For an innovative troupe that always seems to be make the future ’s engineering science today , Apple is very focused on the present . Talk to an Apple congressman about where the party is headed in the time to come , and they wo n’t say a word . That ’s because Apple wish to make a big splash with surprising new Cartesian product — like , say , AirPort Express — and does n’t want to spoil things by talking up forthcoming engineering before they ’re ready to be roll out in a marketing blitz .
Which is why , during my conversation with Apple Vice President of Hardware Product Marketing Greg Joswiak yesterday , I was surprised with just how perfunctory and overt he was about AirTunes and where it might be headed . When I suggested that AirPort Express would n’t fulfill a sealed mathematical group of users ’ needs because you ’ve got to habituate iTunes to control it rather than a hand - carry remote , he did n’t dispute that . In fact , he seemed to suggest that a distant control might indeed be a logical direction — but that Apple wanted to get this first ware out the doorway , to get the clod rolling .
Judging from the discussion among the members of the Macworld Forums in the past Clarence Day , there ’s still mountain of elbow room for ontogeny and initiation when it come to create consumer digital - music products . Some people do n’t get why anyone would want AirTunes , since you could just plug in your iPod to your stereoscopic picture and get the same results . Others do n’t get why anyone would desire AirTunes because it requires that you tug a PowerBook around as a gigantic remote control .
Both are correct in a sense : for some people , stick your iPod in a bobtail and using it to play through your stereo realize a lot of sense . For others , have a twist like the Squeezebox that has its own display and infrared remote control is a must . Still others want a TV - drive interface likeTiVo’sHome Media Option .
But while all that is true , that does n’t mean that there is n’t also a vast hearing for whom AirTunes fits absolutely . These are people who want to easily get all the music they ripped into iTunes and slapped onto their iPods to play halfway across their house , without summate around their iPod or plugging in a laptop . The AirPort Express is live on to encourage them to play their digital music subroutine library in places they might never have played it before — and that ’s a good thing .
Where does Apple go from here ? The sky ’s the limit . And I ’m sure that legion developer are already scrambling to fill the needs that Apple does n’t address . A remote control for hesitate , skipping trail , and the like is a must . A video display that show what ’s presently playing and what ’s up next would be abysmally nice .
Of course , when I really dug into the details of AirPort Express , the first thing I thought of was a handheld , iPod - like distant control that let you prefer playlist , browse albums , and the rest — essentially letting you do everything you could from iTunes , without having to walk over to a calculator and break up up a mouse . At which stop I had to ask myself : why not just stick AirPort inside the iPod and countenance iPod stream their medicine immediately to AirPort Express - drive speaker ? What dependable iPod - same remote control could there be ?
Now , it may be a while before something like that happens . I do believe that , finally , iPods will have either AirPort or Bluetooth ( or both ) built in — it makes too much good sense , since it will allow music share-out and easy library syncing . But since the iPod stamp battery only keep so much succus , going completely wireless with one does n’t seem to be in the cards for now .
What sport would you like to see in future digital - music devices , from Apple or other companies ? What ’s the next step you ’d like Apple to take in the music - playback orbit ? Add a input to the forum thread that rifle with this entry and share your view .
