Meh to the iPods, Yes! to AppleTV
So, Apple had their fall iPod event yesterday. Crazy.
First up, iPod shuffle. They went back to the little square one with buttons, but kept the VoiceOver functionality as well. Cool, but meh for me.
Next, iPod nano. Shrunk it down to a square, multi-touch screen (not running iOS, though), looks very iPhone-like. But they took away the video capability—not just the camera of the last generation, but the player as well. I suppose one could deem the screen too small now, but until I got my iPhone a handful of months ago, I was routinely watching video on my fat nano, and it was perfectly fine. They have moved the entry-point of video capability to the iPod touch, which I suppose makes sense from a marketing perspective. But in my eyes they really dumbed-down the nano. The only thing separating it from the shuffle is on-screen control, Nike+, and the ability to show photos. For me, meh. I look forward to inheriting my wife’s 5th gen iPod nano someday.
iPod touch, predictable update to Retina display, A4 processor. I was a little surprised by the inferior camera they added, except it makes sense that they simply took that tiny camera out of the nano and put it in the touch. Oh to be a kid with one of these things! Infinite game and app capability, whose software is so much cheaper than games for the DS or PSP, plus all your teenage social network needs, plus FaceTime, for crying out loud, all on one device. Out of control! Of course, I have an iPhone, albeit 1st gen, so meh for me.
Having recently got an iPad, I am looking forward to iOS 4.2. I’ve already tried the Project Sword demo, Citadel, and it is astounding. Now, this iPad outperforms the first PC I played Ultima 9 on, so it really shouldn’t be a shock that PC-quality games are starting to show up, now that the developers are taking the platform seriously.
Then there’s the AppleTV. Quite a lot of the l33t geeks out there are saying it’s too little, too late, but I think it’s perfect. The only problem I can see with it is not enough content providers are on board. Netflix is a huge win—that alone ensures that when I move house next (which might be within the year), and my iMac is no long within cable distance of my TV, I’ll be picking up an AppleTV, if only for that feature alone. For a few years now all of my television has come from Netflix, Hulu, network websites, or bittorrent. If more networks were on board with rentals, that would take care of my web and Hulu needs. Let’s break it down: my wife and I watch only three first-run shows with any regularity. Assume 24 episodes a season, that’s $72 a year for that content. Sure beats a Hulu subscription at $120 a year, and it completely obliterates a satellite or cable TV subscription. For HD content, I might add. Add to that the possibility of bittorrent and streaming from the Mac to cover gaps in iTunes, and of course the shows we already watch through Netflix, and it’s a great service and a great device.
I’m currently selling stuff on eBay to “pay off” my iPad, in the same way I paid for my iPhone. After that’s taken care of, it’s on to an AppleTV, for sure.