Michael Braun's Blog

Steve Jobs took the stage today to announce updated products from Apple. It was the first time he’s hosted such an event since undergoing a liver transplant.

Among the important announcements:

First, iTunes 9. At this point in time, it’s hard for iTunes to change very much. Over time, it’s become more and more bloated, with more features that I don’t use. But Apple has found need for more! They’ve added more features for “Genius,” which matches songs together automatically. They’ve also released a new album format, “iTunes LP,” which adds more content to just the songs. And finally, in a feature I think I will love, iTunes allows you to connect computers in a household (so… on the same network?) and take music from one to another. This is great! When Lauren buys an album, I can have it on my computer too, rather than having to find the time to get out my flash drive and take it that way. Oh, I guess there are some other good things, like being able to arrange your apps on your iPhone/touch. But, as I have neither of those, less interesting to me.

Second, iPods. the iPod touch gets a price drop, including a touch model at $199, 8 GB. That’s disappointing, overall, as it represents only a drop of $30. The 32 GB is now $299, a much greater drop, and there’s a 64 GB for $399, but I would have preferred an 8 GB at $149, 16 GB at $199, and so on. The shuffle gets updated with more colors and with an available adaptor so you can use more headphones with it. That’s necessary, but also boring. It too drops in price, $59 for 2 GB, $79 for 4, and $99 for a special 4 GB stainless steel version.

The biggest update for iPods is revealed as “one more thing” – video camera, speaker, pedometer, and voice recorder built into the iPod nano. New colors too, but that’s hardly anything. And no video on the touch, which may confirm that rumors of supply problems.

Overall, a rather disappointing set of announcements, considering that many of us expected cameras in the touch. I wasn’t expecting a tablet announcement, but without real changes to the touch, these updates are rather uninteresting. Still, a 32 GB touch for $299 does seem like a good deal. Where the 16 GB iPod touch went, no one knows!