That time of year is approaching fast. No I don’t mean back to school, even though it’s right around the corner. No, what I’m talking about are new iPods. MacDailyNews reports that the event will be held on September 9th. This year were expecting to see a big change to both the iPod Nano and the iPod Touch. As well as a big change to iTunes in the way of Social Networking.
The rumor mill has been running a muck for the past month showing iPod Nanos and iPod Touches with built-in cameras. With recent articles and videos this rumor looks to be more fact than fiction. Guess will find out for sure in September. I think it’s great that Apple is converging their devices. One would think that Apple is starting to blur the lines with their iPhone and iPod Touch. However, you could look at the iPod Touch as an iPhone without a contract. Apple is keeping the iPod relevant by doing this, and not leaving it in the dust. What I would like to see is a complete line of iPods that are Flash based. I think the iPods with hard drives has seen their last year.
Next on the list is iTunes. What would the iPod be without iTunes? A Zune. iTunes 9 is supposed bring a couple of new features to it’s music manager. The first being Social Networking. The buzz is that it will feature Twitter, Facebook, and Last.fm. Not exactly sure how Apple intends to use these outlets with iTunes, but I think you’ll be able to tweet your playlists with your friends. Let’s hope that it doesn’t get blown out of proportion. I can see it now, people will start to unfollow you because you’ve flooded their Twitter feed with the music your listening too.
The other new feature that iTunes will supposedly support is Blu-ray. Yes you heard me correctly Blu-ray. If I remember correctly Steve Jobs was quoted as saying that, “Blu-ray is a bag of hurt.” However, he also said, ‘Who would ever want to watch movies on an iPod.” I guess we all do Steve. I digress. If iTunes will support Blu-ray that would be great. I could finally watch my Blu-ray movies on my Mac. With the refresh of the new iMacs coming soon, it would be nice to see them come with a Blu-ray player.
Personally I can’t wait for September to roll around. I’m excited to see the new iPods and iTunes. Who knows this might also mark the return of Steve Jobs to present the keynote. It will more than likely be a smaller venue. I think it would be a perfect time for him to return as presenter.