Apple To Make "Music To Your Ears" Announcement 390
supa_k writes "According to an offical Apple invitation sent to the good folks at
MacCentral, on April 28th
Apple will make 'announcements that will be music to your ears.' It remains to be seen if this involves a purchase of Universal - something Apple offically denied just a few days ago but it will undoubtedly be the announcement of their online music subscription service and the other announcement will surely be new iPods."
I'll bet (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I'll bet (Score:2, Funny)
Dell dumping iPods, so... (Score:5, Interesting)
Yeah...really going out on a limb there.
Re:Dell dumping iPods, so... (Score:5, Insightful)
It's an odd, but perfectly legitimate trend; Apple wants complete control over how their merchandise is sold. They're opening up Apple stores left and right and driving out old, established resellers in those markets. It's pissing a lot of people off, but it's still within their rights to do this, so long as there are no breaches of contract.
Re:Dell dumping iPods, so... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Dell dumping iPods, so... (Score:2, Interesting)
Last time they tried a stunt like that, IBM-compatibles took over like a firestorm.
Re:Dell dumping iPods, so... (Score:5, Informative)
iPod battery problem (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.iweenie.com/ipod.shtml (iweenie)
has the latest firmware, as well as the older versions and all the tools you need.
Looking forward to it (Score:5, Interesting)
I would like to see the new TravelStar 80GN in some sort of small iPod-ish MP3 player. Given, it's a 2.5" drive, but damn!
Re:Looking forward to it (Score:5, Funny)
--Mike
Re:Looking forward to it (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Looking forward to it (Score:5, Informative)
The other day I went in there looking at the powerbooks nad told the guy that "I couldn't justify the 17"pbook and the 12" wasn't much better than my ibook. However, I'd go for an updated version of the 15"
He tells me "dude, if I knew anything I'd tell you now, but I haven't heard anything"
Accodring to him the store employees at the Apple stores literally don't see any new products until the day they come in, and it's just sitting there on the shelf. True?
Re:Looking forward to it (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Looking forward to it (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Looking forward to it (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Looking forward to it (Score:5, Insightful)
i don't work for an apple store, but i do work for circuit city and thats how they work.
Re:Looking forward to it (Score:2, Interesting)
According to him the store employees at the Apple stores literally don't see any new products until the day they come in
He's telling you the truth. There are no 15" Aluminum Powerbooks in any Apple Store back room. To illustrate Apple's desire for secrecy even more, there's going to be a special event going on at the Apple Stores on May 2nd, with a satellite link up and everything, and nobody at the Apple Store will know anything specific about it *whatsoever* until a few hours before.
Re:Looking forward to it (Score:5, Informative)
it clear that if anyone leaks any information about future plans or products,
it's immediate termination. It's Apple's First Commandment and few will risk
the wrath of Jobs.
Re:Looking forward to it (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah, I know they probably aren't made yet and you want to get the announcement to coincide with some maj
Re:Looking forward to it (Score:4, Interesting)
and for what it is worth, yes I do think a colour, 60GB bluetooth enabled, firewire][ iPod with video out and full support for syncing to iphoto would be the duck's nuts and I'll buy one the instant it comes out.
Re:Looking forward to it (Score:2)
Wow. I wonder what the power consumption is on a PowerPC 970-based iPod. I do hope you told him that what he was asking for was pure technobabble.
Re:Looking forward to it (Score:5, Funny)
Steve personally calls each and every retail employee every night with the latest "dirt"!
When a retail employee says "I don't know" or "Apple hasn't announced a G7, you weirdo", they are actually saying "Apple confirms your suspicions. Please post on SpyMac."
It smells like Ogg ... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:It smells like Ogg ... (Score:5, Funny)
* Well not "nobody" exactly. About 27 people on slashdot would notice, but only after arguing viciously for months about whether or not Apple implimented it correctly, after which approximately 2 of those 27 would actually purchase an iPod.
Re:It smells like Ogg ... (Score:5, Informative)
The only reason I hold any hope of Apple adding Ogg support to iPod is that it's free (as in both) [xiph.org]. There's 32MB of EPROM (or Flash?) on every iPod specifically intended for firmware updates. Plenty of room for AAC, Ogg, and the next dozen codecs to come.
Re: MP4 DRM (Score:5, Interesting)
heh (Score:2, Funny)
Re:It smells like Ogg ... (Score:3, Informative)
Ahh, here it is:
http://www.directordev.com/tools/xtras/OggVo
Oops. A space snuck into that url. (Score:2)
http://www.directordev.com/tools/xtras/OggVorbi
Re:It smells like Ogg ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Ogg support isn't important in terms of customer demand, that's all I'm saying. Add it, don't add it, almost nobody will care or even notice. I am not saying that standard formats aren't important from a "general benefit to the consumer/public" perspective.
And, BTW, in what way is it more open than AAC? Specifically? MPEG4 is, after all, a real standard. What am I missing?
I just hope... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:I just hope... (Score:4, Informative)
About the size of a CD player and less battery life/ flexibility of use, but, there's what you described.
Re:I just hope... (Score:2)
Most likely Announcements are... (Score:5, Interesting)
*New Music Download service integrated with iTunes
*iTunes 4, with music service and AAC encoding (possibly Rendezvous streaming as well)
*I would guess nothing related to Universal at this point.
Bluetooth (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Bluetooth (Score:2)
Re:Bluetooth (Score:4, Interesting)
Apple's list. A battery powered headset would either
require the extra weight up on your head, or a battery
pack that would be almost as big as the pod. Plus, you
would be replacing the battery often or they would
require some cumbersome recharging scheme, which
would require a wire and a little box or something.
Might as well just plug into the iPod. It would also add to
the already high price while not adding that much more
functionallity. Misplacing the phones or breaking them
would also be expensive to replace. An expensive solution
solved by ten cents worth of wire.
Re:Bluetooth (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Bluetooth (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Bluetooth (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Bluetooth (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Bluetooth (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Bluetooth (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Bluetooth (Score:2)
Re:Bluetooth (Score:5, Informative)
-Isaac
Rumors people, rumors. (Score:5, Insightful)
The iWalk?
Video iPod?
G5?
USB2?
Dualscreen powerbooks?
The best strategy is to NOT go with the rumors people, except for the dull ones.
It'll be just another iPod.
... some corelations. (Score:5, Interesting)
Okay that was just stupid.
* Video iPod.
I wouldn't be suprised if there were a few pieces of hardware floating around in some r&d lab for this. Someone is eventually going to make something like this. Sony just released a portable CD/DVD player that has a small LCD screen that attaches. It isn't too much of a stretch to imagine the drive replaced with a hard drive.
* G5.
970.
* USB2.
This is true since it was recently discovered that new PowerMacs have had USB2 chips in them for a while. Drivers are now out which will enable this.
* Dualscreen powerbooks.
Probably the 17" monster, because asside from the one pc company that is making dual screen machines who else in the world would consider such a thing. Which sounds more plausible a machine with two small screens or this insanely large 17" Apple came out with?
Re:... some corelations. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: Dual Screen Powerbooks (Score:3, Insightful)
It was a real simple hack: get your powerbook, buy an LCD monitor, plug it in. In some cases, you may need to hit the "Detect Displays" button in System Preferences.
Cool tip: you can set Virtual PC to full screen mode on the second monitor only. Freak people out by dragging windows across the two systems.
Re:Rumors people, rumors. (Score:3, Funny)
OK, better now. (Score:4, Insightful)
There. I'm not fried.
iPod in color, with a twist (Score:5, Interesting)
where the iPod body can glow inside with different chaning colors
like the Color Kinetics Sauce LED products here [cksauce.com]
Cheers, Joel
New iPods (Score:5, Informative)
The new iPods should be available in 10, 15 and 30 gig versions according to ThinkSecret [thinksecret.com]. They also say it should also include a docking station.
For all those people who do not believe the rumor sites ThinkSecret has proven time and time again to be nearly always correct. It is not MacOSRumors. :-)
Re:New iPods (Score:5, Funny)
Re:New iPods (Score:2)
There are other speculations about a color screen; ability to play Quicktime content, etc., but these are just speculation. It may have a color screen, or it may not.
I also think some of the potential Bluetooth capabilities are pretty cool. Sony-Erricson already makes an MP3 player that
News? (Score:5, Funny)
A press release announcing that there will be some announcement made next week, and it's a frontpage story on Slashdot?
News sure ain't what it used to be.
Re:News? (Score:4, Funny)
Apple + Universal == Trademark Problem (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Apple + Universal == Trademark Problem (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Apple + Universal == Trademark Problem (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Apple + Universal == Trademark Problem (Score:4, Informative)
That said... as I have stated in the past... THE SUIT HAS BEEN SETTLED. Now that its settled Apple can do whatever they want really. They have iPod, they have iTunes, I'm sure IIgs technology is not really important any more.
Even if... (Score:5, Insightful)
You know what's Music to my ears (Score:2, Insightful)
Cocoa (Score:4, Informative)
Cocoa is an application framework. It will not make things faster or better or whatever, If a Carbon app is optimized it will run as fast or faster then Cocoa apps (e.g. The Finder).
Carbon and Cocoa each have their purposes, which is why they are used in OS X.
Re:Cocoa (Score:3, Interesting)
Finder is Carbon, and is hardly a ringing endorsement for it. Sure, it's possible to write bad code with any language or API, but I maintain that given equal amounts of developer time and expertise, a Cocoa app will be better than its Carbon equivalent.
Re:Cocoa (Score:4, Informative)
Basically, Cocoa's gotta do a whole lot more overhead to data from a variable. It's gotta check the type in a lookup table and then actually pull out the memory, where as Carbon will just pull from the memory area (cause they type was determined at compile time). This makes Cocoa MUCH more flexible as language, with the expense of a bit of speed.
So, despite the fact it's the API of choice for OSX, it's still using a language that's slow by nature.
(note: i use cocoa over carbon
what to expect of the new iPods... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:what to expect of the new iPods... (Score:2)
Re:what to expect of the new iPods... (Score:2, Funny)
They're looking for more market penetration, don't ya know.
Re:what to expect of the new iPods... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:what to expect of the new iPods... (Score:2, Interesting)
Purely marketing. Apple would want a killer app type thing for Firewire 800, that way people will buy it.
How about some good detective work (Score:5, Interesting)
1. Are any Universal senior executives going to be in SFO on 28th? Maybe any friends, collegues can answer?
2. Any other recording company executive planned to be in SFO on 28 - with no event planned publicly?
3. Are any major artists (somewhere read Pearl Jam) planned to be in SFO on 28th?
I am sure people can come up with more clues (flight plans, website registration - ok I know about appleuniversal.plan - what else) which can throw more light on the plans.
Re:How about some good detective work (Score:2)
Doubtful on Pearl Jam considering they're in the midst of the east cost/midwest leg of their tour and will be playing Philly on the 28th.
Re:How about some good detective work (Score:2)
Re:How about some good detective work (Score:3)
But as a previous poster said, they're in Philly on the 28th.
Re:How about some good detective work (Score:5, Funny)
Service Plan + Free/Cheap iPod (Score:5, Insightful)
Sign up for one year and get a $XXX discount on one of our pieces of hardware
Imagine how many more people will sign up for a $40 monthly fee if it meant they could finally afford an iPod and have access to an easy to use music subscription service.
Re:Service Plan + Free/Cheap iPod (Score:4, Insightful)
OTOH, it's possible they may do what you suggest or maybe also include this service as part of the
Denial (Score:5, Funny)
Who is their spokesman, Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf (aka Baghdad Bob)?
Planned Launch of New Robotics Product (Score:4, Funny)
The product is scheduled to launch with the name "iRobot....."
*DUCK*
Why is this news? (Score:2, Funny)
Yeah, that deserves a Slashdot article.
Re:Why is this news? (Score:5, Interesting)
If there's any merit to the Universal rumor, then even the announcement of the press event is news. Remember, the LA Times said that if Apple was going through with the purchase it would be done before the April 29 Vivendi-Universal stockholders meeting.
Put all the naysaying aside: an IT corporation in charge of one the largest record group? In eight days time, our view of the RIAA and its view of the DMCA could be 180 degrees different than it is right now.
That deserves a Slashdot story.
Re:Why is this news? (Score:3, Interesting)
Seriously, though: I just said it could change our views. I didn't say it would be for the better.
Plus, Apple's already edging out the competition in the MP3 player market...they need to stay competitive. ;)
only on /. (Score:4, Funny)
"This just in! More news will come in later, story at 11"
Skipping the G5, moving to G6 (Score:3, Funny)
Other Possibilities (Score:2)
But this doesn't have to be a black-and-white thing. There have been too many stores in mainstream media for this to be completely groundless (at least, I think so), and Apple can't afford to buy Universal outright, so I believe we should expect either a partial buyout (not even a controlling share), or/and perhaps Steve Jobs taking some significant management position within Universal Music, in addition to his A
Dear Apple (Score:2)
Make up your mind!
Thank you
Re:Dear Apple (Score:3, Informative)
They've given off no mixed message because they never gave off a message to being with.
Apple's Plan (Score:5, Funny)
(2) Deny involvment
(3) Accept involvment
(4) ???
(5) Profit!
Giving me a job offer... (Score:4, Funny)
Forget Universal and iPods, Half-Life 2! (Score:2)
"[...]April 28th, which they say is the day that the Half-Life 2 NDA will be lifted"
Yes, my tongue IS firmly wedged in my cheek.
Text of the Jobs announcement (Score:5, Funny)
Recently, Apple Computer was approached by beings from the Planet Zog. Zog is the richest planet in known space and all its inhabitants are so intelligent that it has no concept of intellectual property, since anybody is capable of inventing anything he, she or it needs as and when necessary. All Zog software is Open Source, mostly written in VLIW assembler by users as and when required.
Unfortunately the Zog economy is somewhat overheated, despite a rise in income tax to 99%, and Zog is looking for a way to lose some cash. They have offered to merge Apple with a Zog publicly owned corporation called "We really are Universal Music" (ZSE: WRUM), the present stockholders of Apple to retain 51% of the equity.
The idea is to introduce a music-on-demand service by which music will be directly downloaded from Zog. Zog has no equivalent of the DMCA since even the cheapest Zog pseudopodheld can crack any form of encryption on the fly, and has been recording the entire data output of the Earth for the last hundred years on the Ogg recorder in some Zog kid's bedroom. To encourage takeup of the service. the new corporation will give away all its hardware and software free for the next 20 years, and offer to replace all Macs in the field free of charge with new terahertz systems running OS MDCLX.
Jobs then demonstrated the new direct thought to text input PowerBook G93000 which projects a virtual reality 3-D image into the entire visual field, runs for a year on an AAA battery and weighs half an ounce.
Following the announcement, Microsoft shares rose $3 and Apple shares were $12 down at close of trading. The usual suspects predicted the demise of Apple within 3 weeks, citing the failure to keep up technically with the PC market, and Steve Jobs was slightly injured by a troll from slashdot complaining about file copy speed on a 9600/300. ...try to keep posts on topic
Re:Text of the Jobs announcement (Score:3, Funny)
But the real question is... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Ogg Support? (Score:3, Informative)
From personal experience, that is not true. Although ogg will beat MP3 at about the same bitrate.
Re:Ogg Support? (Score:3, Insightful)
Nope, it's really true. I would listen to a 64 Ogg over a 128 MP3 any day (of course both have artifacts, but the Ogg's high frequency problems are much less than MP3's swirling hi-hats).
Re:No OS X port? (Score:5, Funny)
And OSX themes on XP are just lipstick on a pig.
Re:No OS X port? (Score:5, Insightful)
Personally, I think it's more likely that they'd switch straight to a 64-bit CPU from AMD, but that's just me.
Re:Competitive hardware? (Score:3, Insightful)
What would be the point of enable the iPod wireless? Bluetooth is damn slow, 802.11b(and g) is a faster, bur require lots of power. The iPod battery does have short enough life span as it is.
Sure it could be a 'cool' feature, but the increased price, and the decreased battery life will not sell many units.
Re:WMA9 (Score:3, Insightful)