Apple Fandom Entirely Warranted

By Joshua S. Hill

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Without a doubt, the sheer amount of hype that runs in tandem with a Steve Jobs run announcement event is possibly on scale with the Beatles making their way to America. However, just this once, all the hype was entirely based firmly in reality, with the sheer weight of announcements made almost tilting the earth out of its orbit for a few moments.

Steve Jobs took the stage at 10:01 Wednesday, and began what was possibly one of the most memorable Apple events ever, possibly coming behind the iPod release and the iPhone release. However, what he had to say could be argued to have eclipsed both these.

I won't give you the full step by step of the entire event, but let's take a look at what Apple has announced.

iPod Nano

The new iPod Nano has been squished in size but the screen has grown. It has the Cover Flow interface so you can see your music covers floating past as you choose what you want to listen to, and it comes in a nice new variety of colors including the Red, with the added bonus of helping the aid effort in Africa. It comes in at 4GB and 8GB, at $149 and $199 respectively. It's a nice gadget, and possibly the first on my list.

iPod Classic

The iPod Classic is simply the iPod we've been used too for so long now, but with a beefed up storage space (now the minimum is 80GB, where as the maximum was 80GB only a few days ago) all the way up to an impressively massive 160GB. It's only 8mm thin, and it looks a beauty! This one's coming in at $249 for the 80GB and $249 for the 160GB.

iPod Touch

This is what we were all expecting. It's the iPhone without the phone, and the description could not be more apt, seeing as essentially all it is missing to separate it form the iPhone is the ability to call someone. It's got everything from WiFi, touch screen, massive video screen to watch your favorite movies on, 8mm thin like the Classic, and the ability to watch YouTube videos, Facebook built in to the device.

What's more is that this device is shipping worldwide!

However I was a little disappointed with the Touch, as its storage space is severely lacking compared to other players. At only 8 and 16GB, this device is going to struggle to hold too much content, when you call in to question the fact that it is selling itself as a video player. Videos have never been known to be overly small in size. Nonetheless, $299 for the 8GB and $399 for the 16GB are good prices, and should definitely sell to the layman.

iPhone

Not much here, except some huge news that it's been dropped down in price by $200! The 4GB edition has been scrapped in favor of the 8GB as well.

iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store

This is possibly the second biggest piece of news of the day, as we've been waiting for this for a long time! The new Touch comes with Wi-Fi built in, and with the new Music Store you're going to be able to buy your music from your iPod Touch.

They've taken this a step further, partnering up with Starbucks, who are going to provide Wi-Fi access in their shops across the United States, and the ability to purchase songs you are listening to in the store by a simple touch of the screen. Hear what you like in store; purchase it as you wait for your coffee.

That's the whole kit and caboodle, and it's a fantastic caboodle at that! I'm working on getting shipping information, but from what we can gather the Classic and the Shuffle are both available today, the Touch will be shipping this month, and according to Apple.com, you'll be able to pick yourself the Nano up right away as well!

As for the rest of the world, stay tuned, I'll see what I can dig up!

A Geek's-Geek from Melbourne, Australia, Josh is an aspiring author with dreams of publishing his epic fantasy, currently in the works, sometime in the next 5 years. A techie, nerd, sci-fi nut and bookworm, Josh can be found at JoshSHill.com for his personal blog, or at MyWritingVoice.com for his writing blog.
Joshua can be reached at: letters@canadafreepress.com

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