Appleswitcher Forum post How Many iPods Have You Owned? sheds some light on iPod Turnover. No, not the recipe. I mean how often do Apple devotees buy iPods for themselves (or are gifted them)?

The more data we get, the more accurate the numbers. I’m going to to halt the poll and divide the iPod total # by number of voters to get an iPod/voter count. Right now we have 15 votes, with a bell curve around the 3-4 iPods owned slots.

iPhones and Touches do count.

So if you haven’t registered for the AppleSwitcher forum, register now and vote.

NBC and Miscrosoft may team up to create a content owner’s dream device, one that will provide “filtering technology that allows for playback of legitimately purchased content versus non-legitimately purchased content.”

My take? NBC and MS will gratify each other in an Alcatraz-like Zune yin-yan, one that’s sure to provide a pretext for private lavish director-level NBC-MS lunches, gushing press releases, demonization of fair use, and circle-jerky boardroom meetings that will make defense contractors blush.

And the public will continue to ignore the Zune because of it. These companies just don’t get it.

A future update of the software for Microsoft’s portable media player may well include a feature that will block unauthorized copies of copyrighted videos from being played on it.

Tuesday, Microsoft announced that it would start selling video programming for the Zune, mainly TV shows. These include programs from NBC Universal, which has pulled its shows off Apple’s iTunes Store.

Late Tuesday afternoon I reached J. B. Perrette, the president of digital distribution for NBC Universal, to ask why NBC found Microsoft’s video store more appealing than Apple’s.

He explained that NBC, like most studios, would like the broadest distribution possible for its programming. But it has two disputes with Apple.

First, Apple insists that all TV shows have an identical wholesale price so that it can sell all of them at $1.99. NBC wants to sell its programs for whatever price it chooses.

Second, Apple refused to cooperate with NBC on building filters into its iPod player to remove pirated movies and videos.

Microsoft, by contrast, will accept NBC’s pricing scheme and will work with it to try to develop a copyright

Could be tomorrow. Ars Technica reports on a report (that probably, yes, reports on a rumor of a report) that an announcement is coming up soon. According to AT, the 6th gen iPod would ship when/after iPhones ship.

According to the “unproven source,” the announcement of widescreen, touchscreen iPods is coming tomorrow, but the new iPods wouldn’t ship until after the iPhone launches in June/July. It’s a cool, and very titillating rumor, but I suspect that this particular source is about as reliable as the guy who sold me a Ziploc bag full of what turned out to be flour cut with Comet and mothballs. In particular, three things stick out about this latest rumor:

First, there’s the claim itself: the launch is coming tomorrow because the touchscreen technology “has been finalized” for the iPhone, but they won’t ship until after the iPhone so as not to lure buyers away. It’s just different enough from what’s been said to already be working, but I don’t think it’s very plausible. First of all, if users are already waiting for the iPhone in order to get their hands on widescreen/touchscreen technologies, so what’s going to stop them from waiting another month to get the 6G iPod that they might really want?

London – The youngest British captive held by Iran said in an interview published on Monday that the gifts the Iranians gave to the seized sailors were a cheap load of old junk – and they stole his iPod.

Royal Navy able seaman Arthur Batchelor, 20, said the suits they were given were “tacky”, the CDs and DVDs do not work and there was no sign of his iPod portable media player, worth £160 (R2 229).

Via news24.com

The 11 books Batchelor was given were in English and mostly aimed at trying to convert the reader to Islam, with titles like Youth and Morals, The Divine Intervention and Knowing God. He also received some toffees and a bag of nuts.

“They’re a bit pathetic,” Batchelor told the Daily Mirror newspaper of the gifts.

Apple, Inc.’s legal department reached in February an agreement with the Beatles’ record label Apple Corps Ltd. It frees Apple Inc. to load music onto its products. It could have an interesting effect on how iPods are sold (or possibly even Macs or AppleTV).

The old agreement (at Sections 1.3 and 4.3) seemingly prevented Apple from selling music on physical media, such as CDs, even though it could sell music through the iTunes Store. On paper, this seemed like a simple limitation: Apple could sell music-playing hardware like iPods, but it couldn’t sell you the discs full of music to play on the iPod.

Apple’s iTunes Store – the subject of the 2003 lawsuit – successfully stepped around this limitation by using the Internet to distribute music, but it left Apple with two major limitations: Apple couldn’t pre-install music on iPods, or otherwise sell it on any physical medium, such as discs. This was one of the reasons that the prior U2 Special Edition iPods didn’t actually include U2’s music – Apple’s contract with The Beatles forced you to buy it separately online.

This would be a big boost to very specific, niche iPod sales outlets like airport iPod vending machines. Can you imagine being able to get an iPod at airport terminal loaded with Celine Dion, saving you the trouble of ripping your vast Dion collection while trying to pack?

iPod Shuffle gets color

The iPod Shuffle now comes in orange (a new color for any iPod model) as well as 4 other colors. Here’s a good review by an iLounge.com editor of why the new Shuffles are better than the old, colors notwithstanding. Hint: it’s the earbuds, bud.

If they didn’t lack the bass response of the higher end Nano and iPod Video, I’d have been an owner back in November, when these amazing aluminum Shuffles were introduced.

Vista released… meh

Microsoft’s first new operating system in 5 years was released for retail sale yesterday. Eyes lifted briefly, then went back to television or work. Vista was previewed to death over the last couple years, and released to corporate clients over two months ago.

Many stores that had planned midnight showings were surprised at the lack of devotees queuing up to buy Vista. CompUSA’s premier store on San Francisco’s Market Street only saw a fraction of the 500-plus shoppers its manager had hoped for at the stroke of twelve. And in an unintentionally hilarious piece of irony, many of those who came to shop — including those at the head of the line — were there only for discounts on gadgets rather than Microsoft’s software darling. Similar stories surfaced in other parts of the US.

Suspense had been entirely bled from Vista, so yesterday’s release was a big yawn. Of course, accusations flew that Microsoft’s new OS is a ripoff of Mac OS. It would have been surprising if they didn’t fly. It’s happened with every version of Windows, to one degree or another.

Microsoft’s zany, sweaty, never-boring CEO Steve Ballmer says in an interview that Apple’s upcoming iPhone will be “the most expensive phone in the world”, and that Zune captured 20-25% of the higher end MP3 player market. Huh?

Just 30 seconds of searching in Froogle reveals many phones over $600, for instance this Samsung I830 Smartphone for $899.95.

As for the Zune sales claim, it’s a wacky number from a wacky guy.

As a hard drive based player, Microsoft has already limited itself to 20 percent of the overall digital music player market. Eight of the top ten players were Apple models, with the remaining two belonging to SanDisk.

However, within the HDD player segment, Redmond is actually performing quite well, with about one out of every eight players being a Zune, or 12 percent.

via BetaNews

[youtube]C5oGaZIKYvo[/youtube]

Apple has a major announcement due to be aired in a Superbowl ad spot on February 4th.

Touchscreen iPod ala iPhone? Beatles catalog in iTunes Store? OS X 10.5 Leopard shipping?

via Digg

While clearly labeled a concept, the phone device looks about right for the intersection of Apple design, rumored features, and the rumored ~$500 price tag. Continue reading »

iPods were the most coveted holiday gift for the third consecutive year, according to DailyTech.com.

Amazingly, the iPod family members accounted for 4 of Amazon’s top ten items this season.

The Nano has accounted for 51% of total iPod sales while the Shuffle hold strong at 21%. The 5/5.5G iPod accounts for the remainder.

Microsoft’s Zune player held only 2% of recent MP3 player sales at Amazon, after coming out of the gate in November at 9%.

Site traffic analysis service Hitwise reported iTunes Web site traffic was 4 times as great December 25th as it was the same day a year ago. The massive traffic increase caused slowdowns of 20 minutes or more for users armed with new iPods and iTunes Music Store gift certificates.

[youtube]PW4pDM1hyLU[/youtube]

via technocitizen.net, via Digg.com.

Do a Google image search for “zune” and you’ll get a “Did you mean: zone”

Blast from the past. Check out TechTV’s review of the iPod, 2001.

[youtube]yrEzdtSe_58[/youtube]

Thanks to GamePolitics.com we are now privy to the knowledge that Bill O’Reilly thinks that PS3, Xbox and iPod use contributes to the downfall of the United States.

If the overblown FOX hack lunatic had any credibility to lose, he lost it with this:

I don’t own an iPod. I would never wear an iPod… If this is your primary focus in life – the machines… it’s going to have a staggeringly negative effect, all of this, for America… did you ever talk to these computer geeks? I mean, can you carry on a conversation with them? …I really fear for the United States because, believe me, the jihadists? They’re not playing the video games. They’re killing real people over there.

Note to O’Reilly: your premium content pay site offers podcasts for download.

This is a followup to my earlier blog entry titled Zune Birth: Does it Already Suck?

And now to explore the other avenue: Zune won’t suck. It will take some market share from the iPod, and “cannibalize” perhaps half of the other 30% of the market. I use the term “cannibalize” because there’s the iPod, and there’s the others. This is not snobbery; everybody’s gunning for the iPod. To wit, a Google search for “iPod killer” shows over four million pages indexed.

Competition is good.
iPod and iTunes Store pricing is then likely to feel a little more downward pressure than it would otherwise, and iPod storage capacity might creep up a bit faster than it would without the major league competition of the Zune.

Apple stock will suffer, and feelings will be hurt. Bragging rights will be split evenly between the good guys and the bad guys. Hands will be wrung, and blogging revenge will be exacted for years.

Ancillary Effects
Interestingly, even if iPod sales are halved or worse, it will have fulfilled its quiet mission: to sell Macs. Although the margins on Macs are not as lucrative as the margins on iPods, Apple is first and foremost a PC company, and selling more of its core product is always a good thing.

In addition, the iPod, once beaten back to less than half marketshare (let’s face it, it will happen one day), will have helped Apple see that the Mac is still the center of people’s electronic lives, with music entertainment, video entertainment and the like playing related but ultimately satellite roles for the foreseeable future.

Plug: buy an iPod Shuffle from Amazon and help this site.

So what about Zune in terms of the Big Zune Question: what will the rebadged Toshiba Gigabeat do to the iPod?

There’s two possibilities: something and nothing.

Let’s explore those avenues. First, nothing: Zune will suck. Apple stock will continue to rise, both literally and metaphorically. iTunes Music Store and the iPod will continue to rule the marketplace because no amount of MS R&D and marketing muscle can buy a simple Microsoft product. None. That’s because Microsoft has always suffered from feature bloat, and this decades-long affliction shows no sign of letting up.

Case in point: Zune’s wireless song transfer capability. Great feature, right? Well yea, on a planet where the RIAA’s lawyers don’t roam. But here on Earth, music’s gatekeepers watch “music lifestyle” companies like Apple and Microsoft like a hawk. So a very promising feature becomes a tantilizing joke:

One of the features that Microsoft has been pushing as a key differentiator is its Zune to Zune WiFi feature. They have enabled the limited sharing of songs, recordings, playlists and pictures with others. Tracks received from another person can be played for up to three days or three plays, whichever comes first, after which it will need to be purchased via the Zune Marketplace. These limits are not only applied to Zune Marketplace music, but to all songs, without exception.

[wikipedia]

Ah, nothing like a constant reminder that you’re just this much DRM away from having an unlimited, untethered wireless song transfer wonderland between you and fellow Zune users. As it is, this feature is more like those small, dashboard plastic cover caps that hide options you didn’t get in your car. In other words, the silly 3-day limit will forever remind you of the possibilities of open file trading, but never allow it.

There’s been much criticism about other Zune aspects too, like the much-touted screen being bigger than the iPod’s. The truth is that yes, it is bigger, but they both have the same resolution. Again, something good (bigger) being applied as a gloss over a wash (same resolution). And Zune’s dimensions become somewhat larger than the iPod’s as a result of the bigger screen.

Can Microsoft’s version of the iTunes Music Store be as easy to use and provide the no-thinking-required integration between iTMS and the iPod? Time will tell.

And one last point: has MS’s Plays for Sure fiasco (Plays for Sure media does not play on Zunes) damaged the Zune marketplace even before Zune sees its release date? Obviously this is the case. Anyone locked out of playing their files “For Sure” on this MP3 player is simply not going to buy one.
So will it suck? And if so, and even more importantly, will it suck for long? Will Microsoft dial in on Apple’s five year lead? The Zune did come from the crack Xbox team, after all.

For answers to these and other important questions, check back for my next blog entry: Yes, The Zune Will Do Something To The iPod.

Plug: Buy your Zune with these links and help AS.

A guy found that Best Buy would sell him a (brown) Zune early. So he bought it, took it home, and the install crashed. Hmmm.

And this is where i leave you right now. The Zune already drawn its first blood; me. I cant install it for some reason, and i tried everything. If you have any suggestions or ideas, please leave a comment.

from a comment

Oh, it says “Hello From Seattle” because Microsoft is based in Redmond, and they want to be hip. Unfortunately, that isn’t possible. Ever. Sad really, no more so pathetic.

Redmond Washington, Microsoft’s HQ and campus’ location, is mind-numbingly bedroom-communityish (if well-planned and relatively bicycle friendly). They are right to borrow 15-mile-away Seattle as their hometown.

And what’s up with that image? Bizarre. It looks like a scene of both terror and ecstasy.