pandora

I thought the Apple event today was a bit of a let down but the stock is doing really well and usually when I love the event the stock tanks so what do I know?

I did not get a bingo. Less than half of my predictions happened. The event was extremely limited to just iPods, iTunes, and the Apple TV.

I was underwhelmed by the new iPod lineup. I won’t be buying a new iPod because I would still have to plug it into my computer to sync it. And I’m even working on selling my old 2nd gen iPod Shuffle on eBay right now (had a non-paying bidder when my 1gb model sold for $27 a couple weeks ago) and the new 4th gen Shuffle looks exactly like the 2nd gen and the new 2gb model goes for $49 so now I’ll probably get even less for my old Shuffle.

iTunes 10 looks pretty exciting. The update server has still been overloaded so I haven’t been able to download it and play with it yet. I’m very excited about Ping and how it compares to Last.fm which is the music social network I’ve been using since July 2005. I currently listen to internet radio at work via Pandora or Last.fm and I don’t think Ping will count what I listen to in there so until iTunes will stream my music to other locations I don’t think Ping will be as good as Last.fm but let’s hope this is a step in that direction.

I’m most excited about the new Apple TV. I already ordered mine. I have the old Apple TV and I’m very interested to see how the two compare.

I have had numerous complications trying to stream media (particularly HD media) to my Apple TV. Even after I upgraded my internet to the fastest I could get in my area, I still can’t stream a movie and not have it pause to catch up on downloading. What I had gone to doing was downloading my movie and then watching it a few hours later but since the new Apple TV doesn’t have a hard drive that won’t be an option anymore (unless I decide my old one is better and stick with it). Hopefully Apple’s new data center will pick up the speed on their end and improve the experience.

Netflix on the Apple TV is very exciting. I’ve been streaming to my Wii for several months and really love it but I think the interface will be much improved on the Apple TV. Again, sometimes my internet doesn’t seem quite fast enough so I get some choppiness when trying to watch shows but Netflix seems to be better than what I’ve tried to stream from Apple in the past so I think there is room for improvement for Apple.

I don’t know what I think about renting TV shows. I’ve bought a lot of seasons via iTunes and at first I feared I wouldn’t be able to watch them with the new Apple TV but now I’m pretty sure I will be able to stream them from my iMac. I like the idea because it would solve the bulk of my storage space problems. Even after getting the 2tb hard drive in my new iMac, I had already decided I wouldn’t be able to buy my entire fall lineup in HD because it would eat up almost all the free space on my drive. I could rent those shows for half the price but I’d be limited on when and how often I could watch them. I think I’ll probably buy my staple shows in SD this year, test out renting a few movies, and see how I feel about renting TV shows next year.

What I think is particularly interesting about the new Apple TV is that it’s the first Apple gadget that doesn’t require a computer to set it up. It’s ready to go out of the box. No activating and no syncing. (We think it’s a little ridiculous around here that you have to sync a new iPhone to your computer before you can use it. I could get everything I need on mine instantly with Mobile Me.)

What did you think of the event? Did you order anything yet? Are you planning to get any of the new gadgets?

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