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New iPods, iOS 4.1/4.2 and iTunes - The good, the bad and the ugly

By | September 1, 2010, 12:57pm PDT

Summary: OK, with today’s Apple press event out of the way, time to digest the news and look at the good news, the bad news and the darn right ugly news.

OK, with today’s Apple press event out of the way, time to digest the news and look at the good news, the bad news and the darn right ugly news.

Check out the image gallery detailing all the new hardware unveiled today!

The Good News

  • The iPod touch now basically becomes an iPhone without the phone (oh, and a GPS, LED flash). The addition of FaceTime offers a way for iPod touch users to communicate with iPhone users. The A4 processor is also in, offering way more power.
  • 32GB is the sweet spot price-wise for the iPod touch. 64GB model is premium priced.
  • Buttons are back on the iPod shuffle. The old design, while revolutionary, was pretty much universally hated by owners because the controller built onto the earphones was so susceptible to sweat and rain damage.
  • Nano revamped, clickwheel is gone, and the screen is multitouch.
  • Good hardware revamp of Apple TV. Price seems good at $99.
  • iOS 4.1 seems like a solid update.
  • Printing from the iPad will be a relief to many.
  • HDR photography comes to the iPhone - a lot of fun!

The Bad News

  • Multitouch on the iPod nano seems gimmicky, offers little in the way of function.
  • iPod nano seems so small as to be fiddly to use (at least that’s the impression I got watching Steve Jobs use it during a demo).
  • Unconvinced by the social integration in iTunes. raises privacy and spamming concerns. Basically just a way for Apple to get more people to spend money through iTunes (though it might be good for artists and put a nail in the MySpace coffin).
  • iOS 4.2 on the iPad seems like little more than what the iOS on the iPad should have been at launch.
  • Pricing for new movie rentals on Apple TV is too high at $4.99. Integration of Netflix and YouTube seems knee-jerk and odd.
  • Rental only model of Apple TV might put many off.
  • No mention of apps for iPod nano and Apple TV.

The Darn Right Ugly …

  • Camera and video playback gone on the iPod nano. These were silently dropped.
  • Apple adds more bloat to iTunes, which is already bloated.

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Topics

Apple iPod, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, Apple iTunes, Digital Music, Digital Media, Advertising & Promotion, Personal Technology, Consumer Electronics, Marketing

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology.

Disclosure

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

All opinions expressed on Hardware 2.0 are those of Adrian Kingsley-Hughes. Every effort is made to ensure that the information posted is accurate. If you have any comments, queries or corrections, please contact Adrian via the email link here. Any possible conflicts of interest will be posted below. [Updated: February 23, 2010] - Adrian Kingsley-Hughes has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other actual/potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted so far on this blog.

Biography

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology -- whether that be by learning to program, building a PC from a pile of parts, or helping them get the most from their new MP3 player or digital camera.

Adrian has authored/co-authored technical books on a variety of topics, ranging from programming to building and maintaining PCs. His most recent books include "Build the Ultimate Custom PC", "Beginning Programming" and "The PC Doctor's Fix It Yourself Guide". He has also written training manuals that have been used by a number of Fortune 500 companies.

Adrian also runs a popular blog under the name The PC Doctor, where he covers a range of computer-related topics -- from security to repairing and upgrading.

Talkback Most Recent of 15 Talkback(s)

  • RE: New iPods, iOS 4.1/4.2 and iTunes - The good, the bad and the ugly
    Why is absence of a video camera on the new iPod nano an ugly thing? How do you expect to handle a camera on such a small device efficiently?
    As far as iTunes is concerned, it's been 2 years since I've used iTunes under Windows therefore can not comment on that. iTunes runs well under Snow Leopard.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    MG537
    1st Sep 2010
  • iOS 4.2 Beta for iPad
    The next big thing is iOS 4.2 for iPad! http://dev.macgeekblog.com/ipad
    ZDNet Gravatar
    skr3dii
    1st Sep 2010
  • RE: New iPods, iOS 4.1/4.2 and iTunes - The good, the bad and the ugly
    @MG537
    iTunes runs fine on my W7 64 Toshiba laptop now, but earlier versions never updated themselves right - tried to push 32 bit iTunes on my machine. That seems to be fixed. However I think the criticism iTunes is it so big. Every update requires a very large download to replace the program vs. switching out some of the code. When Apple gets cute about freezing some other manufacturer or program link to iTunes out, those frequent updates get very irritating. It has too much junk in the trunk - if the code became modular, that would make updates much friendlier.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Luke Skywalker
    1st Sep 2010
  • Totally agree on iPod nano multi touch
    That is one terrible UI for such a tiny screen. It is clear that Apple can no longer find things to steal from other companies and is now simply doing stuff because it can be done.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    NonZealot
    1st Sep 2010
  • Stealing stuff? LOL
    @NonZealot

    How long do you believe it will be before MS copies Ping?

    And wanna bet they will call it "Pong"?
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Ken_z
    1st Sep 2010
  • You need to be careful when you make statements like that!
    @Ken_z
    How long do you believe it will be before MS copies Ping?

    I nearly fell off my chair and could have seriously injured myself!!!!

    Go install the free Zune software and feel the shame for advertising just how uninformed you really are. Unless you want to accuse MS of having a time travel machine, there is no need to steal Ping since MS has had social features in Zune since the beginning. It is even possible that they were the first to integrate social features into a media manager but I'm sure someone will be able to bring up a link to some never before (or since) heard of open source project that did it earlier.

    Sorry Ken but Ping was clearly stolen from Zune.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    NonZealot
    1st Sep 2010
  • RE: New iPods, iOS 4.1/4.2 and iTunes - The good, the bad and the ugly
    Still camera on the iPod Touch is only 960x720, NOT 5 Mega-Pixel like the iPhone.

    Bummer.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Scott Kitts
    1st Sep 2010
  • How Is iOS 4.2 Bad News On The iPad??
    This is something we've all been waiting for since iOS 4.0, and if it's cleaned up and streamlined for the iPad, I can't wait to get it!

    Oh, and by the way, where's the comment from our resident Apple hater who said that the iPad wouldn't be able to handle 4.x OS and 256MB of RAM? Where is he now? Hello? TrickyTom2??

    Multi tasking was demonstrated, so eat your words.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    cyberslammer
    1st Sep 2010
  • RE: New iPods, iOS 4.1/4.2 and iTunes - The good, the bad and the ugly
    @cyberslammer

    "Oh, and by the way, where's the comment from our resident Apple hater who said that the iPad wouldn't be able to handle 4.x OS and 256MB of RAM?"

    Kinda surprised somebody made that claim. I'm not an Apple advocate by any stretch of the imagination - but if netbooks can run 2 GB and Windows, I see no reason why the iPad couldn't be made to run 4.x and 256 MB. It doesn't really have any less space in its case than some of the smallest netbooks.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    CobraA1
    2nd Sep 2010
  • RE: New iPods, iOS 4.1/4.2 and iTunes - The good, the bad and the ugly
    Silly Job, the top of the line Touch iPod still is only 64GB and at such a high price. Several manufactures have larger capacity. I have a very large music collection and just getting the CD's on an iPod using ACC, require the 160GB HD model and I haven't even made a dent on the vinyl records.

    I wonder if iTunes 10 works better with Windows. I bet not. The manta at Microsoft used to be ?DOS isn?t done till Lotus won?t run.? I wonder if the manta at Apple is ?No software is ready till it barely runs on anything except Apple.?
    ZDNet Gravatar
    out-of-luck
    1st Sep 2010
  • RE: New iPods, iOS 4.1/4.2 and iTunes - The good, the bad and the ugly
    @out-of-luck What the HECK are you rambling about? I have Windows 7 with iTunes and it runs just fine and it doesn't take long to run..maybe if you moved from the Packard Bell 486 to a real computer you wouldn't have issues.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    cyberslammer
    1st Sep 2010
  • I think you are insane ...
    Integration of Netflix and YouTube seems knee-jerk and odd.

    Apple TV has already had YouTube integration for years. A Netflix client is a long overdue addition. Nothing knee-jerk or odd about either.

    No mention of apps for iPod nano and Apple TV.

    First, you think the iPod Nano multitouch implementation is "fiddly" and "small", but you want apps for it, too? It was clear that the touch interface was merely a means to get rid of the click-wheel to make a smaller, lighter Nano.

    Apple TV apps would be cool, especially games. I expect that Apple will back into this if Apple TV catches on. Perhaps they don't want to get Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft all worked up over what would amount to a new console with the introduction of apps.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    RationalGuy
    1st Sep 2010
  • iOS 4.2 Beta for iPad
    The next big thing is iOS 4.2 for iPad, get a chance to try it as soon as it is released in beta: http://dev.macgeekblog.com/ipad
    ZDNet Gravatar
    skr3dii
    1st Sep 2010
  • Best news of all...
    I get to keep $399 in my bank account because my 60 GB G5 iPod works just fine.


    Can all the gadgetry and give it more storage. Maybe Apple needs two flagship iTouches. One for music with 128GB+ and another with all the bells and whistles they announced today.

    I like the interface, but I have 60GB. Touch is simply not worth $400. And I have a camera and a smartphone. The camera is no better than an afterthought or a device to support the social features which I don't need.

    I really would have coughed up $400 if Jobs had coughed up more storage!
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Freddy McGriff
    1st Sep 2010
  • RE: New iPods, iOS 4.1/4.2 and iTunes - The good, the bad and the ugly
    Last.fm > Ping
    ZDNet Gravatar
    explodingwalrus
    1st Sep 2010

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