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The problem I have with all this is iTunes. It's becoming a mess.

iLife used to be simple. iPhoto for photos, iMovie for your videos, iTunes for music and managing your iPod.

Then iTunes got a music store. OK, sure, that makes sense.
Then the iPod started handling photos, so iTunes got a conduit into iPhoto.
Then the iTunes store got TV shows and movies. OK, a little bit broader in scope, but it still makes sense.
Then iTunes got an app store. Even broader in sense.
Right around then, iTunes became the clearinghouse for all things iPhone related. OK, I guess because the iPhone has iPod heritage, but...
Now we're talking about digital books and magazine subscriptions and PDF content?

iTunes is becoming Apple's "iEverything" app. It's starting to make less sense. I already feel a little strange about using my music app to manage my phone.

iTunes >>>>> iGuide?

I remember seeing a rumor about that name a while ago.

eV
 
Only yesterday we had a story about Apple trying to pressure TV content providers to lower their content from $1.99, and now Apple plan to sell textual content at up to $14.99?!

That price is obscene. You could purchase the physical version (with shipping) for less. IMO there is rarely any justification for an ebook to exceed $4.99 in price, even Amazon's standard $9.99 is vastly overpriced.

I'll agree with you that Apple charging more than $9.99 for a book doesn't make sense since Amazon, B&N and Sony all charge $9.99. What makes me wonder is since the Tablet is rumors to run the iPhone OS, will Amazon release a version of it's Kindle reader for the Tablet? That way I can get a better and cheaper selection and still read then on the tablet.

I've read a few books on my Sony e-book reader and don't mind the price. For the most part, at $9.99 it's still cheaper than hardbacks and I don't have to carry it around. Since I very rarely ever read a book twice, I don't need the physical book. I still will check out a book from the library first if it's available, but if not, I don't mind the $9.99 price.
 
I would have paid - and paid dearly - for a portable tablet device that had real artistic capabilities, but this - this is nothing more than a revenue extraction scheme made metal and plastic.

I have no doubt that someday an e-reader will really begin to supplant mass market book sales (collectable volumes will be around for a long time to come), but this scratchable, breakable, rigid, power dependent tchotchke will not be the one to do so.
 
I'll agree with you that Apple charging more than $9.99 for a book doesn't make sense since Amazon, B&N and Sony all charge $9.99. What makes me wonder is since the Tablet is rumors to run the iPhone OS, will Amazon release a version of it's Kindle reader for the Tablet? That way I can get a better and cheaper selection and still read then on the tablet.
Will Apple let them though, if they compete with and undercut iTunes with the same content?
 
I can't wait!! I would love for this to replace my folders, files, and briefcase. Just scan everything and have it all on the tablet!!!
 
ho hum

Seems to me like the downfall of print media has been a combination of reduced desire to read among the general populace caused by/ in conjunction with more compelling content available from electronic media, particularly the web. I simply don't understand how apple could possibly make reading profitable. There are a few exceptions with tv-like books (Potter, Twilight), but most 8-year olds, when holding a tablet, would prefer to play a game than read a book. I just don't see the market...
 
I would have paid - and paid dearly - for a portable tablet device that had real artistic capabilities, but this - this is nothing more than a revenue extraction scheme made metal and plastic.

I have no doubt that someday an e-reader will really begin to supplant mass market book sales (collectable volumes will be around for a long time to come), but this scratchable, breakable, rigid, power dependent tchotchke will not be the one to do so.
x2
This is sounding more and more like nothing but a big iphone designed to increase sales at the itunes store. And what do you know, iphone and itunes store are apple's two custiest products. :rolleyes:
 
The main thing I am worried about is having yet another device take up an iTunes slot (5 computers allowed). I can't even reset my slots until the year is out either.
 
I would have paid - and paid dearly - for a portable tablet device that had real artistic capabilities, but this - this is nothing more than a revenue extraction scheme made metal and plastic.

Perhaps the 'killer' aspect of this device is that it will allow you to both consume and create content?

Presuming the talk of magazines, newspapers and books is all true, remember most of these rumours are coming from traditional print media, who have no interest in what you could create, only how what you consume will save all their jobs. We're not getting the full story.

Add a stylus to the device (although I know Steve hates them... but he also asked why anyone would want video on an iPod, so who knows?) and you have a cheaper, more affordable Wacom Cinitx with many more features.

Maybe you consume with fingers and multi-touch, and create with a stylus? I wouldn't be surprised to see iWork Touch on this device, either.
 
I can't wait!! I would love for this to replace my folders, files, and briefcase. Just scan everything and have it all on the tablet!!!

You could have done it with Desktop or laptop for years. Have you? What makes you think you'll do it with the tablet?
 
my guess

i agree with Wired's post about "reinventing content, not tablets." The content we consume is defined by the way we consume them. A movie is the way it is mostly because of the way we watch it, and interact with it. If the tablet changes the way we can experience media, then content will be able to change. i foresee a big opportunity coming in media and entertainment content; a blending of all forms of media. Books will be movies, movies will be games, and im not sure what else. But this will create lots of opportunity for new forms of creativity. very exciting.
 
Perhaps the 'killer' aspect of this device is that it will allow you to both consume and create content?

The tablet has too many disadvantages compared to desktops and even laptops when it comes to features relevant for content creation. It's only advantage is mobility but this is very rarely important for creative activities.
 
i agree with Wired's post about "reinventing content, not tablets." The content we consume is defined by the way we consume them. A movie is the way it is mostly because of the way we watch it, and interact with it. If the tablet changes the way we can experience media, then content will be able to change. i foresee a big opportunity coming in media and entertainment content; a blending of all forms of media. Books will be movies, movies will be games, and im not sure what else. But this will create lots of opportunity for new forms of creativity. very exciting.

For what you said, how the tablet is any different from other types of computers? It is not. So I would not expect to influence the development of new forms of media at all.
 
Ya know the funny thing about that is it just struck me that someone is going to make an accessory so that people can power it and hang it on a wall like a painting.

More like a calendar than a painting. Wireless TVs that look like picture frames do that in a much larger painting size. I've got one.
 
Apple Should include this with every expensive eBook.

vaseline.jpg

funny ... I received something like that except in a 55 gal drum when I signed up for the AT&T iphone plans

:-D
 
I would have paid - and paid dearly - for a portable tablet device that had real artistic capabilities, but this - this is nothing more than a revenue extraction scheme made metal and plastic.

I have no doubt that someday an e-reader will really begin to supplant mass market book sales (collectable volumes will be around for a long time to come), but this scratchable, breakable, rigid, power dependent tchotchke will not be the one to do so.

Wow! Serious? You haven't even SEEN IT! You have no idea what it's going to be like, yet you make judgements on it? Nothing more than a "tchotchke"; give me a break...
 
why am i not surprised that their pricing is higher than the others? i am sure they made all amazon's ebooks incompatible so that you have to rebuy them on itunes


Apple is reportedly looking to set hardcover best sellers at $12.99 and $14.99, above Amazon's current $9.99 pricing.
 
The tablet has too many disadvantages compared to desktops and even laptops when it comes to features relevant for content creation. It's only advantage is mobility but this is very rarely important for creative activities.
Yes but it does have some advantages to mobility if there is a way to create, or at least make minor alterations to your documents on the go.

If there is a stylus it could be a device that is as useful and flexible as a not pad. You won't write the next "Great American Novel" exclusively on it, but you could keep notes on it for when you get back to your computer, or pull up a spread sheet in a meeting and make changes to it and see the results right there without the need to bring your bulky laptop.

Sketching out ideas, creating illustrations, editing photo's could all be possible and have distinct advantages in creation over a computer with a mouse or even a standard wacom tablet. It probably wouldn't diminish the need for those functions on a desktop but could be another tool for content creation.
 
[...]I have no doubt that someday an e-reader will really begin to supplant mass market book sales (collectable volumes will be around for a long time to come), but this scratchable, breakable, rigid, power dependent tchotchke will not be the one to do so.

So if it is scratchproof, unbreakable, completely cordless/wireless, waterproof, floating, washable, green, then what?
 
How (painfully) funny! After weeks of participating in various threads in which it felt like many people sided on Tablet justification concepts like how much cheaper the new print media was going to be because the publishers won't have to print it, nor distribute it, etc, we get this rumor which implies- as expected- that there would be no big discounts for media at all... and perhaps the media would be priced even HIGHER than other e-media sources.

I've argued again and again to simply look to the example of everything else already in the iTunes store relative to the pricing of their "printed" counterparts, and let that be the general pricing guide for how all this print media would be priced... only to see post after post building up the perceived value of this Tablet by imagining that all these other players (outside of Apple) were going to cut their revenue & profit throats solely (apparently) to help Apple sell more Tablets.

This rumor makes great sense in not perpetuating the fantasy that all these magazines, college textbooks, etc are now going to be bargain priced, though even I'm a bit surprised that the exact same content might be premium priced (higher than competition from Amazon, etc). Wow! I have to believe this is for the rumored enhanced version, where, instead of a static picture for example, the Tablet version gets video, etc (a higher price to justify an enhanced version of the print publication). If not, Yikes!

And where are all those dreamers looking for the print media industry to kill their revenues & profits now? And if someone chimes in still in that camp, why would they do that exactly?
 
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