U2 iPod, Photo iPod and Additional iTMS Localizations Released

[nagromme]

Great pricing

I will use the photo features ALL the time. I already use much more awkward means--like lugging a laptop--to get photos to TV (with music). And I show photos on my little camera screen too--VERY annoying controls--and having a 2" screen with clickwheel, and ALL (not some) of my photos... will be great!

Plus the cool factor of the color UI--with battery life BETTER not worse--might even be worth $100 given how long I've held off with iPod money waiting in my hand.

I might even spring for the 60, now that I know the 40 (photo) is just as thick.

The U2 one is neat for a change, but not for me. But I'm not one of the many people who think just because I PERSONALLY don't want a product that nobody else will either

More stores will open soon--Canada in November is official--so a little patience and deep breathing may be in order

 

[SilentPanda]

Still no CD-TEXT support

There's still no CD-TEXT support. Drat. Not that everybody needs it... but I'm sure most all the features can be spoken for that way. I did do a tad bit of research about CD-TEXT and found out that Sony owns CD-TEXT. Which most likely means licensing fees would have to be paid... hmmmm....

Maybe it could be added to iTunes but you'd have to pay $X to enable CD-TEXT in iTunes? Maybe iTunes Pro?

 

[wildmac]

lame, lame, lame, lame....

Both of these announcements are just plain lame.

Oh boy!!! I can buy a black iPod and get forced to spend another $400 on music! weee!!!!!

(It would look much cooler black-on-black)

Oh boy!!! I can see photos on a tiny screen!!!! And pay as much as devices with twice the screen area, and play video too!!!!

But wait, I can't transfer images from my digital camera!!! I have to buy some attachment for another $150!!! Or download to my computer and then to the iPod!!!

How lame is Apple getting???......

Produce a iPod with a compact Flash slot, so you can transfer images directly from your digital camera. THAT would be nice.

Produce the Flash-based iPod for $99. THAT would be nice.

 

[mpk]

Dammit. This sucks. Not a word about Denmark.

 

[DTphonehome]

Not really

Also, I think this should confirm that iPhoto is coming to windows.

Nope...this from Apple.com:

Wondering how you’re going to get all your digital photographs into iPod Photo? iTunes 4.7. The new version lets you import your images directly into iPod Photo from a folder on the hard drive of your Mac or PC. Spent time organizing your photos using iPhoto on a Mac or either Adobe Photoshop Album 2.0 or Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0 on a PC? iTunes 4.7 rewards your diligence by importing the albums you’ve created in iPhoto or collections created in Album or Elements. You’ll be able to choose them from the Photos menu on iPod Photo.

 

[virus1]

<caps lock> AWESOME </caps lock>
this is the evolution to the video ipod

 

[jxyama]

Also, I think this should confirm that iPhoto is coming to windows.

no... photos are loaded via iTunes.

since there's no demand for iPhoto Picture Store, apple won't bother porting iPhoto to windows - there's no money to be made.

wow... so they did put the color screen in. the iPod photo is thicker and bigger, presumably to stuff more battery in. looks neat, but the price, though justified in the line of things they offer, is getting to the point it's a bit much... $600 is a serious committment.

 

[gskiser]

Airport Express with Picture Streaming?

Do any of you think this might pave the way for an Airport Express that includes video out to view pictures on your television? I'm not sure how difficult this would be, but I'd love to have an Airport Express that would stream music, as well as still photos to the video in on my television. If iTunes can pull pictures to sync on to the iPod, could it also pull them to stream to Airport Express or no? Just curious.

 

[superfunkomatic]

People who are voting this story negative are most likely from Canada, Japan or Australia. If they're disappointed they have the record companies and / or their national governments to blame, not Apple.

Perhaps the Canadian government wants to impose Can-con on the iTMS. Canadians know what I'm talking about. It's the law that dictates radio stations must broadcast at least X amount of Canadian content. Maybe it's been phased out but as far as I know it's still in effect.

no i think things are positive, and i'm a canuck. disappointed that i won't be able to try out the store tonight. but the new hardware is cool and worth waiting for.

i don't think it's CANCON, the issue is the canadian artist's association that represents musicians wants a higher chunk/percentage of the money than in other countries. it's a licensing thing, not a content thing. i think getting some money from itunes sales in canada makes more sense than getting no money - since in canada file sharing is legal.

 

[srobert]

Photo iPod: 220 x 176
iPod: 160x128

220 x 176 = 38,720 pixels
160 x 128 = 20,480 pixels

Nice, almost double the pixels. (89% more)

That would explained the detailed album cover and smoother font. It might only be a render but in the past, they always made sure that their render displayed the correct resolution.

 

[belair]

Photo iPod: 220 x 176
iPod: 160x128

I can't wait to see that screen.
Altough I know that when I see it I will have to buy one.
itms Luxembourg is REAL.
Looks so funny tough.

 

[HiRez]

Also, I think this should confirm that iPhoto is coming to windows.

I don't think so. In fact I'd say it confirms that it is not coming to Windows (at least soon). My reasoning is: why else would iTunes handle the syncing of photos? That's goofy and makes no sense. It should be iPhoto's job. The only reason for it would be because Apple is unwilling or unready to port iPhoto to Windoze, thus they had to jam that functionality into iTunes because it's the only app that Apple has running on both platforms.

 

[jxyama]

Both of these announcements are just plain lame.

Oh boy!!! I can buy a black iPod and get forced to spend another $400 on music! weee!!!!!

(It would look much cooler black-on-black)

Oh boy!!! I can see photos on a tiny screen!!!! And pay as much as devices with twice the screen area, and play video too!!!!

But wait, I can't transfer images from my digital camera!!! I have to buy some attachment for another $150!!! Or download to my computer and then to the iPod!!!

How lame is Apple getting???......

Produce a iPod with a compact Flash slot, so you can transfer images directly from your digital camera. THAT would be nice.

Produce the Flash-based iPod for $99. THAT would be nice.

please, use a better choice of word. no one's "forcing" you to spend anything or buy anything. if you aren't convinced of the value, that's fine, but don't make it sound like they are making mistakes just because you don't want one or don't want to pay for one.

 

[Zaty]

Also, I think this should confirm that iPhoto is coming to windows.

I don't think so. This has been discussed several times and the iPod Photo won't change anything. It would be a mistake if Apple ported iPhoto to Win Platform even if Windows user had to pay $20 or something. Apple's main objective should still be to get Windows user hooked to Apple by selling as many iPods as they can and, eventually, making them switch.

 

[KindredMAC]

AMEN TO THAT SIR!!!! But seriously...

Yah and Apple has conveniently made the iPod so it can be used one handed. Innovation at its best!

About time Apple went after its TRUE CORE of users.... Geeks without Girlfriends!!!!!!

But seriously.... Holy **** what a great day today is for everyone.....well...except if you are Canadian. Poor saps..... I'm starting to feel some serious pity on them.
I live in New York close to the border and I can only imagine what it feels like for them.... Kinda like us looking over the border at their free health care and yearning for it.

My wife bought me a 10GB 3rd Gen iPod for Christmas last year and we just got an email from Apple reminding us that we still can get the Apple Care for the iPod in the next 30 days before we lose the opportunity. Yeah! Right! I think I'm going to go home tonight and find a way to smash my iPod without my wife knowing it's intentional just so she will buy me the iPod Photo this year... That thing is just too sweet...

The U2 iPod is aight.... The $50 coupon for iTunes is alittle weird. I saw someone on here say that the collection is going to be $150. What's the point then of spending $100 extra dollars? If the collection was $99 then I could see someone stomaching it. I think going Black is great, but I just don't think U2 has that much of a following to support its own iPod design spec.

Then again back when the first iPod came out, I watched it on the live feed here at work and used every single curse word in the known world, screaming about how stupid I thought Apple was for being a pioneer in mp3 digital players and not putting their money into a better Power Mac.... I turned to my production artist and said that mp3's were the way of the dinosaur because Napster (Macster) got shut down the previous year....

Well.... I was wrong and I will admit it. The iPod has helped to boost Apple to a larger market, even if the computers are still only around 5% market share. It at least has given Apple a name out in the world again and it is still cool to own something Apple.

Keep it up Steve and folks!

 

[SilentPanda]

Do any of you think this might pave the way for an Airport Express that includes video out to vew pictures on your television? I'm not sure how difficult this would be, but I'd love to have an Airport Express that would stream music, as well as still photos to the video in on my television. If iTunes can pull pictures to sync on to the iPod, could it also pull them to stream to Airport Express or no? Just curious.

The current Airport Express couldn't (due to lack of video out of course) but there's no reason a future Airport Express won't. Tivo already does this. I see it as feasible.

 

[jholzner]

There is zero chance for iTunes to ever open in Canada.

Here's why: The Canadian Gov't has decided to tax MP3 players, flash memory and CD's - and all ancillary products, to form a fund to "compensate Canadian artists that have been hurt by illegal file-swapping".

The fact is - these artists are not being compensated - this tax just fills a slush fund that is being used for the Gov'ts own purposes - no funds have ever been disbursed to the "starving artists".

There is also no formula to allocate the funds logically or any other responsible decisions regarding this fund.

Allowing legal downloading in Canada puts the Government in a hypocrytical situation, where they'd have to tax a product, based on it's illegal use - when it also has a legal use.

Mark my words: In Canada, there will never be an iTunes music store.

Marshall

From Apple's Press release

"Apple today also announced it will launch the iTunes Music Store in Canada in November."

Hmm...mark your words?

 

[dejo]

Apple's Java applet for the Photo iPod and U2 iPod are acting a little funky.

That's not a Java applet. It's JavaScript. BIG difference!

 

[veedubdrew]

Well where the heck is AAC+? That and CD-TEXT were all I cared about for today and I got neither :'(

Oh well. The new iPods look cool, but my 2G 10GB is chugging away just fine still (with ~10 hours play time on the original battery).

-Drew

 

[andiwm2003]

Dammit. This sucks. Not a word about Denmark.

how long will it take for the EU to say its against EU law to sell stuff only to one region but not to another. it would certainly no be legal to prohibit germans from buying french cars. so why is it legal to ban irish people from buying music from a british shop?

are we a European Union or what?

 

[KindredMAC]

I don't think so. This has been discussed several times and the iPod Photo won't change anything. It would be a mistake if Apple ported iPhoto to Win Platform even if Windows user had to pay $20 or something. Apple's main objective should still be to get Windows user hooked to Apple by selling as many iPods as they can and, eventually, making them switch.

I agree Zaty...
iPhoto is NOT coming out for Windows. Why else would Apple have made it VERY clear in the specs for the iPod Photo that PC users can use Adobe Elements and Album to gather together their photos for the new iPod???

 

[the_mole1314]

I'm going to hop on down the Apple Store to see if they have any on the shelf to check out....

 

[sweetaction]

Just Ordered 3

cool....might be ordering the 60GB one soon.

Been waiting for a while for this one. Christmas came early for my development crew.

Go Apple!

 

[wildmac]

please, use a better choice of word. no one's "forcing" you to spend anything or buy anything. if you aren't convinced of the value, that's fine, but don't make it sound like they are making mistakes just because you don't want one or don't want to pay for one.

I'm just very dissapointed in what they are offering. Nothing groundbreaking at all. There are dozens of devices that play music, show photos, PLAY VIDEO, and more, so what's the big deal. AND I can use those other devices to transfer images or video directly from a camera. So what's the big deal here?.......

The ONLY good thing here is for die-hard U2 fans who don't own any of their music yet. But if you are a U2 fan, and you already own some of their music, you get a bargain savings of $50 on a collection of music, most of which you already own?.... give me a break.

 

[dornoforpyros]

Thanks Apple for bringing ITMS to Canada! No really, I think that Puretracks service we have already rocks enough why would I want to buy from I-tunes?

yeah pure tracks. rockin
I got $5 worth of free music downloads from puretracks(4 songs with tax BTW) and it was the most wasted 20 minutes of my life. Not only was it harder to use than kazzaa but there damn WMA files. Thanks alot CRTC