In what has now become the most frequent and most frequently unrequited Apple rumor, the company did not announce the availability of Beatles songs on iTunes. Despite featuring Paul McCartney in an iTunes commercial, and Steve Jobs downloading a John Lennon song and a McCartney song during the intro of the iPod Touch, the Beatles catalog is still unavailable for sale as a download.
The only reason I care any more is because it’s such a tease. Jobs is a Beatles fanatic. The lawsuit with Apple Corps is settled. At the end of the day, it’s not a big deal, because everyone who likes the Beatles owns their music in other formats already, but this is just starting to get bizarre.
Predicting the future of any technology is a risky proposition. Weird, unexpected things happen that no one can anticipate. Lest any of us forget, for a brief moment in 1998, many assumed that DVD-Audio would replace the CD before something called Napster totally changed the game.
But predictions of the future are fun (why else is speculation about Apple so fascinating?), and everyone gets in on the act at some point. The latest to try to imagine what comes after the iPod is Rick Rubin, the bearded producer who launched the career of the Beastie Boys and revived those of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Johnny Cash. He’s legitimately credited with helping to break hip hop worldwide, but I hardly think his abilities to accurately read the new sound 20 years ago has anything to do with his ability to guess how we’ll get our music.
“You’d pay, say, $19.95 a month, and the music will come anywhere you’d like. In this new world, there will be a virtual library that will be accessible from your car, from your cellphone, from your computer, from your television. Anywhere. The iPod will be obsolete, but there would be a Walkman-like device you could plug into speakers at home.”
You want to know what I love about this quote? That it’s actually stating the complete obvious, but it also anticipates a future where people treat music differently than they do now. First, yes, the iPod will be obsolete at some point in the future. And then Apple will release a new one, including one that works in speakers at home (Oh, wait, that’s been around for years). People are obsessed with the current solution instead of thinking about the needs that it meets.
The bigger question is why anyone thinks subscription music will suddenly take off, however, I can’t guess. Subscription music has never been big, dating to the Columbia Record Club. We’re probably only a year or two from a time when we can put our entire iTunes libraries into a cloud we can access from anywhere, but I want it to be my library, not every song ever. I want to have access to the whole library and choose a song to download, but I want to add things to my library, not have glorified radio going on.
But you heard it here first folks: Sometimes, technology gets obsoleted!
Sunday, I caught a cab with some friends over to a favorite bar in the lower Haight. By complete chance, we got the most Mac-loving cabbie in the entire city. He was blasting music on his iPhone through the stereo, and he fixed his 4g iPod while he drove by slapping it around a bunch. Most impressively, he announced plans to sell off a recently acquired Titanitum PowerBook G4 for parts on ebay. He was a consummate wheeler-dealer.
To cap it all off, as we arrived at our destination, he pulled out his iPhone, scrolled through his video list and produced the intro movie for Leopard, which I hadn’t even seen yet. Needless to say, it was gorgeous on the iPhone. Enjoy the visuals, courtesy of San Francisco’s finest. Apple’s really embracing that supernova look, eh?
A lot of mystery remains about Apple’s big iPod event next week. Will we see widescreen touch iPods (what were known as “true” video iPods before the iPhone showed up)? Nanos with video? A shuffle that can scramble your brain?
What is certain is that, for once, Steve Jobs won’t demonstrate a new iPod video with a clip from “The Office,” as NBC Universal has announced its withdrawal from the iTunes Music Store as of December, according to the New York Times. While it’s possible that existing content will remain or that NBC will offer new content on an as-chosen basis like Universal Music has, it’s more likely that NBC is packing up its toys for Hulu.com, the bizarre commercial video service that NBC and News Corp. promise to launch “real soon now.”
This is a huge blow — NBC makes up 40 percent of all video sales, and I can’t think of a recent iTunes event that didn’t feature an NBC show, which really says something, given Steve Jobs’s close ties to Disney and ABC. Not a sign of doom, but a clear sign that Apple isn’t as secure in video as it has been in music.
Leopard isn’t even here yet, but the first big Easter Egg has already turned up. All icons for the new version of Mac OS X are resolution independent (basically, they can scale to be freaking HUGE), which provides all kinds of room for mischief. Apple has already taken advantage, printing the full text of the first “Think Different” commercial (Also known as “Steve’s back in town, boys!”). Ah, memories
Italian site Macity turned up the thing, which makes them responsible for my tears. I’m not crying, though. I was just cutting onions — making a lasagna.
Next Wednesday’s Apple event will likely see the announcement of the next evolution of iPod, dubbed the iPod Touch. Which is a little bit weird, because the iPhone is obviously the next evolution, what with its revolutionary multitouch interface and the widescreen and the like. So this week, we’re all sort of praying for an iPod with a big hard drive, multitouch, and maybe iTunes purchasing via WiFi. A hard-working country mouse to iPhone’s city slicker.
But in really thinking about where Apple might go (and in the spirit of free-wheeling rumor-mongering), I must admit that a possibility I haven’t seen much of anywhere is that the new iPod would carry over the breakthrough Internet browsing device piece of the iPhone puzzle. As much as I would love an iPhone, its storage capacity is far too small for my iTunes library, and my phone is fine as a phone. I just want awesome multitouch web-browsing and e-mail. If Apple is going to the trouble of building WiFi into the next iPod, it would be a complete waste not to put in real Internet capabilities — even if it steals some iPhone thunder.
All of which leads me to think that the new iPods will remain free of wireless connectivity. Apple isn’t one to give away the farm, and the iPhone is clearly designed to one day completely replace the iPod line. They cannibalize up, not down.
What do you think the next iPod will be (let’s leave the hideous iPod nano phat out of the conversation for the time being)? Widescreen evolution or iPhone web browsing revolution without all those pesky phone calls?
There are many measures of Apple fandom. Some people hoard old machines and keep them in pristine running condition. Others get tattoos and unfortunate haircuts.
Once upon a time, way back in 1984, the Mac was new. Let us travel back to the past for another look into the amazing first issue of MacWorld, which I acquired two weeks ago at a family reunion.
This week, let’s turn to “Polishing the Mac,” an extraordinarily long interview by David Bunnell (almost 4,000 words) with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates that is basically just about the Mac’s greatness. I’ll tease with a choice quote, then click through for some more of Chairman Bill’s still-prescient (and now hilarious and ironic) praise for the Mac. Also, dig the hair and glasses. Could he look more like his Anthony Michael Hall doppelganger if he tried?
On the Mac’s Ease of Use: “The Mac heralds a major change in how people view and interact with application programs. That’s why I’m so excited about it. There’s no question that I’ll let my mom try it out.”
In response to a story I posted about a fixed Mac getting repeatedly shipped all over San Francisco, including to a CompUSA, reader Jonathan has produced quite possibly the most appalling story ever, from his attempts to fix an iMac with Apple New Zealand. It’s unbelievable.
Wednesday, day 8. I phone up at lunchtime, hows my Mac doing? Huh? What? The technician is just installing the parts right now and the MAc should be ready some time thisafternoon, but we’re still waiting on the replacement mouse? WTF?
later that day Apple call back. Your iMac is ready to be picked up. What about the mouse? No we’re still witing on that. Can I have my old mouse back in the interim? No, we have to keep that to send back when we get the replacemnet Mosue.
And that’s just the part about the mouse — Jonathan took it in because of a broken SuperDrive. You simply must read on in…
Gather ’round, children. And let me tell you of a time before the consumer Internet. Before the iPod. And, if you can believe it, even before the iPhone. Yes, I speak of 1984. When the original Mac was the state of the art, and my favorite TV show was Sesame Street (not that this has changed).
I recently managed to acquire the very first issue of MacWorld magazine, published in February 1984. Though it sells on eBay for up to $100 a copy, I’ll be bringing you hilarious content from Mac fandom past for free. It features many wonders, including an art gallery of MacPaint creations, an interview with Bill Gates where he calls the Mac a classic, and even a feature on the incredible WYSIWIG technology that will allow print-outs on the Apple ImageWriter to look just like the screen output (you must see that one to believe it).
But before I start to dive too far into the issue (which will show up over the course of several days and posts), I will start with the most horrifying ad in MacIntosh history. Click through — if you dare!
