U2 iPod, Photo iPod and Additional iTMS Localizations Released

[hansen]

No iTMS in Denmark in the near future

According to Kenneth Nielsen, country manager for Apple in Denmark, there are no plans for iTMS in any new countries in the near future, except for Canada. He says this to the Danish ComputerWorld.

And the reason: they don't want to deal with the local currency.

This is a really strange argument to mee. I use my credit card all the time to buy on-line in dollors, euros, pounds or whatever. If they don't want to deal with the local currency they could just go ahead and use euro - that is just no big deal for us. THere isn't a store in Copenhagen where you can't pay with euro despite the local currency is kroner.

 

[blybug]

Whether you're LOL or not, it's not my arrogance, but Apple's, that doesn't seem to understand photographers needs.

Just to clarify...the LOL was specifically at your alteration of my "Old Days" and "Modern" analogy, because it was funny. I apologize if you read some sort of condescending tone into my reply. I wasn't LOL at your post or the points you are making, mostly I agree with what you are saying.

But I also agree with what another poster has pointed out, the device is not primarily meant for photographers any more than the iPod is meant to be for professional musicians. It is a cutting edge consumer device that is first and foremost the most advanced version of the iPod, by far the most popular consumer portable hard-drive music player on the market due to its elegant simplicity and ease of use, that just so happens to let the average joe carry around his pictures like a digital wallet if he wants to shell out the $$$ for that capability. In its present form it is for showing pictures, not taking pictures.

Give the thing some time to evolve, and almost surely a later iteration will allow direct downloading of pictures into the iPod. And I won't be surprised at all if either the Belkin product is soon updated to integrate with iPod Photo, or if Apple themselves provide a firmware update to allow the direct connection of some digital cameras (the PortalPlayer hardware is supposed to support this and many other features).

Anyone who is serious about photography (my wife is a professional photographer) has enough high-capacity memory cards or a laptop to get them through whatever job/vacation/event they are shooting. I see a place for the iPod in that workflow someday, but do not find it at all disgraceful that the very first iteration of this product does not boast that capability.

 

[iMeowbot]

"Copy full-resolution photos to iPod Photo as a backup or to transfer originals to another system." Notice they don't say "view".

You don't need to undertake any detective work to find out the capabilities and limitations, it's all spelled out in the manual.

 

[robocop2000]

rip off ireland

The reason for Irelands exclusion is painfully obvious if you live in ireland. We are subject to the same rip off prices as th Uk for music, and I would say that Jobs was unable to negotiate the 99c per song from the labels as this would mean larger cut in profits for the record companies. And they could hardly open itunes ireland at 1.20 a song!

So folks don't expect itunes ireland anytime soon, unless the case against the cost difference between UK and Europe is resolved.

 

[cgnjny]

skip protection

I'm not a pure tech person, so I don't know specifics, but why does the new iPod photo have a smaller "buffer" of skip protection (from up to 25 mins for previous to 17 minutes for the photo version)?

Is it a space limitation? Is the 25 mins being shared for photo use and viewing?

I keep going back-and-forth between the merits of 8 minutes...

Thanks.

 

[crossed-over]

Good job Apple for pushing the iPod forward, but can someone please explain to me what's so great about having photos in your pocket? I just don't see the necessity here. It's like having a walkman with pictures on it. Not sure it will sell as well as the hype.

 

[summitwynds]

Got mine today!

Thank you FedEx! I was scheduled to get my iPod Photo on 11/3. FedEx showed up with it today. Its pretty cool. I know I will used the photo feature for hooking up to a tv to impress clients. Not a gadget for everyone, but the photos are nice and crisp on the iPod, I havent hooked it up to a tv yet. As usual, very simple to set up. The color screen is very nice. Very crisp and clear. I definitely hope that someone (Apple or otherwise) figures out a way to put iMovie & Quicktime movies on the iPod. I have Eye Home and would love to be able to pop a recorded show or an iMove on the iPod, then play it on a tv. Again, not a gadget for everyone.

 

[CalfCanuck]

Buyer beware ...

Although at first extremely excited about the Ipod photo, after a little research I have decided not to purchase one. Here is why:

Check out the Archos Gmini400 or AV400. The Gmini is not any bigger than the ipod photo, has a BUILT IN card reader and does video too. Not to mention its only $400.

While I'm disappointed in number of things for the photographer in the new Photo iPod,be aware of a couple of points on this device.

First, its only 20 GB - 1/3 the storage of the new iPod.

Second, smaller comanies go out of business all the time, and may not support the products as well as you like.

My first portable HD storage solution was a very well reviewed device from a company called "Minds@work". Bought almost 4 years ago, it was a small, portable, 10 GB HD with a DOS OS that read from Compact Flash Cards, with a FW interface to upload to your computer. It was decent, but the battery life was awful (I felt it had to be plugged in to ensure a safe upload).

And of course the comapny went bankrupt. I still use the device, but would recommend you factor long term support and upgrades into decisions.

 

[CalfCanuck]

Just to clarify...the LOL was specifically at your alteration of my "Old Days" and "Modern" analogy, because it was funny. I apologize if you read some sort of condescending tone into my reply. I wasn't LOL at your post or the points you are making, mostly I agree with what you are saying.

But I also agree with what another poster has pointed out, the device is not primarily meant for photographers any more than the iPod is meant to be for professional musicians. It is a cutting edge consumer device that is first and foremost the most advanced version of the iPod, by far the most popular consumer portable hard-drive music player on the market due to its elegant simplicity and ease of use, that just so happens to let the average joe carry around his pictures like a digital wallet if he wants to shell out the $$$ for that capability. In its present form it is for showing pictures, not taking pictures.

Give the thing some time to evolve, and almost surely a later iteration will allow direct downloading of pictures into the iPod. And I won't be surprised at all if either the Belkin product is soon updated to integrate with iPod Photo, or if Apple themselves provide a firmware update to allow the direct connection of some digital cameras (the PortalPlayer hardware is supposed to support this and many other features).

Anyone who is serious about photography (my wife is a professional photographer) has enough high-capacity memory cards or a laptop to get them through whatever job/vacation/event they are shooting. I see a place for the iPod in that workflow someday, but do not find it at all disgraceful that the very first iteration of this product does not boast that capability.

Thanks for the clarification. I also am slowly coming to the belief that Apple will support direct camera to iPod uploads with future software updates. All of the need I/O stuff already exists on both ends, so it appears to me to just be a matter of software (not a small task, I know, in syncing up three devices - camera, iPod, computer).

I'm just a little frustrated at the "iPods are designed for music" nonsense around here. The non-pro camera market is HUGE - Canon alone is looking to ship 15 million digital cameras this year. If the installed base is 300 million (conservative #), and a killer Photo iPod gets 5% of that market a year, that's 6 million Photo iPods a year in sales.

Plus Photo iPods can drive Mac sales. When users try to sync the photos with their Win systems, some might be tempted to consider a Mac when their next computer upgrader decision comes along.

 

[feakbeak]

Thanks for the clarification. I also am slowly coming to the belief that Apple will support direct camera to iPod uploads with future software updates. All of the need I/O stuff already exists on both ends, so it appears to me to just be a matter of software (not a small task, I know, in syncing up three devices - camera, iPod, computer).

I'm just a little frustrated at the "iPods are designed for music" nonsense around here. The non-pro camera market is HUGE - Canon alone is looking to ship 15 million digital cameras this year. If the installed base is 300 million (conservative #), and a killer Photo iPod gets 5% of that market a year, that's 6 million Photo iPods a year in sales.

Plus Photo iPods can drive Mac sales. When users try to sync the photos with their Win systems, some might be tempted to consider a Mac when their next computer upgrader decision comes along.

While I'm not sure if the all of the "iPods are designed for music" comments are nonsense, I hear your point about trying to capture the photo market though. Still, the iPod Photo is brand new. I think with time the photo capabilities will become more robust. The iPod was launched about three years ago and look at all the new features that have been added to iPod/iTunes since.

BTW, I'm one of those Windows users who will probably be getting a Mac for my next upgrade. My current PC is still pretty decent and I need a PC for work (I'm a software developer for Win32) but I want a Mac for all the "fun stuff" - digital music, photos, videos. Plus, I can better take advantage of my iPod with iSync, iCal, etc. iPod Agent helps out on Windows, but they still don't have support for Thunderbird and I'm not a big Outlook fan.

 

[Rower_CPU]

You don't need to undertake any detective work to find out the capabilities and limitations, it's all spelled out in the manual.

From that link:

Storing Digital Photos From a Photo Card Reader
Note: Using an optional iPod photo-compatible photo card reader (available for purchase at www.apple.com/store) and a standard digital camera and photo card, you can store photos on iPod photo, then delete them from the photo card and take more pictures. Then later you can transfer the photos from iPod photo to your computer using a standard digital photo application (such as iPhoto, on a Macintosh). You can’t view photos transferred from a photo card reader directly to iPod photo. To view the photos on iPod photo, you must transfer them to your computer, then import them to iPod photo using iTunes.

Hopefully Apple will address this in software soon - it's quite a handicap for the iPod to be marketed now as a digital music/photo wallet but not be able to display the images transferred directly to it from the camera or card reader.

 

[blybug]

DELIVERED!!

iPod Photo on my front porch this morning (5 days ahead of schedule!!)



I started a new thread on the hardware forum with a picture of the pref pane, looks like the full res photos will be stored in disk mode, assuring that at least for now the Belkin reader will not allow download and view.

iPod Photo Prefs

 

[johnnyjibbs]

I would doubt iPod Photo would have the necessary processing power to manipulate the files into the size required for it to view. Early reports make it sound like the Mac has to do a fair amount of work in iTunes to do this process. And just take a look at the woeful photo rotation capabilities of iPhoto!

 

[iMeowbot]

I would doubt iPod Photo would have the necessary processing power to manipulate the files into the size required for it to view. Early reports make it sound like the Mac has to do a fair amount of work in iTunes to do this process. And just take a look at the woeful photo rotation capabilities of iPhoto!

Definitely, it's a good thing that they are doing the scaling and resampling up front. It's very expensive (both CPU and memory) to do it correctly, and it would be just like Apple to drop a built-in function that wasn't as good as its computer-hosted counterpart. That's most likely the reason why photos can't be viewed directly from a camera.

It will be interesting to see what the scaling quality is really like on competing units. I'm guessing that there will be jaggies.

 

[Poff]

According to Kenneth Nielsen, country manager for Apple in Denmark, there are no plans for iTMS in any new countries in the near future, except for Canada. He says this to the Danish ComputerWorld.

And the reason: they don't want to deal with the local currency.

This is a really strange argument to mee. I use my credit card all the time to buy on-line in dollors, euros, pounds or whatever. If they don't want to deal with the local currency they could just go ahead and use euro - that is just no big deal for us. THere isn't a store in Copenhagen where you can't pay with euro despite the local currency is kroner.

Do you have a source? This should mean it won't come to Norway either!

 

[artifex]

I forgot to ask!

Is the U2 iPod dockable?

 

[iMeowbot]

Is the U2 iPod dockable?

Sure. Except for the color, coupon and obscene markup, it's a regular 4G iPod.

 

[tallyho]

Gapless audio tracks?

Can the new iPod Photo do this yet? I mean properly (as the Rio Karma and the newer iRivers can), not the iTunes "combine the second side of Abbey Road into one huge track" so called work-around? I'll be sticking with my 1G 10GB pod till Apple fixes the music side of their player.

 

[Sayhey]

Irish iTunes

This is interesting even though it has an incredibly stupid title to the article.

iTunes Ireland sees 'pot of gold'?

By Jonny Evans

Apple is in negotiations to launch iTunes Music Store in Ireland, reports claim.

It appears Apple originally planned to open for business in Ireland this Tuesday, when it extended its service across Europe. These plans, however, were stymied at the last minute by a disagreement with the Irish Music Rights Organization (IMRO).

These disagreements have now been resolved, according to Phonographic Performance Ireland (PPI) sources, who told Macworld: "We (the Irish recording industry) expected iTunes in Ireland on Tuesday, just like the other ones."

However, a spokesperson for IMRO told Macworld this morning: "We are currently negotiating with Apple," confirming that "negotiations haven't concluded, yet".

Apple this week opened for business in Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.

The local label source said: "We welcome iTunes with open arms. We believe the issues have been resolved - I expect it to open very quickly."

However, local artist representatives repeated: "Negotiations continue".

Macworld UK

I also found these quotes from the article of interest for those non-Euro nations.

Apple declined to comment on its Irish plans, saying: "We are not announcing any new stores beyond Canada in November at this point of time. We are committed to expanding the iTunes Music Store globally, and will announce new countries as and when they come on board."

and,

Apple has confirmed it will open a Music Store in Canada in November, and online reports also claim that progress continues toward launching iTunes in Japan, though the latter venture has faced local problems, too.

Apple Japan vice president Yoshiaki Sakito, a former Sony employee, has previously confirmed Apple's intent to launch in Japan "within the year".

emphasis added.

 

[BS85]

i just received my ipod photo on friday. which was faster than the expected time of one to two weeks. nice, since i waited several months for a dual 2.5 and i'm still waiting on my 30" monitor. anyhow, the ipod photo is pretty much just a color ipod. i wish that they could have included pics in the address book and perhaps a graphic equilizer or something. as for photos, they are 'optimized' for viewing through itunes and then downloaded onto the ipod. you have the option of transferring full-sized images, but only for transferring purposes. i was misled to believe that the photos you view were synced to you iphoto library. but there's not much syncing if you can only go one way. as for viewing, it's pretty limited, you can't even zoom like most digital cameras. i was hoping that this would be a good device for backing up photos and post viewing them before downloading them to a computer, but i guess not. so i guess i'm left with a 60gig ipod that just happens to have a color screen.

 

[tomozj]

New feature

What's new about iTunes 4.7? Just increased support for new stores or is there some new functionality?

Theres a Artist Alerts thing added on the artist and album pages
They tell you when the artist publishes something to the store

 

[Zaty]

iTMS for non-Euro countries?

I guess the reason why Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland are still iTMS-less has definitely something to do with the fact that all those countries still use their own currencies. Sweden and Denmark being part of the EU, Apple shouldn't have problems launch a store using the Euro currency since the store for those countries can operate out of Luxembourg.

I guess Apple can't open a Swiss store using the Euro because legally, a Swiss store has to be physically located in Switzerland (at least its accounting department) which in turn means that they have to accept the Swiss Franc because it's the only official currency in Switzerland even though many stores in Switzerland accept Euros.

I'm sure, Sweden and Denmark will get access to iTMS sooner or later. As for non-EU countries such as Norway and Switzerland, we'll have to wait and see.

 

[BA_Baracas]

I was going to get a 20 gig but then Steve Jobs had to go and announce the a new colour iPod, so I thought - why not. It's something that I think looks cool, although I won't be using the photo features much.

Most people will buy the new iPod because it is cool - simple as that.

I think the Apple designers have kept the simplicity of the device constant with the rest of the line-up. I don't want a card reader slot built into the thing - that would ruin the look, feel and the simplicity of the iPod (remember, Apple won't put two buttons on a mouse because they think it looks bad!). It's pretty much the same thickness as the 3g iPods, which is still very thin.

The syncing software is iTunes and I normally use iPhoto to store my pics, do I care? No. Do most of the consumer market that are going to purchase the iPod photo care? No. It's all good. It makes it simple enough for everyone from a 6 year old to an 80 year old to use.

I understand that photographers were expecting more, and maybe Apple should have added a direct picture import facility - but maybe that would have involved more software enhancements on the portal player chips ( i don't know). Or piss a lot of third party accessory makers off.

Video? Yeah I guess carrying your own movie clips with you would be cool (to view on a TV), but I think that will come.

What I would have loved to have seen is a firewire link to the iSight camera, so you could take video/pics and use the iPod's screen as a viewfinder. that would be fun (especially if coded in H.264). Oh! and what about 'home on iPod'??

But I suppose good things will come. And for those that are not happy, I guess there are plenty of other products out there to buy and use the way you want to. I just want something that is cool and will not give me a headache trying to use. Most people are shallow.

That's the beauty of the iPod. The name is now associated with music by everyone. Do you think Apple intended that?

'iPod' - if you did not know what it does, would you think of it as a portable music player? To me it sounds like something from one of Woody Allen's films. Maybe it means 'POrtable Data???

I need some sleep.

 

[sweetaction]

iPhoto 60 gig arrives!

not trying to sound like an ass, but just wanted to let you know that I ordered 3 iPod Photo 60s when they annouced them (christmas came early for my dev crew) and the FedEx woman came in at about 9am with an armload of iPods.

The screen is amazing. I am very impressed.

Good job Apple.

 

[tzm]

I was going to get a 20 gig but then Steve Jobs had to go and announce the a new colour iPod, so I thought - why not. It's something that I think looks cool, although I won't be using the photo features much.

Most people will buy the new iPod because it is cool - simple as that.

I think the Apple designers have kept the simplicity of the device constant with the rest of the line-up. I don't want a card reader slot built into the thing - that would ruin the look, feel and the simplicity of the iPod (remember, Apple won't put two buttons on a mouse because they think it looks bad!). It's pretty much the same thickness as the 3g iPods, which is still very thin.

The syncing software is iTunes and I normally use iPhoto to store my pics, do I care? No. Do most of the consumer market that are going to purchase the iPod photo care? No. It's all good. It makes it simple enough for everyone from a 6 year old to an 80 year old to use.

I understand that photographers were expecting more, and maybe Apple should have added a direct picture import facility - but maybe that would have involved more software enhancements on the portal player chips ( i don't know). Or piss a lot of third party accessory makers off.

Video? Yeah I guess carrying your own movie clips with you would be cool (to view on a TV), but I think that will come.

What I would have loved to have seen is a firewire link to the iSight camera, so you could take video/pics and use the iPod's screen as a viewfinder. that would be fun (especially if coded in H.264). Oh! and what about 'home on iPod'??

But I suppose good things will come. And for those that are not happy, I guess there are plenty of other products out there to buy and use the way you want to. I just want something that is cool and will not give me a headache trying to use. Most people are shallow.

That's the beauty of the iPod. The name is now associated with music by everyone. Do you think Apple intended that?

'iPod' - if you did not know what it does, would you think of it as a portable music player? To me it sounds like something from one of Woody Allen's films. Maybe it means 'POrtable Data???

I need some sleep.

I totally agree with you, I would go get one now if there are some more cool features like:
1) Video viewing supported (If possible Id like to see the feature "Import DVDs to iPod" just like what we can do with the music from CD, what do you think people?
2) iSight support, use iSight as a camera for an iPod
3) iTune Music Video Store
4) iTune Movie Store
...
So instead of carry PowerBook for viewing DVDs on a picnic trip and stuff I will use iPod instead, DVD in a pocket, anywhere, anytime I want.. What do you think?

I think iPod should take an advantage of the capacity (40GB - 60GB) to do this stuff. Shouldn't be so hard to do. (I wont blame for the battery, if it is able to view DVDs or video. 3-5 hours are enough for this)