OBJECTION!
iLounge: 1/2 size of Mac Mini, built-in power supply, USB, Ethernet, 802.11 “wireless component video”, optical audio and HDMI ports, plus old RCA stereo audio ports. Works with Apple Remote
I liked the wireless video streaming device better the first time, when it was called Xbox 360.
Hmmm, the rumour I heard may have been overblown by the purple monkey dishwasher effect. There’s been one case so far where Wal-Mart threatened not to carry a movie at all because it went on iTunes first, but it’s not clear what any future threats may be.
I’m wondering who Apple thinks is gonna buy these games. At first, I thought “ah, ok this is a big move for the casual gamer” - but when I think about it more, I’m not so sure. Most of the people I know who have an iPod are geeks, who have computers, fancy cell phones, etc. Wouldn’t those people either have these games on their computers or on their cell phones (or both)? The people with iPods who aren’t geeks (my lawyer brother in law) aren’t interested in gaming, so they’re not gonna buy Bejeweled, Pac Man, etc.
And I know that I personally will probably not buy more than one (just to try) unless they somehow made the click wheel a great game controller (I’m doubtful).
So the only think I can think of is that this is one step towards convergence - that the next iPod Apple announces is gonna be a music-video-game player that’s also a phone. Now if that happens, I’m getting one of those!
The movie stuff, eh. I think I’m not in the target demographic for movies and games on mobile devices. When I’m moving about, I’m driving, so all I can do is listen to stuff. When I’m not mobile, I’m either at work or at home. At work, I can only listen to stuff, and at home, I use my TV/computer and not my iPod. There’s really no stretch of time when I’m out and about when I can fiddle with a portable video or game player (I bought a PSP which after a few weeks has sat in a drawer…).
I can see casual gamers getting games for the Ipod.
My wife is a casual player. She usually plays bejweled on her phone. While she has a laptop, it’s not with her as much as I keep mine with me.
I can see her buying a game for her ipod. If I had a 5g ipod, I’d probably buy Hold-em, but I’m just a poker slut.
I guess one question as to the use of iPod for non-music is this: how popular are the TV downloads? I’ve never bought one but do they sell well? I suppose that could be an indicator as to the popularity of the games.
Well, in fairness, I’ve never heard of Steve doing more than one “one more thing” before!
I suppose wireless streaming to a TV is more than feasible when you consider the movies and TV shows are only 640x480.
As anyone on my Xbox Live friends list knows, I’m a big fan of the X360’s media center extender functionality (and in fact that’s the only way we can watch TV at the moment due to a busted tuner in the LCD TV), so I’m ready for an iTV device that corrects some of the flaws with the X360’s media center extender functionality. Namely lack of codec support (only WMV and MPG2? Blech) and slow startup time (having to wait up to 45 seconds before you get to the primary extender UI is irritating).
I can really see them doing a tight job of integrating this with video podcasts through iTunes, and in doing so, will take it to the next level.
I forget the sales number I heard, but they sales were at least what I’d call “decent.” I’ve bought one or two when my DVR blew the recording.
Every single thing in this “huge, important” show is stuff that any other company would simply put out in a press release, since thats all it warrents.
-Minor upgrades to the ipod line
-minor update to iTunes
-A movie service that doesn’t offer squat for selection. Disney movies…whoop de fucking do…
Wow man Apple is the coolest. This all just makes me want to get a iMac right now!..
Thus thats why we are talking about Apple instead of some other company.
I don’t begrudge Apple their marketing hype. They do it really well, and it does let people get excited about their products. If you don’t want to go hog wild and read the live blogs as some of us couldn’t resist, then you CAN simply wait for the press releases. No one put a gun to your head and forced you to worship at the feet of Steve.
Apple’s always been about showmanship, though. If they stopped doing things like this, people would start wondering what had happened to Apple.
I’m tempted by the 8G Nano, since that’s enough for the ‘best of’ my collection with some room for growth, and my current iRiver’s flash memory is going faulty.
The upgrades to the high-end iPod weren’t exactly minor–20 more GB for $50 LESS, and they more than doubled the video battery life.
Can I burn the movie to a DVD, and if I download it on my Mac, can I watch/burn it on my PC?
I read somewhere that paying $20 allows you to burn a movie but that was just forum chatter.
after doing some reading, you can’t burn them–they’ve got the same DRM as th e TV shows.
How does it work if I delete a show/movie off my computer. Can I re-download it??
You can’t burn it to a DVD-video, but you can transfer the file to an iPod or any other computer and play it with iTunes/QT.
Unimpressive. I see why the stock market isn’t very impressed with Apple at the moment. Non-HD movies? Only Disney studios? $12.99? Only in the US? No wireless video streaming device?
With HD-DVD and Bluray movies clocking in at 25 GB or so, download times for HD movies would be prohibitive.
Well, yeah, if you did it the old, stupid way.
The smart way would be to do it like Steam, combined with something like BitTorrent. People would pre-order the HD (720p, at least) movies they want weeks before a given “release” and they could transfer merrily away in chunks in the background, peer to peer. Sure, they’d be DRMd up the wazoo, but that’s OK. I’ll accept DRM locking it to only my machines (as they now offer multiple system iPod docking if you log into iTunes with the same account) and my portable devices in return for the convenience.
That’s what I thought they might bring to the table.