iPad + iPad mini Buyers Guide

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Announcing TunesAtWork—Leave your music at home, and listen at work. Free.

TunesAtWork lets you listen to your personal iTunes music collection while at your office or lab, even though your iTunes collection resides at home.

TunesAtWork is a specialized web server that runs on your home Macintosh and serves web pages that present your music collection (including playlists) organized visually much the same as in iTunes itself.  This makes it easy to find what you’re looking for.

Additional details and 13 comments.

TechTV to review iPod Battery Replacement Kit

  • January 12, 2004
  • iPod

Tech TV’s The Screen Savers will be reviewing an iPod battery replacement kit tomorrow night (7 pm EST).  This is the first time I’ve seen a TV show review the kit, and their analysis is usually spot on.  Should be interesting to see their take on the issue.

3 comments.

AppleMatters: The HP-iPod Deal is Brilliant

“The recent HP-Apple announcement makes the significance of the iPod mini announcement at Macworld well, look minute. Finally it looks like Steve Jobs has not let his ego get the best of him, and done something that is right for Apple as a public company. Let’s look at what could have been; Apple could have decided to keep the iPod and iTunes an Apple-only product greatly limiting the sales of both. Instead, any PC user can now buy and listen to digital music using Apple products. Brilliant.”

12 comments.

iPod to support Windows Media Audio?

  • January 11, 2004
  • iPod

Connected Home Magazine’s Paul Thurrott predicts the recently announced Apple/HP partnership will bring Microsoft’s WMA format to the iPod.

“HP’s blockbuster deal with Apple will have one exciting side effect. The company will be working with Apple to add support for Microsoft’s superior Windows Media Audio (WMA) format to the iPod by mid-year. You heard it here first.”

47 comments.

Customized iPod auto install

Ryan sent us info about his new website with photos of a shiny, slick, customized docking station being built for his SUV - complete with a backlit Apple logo. “My friend, who is a auto audio installer made this for my Ford Explorer. I am building the site, but am just now learning, so the site sucks but we just wanted the photos up a.s.a.p”

30 comments.

Music industry hopes paid downloads will save the day

“After four straight years of declining CD sales, the recording industry is hanging hopes for a recovery on music fans going digital — and being willing to pay for it.

More than 19.2 million digital tracks were sold online in the last six months, according to Nielsen Soundscan, helping to narrow the music industry’s losses last year. [...]

‘We think 2004 is going to be the year of subscription content on portable devices,’ said Scott Kauffman, head of digital music retailer MusicNow Inc. ‘The notion of figuring out which 12 songs to put on a disc that doesn’t fit in your pocket when you already have 12,000 that fit in your pocket ... that’s just over.’”

11 comments.

Businesses spring to life around iPod

  • January 11, 2004
  • iPod

Ellen Lee for Contra Costa Times has written an article about the cottage industry which has spawned from the creation of the iPod - well known accessory makers DLO, Ten Technology, and Speck Products were mentioned.

“The iPod was the ubiquitous item at last week’s annual Macworld Conference and Expo in San Francisco. Manning the floor were no less than a dozen exhibitors piggy-backing on the growing popularity of the iPod, selling accessories such as rainbow-colored “skins” to clothe the device and an add-on by Belkin to convert the iPod into a voice recorder.”

1 comment.

Toshiba introduces 0.85-inch hard drive

“Toshiba Storage Device Division (SDD), the industry pioneer in small form factor storage, today [Jan. 7] announced the development of a 0.85-inch hard disk drive (HDD), the first drive to deliver multi-gigabyte storage in a sub-one-inch form factor. Expected to be available in 2GB and 4GB capacities, Toshiba will start sampling the new drive in summer 2004, with mass production to begin in late 2004.”

13 comments.

New Shure E3c earphones for only $156

MicrophoneSolutions.com is selling the new Shure E3c for only $156.00. Use coupon code F156E3.

35 comments.

Mac 911 - Secrets of The iPod mini

“Secrets of the iPod” author and Macworld columnist Christopher Breen has managed to work out how to access various diagnostic modes for the iPod mini after getting his hands on one at MWSF.

” Savvy iPodusers know that you can perform such tasks as resetting the device, throwing it into disk mode, and invoking the hidden diagnostic screen by pressing a combination of the iPod’s buttons.

The iPod mini sports different controls—ones where the Menu, Play, Back, and Forward buttons are on the scroll wheel (the Select button remains in the middle of the wheel). Pressing the wheel in the the four compass directions invokes the command associated with them—Up for Menu, Right for Forward, Down for Play/Pause, and Left for Back. Given that you can’t press multiple buttons at a time, how would one reset the iPod mini or produce the Diagnostic screen?

I decided to find out by visiting the Apple booth and, in the guise of an interested user, pressing every button combination I could. Here’s what I discovered:”

1 comment.

iPod-based ‘HP Digital Music Player’ unveiled

  • January 9, 2004
  • iPod

As noted by MacMinute, Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina has unveiled the new iPod-based “HP Digital Music Player” at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The device is light blue in color and has an “HP” logo on the back. Firoina said it is “the first and only one” in existence. HP and Apple announced a partnership yesterday to deliver an HP-branded digital music player based on Apple’s iPod, which is expected to ship this summer. CNET has a short video of Fiorina introducing the device at CES.

76 comments.

MacBlog: The New iPod mini - is Smaller Better?

“But if you ignore the price issue, there is another question that could make or break the iPod mini: its size. Is smaller better? Are people willing to plunk down $249 (plus tax) for a device that’s small enough to be easily lost or forgotten? A friend recently told me that when shopping for a new cell phone she wanted the largest one she could find, because phones are all so small that they’re easy to misplace.”

38 comments.

iPod 10GB for $249

Dealmac: ExperCom has stock of the discontinued iPod 10GB (third-generation) for $249. It’s the same price as the new iPod Mini 4GB and the lowest price we know to be available for a new, factory-sealed unit. (The latest 15GB model costs $50 more.)

3 comments.

AppleMatters: iTunes At Your Local Record Store

“With the success of the iTunes Music Store, traditional record stores are starting to get worried. There has been a decline in CD sales for a quite a few years now. With illegal music downloading sites starting with Napster and with Kazaa, record stores with their $17 cds just simply could not compete. The one saving grace that stores had, however, were the PC users and the music shoppers who had a conscience. This has all changed. iTunes is available to Windows users and AOL users. It is now legally possible to preview music and download it to your computer and legally burn more than 1 copy. And with websites cropping up offering scans of the cd booklets, you could pretty much duplicate the entire music shopping experience without leaving the comforts of your house.”

18 comments.

SmartProtec Annnounces New Security Feature for iPod

“SmartProtec is a security feature for iPod and other mobile devices that helps protect devices and data against loss and theft. Lost and stolen items are not recovered mainly because owners can not be contacted. When your item such as iPod, cell phone and laptop is lost or stolen, SmartProtec allows the finder or the police to contact you immediately with the serial number of your item without disclosing your personal information.”

Additional details and 6 comments.

iPod 10GB clearance $249/$219 with Educational Discount

I went to my local Apple store to get some info on the 15GB iPod.  While there (the 15GB’s were not) I asked if they still had any 10GB’s left.  They did, and are clearing them out at $249.  I asked if they had a Educational Discount on top of the clearance and they did. I bought my 10GB iPod for $219 + tax out the door. I just wanted to pass this on.  Now that I have an iPod, I’ll be back to visit a lot more.

9 comments.

CNET: HP, Apple harmonize on iPod

  • January 8, 2004
  • iPod

“‘Apple will manufacture the player, which will not have the iPod name but will have the same design and features as Apple’s third-generation iPod players, Phil Schiller, senior vice president at Apple, said in an interview. Also, the HP music player will come in “HP Blue,” he said.

“The way we look at it, HP will be reselling an iPod device,” said Schiller, who noted that the device will display the Apple logo at start-up and will work with all of the accessories made for the white-hued Apple varieties. [...]

The deal with HP involves only the traditional iPod design and not thenew iPod Mini models, which use a 1-inch hard drive that has 4GB of storage, Schiller said; though, he added, that’s “obviously something we can look at in the future.”

Schiller would not say whether Apple may look to craft similar deals with other computer or electronics makers. While that part of the deal is not exclusive, Schiller said HP’s promotion of the iTunes Music Store through its PCs is a “multiyear, exclusive” deal.”

37 comments.

iPod mini comes with iPod mini software 1.0 (and other notes)

The iPod mini does not use the same software as the iPod itself. iPod mini uses iPod mini Software 1.0. iPod Software 1.3 cannot be installed on iPod mini. iPod software 2.0 CAN be installed on an iPod mini, but when you turn the iPod mini on, you will receive a screen with a folder and exclamation mark. This can be fixed by using the iPod mini Software 1.0 installer to reinstall the iPod mini Software.

Additional details and 39 comments.

Target.com: 10% off $50, includes iPods

Dealmac: Target.com cuts 10% off a purchase of $50 or more via coupon code “TCSAVEN4JAN2”. This coupon applies to iPods sold at Target.com. (To find them, search for “iPod”.) The iPod 20GB
costs $359.99 after discount and the iPod 40GB costs $449.99 after discount. Sales tax and about $6 in shipping are extra. (The new iPod 15GB is not yet available from Target.com, which still sells its 10GB same-price predecessor.) Offer ends tomorrow. Other Target.com coupons are available.

2 comments.

HP and Apple Partner to Deliver Digital Music Player and iTunes to HP Customers

“LAS VEGAS, Consumer Electronics Show, January 8, 2004 - ”Working to provide consumers with the most compelling digital content whenever and wherever they desire, HP and Apple today announced a strategic alliance to deliver an HP-branded digital music player based on Apple iPod the number one digital music player in the world, and Apple award-winning iTunes digital music jukebox and pioneering online music store to HP’s customers.

As part of the alliance, HP consumer PCs and notebooks will come preinstalled with Apple iTunes jukebox software and an easy-reference desktop icon to point consumers directly to the iTunes Music Store, ensuring a simple, seamless music experience. This offering is yet another way that HP is helping consumers enjoy more from their personal digital entertainment content.”

21 comments.

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