I thought the announcement was decent. Kai Ryssdal took a cheap shot this evening on his show but I didn’t really care. The new products are mainly refinements, they’re not radical “game changers” which I suppose the SCLM demands because already bored with the 2010 elections (they never get tired of airing Dick Morris getting it wrong).
The iPod Touch getting a makeover wasn’t a surprise, its look and features maintain parity with the iPhone. Now my friend Lester can do Face Time over Skype but I probably should buy him a replacement to show I’m magnanimous in Apple’s victory over Microsoft, Dell and the others; they’re currently too busy trying to build an iPad competitor.
Now I can see us buying an Apple TV. The previous model was nice and we enjoy using a couple our friends have. Owning one though? It was expensive for how limited it was. Numerous other people bought Minis and hacked them instead to run Boxee. The remaining barrier is a new television. This Apple TV requires an HD model but at least it can operate Netflix in addition to all the content Apple is offering. Acquiring it now would also be the cart going before the horse: a $99 device making us purchase a $1000 set!
iTunes 10 operates smoothly. It’s amazing how far this piece of software has come. Just ten years ago it was SoundJam distributed by Cassady & Greene, something I actually paid money for! The Ping element definitely needs time to develop. I wasn’t too thrilled to receive what appeared to be the default recommendations. They all sucked. For me, my top 10 albums will reflect what it is on the special page here. I know the knives were out for Apple on Ping too. All the Facebook and LastFM comparisons will abound. However, Apple was late on MP3 players, a storefront for downloadable content, Podcasts, mobile phones and tablet computers. Somehow they still managed to do these things better in order to take over a major share of those markets. Ping just makes it easier because I haven’t even bothered to look at my LastFM page in years and as much as artists prefer MySpace, that site was craptacular from day one; it was so cluttered you could tell it was designed by a PC user who had no basic layout skills.
Don’t feel hurt if I don’t invite you to follow or vice versa. I plan to keep my circle limited to those I know who really follow music as much as I do. Nothing bruises a relationship like finding out a good friend has crappy tastes, or an obscure, elitist one I’ve been accused of having.