Apple – Page 17 – Digital-Lifestyles

iTunes Becomes Seventh Largest US Music Retailer

iTunes Becomes Seventh Largest US Music Retailer Apple’s iTunes online store has been ranked the seventh-largest music retailer in the US in the third quarter, charging into the top 10 for the first time.

According to research from the NPD Group, iTunes Music Store has climbed from fourteenth place last year to overtake many US High Street music stores.

Based on the number of songs sold, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target and Amazon.com remained the top four, although iTunes rising star is expected to overtake more stores by the end of the year.

iTunes Becomes Seventh Largest US Music Retailer Already eating iTunes’ dust are big names like Tower Records and Borders, reflecting music fans’ growing passion for online music.

“With the growing interest in digital music, forecasts of more iPod demand this holiday, plus the stocking-stuffer appeal of iTunes gift cards, we can expect Apple to increase its share even more by year’s end,” predicted Russ Crupnick, music and movies industry analyst for the NPD Group in the report.

Launched in April 2003 to offer downloadable tracks to users of its best-selling iPod digital music player, Apple has sold more than 600 million songs, with the service boasting more than 10 million iTunes account holders.

iTunes Becomes Seventh Largest US Music Retailer Combined revenue from the iPod, Apple’s fastest- selling product, and iTunes music accounted for a massive 40 percent of sales last quarter, up from 27 percent a year earlier.

Steve Jobs has confirmed that Apple have already shifted over 30 million iPods since the product launched in 2001.

iTunes

Digital Music Conspiracies : Teenage Tech Roundup

Motorola ROKR iTunes Phone Oooh, Conspiracies Abound
We’ve recently covered the Motorola ROKR iTunes music phone, and then again more recently, followed reports of its shortcomings. Now, The Apple Blog has a conspiracy theory on the device: It was deliberately sabotaged.

Apple makes a lot of money out of its iPod sales, with reports of profit margin of as much as 50% on the iPod Nano according to AppleInsider and its one of the company’s principal sources of income. Think about what would happen if people started buying phones as iPod replacements. That’s right, Apple would lose out.

I can well imagine Apple mastermind and CEO Steve Jobs would have seen this from far off, and had thought long and hard about whether or not to allow Motorola to produce an iTunes-compatible mobile phone. I’m sure that Motorola pays Apple some amount of money for the iTunes compatibility, and I’m also sure that Steve Jobs wanted the cash.

How would you introduce a phone that mirrored the iPod’s functionality without canabalizing iPod sales? That’s right, limit its functionality. Maybe this explains the 100-song limit on the Motorola iTunes phone. And before you say “but it’s not got enough memory for more”, it has: It’s possible to put enough memory in it to store around 500 tracks at least, but the software won’t allow any more.

It is possible that Apple want to actually make people think of MP3-playing mobiles as a pile of rubbish, meaning that they will instead buy iPods. Of course, there is no hard evidence that supports this theory, but there are a lot of things that point in this direction.

Whether or not this move on Apple’s part (Apple designed the software) would be wise one or not remains to be seen, and whether the 100-song restriction will still be in place in the upcoming RAZR V3i iTunes phone is also something only time and/or NDA breaches will tell.

The relevance that this idea has to me as a teenager is that as someone who always loses stuff, I would love to just carry one piece of kit around. I want one device that plays music, receives my email, makes phone calls and surfs the web. Apple theoretically attempting to block this digital utopia is something that annoys me.

More conspiracy…
I thought I’d stick with the conspiracy theme. While this rumour is not true, it does highlight what is theoretically possible in an Internet where corporations are increasingly battling their customers. I refer, of course, to media piracy.

The rumour contains the following:

Apple and Microsoft have teamed up in an unusual and, until now, secret partnership. The two firms have developed unique anti-file sharing DRM (Digital Rights Management) technologies they say represent cast-iron guarantees of copyright protection. The technologies “ Apple’s Fair Play earbuds and Microsoft’s PowerHit“ are slated for beta release in time for the Christmas rush, say sources.

From December 1, all iTunes downloads will carry a new kind of Fair Play DRM, a direct negative feedback ‘watermark’ recognized by Fair Play earbuds and, ultimately, by other audio devices from manufacturers who sign up for the code, which was created under a joint SunnComm and Macrovision venture.

When an iPod (or other) user wearing the new audio devices plays an iTunes track not sanctioned by Organized Music (EMI Group, Vivendi Uiversal, Warner Music), Fair Play feedback ‘instructs’ the buds to emit a piercing, high-pitched scream in stereo at 250 decibels.

Sounds pretty nasty doesn’t it! My view is that as long as you never had any intention of going out and buying the music track, having a copy doesn’t deprive anyone of anything. It’s like saying that taking a picture of a painting in a gallery is the equivalent of taking it off the wall and running out with it.

The conclusion? While not true, this could very easily become a reality. Maybe not with Apple and Microsoft working together, because that would just be absurd, but extremely restrictive DRM that punishes the user for misbehaving isn’t such a huge step away, and it seems like the current DRM schemes are training consumers to accept more restrictive varieties.

The reason I am against this, is that as much as technology has changed things for the better, my generation has come to take it for granted. If something is invented when you are under the age of 10, you generally do. The problem with this, is that the next generation will come to take DRM for granted, and we will be the “fogeys” saying “In my day, we were allowed to share music we bought with our friends”>

MacExpo UK Review (2/2)

Further to the first part of this review.

MacExpo - Expo or Shop? Hash showed off Animation Master which is a very simple (if you believe the demos) animation package. It has a huge library of pre-built characters, objects and even things like types of walks for the characters. Lip syncing even looked easy. Though the package is simple, you probably need some basic creative skills and understanding of animation to do anything sensible with it. Visit their Website and look in the gallery, the video of “I will survive” of Gloria Gaynor fame is a true classic.

Shure had their in-ear phones and were letting people try them (using replaceable foam in-ear sleeves, the comments from staff about ear wax were not pleasant). The big news is that they are now available in black to suit both iPod and PSP users. The black E4c’s (previously reviewed on the site) look better, but don’t sound any better, as this would be hard as they already sound so good.

There were lots of iPod and laptop cases and Be.ez make a range that can hold your iPod and accessories, laptop, laptop accessories and one that holds a Mac mini AND keyboard meaning you can almost use your mini as a laptop. All the cases are made out of 5mm polyurethane adequately protecting whatever’s inside.

MacExpo - Expo or Shop? LaCie had lots of disk systems on offer (firewire, USB and Ethernet) offering easy access to multi-terrabytes of data. An external 5 1/4″ drive (the size of a CD-ROM drive) can hold up to 1TB (big disk) while the double width bigger disk extreme can hold up to 2TB. There’s also external RAID drives, the biggest F800 holds up to 2TB supporting Firewire 800 (up to 80MB/s transfers) and the biggest S25 support 160MB/s and up to 2.5GB (which is 3GB internal) both support hot-swappable drives. The newest addition is the mini which looks just like a Mac mini and sits underneath it (and can be stacked with more minis), each one containing up to 250MB of disk.

Roxio have released Toast v7 which now is much more than just CD/DVD burning software, it can now create music DVDs with menu navigation, HD photo shows and much more.

Many usual suspects were there (Adobe, Quark) but Macromedia weren’t, maybe this is due to Adobe buying them?

Hopefully next year the show will revert to more of an expo and less of a computer fair.

Hash
Shure
Be.ez
LaCie
Roxio

MacExpo UK Review (1/2) – Expo or Shop?

MacExpo has moved to Olympia from the Islington Design Centre and that’s probably the most exciting bit of the show.

Though the new Apple Powerbooks and G5’s were there, a lot of stands were just selling Mac and iPod add-ons, MacExpo is turning into a computer fair. Being generous, it could be the economic conditions that are forcing it in that direction.

MacExpo - Expo or Shop? The new G5’s are nice, based on the PCI Express architecture with the ability to put some very high-end NVidia graphics to real work. They now support two CPU’s each with dual cores (i.e. 4 cores) though each core only operates up to 2.5GHz rather than the older two CPU systems that operate up to 2.7GHz (but then, in theory, you’re getting 10GHz compared to a max previously of 3.4GHz – real world tests show more like a 67% speed increase). The new NVidia graphics cards are all capable of driving dual displays – so that’s two 30″ Cinema displays … but you’ll need a new desk.

The new 15″ and 17″ Powerbooks have updated displays and all have better batteries offering longer life.

MacExpo - Expo or Shop? The new iMacs were there too and they are still the sexiest systems on the market.

Slim Devices (makers of the Squeezebox) showed off their 3rd generation systems, rather than long and thin they’re now more squat (i.e. not so wide but taller) with big bright displays which can now display pseudo VU meters, they’ll cost £179 ($320, E265) for the wired version and £229 ($406, E338) for the wireless one. The SLIM Server software is available for Windows, MacOS and Linux/UN*X. They also use a digital output as well as analogue connections for connecting to your HiFi system

Postworx were showing off their balls (and selling them). They are designed for laptop users and attach to the base to increase airflow, keeping the it cool. They also raise the back, and to our initial surprise make it much more comfortable to type. They come in several versions and colours to match your mood or laptop. They either attach by a small velcro-like disk which you stick to the base, or a slightly larger plastic mount onto which the half-ball twists on to and attaches.

Read the second part of the review.

Slim Devices
Post Worx

iPod Shifts One Million Videos

iPod Shifts One Million Videos The video-capable iPod has only been out three weeks, but already Apple are claiming sales of over a million video downloads from their iTunes online service.

Topping the download charts were music videos from the likes of Michael Jackson, Fatboy Slim and Kanye West, while episodes of ABC television shows “Lost” and “Desperate Housewives” proved popular with customers.

Other music content available includes music videos from pop dinosaurs like Madonna, U2, Eurythmics, Coldplay and Kanye West (be still our beating heart), with animated shorts provided by the Oscar-winning Pixar, creator of animated hits like The Incredibles and Finding Nemo.

The video content, priced at $1.99 (~£1.12~€1.65) each, can also be played on computers running iTunes software.

iPod Shifts One Million Videos Steve Jobs, Apple’s head honcho, observed that the healthy sales strongly suggested there was a market for legal video downloads.

“Our next challenge is to broaden our content offerings, so that customers can enjoy watching more videos on their computers and new iPods,” he said in a statement.

Not surprisingly, not everyone was keen to shell out for their video fixes, with enthusiasts quick to start sharing and distributing their own music clips and TV programs for the video iPod via peer-to-peer networks.

Robin Simpson, a research director at Gartner, observed that although some illegal copying and downloading would inevitably occur, Apple had provided video customers with a realistically priced model.

iPod Shifts One Million Videos “Most people are prepared to be honest if it is not too expensive to do so,” he added.

The cash till-ringing sales underlines dispels concern that people wouldn’t want to watch programs on the iPod’s titchy 2.5-inch colour screen and reflects the growing market acceptance of portable video.

The market was quick to react to Apple’s announcement, with share prices climbing by more than 5% in Monday trading.

iTunes Videos

Apple Sued Over Scratchy iPod Nanos, Motorola Miffed

Apple Sued Over Scratchy iPod Nanos, Motorola Miffed More details about Jason Tomczak’s class action against Apple for releasing defective iPod Nanos have emerged on The Inquirer’s site.

In the action, started in a San Jose district court, Tomczak alleges that the iPod Nano’s easily-scratched screen renders the display unreadable and thus breaches state consumer protection statutes.

Tomczak alleges that Apple kept on shifting the Nanos even when they knew that there were problems with the design and by failing to recall the MP3 players, the company “passed the expense, hassle and frustration of replacing the defectively designed Nanos along to class members”.

Apple Sued Over Scratchy iPod Nanos, Motorola Miffed The plaintiff alleges that with Steve Jobs whipping the Nano out of his pocket in a TV advert, Apple led consumers to believe the machine was durable.

Tomczak argues that even this simple act could lead to a scratched screen, claiming that the resin used in the product was not as thick and strong as in previous iPods.

The plaintiff wraps up his case by alleging that Apple knew about the dodgy quality problems before release but, “fierce competition on the digital music industry” compelled them to release it anyway.

Motorola miffed at Nanos

Things aren’t looking too happy-clappy for the Motorola’s iTunes music phone either, with analysts Bloomberg reporting that it may not be performing as expected.

American Technology Research analyst Albert Lin noted that as many as six times more customers are returning the Rokr phones than is normal for new handsets, and Motorola Chief Executive Officer Ed Zander said he is disappointed with the phone’s marketing and plans to fix it.

“We got off to a little bit of a rough start”, Zander said last week, “People were looking for an iPod and that’s not what it is. We may have missed the marketing message there”.

Apple Sued Over Scratchy iPod Nanos, Motorola Miffed Ironically, things haven’t been helped by the iPod nano appearing on the scene straight after the phone’s launch, with the ultra-small pocket rocket holding 10 times the amount of songs for half the price

You can’t blame Zander for being a bit miffed after Apple invited his company to be the first to launch an iTunes phone and the immediately stole their thunder with the Nano announcement.

Pocket-lint.co.uk reported that he exclaimed “Screw the nano!” in a previous statement which was later receded.

Motorola is reported to be launching a new series of phones to tailored around music in the future.

Pocket Lint
The Inquirer

Wi-Fly; ISS Falling; i-Tunes 6 – Teenage Tech News Review

Internet Balloon Wi-Fly
BBC news is reporting that BT is testing wireless broadband. What was that I heard? Been done already? Ah well, this is a new twist on a relatively old concept: These guys are using a balloon flying at 24km of altitude to send and receive wireless internet signals. This could mean a new way of accessing data: Although there are currently a number of ways of accessing the Internet on a laptop while on the move, these involve either overpriced GPRS connections over mobile networks, or few and far between Wi-Fi access points, which are not necessarily free either.

What this technology might enable, if it takes off (sorry, bad pun), is to enable laptop users to be finally able to use an affordable data service on the move that doesn’t suck speed-wise and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to use.

Guess what else? The team doing the initial research on the project are from my local university, literally five minutes down the road!

ISS International Space Station Is it a bird, is it a plane…
…No, it’s the ISS falling from the sky. ITAR-TASS reports that the latest ship to dock with the ISS has failed to boost it’s altitude, as it’s rockets failed after burning for only 3 minutes.

The ISS floats at around 350km above the earth, and at this point in space, there is still a significant amount of drag caused by the earth’s atmosphere. What this means when it’s at home, is that the atmosphere causes friction on the ISS, which means that the space station is constantly losing altitude. What prevents the ISS from falling from the sky are occasional boosts from visiting spacecraft. There is a graph of the ISS’ height and it is clearly visible that it is currently at the lowest that it has ever been at. If the space station’s height deteriorates lower than 300km, it is easily possible that it will fall out of the sky and land on earth, or burn up in the atmosphere.

Although the ISS is kinda cool, I do still have my doubts as to it’s usefulness: What the hell is it actually good for? This is the view of a lot of people in the scientific community, and a lot of people think that it might as well be de-orbitted and the money spent on it every year spent on a better cause. Imagine if the $6.7 Billion that NASA is spending annually on the ISS and the shuttle program went to better causes. Imagine what impact that money would make.

Besides, I want a space elevator, dammit!

iTunes 6 Screenshot Oooh Aaargh, ‘cos we’re pirates!
A few days ago, Digital-Lifestyles covered the new video enabled iPod and accompanying iTunes 6 software. iTunes 6 allows you to download selected TV shows and other content for a fee from the iTunes music store. What if you want to add other recording and stuff to your iPod? Hack-a-day has an article on how to automatically download TV shows via Bittorrent.

They also have an article up on how to use the Tivo To Go software which accompanies the Tivo to transfer Tivo recordings to your iPod.

These hints should help all you cheap skates out there to enjoy a nice, free, iPod video viewing experience. Of course, it also means that it will be possible to watch shows on the iPod not yet available for purchase from the iTunes music store.

Enjoy!

Speedy Macs; iMac G5; End Of Internet – Teenage Tech News Review

Quad processor powermac Did someone say fast?
This week’s update is an Apple-feast… Apple sent out a media invitation a few days ago, titled “One More Thing…”. This phrase has often been used in the past by Steve Jobs to introduce new hardware. So I sat and waited with bated breath, or, well, I was excited anyway.

Sadly, the 4-processor Powermac that I had spotted on French site, www.hardmac.com, didn’t materialise, but I didn’t really expect it to until late next year. The specs on the Powermac I spotted there did never the less impress me a lot: Overall, more than 11Ghz of processing power in one box. Would probably also heat most of the house, but that’s beside the point.

I’d love one of these, as it would surely mean the little waits I have now opening Photoshop and other professional applications would finally vanish and it would simply cool. I do however doubt I will EVER be able to afford one.

iMac G5 iSight Couch Potatoes Rejoice
Some of the hardware that was actually released includes the new iMac G5. The difference this has from earlier models? It is equipped with a built-in iSight, basically a webcam. I have played around with an iSight before, and the performance and image-quality is far above what I have experienced with other web cams.

The other difference between this model and the last is that this includes a handy technology called Frontrow which is basically a remote control. This places the new iMac as a serious competitor to Windows Media Centre, something that our friends at Microsoft will be worried.

In my opinion, any industry that has more than one competitor in it will always have more innovation than a monopoly, because companies are actually forced to compete. I hope that this will bring some exciting new ideas into the fairly stagnant home entertainment computer market.

Data Highway Internet? Break? Yeah right…
Yes, it’s that time of the week again: The usual doomsday announcements this week included an announcement from the EU that the Internet could fall apart next month. If this is serious, I am going to have to find some other way of life…

The trouble nowadays is, that there’s so many people saying the world’s going to end and that civilisation will collapse, when it never does, that no-one takes anything that will change their entire lives seriously, and until something life-changing actually happens, nobody will.

iTunes 6 Tested: Your Next TV Supplier?

Russ takes us those who haven’t got a US credit card through iTunes 6 with the downloading of video and contemplates its impact.

I’m sure by now everyone has heard that the new version of Apple’s iTunes (version 6) permits the U.S. user to download music videos and television shows (the U.K. user gets the music videos, but not the television shows). Apple’s announcement, released yesterday, says:

iTunes 6, the next generation of the world’s most popular music jukebox and online music store, lets fans purchase and download over 2,000 music videos and six short films from Academy Award-winning Pixar Animation Studios for just $1.99 each. Customers can also now purchase and download their favorite television shows from iTunes the day after they air on TV, watch them on their Mac or PC and Auto-Sync them onto the new iPod for viewing anywhere.

So, I tried it today. Here’s a snapshot of my experience and my hastily-drawn conclusions for media and communications policy.

My experience: iTunes 6 Tested: Your TV Supplier? * I downloaded and installed iTunes6. Takes 5-10 minutes. No big deal. iTunes6 has the same basic interface and purchasing/sampling system as previous versions of iTunes.

* I do not own the new video-ipod. Some of the press coverage makes it sound like the video-ipod is required to enjoy the video downloads. It’s not – you can play them on your PC or laptop.

* The product selection is not bad, for the second day of availability. There were episodes from 5 Disney TV shows available (including Lost and Desperate Housewives) and what looks like hundreds if not more music videos. There were also 6 Pixar films available. I think they are short films. By the way, the ‘Apple Music Store’ is now a misnomer.

* I purchased two items for about $4.00 – a music video (All These Things That I’ve Done, by The Killers) and an episode of Disney’s Desperate Housewives (first episode of season 2). I don’t mind paying $1.99 for a music video (something that I will likely play frequently), but it’s a steep price for a television episode that I might never watch again. I suppose it depends on the product selection and whether sports and news ever make their way on to this service.

iPod With Video; New iMac; FrontRow; iTunes 6: Apple Summary * File sizes: Killers video: 20.1 mb; Desperate Housewives episode: 208.6 mb. Both were MPEG-4 video files.

* Both downloads completed in about 2 minutes each. I’m on a high-speed connection, and obviously times will vary depending on what’s under your PC’s hood.

* Both video products were of good—but not great—quality and played in what looks like a Quicktime video window. You can manipulate the screen size, so smaller screen = better quality.

* Unlike the BBC’s interactive media player (IMP), I ‘own’ these videos and may keep them on my PC just like music files for as long as I want. The IMP really seems to serve a different purpose and seems more like a DVR than the Apple product. We’ll see.

Hastily-drawn policy conclusions:* The EC should put off serious consideration of any proposed revision of the Television Without Frontiers Directive for at least one year. The EC should see where the market heads before acting. Really, folks, it’s absurd for an intelligent regulator to be developing ex ante rules that may be seriously missing whatever developments occur in the marketplace. Viviane Reding might want to rethink her linear / non-linear distinction if the marketplace offers nothing much by way of linear services, or offers something that is not easily pigeonholed into a category being created at this time. Ms. Reding’s actions may actually have the Oedipus-effect of encouraging IPTV players to avoid linear products. Madness.

* I attended an IPTV conference earlier this year and the focus was completely on telcos offering IPTV service (in a triple play with internet and telephony) that resembles a cable or satellite offering. Well, Apple’s not a telco and iTunes6 does not resemble a traditional multichannel video offering. Same for Major League Baseball, the other important IPTV offering available at this time. Again, we’ll see what happens.

* Broadband, broadband,broadband. The number one priority for policy-makers should be to get faster, cheaper broadband to more areas of the country. With these types of services and free PC-to-PC VoIP, is there any policy goal more important than broadband if you really have the interests of consumers at heart?

iTunes 6 Tested: Your TV Supplier? * I’m sure there are some underlying copyright / “rip-off Britain” issues at play here. I’m just not smart enough to figure them out. But there is a problem when the popular television shows are not available on iTunes-UK and the same music video is 1.89 GBP or about $3.30 – that’s $1.30 extra for each music video that UK customers must pay.

* Public service broadcasters (PSB) in Europe beware. The ‘quality and universality’ arguments you’ve made over the years to avoid true competition are about to be seriously put to the test.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that the Desperate Housewives video had no adverts in it. There appeared to be quick gaps where adverts would normally be placed.

Considering Apple’s Impact

Considering Apple's Impact Last night Apple launched 3 new products (as we briefly noted). A new versionof iTunes, updated iMacs and as expected, a video-enabled iPod.

New iMac G5
They’re faster and thinner (and the 20″ version is cheaper than itsprevious incarnation). They now include an iSight (video camera) builtinto the unit and come with new software “Front Row” which include anIR remote, looking suspiciously like an iPod shuffle which attaches tothe side of the iMac (the IR receiver is allegedly hidden behind theApple logo).

Already considered a design classic, the new iMacs look even better, butin reality though Apple have added more power for the buck, they’rejust iMacs. However the real innovation is Front Row which is designed to directly compete with Microsoft’s Media PC, and it does this by using Apple iLife applications being simple to use and control(the Microsoft Media PC has 24+ buttons, the Apple remote has 6).

Considering Apple's Impact Front Row gives extremely simple access to content stored on the iMacincluding music through iTunes, videos (including the newly availablevideo content that’s available through iTunes), photos stored in iPhotoand DVD’s though iDVD. The remote works up to 30 feet away from theunit.

Currently Apple are not saying whether Front Row will be available asan upgrade for existing Mac users, however the new universal iPod dockdoes have an IR receiver on the front and the remote is available as aseparate purchase so an educated guess would be that it will be.

The iSight is a nice addition (the add-on version costs over GBP 100),but it’s a fantastic webcam. It obviously works with iChat (Apple’s IMsystem) allowing video conferencing with up to 3 other people, andthere’s now Photo Booth which allows snap-shots to be taken and thenmanipulated by adding effects etc.

Both the 17″ and 20″ come with 8x SuperDrives which are now dual-layer(DVD+R DL/DVD+-RW/CD-RW), they have a PCI-X bus (faster than the oldPCI bus) and PCI-X video cards (17″ is a Radion X600 PRO and the 20″ aX60 PRO XT). Both come with 512MB RAM expandable to 2.5GB, the 17″ witha 160GB SATA disk and 20″ with 250GB. CPU speeds have been upped to1.9GHz (17″) and 2.1GHz (20″). UK pricing starts at GBP 899 (inc VAT)for the 17″ and GBP 1,199 for the 20″.

Considering Apple's Impact Since there’s no base unit (everything is built into the actualdisplay) the amount is space they require is minimal. They’d look justas good on a desk as in the living room.

Video-capable iPod
The 5th generation iPod is here, though probably not what manyexpected. It’s just a prettier, thinner version of the iPod Photo witha larger screen (now 2.5″). The iPod’s lines are now much closer tothat of the new iMacs (excepting the click wheel and of course it nowgenerally available in black as well as white).

The screen is crisp, clear and remarkably bright, though it’s only320 x 240 resolution, which is good enough to watch music videos andsuch like, but rather small compared to other devices on the market.However album art, podcasts etc. with some aspect of video (or photo)content does look very good. Though Apple have probably alreadydeveloped a widescreen video iPod, why launch it now just to give thecompetition a chance to catch-up? The new iPod is a step change overexisting versions and everyone is again going to have to compete withit.

Currently video can only be imported through iTunes (like photos),however this is likely to be a move to appease the movie studios.Whether they’ll be an upgrade to iTunes to import (noncopyright/encrypted) video content is yet to be seen, it might nothappen for a while. The iPod plays MPEG4 and H.264 video content.

If the iPod is plugged into a dock, the video can be sent to anexternal display like a TV, but it’s still only sent at 320 x 240 whichlooks pixelated.

There are a few extras in-line with the nano, such as extra clocks,being able to lock the unit, more games etc. A real improvement is thecalendar application which suits the new display perfectly.

Pricing is GBP 219 for the 30GB version and GBP 299 for 60GB (both incVAT).

iTunes 6
Considering Apple's Impact iTunes 5 was launched with the iPod nano, and a month later there’s nowiTunes 6 to go with the 5th generation model. The main new advance isvideo content, there are now around 2000 music videos available on theiTunes music store (unfortunately there’s still a huge pricedifferential between the US and UK with a music video costing $1.99 inthe US and GBP 1.89 in the UK – with the UK getting panned on price, as usual).

Since Steve Jobs (CEO of Apple) is also CEO of Pixar (the animationcompany that made Finding Nemo, The Incredibles etc) there’s 6 PixarShorts also available for purchase on the iTunes store (same price as amusic video).

In the US there’s also terrestrial TV shows available from ABC and theDisney Channel (Lost, Desperate Housewives and others). Why may TVshows available as downloads when you can buy DVD sets? Because itgives revenue for PVR opportunities i.e. it’s unlikely someone willdownload every episode of Lost, but they will download and pay for theepisode they missed last night (and can watch it on their hour commuteto work), iTunes makes it incredibly easy to do this, rather thanworking out how to set your PVR, and then getting the content off it.Though content can be watched through iTunes, it’s likely more peoplewill use it with their iPod.

It’s somewhat odd that Apple are working with Disney as Pixar have beenvery publicly rowing with Disney over distribution agreements fortheir films. What people forget is that Pixar are contracted to make 6new films for Disney, so assuming that’s one a year that’s 6 years tosettle the arguments (even lawyers can work to those timescales). It’sjust a matter of money, Pixar want more and Disney don’t want to payit. By the time 6 years are up it’s likely they’ll be buddies again andboth with have reached a happy compromise.

Considering Apple's Impact The video aspects of the iTunes store, though limited at the moment,are a major break-through (even ground-breaking) especially with thecurrent shows being available. Disney obviously have a huge amount ofcontent they could make available if all the legal intricacies can besorted. Once one studio cracks, they’ll all follow suit.

It shows how successful iTunes is considering that arch rivals Realand Microsoft have just made an agreement to share technology etc andjoin forces rather than fighting with each other to try and expand the25% of the market they JOINTLY command.

There’s some other new features of iTunes, gifting which allows anyoneto give away a track, albums, music videos or their playlists to anyother registered iTunes user (i.e. the gifter purchases it and it’smade available to another user for download).

Just for You is in beta, whereby iTunes suggest purchases based onprevious behaviour – a suggestion engine.

One of the most request features for podcasts has been user ratings andthis is now available, so like a podcast you can now rate it and themore ratings it get, the higher up the listings it goes.

Considering Apples future

Considering Apple's Impact Apple’s future has definitely been shaped by the iPod (they sold 1mNanos in 17 days – how many returned was, not surprisingly undefined) which is molding how the company moves forward.

Macsare becoming companions for iPods rather than the other way around. Keyto all of this is content and iTunes is definately leading the way with75%+ market share (globally) and higher in specific markets (UK it’sover 85%).

If Apple can crack the video market, they’re going to dominate for along time, and though the 5Gen iPod is a step in the right direction,it’s just that. Though Apple never pre-announce products you can besure the 6Gen and even 7Gen iPods are already designed and waiting in thewings and they’ll be full blown widescreen systems.

Macs are going to change as Apple move away from IBM Power processorsto Intel CPUs, but that’s an internal change and they’ll stillergonomically beat the pants of almost everything else out there.

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