Thursday, May 01, 2003
In with a bang: new iPods to enter Apple Stores this Friday with volume cranked
Sometimes I think that the most gratifying surprises from Apple are the ones that had every detail leaked the public well in advance, yet when finally presented as a full package, still manage to shock the world. The iTunes Music Store certainly managed to fall into that category. Even though we knew that Apple had struck deals with all five major record labels, even though we knew that new iPods were coming, even though we essentially knew that the format would be a dollar a song, none of us realized that this was all going to add up to the surreal experience that is buying music with iTunes 4. It's the kind of potentially life-changing new feauture that will drive Mac users to upgrade to broadband, users of older Macs to upgrade to new ones, PC users to Switch, and when it's eventually launched for Windows, it will even cause Apple-haters and Mac-detractors to suddenly become gleeful regular Apple customers (even if it's only one dollar at a time). It's just that big of a deal. Heck, it's currently netting Apple four dollars of revenue per second -- and that's not counting all the new iPods that will be sold starting tomorrow.
When you've got juice this powerful, you'd better put it to good use, and it appears that Apple is coming out of the gates swinging this Friday when it holds nationwide events at all of its retail stores, complete with in-store DJ's, prizes and commemorative posters. And get this -- for the first time, Apple is even going to sell T-shirts in its stores, and for that matter, they're specially made just to commemorate this event. It just so happens that I'll be in Atlanta, Georgia this weekend to take in Atlanta's Music MidTown festival, but lucky for me there's an Apple Store just a few miles from where I'm staying. I'm going to be at the Atlanta Apple Store from 6:00-7:00 pm Friday before heading over to the festival. If any Atlantans plan to be there and want to meet up, l'll be the one wearing the T-shirt with the Neilsen quote about how Mac users are better educated and have a higher income than their Windows-using counterparts. I'll be sure to post a full report of the Apple Store festivities for those readers who don't have a local store of their own, or simply have something better to do on a Friday night than hang out at a computer store.
Although my road trip may keep me offline for a day or two (and please forgive any delay in responding to email), I promise to make it up to all of you with soon-to-be-forthcoming details of the iLife plus Keynote student project that a few of my coworkers and I are arranging for our outgoing fifth graders. It's our last chance to use technology to make a truly lasting difference in their education before passing them on to middle school, and this project just might do it. Although I suppose others may have already done something similar with their elementary students (I sure hope so, for the students' sake), it's certainly new to our school. We like to push the envelope with educational technology when we can, but this is something new entirely. It's almost got me more excited than the MusicMidtown festival. I always cherish aby opportunity to jump back in and work directly with the students on educational technology projects, especially when it's a project like this one. But first things first, I've got a few dozen great bands to take in this weekend. And for those of you in the Atlanta area, I'll see you at the Apple Store this Friday at 6:00. It's not just the best time to be a Macintosh user, it's also the most exciting.
Sometimes I think that the most gratifying surprises from Apple are the ones that had every detail leaked the public well in advance, yet when finally presented as a full package, still manage to shock the world. The iTunes Music Store certainly managed to fall into that category. Even though we knew that Apple had struck deals with all five major record labels, even though we knew that new iPods were coming, even though we essentially knew that the format would be a dollar a song, none of us realized that this was all going to add up to the surreal experience that is buying music with iTunes 4. It's the kind of potentially life-changing new feauture that will drive Mac users to upgrade to broadband, users of older Macs to upgrade to new ones, PC users to Switch, and when it's eventually launched for Windows, it will even cause Apple-haters and Mac-detractors to suddenly become gleeful regular Apple customers (even if it's only one dollar at a time). It's just that big of a deal. Heck, it's currently netting Apple four dollars of revenue per second -- and that's not counting all the new iPods that will be sold starting tomorrow.
When you've got juice this powerful, you'd better put it to good use, and it appears that Apple is coming out of the gates swinging this Friday when it holds nationwide events at all of its retail stores, complete with in-store DJ's, prizes and commemorative posters. And get this -- for the first time, Apple is even going to sell T-shirts in its stores, and for that matter, they're specially made just to commemorate this event. It just so happens that I'll be in Atlanta, Georgia this weekend to take in Atlanta's Music MidTown festival, but lucky for me there's an Apple Store just a few miles from where I'm staying. I'm going to be at the Atlanta Apple Store from 6:00-7:00 pm Friday before heading over to the festival. If any Atlantans plan to be there and want to meet up, l'll be the one wearing the T-shirt with the Neilsen quote about how Mac users are better educated and have a higher income than their Windows-using counterparts. I'll be sure to post a full report of the Apple Store festivities for those readers who don't have a local store of their own, or simply have something better to do on a Friday night than hang out at a computer store.
Although my road trip may keep me offline for a day or two (and please forgive any delay in responding to email), I promise to make it up to all of you with soon-to-be-forthcoming details of the iLife plus Keynote student project that a few of my coworkers and I are arranging for our outgoing fifth graders. It's our last chance to use technology to make a truly lasting difference in their education before passing them on to middle school, and this project just might do it. Although I suppose others may have already done something similar with their elementary students (I sure hope so, for the students' sake), it's certainly new to our school. We like to push the envelope with educational technology when we can, but this is something new entirely. It's almost got me more excited than the MusicMidtown festival. I always cherish aby opportunity to jump back in and work directly with the students on educational technology projects, especially when it's a project like this one. But first things first, I've got a few dozen great bands to take in this weekend. And for those of you in the Atlanta area, I'll see you at the Apple Store this Friday at 6:00. It's not just the best time to be a Macintosh user, it's also the most exciting.
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