Think Pictures: iPod Photo
By Jonathan Berohn
For diehard Mac fanatics like myself, the introduction of the iPod not only brought a cool new product into the market, but it also meant that, once again, rumors of Apple’s demise had been greatly exaggerated. For the first time since the introduction of the Mac, Apple had a product that was both on the cutting edge and immensely popular. The only lingering fear was that somehow they would manage to bungle the marketing and let the MP3 player market slip away just as they botched the home computer market. Amazingly enough, Apple has managed exactly the opposite feat. iPods are more popular than ever, and Apple keeps scoring with new innovations off of the standard model to keep interest piqued and demand high.
2 New Models
Obviously, it didn’t take Apple’s competitors long to realize Apple had something good going with the iPod. Now, of course, practically everybody in the industry is making a portable MP3 player. Surprisingly enough, though, it’s Apple and the iPod that is making inroads into traditional PC strongholds like BestBuy and Circuit City—and Apple even has a marketing deal going with HP. Even more surprising is the fact that Apple isn’t resting on its laurels. They have just introduced 2 new iPods to keep the pressure on their competitors. The first new model is pure and simply hype. Apple’s iPod U2 Special Edition comes autographed by all the members of U2 and loaded with 400 U2 songs. There’s no new technology here, but the fact that Apple actually has had the insight to market itself with some big name musicians can’t help but bode well for the company’s future. The other new iPod, though—the iPod Photo —breaks new ground by letting users store and view photos along with their music files.
The iPod Photo
The iPod Photo comes in 40 and 60 GB models that retail for $499 and $599 respectively. For your investment, you get the capability to store up to a whopping 15,000 songs or 25,000 photos. The iPod screen lets you view 25 photo thumbnails at a time or one full screen image. You can also hook the iPod photo up to a TV to view photo slides (and accompany them with any music files you have stored on your iPod). The only drawback to all of this is that you can’t transfer photos directly to your iPod from your camera. You have to use a computer as an intermediary. If Apple had figured out a way to let you transfer directly from camera to iPod, not only would the new iPod photo be all the rage because it’s cool, it would also be all the rage because it would let vacationers leave their laptops at home and still not have to worry about filling up their cameras.
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