September 2007 Keynote Address: Everybody has seen all the news on todays Apple Event going over the refreshed iPod line and the new killer $399 price on the 8GB iPhone.

Huge stuff. Not just the new iPod's but the pricing on the Nano blew me away, significantly cheaper than before. I think Apple is keeping the heat on the competition. Sure we can nitpick, where is FM tuning on iPods (no, really, where is it?), where is the ability to record to your iPod using a high quality microphone or other low level source, etc. But in general, these are really impressive devices at very reasonable prices.

I am not, however, interested in upgrading my trusty iPod RED Nano 4GB that I got for Christmas last year, still love it, and plan to continue using it for the the foreseen future. The new Nano is cool and all, but my Nano suits my needs very well.

DAMN, $399 for the 8GB iPhone which was previously selling very well at $599, that's going to tempt a lot of people who were on the fence. And it has already pissed off a lot of people who paid $599 for the same phone. Come on Apple, the least you can do is credit those people with $200 in their iTunes account.

Check it all out, Apple has now posted a decent resolution video of todays event (480x270).

I must say, this is pretty cool. I'm surprised it's taken this long for the next big iPod accessory after the Nike+iPod.

More details and unboxing on Engadget.

There is a cool new BART Widget from WorryDream to help you with San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART). Maps, routes, schedules, fares - it has it all.

There is also an official iPod BART QuickPlanner that is put out that can be very helpful if you're not at your computer (or soon to be released iPhone.)

I have long been a fan of audiobooks. My first MP3 player, a Rio 500, was Audible compatible. I subscribed to Audible and have never looked back on audiobooks.

Having recently moved over to an iPod RED Nano my audiobook habits have simplified even more. iTunes is great for managing my library, and the auto-bookmarking of audiobook files (M4B) is a godsend.

AudioBug with their Aerielle technology has just improved my situation.

I used to use an FM Modulator in my Isuzu Trooper and the quality was mediocre at best. The device only operated at three preset frequencies also, so if those didn't work well for you that was just too bad.

Maybe you have a new car with included iPod integration, but our new car [unfortunately] has no such integration. Since I listen to my iPod every day on my commute I would like a better solution than earphones in the car. I bought this AudioBug on a hunch, and wow am I pleased. Forget the experiences that you may have previously had with FM Transmitters. The AudioBug ATB-350 blew me away. The sound is fantastic. I am pleasantly surprised at how well it works.

Operation couldn't be easier either. The unit powers on when your iPod or other audio device powers on, you select an unused frequency with the up/down switch. There are three preset buttons on the unit, you hold any of them down for a few second to set a frequency to memory. If you iPod is off for 30 seconds the unit auto-powers down, and it auto-powers back up when you turn your iPod back on.

Highly recommended. I picked mine up for $32.99 with free shipping at Buy.com.

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Spring brings colorful flowers, pre-spring brings us iPod Shuffles in color.

Cool.

Now just add a screen.

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I recently got a new iPod Nano 4GB RED. The Nano is my fourth portable MP3 player, but my first iPod, and as such I didn't notice anything amiss when I was looking at my iPod in iTunes and there was no proper icon for the Nano in the device list - or that the summary page was missing an icon - or that the desktop icon should have been something other than a generic drive icon. I never realized any of this until I plugged my wife's new Nano into my computer and saw that all three places I just referenced showed a nice icon of a silver Nano (which she has.)

My first thought was to reset the Nano, so I took note of what I had loaded to it so I could get it back to it's current state after a reset. Unfortunately nothing changed after a reset.

I thought possibly something with my login was causing issue, so I logged into another user account on my iMac and plugged in RED, still the same thing.

For now I'm not going to worry about it. I have a feeling that it's iTunes that is the issue not the actual RED nano itself. If after the next iTunes update I still don't see an icon then I'll take it to my local Apple store for a look - it otherwise operates great so I can't get too worked up about it. And I also found a really nice icon (see below) to use for my Desktop icon. Take a look at this site, the guy has some really quality icons.

Tell us what YOU think.
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I wrote that I had bought my wife a new 2GB Silver Nano with the Nike+iPod running kit, and by the way my assessment was spot on - she is still deciding if she wants to give it a try or return it... But what really surprised me is that she got me a new 4GB iPod RED for Christmas. I wouldn't have guessed.

My Rio Carbon which I love took a turn for the worse a few months back when my son dropped it on the floor, so I've been using my old Rio Nitrus lately. This new iPod came at a good time.

A couple quick observations:

-I really enjoy how slick the iTunes management of the iPod is, extremely well done.
-Virtually instant startup time, my Carbon was harddrive based and took several seconds to boot up.
-iCal notifications are slick, I work on a PC at work so now I have my iPod and Cell phone both to remind me of events.
-Photos are a neat curiosity.
-AutoBookmarking of audiobooks is fan-friggin-tastic! My Carbon could bookmark, but it was a manual operation.
-Music doesn't seem to autobookmark also - is there a way to automate this like audiobooks, or do it manually?
-Color and more information on the display is welcomed.
-The nano feels more fragile to me than my Rio, not sure if that's just perception or not.
-Square edged aren't my fav, round them off please.
-Interface with the touch wheel seems less intuitive to me that the Rio Carbon interface, granted this could just be from my Years using Rio, and days using an iPod.

Tell us what YOU think.
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BusinessWeek Online just reported that RealNetworks and SanDisk are teaming up to bring RealNetwork's subscription based music service, Rhapsody, to the SanDisk Sansa line of MP3 Players.

$15/mo for all you can eat subscription music, streaming from the web, download, or loaded onto your player.

I'm a huge fan of subscription based music services. Why pay $0.99 per track when for $15 per month you can listen to virtually any and everything. Of course the iPod dominates the player market, and since it doesn't support subscription based music, most people don't have that plan, at least for their portables. But it's truly a great thing. I find it similar to a PVR. Once you get used to watching TV with a PVR you can't go back. Subscription music is the same way, once you have it you don't want to do without it.

Due to copyright issues I can't repost the article here, you can read it here.


Your Comments appreciated.
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