We ’ve evidence you what we think aboutApple ’s in vogue addition to the iPod mob . But how has the debut of the iPod Photo and its dark-skinned , U2 - themed similitude been received outside of the immediate Mac existence ? To preserve your finger the strain of undue surfboarding from savant to pundit , we ’ve combed the Web to gauge the reaction to this week ’s iPod ontogeny . And the consensus seems to be that Apple has another winning product on its hands — unless it does n’t .
lead the pro - iPod detail isNew York Timescolumnist — andMacworldcontributor&8212;David Pogue , whocontends thatthe addition of the iPod Photo “ makes so much sense . ”
Alyce Lomax ofThe Motley Foolis less impressed . While recognize Apple ’s ability to innovate , she ’s “ not sure I ’m completely sold on the idea that the iPod Photo will be as much a smash success as the even iPod . Although it might be a bang-up instrument for party if you ’re showing off ten of thousands of digital photos of your lovely children or your last vacation , I have a hard clock time imagine that photo are as catchy on this program as medicine . ” As for the iPod U2 Special Edition , Lomax likes the sinister - and - red flavour , thinks it may only invoke to diehard U2 fan , and concludes : “ I can imagine that some of today ’s hippies who might be attracted to a fatal iPod would likely shun the mind of the connection to a particular band . Can you say “ sellout ” ? ”
( Indeed , some U2 fans are tell exactly that , at least according to this fib inThe Independent . Then again , the person quote in thatIndependentarticle says that she say no such thingin other report . So take that with however many grain of salt your dietitian hint . )
Over atMacworld ’s sister issue , PC World , Harry McCrackenspeculates on what the future might hold for extra iPod releases . Harry ’s take : most iPods will in all likelihood have some pic - displaying capacity before long and a smaller , cheaper flare - found iPod still might seem one of these Clarence Day . My reaction : I agree on the first point — it seems to come in pipeline with Apple ’s digital ambitions — but not one the second . Apple has show no inclination to bother with newsbreak - based MP3 player and the feedback it ’s getting from the marketplace — phenomenal sales event for a severe drive - base player — is probably doing little to spark any enthusiasm to head in that instruction .
Speaking of the Windows humans , the admiration for the novel iPod is exceeded by the amount of questions surrounding the newfangled gimmick . For instance , at Engadget , they ’re wonderingwhether HP ’s version of the iPod will get the iPod Photo treatment(can’t help you there , but the Pogue clause referenced above does do an excellent line of explain just how the iPod Photo works with a Windows machine ) andwhy Apple does n’t just arrive out with a video - playing iPod(probably because the iPod Photo is just a first step , and Apple desire to check that it gets that engineering right before tackle the trickier trouble of making a video recording player that ’s as fashionable , compact , and profitable as the iPod ) . Meanwhile at theMicrosoft Monitor weblog , Joe Wilcox paint a picture Microsoft could discover a lot from the mode Apple has branded and marketed the iPod . Not to worry , Joe — as most Mac users will tell you , if there ’s one thing Microsoft excels at , it ’s adapt things from Apple . ( And if you ’re wondering just how the iPod Photo compares to the Portable Media Center running Microsoft computer software , Todd Bishop of the Seattle Post - Intelligenceroffers a handy comparison . )
The iPod Photo ’s sharpest pan comes fromSlate ’s Paul Boutin , who write “ It ’s now five hours after Apple ’s U2 - bedecked press conference , and I still have n’t stopped yawn . ” For Boutin , the presence of a color LCD screen door or a democratic Irish rock candy set does n’t resolve a fundamental problem he has with the iPod .
I ’m not prepared to tell Boutin he ’s wrong — I do n’t doubt he ’s disappointed there ’s not a wireless iPod like the one he describes at the end of his commentary . But I do call back his analysis put up from a syndrome common among tech learned person to quickly check into a raw product to see if it has every feature conceivable and then , when it inevitably does n’t , pronounce it a ho - hum effort .
No , the iPod Photo does not feature motion television , nor does the iPod give you the ability to radio revise your euphony program library . Yet . It may well do both of these things — and more — one of these days . But for now , Apple is concentrating on save an iPod that deal digital image as well as it handles euphony . That ’s just one step — a fairly pregnant one , actually — but it ’s not the last step .
Finally , Apple ’s other big euphony - related announcement this week — that the iTunes Music Store will come to Canada next calendar month at farsighted last is receiving surprisingly subdued play inthe Canadian press . I say “ surprising ” because any iTunes - tie in story to appear in the pages ofMacworldin late month usually prompted a bustle of alphabetic character from reader north of the border reminding us that Apple had yet to expose them to the marvel of 99 - cent euphony downloads . Well , welcome to the party , Canada . And you ’ll be felicitous to know that moments after Apple announced the expansion of its music store into nine additional European countries , we received the first trickle of e - mail from Irish readers wonder what Luxembourg has that they do n’t . Ireland , it seems , is the new Canada .
