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Another 'Pod In The Hall (10/14/03)
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Meanwhile, bring on the "unconfirmed reports," baby! We're still all a-flutter with the whispers that Thursday's media brouhaha will feature far more music-related magic than a mere launch of the iTunes Music Store for Windows. If you recall, there was talk of iTunes 5 for both platforms, with a new interface, Windows Media support, and an intriguing alleged feature called "listener loans." There may also be a bevy of iPod peripherals including video- and photo-related interfaces, a Bluetooth headset, and some sort of recording device. Somebody call Vegas and get the odds!
Well, if it means anything to you, AppleInsider adds still more "unconfirmed reports" corroborating the rumors of "major updates" to iTunes and the ability to "allow users to borrow or preview full tracks or albums for short periods of time without being billed." Needless to say, if that one turns out to be true, that's one feature that's going to be abused twelve ways from March before its feet even touch the ground. (WireTap, anyone?)
Far more interesting to us, though, is the claim that the alleged "recording device" might not be so much targeted at musicfolk, but at students: "a new iPod feature will allow students to record their afternoon lectures-- for later listening-- to an audio track via a new hardware addition to the player." Okay, that's a little vague on whether Apple is targeting students with an "iLecture" add-on or if it's just a generic voice dictation module targeted at, well, people with mouths. But if this does indeed turn out to be true and Apple is giving the iPod a little school cred, it's an effin' brilliant move-- suddenly youthful voices across the land will be lifted in a simultaneous whiny chorus of "But Moooommmmm, I need an iPod for schooooool!"
Yes, when parents look askance at the kids tossing a couple of iPods in the cart during back-to-school shopping, said kids will be able to justify the purchase by whipping out printouts of Apple-commissioned reports which show that students with recording iPods have 23% better GPAs and score 31% higher on standardized tests. Suddenly the demographic most likely to want an iPod but least likely to have the cash to spend on one will be able to rope their parents into footing the bill. Apple's iPod sales will shoot straight through the roof, and from there, it's just a hop, skip, and a jump to total global domination and the subjugation of the entire human race to its evil will. Woo-hoo!
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SceneLink (4268)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 10/14/03 episode: October 14, 2003: Some analysts think the iTunes Music Store for Windows will be too little, too late. Meanwhile, rumors swirl about an iPod dictation add-on targeted at students, and the Dell-based "Lonestar" supercomputer at the University of Texas is actually only about a third as fast per dollar as the G5-based cluster at Virginia Tech and not, as previously reported, a millionth...
Other scenes from that episode: 4267: Late, Sure, But Moving Fast (10/14/03) Ooooh, just two days to go! Can't you just smell the drama? (Try again. It smells a little like Lemon Pledge.) We speak, of course, of Apple's imminent music event thingy, and while we were oh-so-conspicuously not invited to the shindig itself, at least we have the option of cramming into a participating Apple retail store and catching it live via satellite like the rest of the untouchable non-media... 4269: .21 The Bang, .58 The Buck (10/14/03) Okay, fine, we're game; if people are going to insist on pretending that AtAT is some sort of "news source" (oooh, we feel so dirty) and then get sooooooo picky about a piddly little thing like overreporting the cost of a supercomputer by a factor of twelve, we suppose we can do a followup scene...
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