Category: Music (Page 7 of 11)

Apple Hosting “Rock And Roll” Media Event September 9th

August 31, 2009 / Jeff Morgan

Apple September invite. Today, Apple sent out invitations to their September media event (if you’re reading this, Apple, you forgot the one with my name on it and that complimentary airfare/hotel stay). This year’s invitation looks like just about every other iPod advert. The invite reads, “It’s only rock and roll, but we like it.” Those aren’t exactly inspiring words for a tablet announcement, but there are plenty of other things Apple could show off this year.

Among those would be the rumored-to-death cameras for the iPod Touch and Nano models, the release of which would set the stage for an iTunes 9 announcement. There’s also the “Cocktail” feature that’s supposedly designed to save the album (can you save what’s dead?). All of those things would be interesting announcements, though I can’t say I’d be excited about the extra bloat coming to iTunes. It’s bad enough as is.

Apple, Audio, Music, News

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Apple Selling Refurb Retro iPods

August 20, 2009 / Jeff Morgan

Do you ever look back on your first iPod and get a little tear in your eye? Do you lovingly remember the first time you took the original iPod Shuffle to the gym? Yeah, neither do I. I wasn’t all that taken with the iPod until the third generation to be honest. But for the early adopters out there, Apple has a special treat.

As TUAW points out, Apple currently has first-gen iPods and iPod Shuffles up for sale. Granted, they’re refurbed, but I still think it’s kinda cool. In case you’re wondering, that is indeed the iPod model with the physical scrollwheel and individual buttons surrounding the wheel. They’re claiming it’s 5GB iPod for $129 while the original Shuffle will run you a jaw-dropping $99.

Now I’m all for getting a little cutesy with old products, but $99 for the Shuffle that came with a lanyard? Come on, now. That’s just absurd.

Apple, Audio, Gaming, Music

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Microsoft Poaching iPhone Developers For The Zune HD

August 14, 2009 / Jeff Morgan

First, some background. This story has just one source. That source is a developer of a popular Twitter app for the iPhone. Said source is also a fool or just too rich for his own good.

According to John Gruber at Daring Fireball, Microsoft has made contact with at least one iPhone developer with the hopes of getting some app love for the Zune. The developer, who contacted John with the story, was apparently offered “a bucket of money” to port his Twitter app to a product that was at the time undisclosed.

I know there are reasons you might turn that sort of thing down, like loyalty to a certain brand (which I don’t understand unless Microsoft has screwed you in some life altering way), but a bucket of money sounds pretty nice to me. Don’t want to do the work? Get one of your friends to do it for a finder’s fee. I dunno, seems like something I would have jumped on.

The real news in all of this is that Microsoft is trying, and pretty hard, to get some serious app support for the Zune HD. They need it too. Sure the thing looks cool, but it’s just a media player and a mobile web browser for now. Adding some delicious apps could help them take a significant slice of that delicious Apple pie.

Audio, Music, Video

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Zune HD Available For Pre-Order

August 13, 2009 / Jeff Morgan

Just a day after the release announcement, Microsoft’s Zune HD is up for pre-order with several major retailers. As was accidentally leaked by Amazon, the new media player will cost $220 for a 16GB and $290 for the 32GB version.

Unfortunately pre-orders can only receive the black or platinum colors. At release consumers will also be able to choose from red, blue, and green with the option to have your Zune engraved with one of 10 different designs called Zune Originals.

As I mentioned yesterday, the price puts some pressure on Apple with their iPod Touch line. The Zune HD not only upgrades with HD video playback, it costs far less than the equivalent in the iPod Touch line.

Audio, microsoft, Music, News, Video

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Zune HD Coming September 15th

August 12, 2009 / Jeff Morgan

The guys at Gizmodo got some exclusive pics of the new Zune HD packaging along with word that the device will be available September 15th. That date is a little later than most people expected, but still early enough to get some attention before the holiday season.

As for the packaging, it’s standard fare. A white box with a pic of the device in either the 16GB or 32GB flavors. There’s still no mention of pricing, though it’s expected to be something like $220 for the 16GB and $290 for the 32GB. Those prices were from a leaked Amazon page yesterday. Compare that to the $299/$399 pricetags on the same size iPod Touch and we just might see a few people migrating to the Zune, especially with the added bonus of HD video playback.

Audio, Music, News, Video