iPod and the Beatles: Here Comes the Sun

by Devanshu Mehta Aug 30, 2007

On the 5th of September, Apple is planning a little get-together for their good friends in the media. Very recently they held a little to-do where they announced new iMacs, iWork, iLife, and other nifty little things, so what is left to be updated?

Well, clearly, the iPod.

“Little darling, it’s been a long cold lonely winter.”
—“Here Comes the Sun” by The Beatles

It has been a while since the iPod had a major update -- it hasn't

really been updated since it got video, which was almost two years ago, and some might say the interface hasn’t had a decent update for three years now. So it is about time.

How sure can we be that this event is about the iPod? Well, take a look at this invite they sent out and tell me if you disagree. The image has many clues:

  • Cover Flow: This indicates that it has to do with iTunes, the iPod, or both. I wouldn’t be surprised if it means that cover flow, after migrating to many other applications in Leopard, is now making its way to the next generation iPod. This would mean that the new iPod would resemble the iPhone a lot more closely, which is what many rumors have been saying for a while.
  • The beat goes on: That phrase was the last line in the press release issued by the (other) Apple Corps. announcing The Beatles’ split. Not so subtle, are they?
  • The sun: Maybe I am reading too much into this, but wouldn’t you describe the image with the guy listening to his iPhone in the middle of the invite as “Here comes the sun?” Yeah, I count that as another Beatles reference; and if you want to stretch it further, the CD preceding it is by the Beastie Boys. What follows Beastie in the music dicionary? The Beatles. Yeah, lame and probably reading too much into it.

If these things are to be believed, then we may be in for The Beatles catalog and a full-screen touch iPod. If they are not to be believed, then what fun is there in being an Apple follower?

Apple’s stock (as of Tuesday) was responding extremely well to these rumors, including a one day 5.7% gain on Tuesday. The stock has not quite regained the heights of its iPhone-frenzied days, but it could come close over the next week.

In other related news, Apple has now started offering television shows to their UK iTunes customers. Individual episodes cost £1.89 (ouch!) and currently Disney and Viacom properties are available (such as ABC, Disney Channel, MTV, Nickelodeon).

Also, why is it that any time a company opens an online music store, the headline says “Sony Launches iTunes Killer” or, this week, “Nokia Challenges Apple.” Sure, it’s nice that there are more players in the market—and even nicer that many are embracing MP3 as their format of choice—but every launch is not a challenge. Not until they show at least a few percentage points of market share. Every new Linux distribution isn’t greeted with a headline calling it a Windows-killer, and most of those actually have a greater OS market share than these music stores can ever hope to have. It’s just lazy reporting, and gives these companies free publicity by linking their products with Apple.

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Comments

  • I simply cannot believe that anyone would still be eager to buy The White Album – again… but in a DRMd, compressed format. The Beatles / iTunes fuss is beyond annoying.

    Bad Beaver had this to say on Aug 30, 2007 Posts: 371

  • Bad Beaver, none of the Beatles albums would be “DRMd” because EMI now offers DRM-free digital music.

    Furthermore, if in fact the Beatles catalogue does become available, that de facto means that the music has FINALLY been remastered (as Neil Aspinall has said), which in turn means new physical CDs. And that’s excellent news to hardcore Beatles fans.

    Stacia had this to say on Aug 30, 2007 Posts: 1

  • yeah, pretty big hints on the invite that this is indeed a big reveal for the new iPods.  question is, will i need one since i’ve already got an iPhone?  what’s this iPod going to do that my iPhone can’t do already (besides presumably having a lot more memory)? 

    ah, who am i kidding, i’ll probably get one anyways.

    muaddib420 had this to say on Aug 30, 2007 Posts: 3

  • EMI offers DRM-free at ¢99? I agree, remastered CDs are the interesting part.

    Bad Beaver had this to say on Aug 30, 2007 Posts: 371

  • Here comes the sun, or isn’t it a pity?

    http://www.theappleloop.com/Home/pity.html

    Steve Consilvio had this to say on Aug 30, 2007 Posts: 47
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