Being Right All The Time Is A Burden

Being Right All The Time Is A Burden
09/15/06

First off, don’t forget the upcoming monthly meeting of our local Mac user group, MMOOS (Maine Macintosh Owners & Operators Society), next Tuesday, September 19th, at 6:30 PM in the large meeting room at Thornton Oaks Retirement Community in Brunswick. Remember, that’s 6:30 PM. Get there early for a good seat. Our program this month has something for Mac and Windows users alike.

We’ll get “up close and personal” with the new iPods, iTunes 7, and the iTunes Store (no longer the “iTunes Music Store” as it now offers feature-length movies!). We’ll then boldly go where no Mac has gone before – we’ll gasp collectively as a MacBook Pro boots into Windows! If you’re thinking of turning away from “the Dark Side” and stepping “into the light”, but are concerned with losing your Windows “woobee”, come see how you can keep your Windows security blanket while completing your transformation.

For more information about MMOOS, and directions to the meeting, check out our new website at mmoos.net. See you there!

So, last week I suggested you refrain from buying an iPod over the weekend. You know, being right all the time is a burden.

This Tuesday Apple introduced major revisions of all three models of the iPod. Let’s start small and work our way up.

When I say small, I mean SMALL. The new iPod shuffle is about the size of a large, rectangular postage stamp (1.62 inches long), weighs about half an ounce, and holds 240 songs in its 1 GB of flash memory. It’s silver in color, made of anodized aluminum, and has a built-in clip. It’s $79, and will be available in October.

The iPod nano (the most popular personal music player in the world) gets even thinner, an anodized aluminum skin, multiple colors, a brighter screen, and 24 hours of battery life. Three “sizes” are available – 2 GB ($149), 4 GB ($199) and 8 GB (2000 songs) for ($249). That’s double the memory at the same price points, and they’re available today.

The updated “video” iPod keeps the same form factor, gets a brighter screen (60% brighter), longer battery life, and comes in 30 GB ($299) and whopping 80 GB ($349) versions. New software (compatible with the previous fifth-generation models) allows for fast music searching, gapless playback, and support for new, more intricate games, and the movies available from the new iTunes Store. And, they’re available today as well.