Webfluency » ITunes http://www.webfluency.com We Speak Web So You Don't Have To Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:28:45 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 The Apple Knee Jerk http://www.webfluency.com/2009/01/06/the-apple-knee-jerk/ http://www.webfluency.com/2009/01/06/the-apple-knee-jerk/#comments Tue, 06 Jan 2009 18:47:11 +0000 gdemetrick http://webfluency.com/greg/?p=157 Image representing Apple as depicted in CrunchBase
Well another set of Apple announcements is now over. Here is my knee jerk reaction to the news.

  • iLife ‘09 – This actually looks interesting and any update to iMovie would be most welcomed. iPhoto integration to Facebook and Flickr make it worth it. Totally will upgrade.
  • iWork ‘09 – I don’t use iWork at all so I can’t really talk to the updates. Slides forced to iPhones looks like a cool but limited feature. If I did more presentations it might be worth it.
  • 17″ MacBook Pro – Let me just say, I am STILL incredibly happy with my MacBookPro and see no reason presented today to upgrade. I rarely use it on battery only mode so 3 hours of battery time is fine vs 8 hours. I am just not sold on the uni-body aluminum design. It has to be thinner and lighter which is a plus but the non-removable battery just doesn’t work for me. Just imagine the first time a system shut down hangs and you can not pop the battery out to force a shut down. Also, the price point is still way too high for only one spec model.
  • iTunes – The quick quiz on this one is how many songs that are currently $0.99 will be $1.29 by the end of the month? My prediction: ALL OF THEM! $0.69 is probably the first week of a new single. $0.99 is a “deal” price and $1.29 will become the standard price for all singles with albums going up too. So your 10 song $9.99 album just became a $12.99 album. DRM free music is cool but they have got to cost more than a DRMed version. Putting it on the 3G network is cool but only applicable for iPhone users which I am not (yet).

All in all it was interesting but just not exciting. I think there is very little in these announcements to get me to open the wallet wide and it will actually hurt consumers in the long run.

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]]> http://www.webfluency.com/2009/01/06/the-apple-knee-jerk/feed/ 0 2008 Taste Test – Zune vs. iPod http://www.webfluency.com/2008/08/25/2008-taste-test-zune-vs-ipod/ http://www.webfluency.com/2008/08/25/2008-taste-test-zune-vs-ipod/#comments Mon, 25 Aug 2008 08:13:33 +0000 gdemetrick http://webfluency.com/greg/?p=58 Installed Empeg PlayerMP3 players are not new to me at all. Even before the iPod came out, I bought an EMPEG in-dash MP3 player for my car in 1997. I mean, what geeky guy could pass up a Linux box installed in a Civic with 28 Gigs worth of music. At the point, I converted my entire CD collection to MP3, loaded up the Empeg, and took my music everywhere.

But as drive failures continued, Rio discontinued servicing and SONICBlue went bankrupt, I started to seek out an alternative in 2002. In walks the iPod. 15 Gig was less than the 28 I had and letting iTunes control my music after I had complete control over files and menus was not welcome. But at least it didn’t break down every 6 months or so. I then sold the Empeg to pay for a new head unit in the car and the iPod.

Fast forward to 2008 when the iPod finally failed from one too many drops. Normally I would just buy an 80 Gig Classic and go on but fate has intervened. I ended up winning an 80 Gig Zune through some luck which will replace the iPod.

Will it be better? How painful will it be to set up? How will it compare to the iTunes experience? Will it really matter seeing how I rarely use my iPods anymore? Well we will all find out in this week long series. The Zune arrived today and I will post over the course of the week my impressions compared to my other MP3 devices.

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