Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Sorry if this has been mentioned but the Canadian online store is also down.

Very exciting
 
I agree. Minor product variations do not an event worth covering make.

I'm going to bet on one of the following:

1) A fit Steve Jobs bouncing around the stage to reassure investors.
2) Steve announcing he's retiring
3) DRM free music available from all the major labels.

Has to be one of these.

Ooh, I never thought of no. 3. But that would be a "big deal" of absolute mammoth proportions, as it'd require a sudden U-turn into common sense by the record labels, which I don't see happening any time soon. So yes, that would be a huge deal, somewhere along the lines of Hell freezing over, or Duke Nukem Forever being announced as an iPhone exclusive available immediately for 99 cents from the App store :)

One other theory of course, is that they're lying. They can't think of anything exciting to do, and nobody seems interested, so they say it's going to be a "big deal" in a desperate attempt to generate hype.

I hope the gadget company does spin off computers because they are the lowest priority in the company now. I said this was going to happen when the company changed it's name and nobody believed me. I wish I had been wrong.

You (we) could be wrong yet, it's all just speculation right now. It does seem like a perfectly logical course of action though - I just hope that if they do split, the Mac company gets back to having the passion for.. well, Macs.. that it had 4-5 years ago before all the iPod and iPhone stuff took off.
 
Well I was in the market for a refurb 8GB Touch before I heard about this event a couple weeks ago, so as long as there is a new Touch at the $199 price point then I will be happy.

In the past has anyone had any luck getting deals at stores on the old iPods. That is walking in and getting a great deal at Best Buy or places trying to get rid of the old generations before the new ones come in?
 
The stores going offline has become an integral part of the buildup and hype. I'm fairly certain that they shut the stores down 2 hours earlier than they need to, just to make everyone go crazy with anticipation. The maintenance itself can't possibly take more than a minute, I mean the new pages were probably finished a week ago, and uploading them will only take a few seconds.

This isn't simple HTML updates. You're talking updates of products and prices in a massive database and making sure everything is together.
 
The stores going offline has become an integral part of the buildup and hype. I'm fairly certain that they shut the stores down 2 hours earlier than they need to, just to make everyone go crazy with anticipation. The maintenance itself can't possibly take more than a minute, I mean the new pages were probably finished a week ago, and uploading them will only take a few seconds.

I think they may also take all the stores offline and bring them all back as soon as all the national online stores have been updated. That way no one knows something before someone else. IMO
 
Hmm, not quite yet ?

Another apple media event, another time to bypass the mac mini... Oh how long I have waited for a re-fresh. Not likely today with all the buzz about the ipods. For the holidays perhaps? A boy can dream.
 
Sorry if this has been mentioned before, as I didn't read through all of the posts; but what if this "big" announcement also contains the rumored "Beatles iPod" along with their entire catalog at the iTunes store? Has this been offered as a possibility? I haven't seen any rumors relating to this lately.

That would be the one thing that would make me head off to the Apple store this week!
 
I'm hoping for more battery life on the ipod touch. Any home
Ha! Fat chance. As long as Steve Jobs is around, slimness will always be priority #1. Did you ever hear him come out on stage and talk about how great the battery life is? No. All he wants to do is squeeze the word "thin" into as many sentences as possible. "Look how THIN it is. OMG it's so THIN. Wow. THIN. Can you believe it? It's so amazingly THIN! It's so THIN, in fact, that it's invisible from the side. THINTHINTHINTHINTHIN! Seriously. I'm gonna pinch my arm now, this is just too unbelievably THIN!"

Apple = amazing mobile products with such puny and non-replaceable batteries, you have to make sure to never be more than 2 feet away from the nearest power outlet or USB port.
 
The stores going offline has become an integral part of the buildup and hype. I'm fairly certain that they shut the stores down 2 hours earlier than they need to, just to make everyone go crazy with anticipation. The maintenance itself can't possibly take more than a minute, I mean the new pages were probably finished a week ago, and uploading them will only take a few seconds.

I guess you're absolutely on point! Its become a tradition of Apple in this regard!

And to imagine that companies like dell and hp lose a large sum if their stores go down for even a minute!<sarcasm>
 
This never ceases to amaze me. It makes me wonder what will be available in 5 years and even 10 years. The products they're selling today will be archaic in comparison like the products of 5 to 10 years ago are today.

matchbox
 
I'm working for a music group in Paris. And I can guarantee you that the big thing of the event is a new way to listen to the music that you download on the store !!!

iTunes 8 will add interactivity to the music and help you to create and mix the artists tracks by downloading blocks put availaible by the artist.

I swear that i say is 100% legit. You have been warned. Please keep in mind my post.
 
i reckon the price of the touch will drop to about the same as an iphone (on a phone contract). there was a rumour they wanted to change the price to differentiate it from the iphone. so i think they will mostly the same, but i would expected a healthy price cut.
 
Ha! Fat chance. As long as Steve Jobs is around, slimness will always be priority #1. Did you ever hear him come out on stage and talk about how great the battery life is? No. All he wants to do is squeeze the word "thin" into as many sentences as possible. "Look how THIN it is. OMG it's so THIN. Wow. THIN. Can you believe it? It's so amazingly THIN! It's so THIN, in fact, that it's invisible from the side. THINTHINTHINTHINTHIN! Seriously. I'm gonna pinch my arm now, this is just too unbelievably THIN!"

Apple = amazing mobile products with such puny and non-replaceable batteries, you have to make sure to never be more than 2 feet away from the nearest power outlet or USB port.

OMG :eek: .... That explains why he's SOOOO thin!!! ;)

steveJobsAugust2006.png
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.