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Looks like today (yesterday by the time you read this) was "Showtime" for Apple. Of course I have thoughts on Apple's new product updates and here I am as usual to talk about it some of this might be brief.. others might be longer.
iPod
The new features on the iPods look interesting with the search that is sort of like spotlight and updates like that. It looks like they have made the iPod nano look more like the old iPod mini now so now it's a slimmer version of that instead of a slimmer iPod 5\6G like it previously was. The only issue I have with the iPod Nano currently is it seems as though if you want a choice of colors you have to get the mid-range iPod nano. The low end and the high end only come in silver and black respectively. Kind of reminds me of how you can only get a black macbook if you get the "high end" version the low and mid-range versions of that notebook only come in White.
Games on the iPod video seem ok with their casual games they have but the iPods scroll wheel doesn't seem suited to games. I don't like how you can't play those games in iTunes although most are already available as standalone game for either Mac or PC.
The new shuffle makes me think of the SNL sketch of iPod Pequeno and Inviso.
iTunes
I have mixed feelings about the new iTunes update.
On the one hand the new album view mode which mimics the mode previously just in WMP is nice and the other new view which lets you flip through album covers in 3D like a Rolodex is nice.
The new toolbar buttons at the bottom of the window are nice looking. However the new playback buttons at the top look like a downgrade to me and the scrollbars have a new style that clashes with the rest of the system on a Mac. I'm a little concerned that they might have also changed the code for the scrollbar as well as the look so even if we wanted the old animated pattern the scrollbars used to have we might not be able to theme it to have them again although that remains to be seen.
Speaking of themes iTunes 7 breaks shapeshifter themes on the mac meaning it's so changed that shapeshifter is forced to ignore it for now until a new template is made to skin this new version. I'm hoping to be able to get iTunes matching again soon. Of course though in message boards I see people saying how they really like the changes but to those people I guess themes don't matter.
One GUI change I do agree with though is how they removed the quicktime like controls from the video window in favor of a OSD that is hidden when you don't need it.
The new gapless feature makes iTunes lag badly when you first start up the new version and it is analyzing your libary for songs that need it.
The new upgrades for the videos on iTunes seem to make TV shows finally more worth the money because you get them at a full 640x480 which is the NTSC standard pretty much. But it made me think...... all of you who already bought TV programs on iTunes now have outdated 320x240 versions and you'd have to rebuy them to get the newer quality... ah, money pit! I redownloaded one of their free videos which seems to be redone in 640x480 but the quality increase is dubious because the colors are still pretty bad from compression. Some of the other previously free episodes of tv shows they had are also now gone or not free anymore. This will also happen when iTunes puts up higher quality music. At least some of the TV shows and all the movies are now widescreen.
But the new movies have now taken the place of TV shows as the things that I think aren't worth the money as far as video goes on iTunes. Why? Because they are not full DVD quality...... but even so I don't want to keep full length feature movies on my computer I would rather get higher quality DVD's and\or burn the videos I have aquired to a disk to play on my computer later and not have them hog the hard drive but iTunes has restrictions so you can't do that. TV shows too are also only mostly worth it if you have an iPod and can't encode your own from your DVD.
Which brings me to Apple's sneak preview of iTV. It seems like a neat little device that sort of looks like a cut down Mac Mini specifically to put next to your TV and wirelessly stream your iTunes media to your TV. The only problem to me personally is since getting videos on iTunes isn't my bag of tea for various reasons that it doesn't make sense for me to shell out 200+ bucks for an iTV over getting a Nintendo Wii or something or just saving that money for something big.
When it comes to music I say a whole cd at 128kbps = 13-15 dollars on average =p Unacceptable quality to pay money on in my opinion. It would be better if they had 190kbps variable for the same price but it's still in my opinion a better value actually getting a CD and ripping it yourself because you can then rip it to whatever quality you want.
iPod
The new features on the iPods look interesting with the search that is sort of like spotlight and updates like that. It looks like they have made the iPod nano look more like the old iPod mini now so now it's a slimmer version of that instead of a slimmer iPod 5\6G like it previously was. The only issue I have with the iPod Nano currently is it seems as though if you want a choice of colors you have to get the mid-range iPod nano. The low end and the high end only come in silver and black respectively. Kind of reminds me of how you can only get a black macbook if you get the "high end" version the low and mid-range versions of that notebook only come in White.
Games on the iPod video seem ok with their casual games they have but the iPods scroll wheel doesn't seem suited to games. I don't like how you can't play those games in iTunes although most are already available as standalone game for either Mac or PC.
The new shuffle makes me think of the SNL sketch of iPod Pequeno and Inviso.
iTunes
I have mixed feelings about the new iTunes update.
On the one hand the new album view mode which mimics the mode previously just in WMP is nice and the other new view which lets you flip through album covers in 3D like a Rolodex is nice.
The new toolbar buttons at the bottom of the window are nice looking. However the new playback buttons at the top look like a downgrade to me and the scrollbars have a new style that clashes with the rest of the system on a Mac. I'm a little concerned that they might have also changed the code for the scrollbar as well as the look so even if we wanted the old animated pattern the scrollbars used to have we might not be able to theme it to have them again although that remains to be seen.
Speaking of themes iTunes 7 breaks shapeshifter themes on the mac meaning it's so changed that shapeshifter is forced to ignore it for now until a new template is made to skin this new version. I'm hoping to be able to get iTunes matching again soon. Of course though in message boards I see people saying how they really like the changes but to those people I guess themes don't matter.
One GUI change I do agree with though is how they removed the quicktime like controls from the video window in favor of a OSD that is hidden when you don't need it.
The new gapless feature makes iTunes lag badly when you first start up the new version and it is analyzing your libary for songs that need it.
The new upgrades for the videos on iTunes seem to make TV shows finally more worth the money because you get them at a full 640x480 which is the NTSC standard pretty much. But it made me think...... all of you who already bought TV programs on iTunes now have outdated 320x240 versions and you'd have to rebuy them to get the newer quality... ah, money pit! I redownloaded one of their free videos which seems to be redone in 640x480 but the quality increase is dubious because the colors are still pretty bad from compression. Some of the other previously free episodes of tv shows they had are also now gone or not free anymore. This will also happen when iTunes puts up higher quality music. At least some of the TV shows and all the movies are now widescreen.
But the new movies have now taken the place of TV shows as the things that I think aren't worth the money as far as video goes on iTunes. Why? Because they are not full DVD quality...... but even so I don't want to keep full length feature movies on my computer I would rather get higher quality DVD's and\or burn the videos I have aquired to a disk to play on my computer later and not have them hog the hard drive but iTunes has restrictions so you can't do that. TV shows too are also only mostly worth it if you have an iPod and can't encode your own from your DVD.
Which brings me to Apple's sneak preview of iTV. It seems like a neat little device that sort of looks like a cut down Mac Mini specifically to put next to your TV and wirelessly stream your iTunes media to your TV. The only problem to me personally is since getting videos on iTunes isn't my bag of tea for various reasons that it doesn't make sense for me to shell out 200+ bucks for an iTV over getting a Nintendo Wii or something or just saving that money for something big.
When it comes to music I say a whole cd at 128kbps = 13-15 dollars on average =p Unacceptable quality to pay money on in my opinion. It would be better if they had 190kbps variable for the same price but it's still in my opinion a better value actually getting a CD and ripping it yourself because you can then rip it to whatever quality you want.
