and iTunes are huge factors in the sales and PR wars, as it opens people up to Apple in ways their computers never could.

You expected anything less? Apple's always had sh*tty earbuds they just got bold enough to charge more for them this time. Though, didn't the Zune Premium earbuds cost something like $50 retail? I got myself a pair of Sony's with similar specs but for $40 instead, since the ones that came with my 30 died.

[Gow616]

Tis why I typed Zune 2's as in the 2nd batch of Zunes as the Zune 30 came with those flimsy earbuds. They initially charged $50 but prices fluctuated drastically and most were able to get them for a lot less. The only earbuds I bought were the Etymotic ER-6i but got tired of the inner ear stuff and went to good ol' over the head style. Current headphones I use is the Sennheiser HD280 or more often my Alessandro Music Series One with Sennheiser HD414 earpads reversed.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Gow616

Tis why I typed Zune 2's as in the 2nd batch of Zunes as the Zune 30 came with those flimsy earbuds. They initially charged $50 but prices fluctuated drastically and most were able to get them for a lot less. The only earbuds I bought were the Etymotic ER-6i but got tired of the inner ear stuff and went to good ol' over the head style. Current headphones I use is the Sennheiser HD280 or more often my Alessandro Music Series One with Sennheiser HD414 earpads reversed.

Eh? I didn't mean any attack on the quality of the 30's buds, they were quite nice. They just needed a better connector with protection against shearing and torsion, which is what killed mine.

[SilentWalrus]

Yeah.
I hate Apple with a burning passion.

[stkr]

Genius is similar to one of the new features for the Zune software:

"Personal Picks. Now the Zune software learns what kind of music users like and makes personal recommendations. When users log onto Zune Marketplace, they’ll find a new area called Picks where the Zune recommendation algorithm will suggest artists, albums and tracks based on the music they have been listening to, as well as channels they might like and listeners like them in the Zune Social."

The big difference, from what I'm understanding at least, is that Genius will form playlists on the device as well as in the software. In addition to doing that, it will also match music from the store. I think that's pretty cool. As far as my experience with iTunes 8 overall, not so great. Not only is it emulating the Zune software with it's new 'grid' interface, but it's failing at doing so. It kept freezing when generating thumbnails for all of my albums and kept tripping up on the same files (whether in my library or not). We all know that iTunes is pretty slow, but the grid mode makes the software unbearably slow. CoverFlow and Listed views are much quicker and use less resources. I haven't actually tried Genius because it requires a collective scan of your entire library.

[Gow616]

When someone does post the inevitable "Zune new stuff" in Tech, I will post my disconcerting comments about it.

[soccerfreak24]

I really Loved the New Apple Zune's, Loving the new innovations such as build in menu for now playing, widescreen for videos'/pics, form factor, and premium earbuds avaiable for purchase! I can't wait to shake my mp3 player violently to change the song, that's incredible!

[Locke]

Originally Posted by soccerfreak24

I really Loved the New Apple Zune's, Loving the new innovations such as build in menu for now playing, widescreen for videos'/pics, form factor, and premium earbuds avaiable for purchase! I can't wait to shake my mp3 player violently to change the song, that's incredible!

*waiting for your hard drive to fail*

[Dizzy]

Originally Posted by stkr

As far as my experience with iTunes 8 overall, not so great. Not only is it emulating the Zune software with it's new 'grid' interface, but it's failing at doing so.

I noticed that too. Just installed it.

Also noticed how fruity and feeble Steve Jobs looks. I haven't seen that man in awhile.

[Netrix]

Originally Posted by Locke

*waiting for your hard drive to fail*

It would make sense to have that feature available for the flash drives, but is it available for the regular hard drives?

[soccerfreak24]

Originally Posted by Netrix

It would make sense to have that feature available for the flash drives, but is it available for the regular hard drives?

Wait, how does having a feature that you utilize by shaking your mp3 player violently make sense in the first place? (and no, the classic doesn't have It I dont' think)

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Netrix