Macworld 2009

Tasel

So for those that missed it, the highlights from Macworld:

• iTunes
  It finally is (almost) completely DRM free. Almost all the catalog is DRM free (8 mil) and the rest (2 mil) before the end of the quarter. 'Bout freak'n time. Also they have variable pricing now from $0.69-$1.29 stating in April depending on what the labels want to charge. Entire library can be scanned and upgraded for $0.30 for each song or 30% on each album. In addition the iTunes library is now available on the iTouch and iPhones via wifi, 3G, and even Edge (had a friend test it and he was able to see and do it on his old iPhone).
• iPhoto
  Now iPhoto can auto recognize faces. Not at 100% but pretty darn good from the reports. Also finally has geo-tagging as well. Allows to make use of cameras that have that as well as you manually tagging them. Smart albums for both features (for example a "family" group with all faces of your family). Slide shows can center in on main faces, have different themes applied and be ported to an iPod/Phone. In addition, you can directly upload to Flickr and Facebook with the tagging intact. Any tagging in Facebook can be downloaded back to iPhoto and then approved by you (faces, locations, etc)
• iMovie
  New themes, new styles. Some 2D & 3D mapping that can be added to your movies to show traveling. Nothing huge. Some tweaks to the editing process.
• GarageBand
  Big thing here "Learn How to Play". Learn how to play piano, guitar, right on the mac.
• iWork
  Keynote can be controlled via iPhones/iTouches. Numbers can link with address book and mail to auto-populate fields. Again nothing huge. But they are launching iWork.com which is in a nutshell google docs. It's upload and collaboration part of the software.
• Hardware
  17" MacBook Pro - non-removable 7-8 hour "real use" battery. Uses new technology of block cells instead of standard lithium rolled batteries. Batterry will get to 1000 charge cycles (approx 5 years) vs normal lithium batteries which run 300 charge cycles (2-3 years). Take those numbers with the appropriate amount of sodium. Also an upgrade to the new uni-body style, with same sorta features aas the newer MacBook Pro.

So that's about it. No new iMacs, mini, or iPhone Nanos. Nothing out of the ordinary. Two biggest things in my opinion of interest is the iPhoto face recognition and iTunes finally having all DRM free songs.

Thoughts? Anything I missed you thought was interesting?

EDIT- relevant links:
MacBook Pro 17"
Video tours of iPhoto and iMovie

Apreche

iTunes - DRM free is good, but it's still too expensive. Wake me up when it's a DRM free subscription service, or $.01 per song.

iPhoto - I never understood the purpose of this program. Does it just look at photos? Does it edit them? Flickr and Picasa exist, what's the point of a desktop program like this?

iMovie - I guess it's good for people who make cute home movies. But are the updates really going to get more of those people's money? I don't think these improvements grow or shrink the sales figures.

GarageBand - The only thing cool was actually learning to play music. I would be totally up for that. However, I read that you actually have to buy each lesson for $5.

iWork - I guess if you're already all Mac, and you're already using iWork these improvements help a lot. I can see how using the iPhone + keynote can be pretty sweet. It's just not sweet enough to be worth the cost if you don't already have

17" - The battery in the MacBook is pretty cool. Since it does supposedly last a very long time, and they have a replacement program, I can forgive them for not making it removable. Removable would still be better, though. Even so, everything else about the machine is just stupid. Why didn't they do this advanced battery stuff in all their devices?

Really, I have no need for any of this stuff, and I don't know anyone else who does. What Apple should do is kill the AppleTV, and make a new Mac mini. Then replace Front Row with the AppleTV software. Put some HDMI/DisplayPort holes on it, and you've got a winner. Also, they should make an openable desktop machine that is in the same horsepower range as the iMac.

I really think Apple is starting to run out of steam, and their pride is holding them back from obvious opportunities.

HMTKSteve

What about songs purchased in the past from iTunes? Will the DRM be stripped from those as well or is this only for new purchases?

Omnutia

I think you pay extra depending on how many you've downloaded. Engadget said something about it.

Josh Bytes

The MacBook Pro battery video was pretty neat to watch. I was kind of hoping for a bigger screen for the IPod classic and maybe have it be able to buy apps from the store. Oh well.

HMTKSteve

The only news out of Apple that I would cheer would be the end of the iPod=iTunes-sync-lock problem. What I'm referring to is the fact that if you have an iPod you can only sync it to one copy of iTunes on one machine. If you try and connect it to a second machine it either will not work or it asks you to wipe it clean before working.

If I can authorize my iTunes to work on up to five machines why is the iPod restricted to just one?

Tasel

What about songs purchased in the past from iTunes? Will the DRM be stripped from those as well or is this only for new purchases?

You do have to pay to "upgrade" your songs. It's $0.30 per song or 30% for an entire album.

If I can authorize my iTunes to work on up to five machines why is the iPod restricted to just one?

They issue here has more to do with making an iPod identical (or selectively identical) with a iTunes library. Syncing with more than one library would cause issues of being able to delete things and conflicts with lists. That's my guess, who knows what really goes through the heads of apple. [Note: this comes form an Apple fanboy so, again, take my thoughts with appropriate grains of salt).

Blattus

What about songs purchased in the past from iTunes? Will the DRM be stripped from those as well or is this only for new purchases?

You do have to pay to "upgrade" your songs. It's $0.30 per song or 30% for an entire album.

It should be added that the upgrade and the new DRM-free music will be at a higher bitrate than music previously sold from the iTunes store. 256kbps AAC if I'm not mistaken. Also, another iTunes-related feature that's been added is the ability to download music (at the same bitrate and also DRM-free) to your iPhone using a 3G connection. Previously, you had to be on wifi to access the iTunes store on the iPhone.

Kilarney

You have to upgrade your entire library all at once. That's crazy.

This is really a back-door way of increasing the price for songs. Don't be fooled by the teaser 69 cent rate. I'm sure most songs will be priced at the higher $1.29 rate. Piraters will still pirate and regular ITunes users will pay more.

Amazon is still the best option for most downloads. DRM free and 99 cents.

I agree with Scott. Pricing is entirely out of whack for media. We watch maybe 4 or 5 TV shows per week. At $2 per episode, assuming 5 shows per week, it's $43.33 per month. Basic cable, with un-metered content that is recordable, is about the same price. So where is the incentive to buy DRMed shows over the internet? I suspect that for the average TV watcher, it's even less competitive.

Now I know why Steve Jobs didn't show up. Nothing exciting at all. To be fair, it's not realistic to expect amazing new products every few months.

As much as I'd like an IPhone Nano, I just don't see how it fits with Apple's strategy. The whole appeal of the IPhone is that it's so much different than anything out there. With the small size of a "nano" phone, I just don't see what they could do to it that would make it stand out from the crowd.

Li_Akahi

iPhoto - I never understood the purpose of this program. Does it just look at photos? Does it edit them? Flickr and Picasa exist, what's the point of a desktop program like this?

It is mostly used as photo editing software.