Thoughts On the Apple iPod Event

Once again, it was time for the consumate Snake Oil Salesman, Steve Jobs, to present the latest iPod lineup to the press today. Thanks to liveblogging feeds, it was easy for me to feel like I was almost there without dealing with the hassle of airport security. Oh, and by way of a disclaimer, I've owned an iPod Touch 8 GB for several months now.

Overall, I was disappointed. There were some incremental improvements, but nothing that really made me want to part with any cash. While most of the iPods got more storage, the only one that got new features is the iPod Nano, which received a camera for video. I have a problem with that for two reasons. First, they compared it to the Flip Video cameras, but these do 720p HD in the newer models, and the Nano is a 480 x 640 resolution, which is standard def. Seriously, even I have a camera in my cell phone these days, and I doubt I need my music player to duplicate this capability. The other issue is that now the Nano has features (camera, and FM radio) that the Touch line doesn't. This creates a situation of which one is the better one to get, and doesn't clearly make the Touch, the more expensive one, the top player.

I also was hoping for an iTablet, and it didn't make an appearance at the event. Overall, it seemed too short, and lacking the depth of previous ones. The one thing that pleased me was that they are keeping the iPod Classic around, with a 160 GB hard drive, which Microsoft ceded to them when they canceled the Zune 120. Hey, some of use like to keep all of their music with them at all times. In the meantime, I'll stick with my iPod Touch, and my Zune 80 (not necessarily in that order).

Jonas