Xbox 360's relationship with iPod, Macs & more
Besides jacking the whole Apple-look, Microsoft has plans to form relationships between its Xbox 360 and Apple's iPod and Mac computers. While the idea sounds cool—and will likely convince a few suckers to buy in that would have otherwise passed on the console—it's hard to see why I should care if I can plug my iPod into my 360.
What good is playing my songs through my television set via the 360 when I can already do that through my computer or stereo system? I respect the goal of integrating all of our multimedia/PDA/Bluetooth devices, but it's never going to convince me to buy one console over another. I'm going to buy the 360 because I've cherished my gaming experience on the original Xbox. And I doubt that the relationship between my (future) 360 and my iPod will ever come to fruition.
But on second thought, if I can plug my iPod into my 360 and play songs off of it in place of a game's built-in soundtrack (without dealing with the hassle of downloading the songs onto my 360), I'm definitely in. But the music would have to be integrated into the game—like in the same way custom soundtracks work in games like Burnout 3.
