iPod Hi-Fi Introduced

[Agathon]

anyone feel like something might have happened last minute? like MAYBE they saw the leaked ad for the oragami and decided to reneg and put something ULTRA SUPER MEGA STUPID out?

maybe all the multi iTouch weird podrific rumors affected their stratagy? I don't know.

Apple really needs to wow me. I'm just really let down. I have ideas for you apple. I could take you places. wisk me to cupertino. I want to be innovative for a living.

...stupid recording studio

Wake up and smell the coffee.. these were minor products left over from Macworld because they weren't ready.

When Apple wants to introduce something revolutionary, they will hire out a theatre again and not just invite journalists on to their campus.

 

[icloud]

This is my iPod Hi-Fi!!!

The sound comes from under the sloped speakers

nothing special, but i love it

 

[AidenShaw]

it could be worse

Remember the MW where the Steve introduced the Dalmation and Flower Power CRT Imacs?

Everyone was embarrassed for Apple then.... This isn't as bad.

 

[Macmaniac]

Bah, for $30 I can hook up my iPod to my stereo!
I just saved myself $319

 

[Demon Hunter]

...but Steve was off, he didn't nail things down like he always does (read the article in Macworld about how he preps...dear God!)

I've never seen this article... link?

 

[Some_Big_Spoon]

Excellent point! I've actually blocked those things out. They've had flops since he's been back. These are cruddy, but they ain't flower power bad.

Remember the MW where the Steve introduced the Dalmation and Flower Power CRT Imacs?

Everyone was embarrassed for Apple then.... This isn't as bad.

 

[MrCrowbar]

I'm still waiting for this "much cooler" product. April 1 is my personal deadline. Gimme 12" MPB and my oTouch, PLEASE.

 

[mackeeper]

iPod mini battery and ****** service

I sent my iPod mini in (before my Applecare expired) a couple weeks ago and got it back the other day. Here was the problem: I would fully charge it, listen to it for like 20 minutes, turn it off and put it away. The next day, I turned it on and within a second it says I have no battery left. So I charged it again. The next day, same thing happened. This happened for about a week, everyday. So I sent it in. Apple repair center's "diagnostic" was that nothing was wrong with it. They updateed the firmware (which I could have easily done) and sent it back. I just tried it today. The problem still persists! Unfortunately, my Applecare is expired now. Do you have any idea what I should do? That service was illegitimate and I'm still left with a terrible battery and I dont have the warranty anymore!!!!! The Apple repair did a ****** job. Thanks for your help and support!

 

[dalen7]

This is not revolutionary...yet

This is not revolutionary at all.
Its an idea that got stuck trying to be revolutionary.
Someone from apple is reading this hopefully, who can actually now see past the block that was stumping them the whole time
1) An ipod sticking out of the speaker...what were you thinking?
(take a look at the living room pick they have on their site...its a classy living room, nice black grill speaker...with an odd object <ipod> coming out of nowhere.
1a) this is as awkward as the imac trying to look like a nice monitor <the "oops wheres my computer"> yet has a mile of space under the screen. <of which i heard many comments in the apples stores on its release of "how odd" it looked
2) a remote control? Are you serious? Whats your vision? I cant see that far!
Are you going to memorize 1000 songs, etc to remote by memory?
Or does apple think we are to lazy once we are close enough to the screen to click the ipod instead of the remote. Maybe its less cumbersome, but adds clutter.

SOLUTION:I see where you are going apple...take over the living room with simplicity and style...first with the speaker, then the t.v. <like the ipod, first music, then tv, next film>
1) the ipod <all of them> are your remote.
People with ipods carry them anyway. Its plastered to their bodies.
The shuffle as you click the play button, will detect the speaker and sound will come out. HOw cool? No wires mom!
2) The ipods with video capability, remote for the new apple tv.
Sit your butt on the couch, grab your sleek, small, thin, ipod and click a button...wow, it plays your movie on the T.V.
<Now they may argue that the tech is not there for this part yet...but have you seen the stuff they have with touch screen??<they not being apple> they have it where you can resize photos with your fingers, Im sure you have ran across the link on this site in recent days...this leads to other great possibilities, but getting back on track?
PURPOSE:
Not to have odd objects popping up like a leech on your steros back, etc. By the way can this even hook up to your mac?
Also, again, the ipod is your clikcing remote control device...just needs to be implemented that way.
Best to all
Gods Peace
dalen

 

[kadajawi]

This is nowhere near a high-end speaker/amplifier combo...when you think high end...think a week's salary (for a non-student) for one component (the speakers), and another week to pay for the amp.

Aye, but I would rather think a month to three for each component, including buying the speakers one by one. High end to me is in the range of a nice car. Apples speaking of high end is giving this thing too much expectations, which in no way they can fulfill.

 

[Deepdale]

iPod Hi-Fi = iPod Hi-Price = iDon'tThinkSo

A truly overhyped event that gives rise to such an item can easily make one conclude that Apple has bottomed out - at least for the time being - on ideas that dazzle.

 

[Agathon]

your missing the point. apple could of released this with a JPEG on the front page of their site, and it would of received a better response as well.

Not really. The scale of the event (small and at Apple's Campus) was appropriate for this announcement.

It was just people on sites like this who hyped the event into something it was never intended to be.

 

[Evangelion]

Cannot understand why everyone feels SO LET DOWN!!! when Apple do not make something, people complain and when the dedicate time and money to make something that SOME OF us actually like, people get all S***** and take the easy way out and complain.

Well, the problem is that they claim that the boombox is a hi-end piece of equipment, when everyone who knows something about audio can immediately tell that it's not. ANd I can't help but feel that it's designed to solve a problem that simply does not exist. Or it can be solved with equipment that doesn't cost as much.

 

[MacTruck]

I cannot believe how many people in this post have said something similar...

You are definately a fan of the wrong companies products if you are expecting anything but expensive.

That being said, I just got my shipment confirmation email form Apple, Shipping tomorrow, arriving on Friday.

SUCKER!

 

[Macnoviz]

quite dissappointed

If I remember correctly, we were promised to get features unseen in the iPod speaker market. but I hardly expected it to be an apple remote and full screen album art on the iPod. First, you can get a remote with the dock, too, second, if you're at the other end of the room, it will hardly matter how large your artwork is on the tiny thing sticking out of your box.
Come on, Steve, I think we were all expecting something more, like a built-in projector, so you can see the iTunes visualisation, or album art, or just title and stuff on the ceiling or a wall, or some kind of screen on the front, or a wireless connection, so you can store your collection on your Hi-Fi, or any other thing that would really distinguish it from existing iPod boomboxes, or speakers.

 

[Demon Hunter]

Penny Arcade always hits the nail on the head

I wonder if Steve has seen any of the Mac-related comics.

 

[Svennig]

The backlash against the backlash

A number of people on this site have expressed amazement that most of us are dissapointed by the product releases. Most of the time, this comes in the form of "well, you hyped it up".

I, for one, would have been dissapointed in this announcement if it came out of the blue on some random tuesday morning. The fact that they were willing to host a media event about it makes it all the more dissapointing. It shows two things about apple.

1) A lack of innovation. They could have done so much with an ipod hifi. Have 2 wireless speakers (that look the same as they do now, maybe). Make them actually good (add tweeters). Add in the kind of technology from airport express or sonus. Yes, I know you can add that on, but if you think I'm paying another chunk on top of the already-painful pricetag then you are nuts! Add in a radio, it would cost maybe five dollars to do so in final manufacturing costs.

But they didnt do any of these things. What they did was rip-off their competitors' idea. They took the bose one and duplicated it in a different housing. No new features. No change.

The leather iPod sleeves are useless. Its been done better (and cheaper) by other after-market vendors.

2) A change in the beliefs of the company. Everything that apple does, is done to a higher standard than the competition. The macbooks are nicer (in design) than most other laptops. OS-X is a nicer operating system to use than windows or linux. The ipod revolutionised the portable music player world because it was simply to use and looked good. This new Hi-Fi thing shows no improvement over what's already available out there. So why did they do it? Greed. They didn't want to innovate, or to show flair with design or technical skill. They wanted more money.

Releasing a product that barely exceeds competitors specifications? Sounds like Dell to me.

 

[macidiot]

Yes, but it WILL go to 20khz, but it will roll off at more than 3dB above 16khz.. That's what the specs are telling us.

For WHAT IT IS... It's not all that bad.

Fair enough, I do agree it isn't bad for what it is. There are serious constraints. And perhaps they didn't include a real tweeter because it would unbalance the sound... I just don't think it's all that great. And definitely overpriced. But not as bad as the leather iPod case

 

[mrwonkers]

How Revolting

A GIANT PIECE OF POO WOULD BE MORE USEFUL......
AND THE PRICE WHATS WITH THAT...

AS FOR THE iPod CASES >>>>>What a RIP RIP RIP...

This would have to the dissapointing product release from Apple I have ever had the misfortune to hear about......

And you know what you can DO with your integrated graphics 2 Mister Jobbies......

 

[demallien]

What I find crazy - go build a mac mini and put all the bells & whistles on it. $1300 for a computer with no screen!!! You can buy a 17" iMac for 1299 sure it wont have 2gigs of ram but it will have a bigger harddrive, better graphics card, and a 17" LCD. How could anyone justify buying a mini?

OK, Here's a justification.
MacFan#1 goes down to his local Apple Store, buys an iMac 20" for $1800 or whatever the price is in the US. Gets home, is very happy with his purchase, although he notes that for a full Home Theatre experience, the screen and speakers just don't quite cut it, so he hooks the thing up to his stereo
MacFan#2, on the same day goes to her local Apple Store, and buys a MacMini, completely tricked out for $1000, and because she's a bit strapped for cash, just sticks on the old 15" LCD screen from her last computer. Hooks the thing up to her stereo for sound.

2 years later...
MacFan#1 decides that his iMac is getting a bit long in the tooth. He sells it on eBay for about $500 and then buys the current iMac for about $1800 again. He's out of pocket by about $1300.
MacFan#2 has also noticed that her MacMini just doesn't cut it anymore for playing HD video on the 23" screen that she bought last year. She sells the old MacMini for about $300 and buys the replacement MacMini for $1000. She's out of pocket by about $700.

The Point:
MacMinis are great for switchers that already have screens. They are also great if you want to hook the thing up to your huge television an use it as a media centre, especially now that the Mini has the Hz under the bonnet to get the job done. They are also a way to enable people to upgrade their system bit by bit, rather than having to blow $1300 every time they want to update. Another advantage is that you don't HAVE to sell it when it gets a bit old. It would make a great little server to sit in the background doing most of the boring internet firewall crap will the big bad new computer runs the 50" plasma whilst you watch the latest episode of Commander In Chief downloaded from iTMS.

My point being the MacMinis have many advantages. My lastest purchase was an iMac, because the Mini couldn't handle H264, but my next purchase will definately be a Mini (well, after the MacBook of course! )

 

[Arcady]

MacFan#1 decides that his iMac is getting a bit long in the tooth. He sells it on eBay for about $500 and then buys the current iMac for about $1800 again. He's out of pocket by about $1300.
MacFan#2 has also noticed that her MacMini just doesn't cut it anymore for playing HD video on the 23" screen that she bought last year. She sells the old MacMini for about $300 and buys the replacement MacMini for $1000. She's out of pocket by about $700.

Your math doesn't quite work. How much did the 23 inch screen cost? Add that to the $700.

 

[MarcelV]

They could have done so much with an ipod hifi. Have 2 wireless speakers (that look the same as they do now, maybe). Make them actually good (add tweeters).
.....But they didnt do any of these things. What they did was rip-off their competitors' idea. They took the bose one and duplicated it in a different housing. No new features. No change.

This is a very blunt statement. Have you heard this thing? Have you heard it next to the Bose system? Only then, you would be able to make this comparison. I haven't heard either one next to eachother. But I have heard the Bose. And while a lot of people like the sound of Bose, it's a well known fact that Bose produces a very 'colored' and unnatural sound pattern. That plus marketing creates Bose. (As for marketing strategies, we can't blame Bose for that, Apple would never do such a thing. right? )
But don't state Apple didn't improve the Bose one till you have heard them side by side.

 

[airport1]

i think your're all missing the point

hi all, first post


This anouncement was about Intl minis and software mods, with a little ipod news at the end. There's been a loads of complaints that it's all ipod and no computers recently. Well this was the other way around.

The new mini and software IS a big step forward. You can see this as a direct step towards a media server with minis as cheap front end satalites. I find this exciting.

The ipod HiFi? well they weren't going to call it ipod LOWFI were they? By most peoples standards it will class as HIFI, just look at how well the BOSE sound dock sells. I've got one and its OK but does not get close to my £4000 HIFI. Would I buy the new apple? YES, one of them plugged into an airport express would be good for the kitchen, garage etc.

I think you need to consider these anouncements as steps on the way to the apple media server. Now it doesn't seam so bad, does it?

 

[MacTruck]

hi all, first post


This anouncement was about Intl minis and software mods, with a little ipod news at the end. There's been a loads of complaints that it's all ipod and no computers recently. Well this was the other way around.

The new mini and software IS a big step forward. You can see this as a direct step towards a media server with minis as cheap front end satalites. I find this exciting.

The ipod HiFi? well they weren't going to call it ipod LOWFI were they? By most peoples standards it will class as HIFI, just look at how well the BOSE sound dock sells. I've got one and its OK but does not get close to my £4000 HIFI. Would I buy the new apple? YES, one of them plugged into an airport express would be good for the kitchen, garage etc.

I think you need to consider these anouncements as steps on the way to the apple media server. Now it doesn't seam so bad, does it?

Hey Steve J.,

Stop making macrumors accounts to support your products.

Thanks.

 

[gauchogolfer]

I've never seen this article... link?

There's one from the Guardian in the UK which goes "behind the scenes" at the Stevenote.