The Apple announcements today were more or less what people expected, but there were some really nice twists.
New iPods, yeah, that was an obvious move. Selling movies was expected, but I don't think anyone really knew they'd move up to 640x480 resolution for those and the TV shows, which is essentially standard definition resolution. They just hooked me, because that's about as good as a DVD, only without the piece of plastic. It's the quantum shift that music made a few years ago.
Even more impressive is the "iTV" box that they previewed, and will ship early next year. People have been wondering for awhile if they'd introduce a DVR kind of device, and they've totally looked beyond that. A DVR is a broadcast-centric device, that has to do with the old distribution of content, on a schedule, via broadcast and cable. That's old news, and the a la carte pricing of content seems to be working. Let's face it, the best TV shows are like commercials for me to buy the DVD's. And if that new box really does support HD the way the demo did, the whole BlueRay vs. HD-DVD argument is even more pointless than it already is.
There certainly is some danger for Apple. I mean, they have to accept some outside influence now and then. They were smart to work podcasts into the store. They support video of the same as well. As long as they don't close that out, the entire platform is looking positive.
For some reason the new Shuffle caught my eye more than the rest, even though I have bitched about the original Shuffle from the beginning. Something that small is great for walking around during classes. Don't even get me started how ridiculously intuitive, yet simple the clip is.
I dig the itv device, but isn't just a cool apple version of what already exists from Microsoft's Media Center extenders? I think the real deal is the ability to stream all of this content right from your ipod, then I would cheer. To be able to take your conent wherever and play it would be something to celebrate.
I still don't buy music from iTunes outside of a song here or a song there. The quality is downright lousy when compared to a high quality MP3. I don't see myself buying movies either, execept for special occasion. I really wish they allows for DVDs to be ripped to iTunes like they do with music.
I have no problem with the quality.
I've played with Media Center, and I think it sucks. I got it as part of MSDN, and even for the DVR stuff I use Snapstream's BeyondTV instead.
75% of the world is iPod-centric, and I believe that's true because it's pretty idiot proof. This just extends that to TV.
While I find the new Shuffle interesting, I like my 'old' Shuffle better. I have a hard time keeping up with this just between work and my ride. I'd lose the new shuffle and never find it again.
Plus I like direct to USB port capability and not needing a dock. I do need to get that 80 Gig iPod though, now that the state gets a discount and everything...