Live from the Steve Jobs Keynote -- "One more thing…"

The thinner all-in-one iMac. Ok, punks, it's the day we've been waiting for: in a few short minutes His Steveness will reveal exactly what it is they have cooking. Engadget bestest buddy Paul Boutin is there at the California Theater in San Jose covering the event for us live. Stay tuned, we'll be rolling shortly.

Act I:
The iMac G5. We sold over a million of them in its first year. What better place to put the computer than right behind the display? Today we're introducing and all new iMac. [It looks extremely similar] Three great new features.

1. It's even thinner. The 20-inch is now thinner than the 17 used to be.

2. iSight videocam. The new mac has an iSight built in. The camera has even better specs. Right out of the box videoconferencing without any extra stuff. We wrote a new app called PhotoBooth. [Demo: It has a built in flash - the entire display flashes. There are special effects including "Warhol" and effects that morph your face goofily.]

3. Front Row. It s a new way to experience the media on your computer. It's an incredible way to enjoy your music, your videos, and your photos … from your sofa. We've done a remote control, Apple style. It's got six buttons. [Demo: He presses remote and a menu for Music / Photo / DVD / Video zooms in. There's a giant iPod-style interface for music. "I can enjoy my music from across the room and see the artwork."

Photos navigates through everything in iPhoto with slide show effects for albums.

�Now, a lot of people watch DVDs in their iMac, and it would be nice to control them from across the room. Now you can.� [Loads DVD of The Incredibles with menu that blurs out the typically unusable menu on the DVD with an iPod-style menu. Movie posters and trailers in HD format streamed from apple.com] This remote control, I just wanted to point something that to me captures what Apple is all about. [Shot of huge button-congested remotes next to the tiny 6-button Apple remote]

Specs: Bluetooth, Superdrive, Mighty Mouse standard. 17-inch $1299. 20-inch $1699. Available today.

Act II:
The iPod. We announced yesterday that we had shipped almost 30 million iPods. Our market share, 75% of all MP3 players shipping. Five weeks ago we introduced the iPod nano. And you know what? We shipped over a million iPod nanos in the first 17 days, and we could not meet demand. But what about the white iPod? It�s been a huge success for us. And therefore, we�re going to replace it. The new white iPod. And yes, it does video.

Specs: Same width and height as current model, but thinner. QVGA (324 x 240) pixel 260,000 color 2.5-inch display. h.264 and MPEG-4 at 30 fps. TV out. 30GB and 60GB models. Same width and height. 30GB is 31% thinner than the curent 20GB model [Making it 0.44-inches thick�say wha?]. 60G is 12% thinner than 20GB.  30G up to 75 hours of video, $299. 60G up to 150 hours video, $399. Shipping in one week.

And, by popular demand, we make it in black. They also come with a nice carrying case, to keep �em all perfect. [Thin plastic sleeve�aw shucks]

[AD: U2 performing live. Oh wait � it�s on an iPod! New silhouette ad with Eminem � it�s not silhouette but a limited color palette. Steve likes the ads so much he runs each one twice. ]

The new iPod will be 30% thinner than the current 20GB iPod (making it 0.44-inches thick�say wha?), and will feature a 60GB version (which should be thinner than the current 0.63-inch thick 20GB iPod), and editions of both in black.

What�s the device named, you ask? The iPod. That�s it, just The iPod. Well spare you the Prince jokes. The iPod will have TV out.

Act III:
iTunes. You know, we have distributed over 200 million copes of iTunes now in the world, and those are only the copies we know about. iTunes in the US has an 84 percent market share for all legally downloaded music. We released iTunes 5 just five weeks ago, but a lot has changed. And so today we�re introducing iTunes 6. We�ve been busy!

1. Gifting. This has been the most requested feature. You can gift (i.e. buy) iTunes songs for someone else by song, album, or playlist.

2. Customer reviews.

3. Just for You. Personalized recommendations. We�re going to be recommending albums and singles based on what you�ve bought before. It�s going to be a beta, we�d like your feedback on it.

4. Video. If we�re going to be able to play video on the iPod we�re going to need away to buy video. Starting today we have 2,000 music videos for sale.[Shows Madonna catalogue]

What do they cost? $1.99 each. But we didn�t stop there; we�re adding some other videos you can buy. Pixar is putting up six of their award-winning short videos. $1.99 each. We are downloading videos 320 x 240, which is the native resolution of the iPod. They�re about the size of six songs. All songs are governed by FairPlay. You can play them on up to five computers. They�re not rentals. You own them � they never time out. [Demo of gifting, customer reviews, Just for You, and videos including �Vogue,� a U2 live exclusive. Demo of watching U2 video using Front Row on an iMac, playing photos and videos from an iPod on a big screen]

One more thing�

We have one more thing today, a pretty big thing. We�re announcing one more thing that you can buy off the iTunes store today, and that is TV shows. What�s the number one show on TV? What�s the second? Lost. And who has these shows? ABC. And who owns ABC? [Disney logo on screen.] I know those guys!

Lost, Desperate Housewives, Night Stalker, That�s So Raven, The Suite Life.

Yes, you can buy current episodes, and you can buy them the day after they are broadcast. They�re ad free so you don�t need to fast forward through the commercials, 320 x 240 again. An hour show is about the size of five albums. Depending on your speed it�s about 10-20 minute to download an episode. What are they going to cost? $1.99 an episode for current season and past seasons. We have free previews on every episode.

Thanks everyone!

---

Our correspondent Paul Boutin would like to thank Splunk (maker of network indexing software) for giving him the day off.

[John Wesley Barker @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Thanks for this transcript. Is there a QuickTime stream of this keynote?

[anthony @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I was wondering the exact same thing! Also, I can't seem to "preview" any of the videos, it asked for a newer version of quicktime when I installed iTunes 6!? Any thoughts?

[Joel @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Grats on you coverage! It was as live as it could get. It was much better compared to iLounge who wasn't as prepared to go live.

[Vinit @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Holy Frack!
Now just get Battlestar and Stargate:Atlantis on this, and I'm sold!

[Phronk @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

That's So Raven on an iPod?? This is the best thing to happen since I got stabbed in the eye with a rusty fork!

[Mz. Spice @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Shut Up!!! Omg... I think imma pee my pants... That's so Raven and Desperate HouseWives??.. My heaven on earth... awwww =)

[modenadude @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Amazing coverage - thanks for keeping us up to date.

[Peter @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Having videos is awesome but I wonder if they'll be like the new Tivo where the videos will "expire" after a certain date. Also, how easy is it to archive the vids or play them on your computer or another media device.

[raccoon @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

So now you can watch Lost -- which you "Forrow" (Borrow for a Fee, because if it's DRM'ed you don't own it, but you still pay for it!) on a one-and-a-half-inch screen, and listen to it with your little white earbuds. I'd like to dub this the "Helen Keller Generation."

[Lucien @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Peter, you should probably reread the article:

"All songs are governed by FairPlay. You can play them on up to five computers. They�re not rentals. You own them � they never time out"

[raccoon @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Lucien, you don't own ANYTHING with DRM. In 20 years when iTunes is no more, I won't be able to play these files (unless I break the DRM). But in 20 years, you bet your bottom I can still play my records, tapes and CDs.

[tf @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

racoon, yeah, on a 30 year old CD player.

[Sander @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Well, they blew it. Releasing tv-shows etc in such a low resolution makes it unwatchable on anything other than an ipod video, and there is no point playing it on a TV either, so TV-Out is pointless. I don't have an ipod, I don't intend to buy a video ipod, but I buy songs from iTunes, and I want to buy tv eps from iTunes too, but now there is no point. They should release HD versions of the shows as well as the crippled ones.

Also, Wtf with the screen? Thats just dumb, they should have rearranged it to have the screen sideways (16:9) and had a smaller clickwheel placed off the side. It just makes more sense, since we all know that eventually movies are gonna boom, just like music online, and its gonna be like watching 50% of an already TOO SMALL screen, with huge black lines on the top and bottom.

Dumb Dumb Dumb Dumb DUMB.

[Robert 'Groby' Blum @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Of course, if I still want to see "Lost" 20 years from here, we've got another problem alltogether.

While DRM has its problems, combining it with TV shows is a masterstroke - they're shortlived enough that the potential of DRM violation doesn't scare the IP holders away. At the same time, $1.99 is low enough that people will buy the shows off iTunes, even if it means they're only seeing them once or twice.

Yes, from the purists point of view DRM is evil. Move along then - you'll *never* get commercial products unencumbered.

[Scott Hanselman @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Hm...an interesting annoucement, but I just got off a plane where I happily watched 4 hours of video on a MUCH larger screen with a $250 PlaystationPortable and an $80 1gig memory card. PspVideo works fine, no hacks, patches or anything. Mpeg4 video, I even watched an episode of Lost recorded from my BeyondTV. Ho hum to the video ipod I say.

[raccoon @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I can buy a brand new turntable from Sony on Amazon. What makes you think I won't be able to do the same with CD players in twenty years?

Sorry, but I just really hate the ideas behind DRM. One of these days, the world is gonna wake up, and none of our music will work anymore. What happened to ownership and fair use? What happened to our rights? The iTS is a great idea, and there's nothing wrong with using it, but I think people need to understand what they're really buying into, is all. I think a lot of people are gonna be pissed and finally start to wake up to DRM when, well, when the music ends... :)

[John Wesley Barker @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

The QuickTime stream is now up here: http://stream.apple.akadns.net/

[Tom R. @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Ho. Hum. More apple stuff I can't afford.

Snore.

So why does everybody get so excited over the fact that if you've got lots of money you can get lots cool stuff. Think I knew that already.

[Chris @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

"Also, Wtf with the screen? Thats just dumb, they should have rearranged it to have the screen sideways (16:9) and had a smaller clickwheel placed off the side. It just makes more sense, since we all know that eventually movies are gonna boom, just like music online, and its gonna be like watching 50% of an already TOO SMALL screen, with huge black lines on the top and bottom."

Well, right now, it's just the new iPod. I'm sure once they've proved that people want video, they'll release a vPod or iPod video that has a wide screen (like the PSP's). But if this somehow fails, they can just drop the video stuff and move on and pretend it all never happened.

[Pedant @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Why do people keep on turning nouns into verbs? Gifting? I suppose they had to action gifting to leverage the iPod's position.

Of course, the only reason they are having to introduce it at all is because of the ridiculous DRM they put on the songs in the first place.

[Ray Spezz @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

all we need now is the Stream of the Keynote

[Karl @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

It doesn't really matter that personal video players (not to mention portable DVD players) have already been around for ages, and that the video iPod has numerous obvious limitations. The important thing is that it is made by APPLE, and because it is made by APPLE, zillions of mindless drones will buy one as soon as physically possible. At least this will get portable video into the mainstream, the same way the original iPod turned MP3s from a geek novelty into something everyone knows about.

[chudgoo @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

On Movies and 16:9 screen...

For an underdeveloped market with little to no available LEGAL content, this makes perfect sense. TV shows are not only more "bite sized" (thereby avoiding a clash with the famous Jobs quote) but they are less network intensive. Can you imagine someone buying a few movies haveing to wait 3 weeks for them to finish downloading?

This is a huge foot in the door for Apple.

And btw, when and if there is a market for "movie" playing ipods, you can bet your ass they will release one.

[Jesse Hodges @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Hey, Engadget, thanks for the coverage. You guys did a very good job compared to my other normal apple-event-sources.

[Jeff Consi @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

It would be great if they update the Airport Express to carry video and an infrared option so you can use the new iMac remote and Front Row anywhere in the house!

[Peter @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

any one know where i can watch the video with quicktime 6?

[JPW @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Huh. Jobs calling 2005 "the year of HD" now is officially up there "I did not have sexual relations with that woman!" . . .

No 16:9 ratio and sub-SD specs--not to mention, no DTV tuner? Typical Apple: status symbols for suckers, $1.99 at a time. No thanks!

[tom @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

is there a way to download the stream? does anybody have a copy?

[linuxboy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Has anyone noticed that the iMac G5 remote looks exactly like the iPod Shuffle? lol it is a good design too!

[Ghost Freeman @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Give me a scrap on the Mactels over another freaking iPod, or give me death!

[Goobimama @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Nice article guys.

[Stu Stribling @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Also, the video out to tv is a perfectly fine option. Jobs demonstrated this in the video, by displaying the iMac video out quality vs. the iPod video out. Since the source video was the same resolution on both, the only thing to compare would be fluidity and fps delivery. Both machines pumped out full screen beautiful video. Maybe this has something to do with big screen tv resolution not needing to be any greater than 320x240? It's no secret that standard PAL and NTSC video formats leave much to be desired in quality, so who cares if your iPod Lost episode is only 320x240, when your TV doesn't need that res anyway? I may be mistaken, but you can't apply computer monitor resolution notions of quality to a television.

Then there are those idiots with their PSP's and their DVR's saying how much better they are than an mp3 player. Thank you, Captain Obvious. The point is, if you MISS an episode, and you didn't Tivo it, you can go buy it the next day LEGALLY and watch it, instead of waiting 18 months for season 2 to come out on DVD. You can pay your $12/month tivo bill and get nothing other than a glorified TV Guide, or you can pay $1.99 per episode. Now let's just hope more networks hop on board.

Also, I'm an American living in the UK. I am a huge american football fan and sattelite tv is not an option at the moment. I am subscribed to so many different streaming video sites now to catch pixelated small replays of football games it makes my head spin. It would be REALLY nice to just jump online, download that Notre Dame/USC game and watch it. I'd pay $5 or more, considering we pay that for DVD rentals that we have to give back.

Why is it every time Apple pioneers something that people claim to not need or want, it goes on to become a standard? Mouse, Cd-Rom, more than 16 colors, sound, more than 1meg of ram, more than 1 gig or hard drive space, eliminating the floppy drive and serial port, adding SCSI, adding USB, firewire for digital audio and video, the new HD video compression...All these things were guffawed by pc geeks yet became industry standards.

[jpmullet @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I heard from my brother who works at Apple that there is gonna be 3 times the commercials on the new iPod Tv Shows. Go figure...

[flo21 @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

320 x 240 for $2? no thanks when I can download tv shows the next day in hdtv off bittorrent for free, and that doesn't look so bad on my 2405fpw, but a 320 x 240 would look like crap.

[ofel @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

flo21: do you actually think you are downloading HD content on BitTorrent? Just because it was encoded from an HD source, that doesn't mean that 350 or meg file you're getting is actual HD. It's highly compressed video (using Xvid) , and usually at a computer resolution of about 608x336. I've watched one of these iTunes videos in full-screen and it's actually not bad.

[Adam Don @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

ofel #35.
I download 720p HD files off the BitTorrent network all the time and it looks like HD to me. Look at this.
http://hometown.aol.co.uk/Madanod/untitled.PNG

[Richard Armour @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Ill just stick with my 4g colorless Ipod, and psp for my music and my videos with the nu nu dance and the baseball bat meets nuts comedy

[Eugene @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Reminder Guys: Its the Ipod with Video - not the video ipod.

If you ask me, this is by far the best ipod yet - the video quality looks fine when i use the TV out cable to show it on my TV, and while i cant get the TV shows (only available in america) the music vids look great.

[Todd @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

It's interesting to read the comments on this article. There are definitely 3 camps. Those that think Apple is the evil empire, those that will buy anything apple as soon as it's available just because it's apple, and those that look at all the options and realize for some things, the Apple product MAY in fact be better for their needs.

The point is, none of this is being forced down our throats. While video playback on a color screened iPod is kinda cool, it's not something I'll be getting soon. My 40GB iPod b/w is not even a year old yet. But it still plays my MP3's just fine.

Ahhh, gotta love the freedom of choice.

[Bosie @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Steve Jobs has let us all down by accepting DRM, low bitrates and appalling video resolution. I adore Apple and everything about it except for this one issue. Steve Jobs should use his position to start a fight with the greedy corporates who insist on DRM and low resolution as if this is in the best interests of the artists who produce the stuff. An artist wants to distribute and make a profit from his work yes but most of it conveniently falls into corporate coffers. DRM is a plague and the reasons behind it are pure lies from an industry totally out of step with the times.

[Patrick @ Dec 23rd 2005 2:17AM]

I just got my white 30 gig iPod video and the thing is freakin awesome, the videos look perfect if on the iPod or when connected to a television set. Also the sound quality on this thing is much better than any previous models. The one thing that I find amazing is that the iPod has not gotten a scratch on it yet, and I've had it for a week. Compared to the nano that scratches so easily there is no point in trying to clean the freakin thing this is almost impervious to scratches, or minor physical dents. Now i'm not saying that if you drop it ten feet up that nothing will happen, but its pretty damn good at keeping its appearance

[peter webb @ Dec 26th 2005 8:37AM]

I have downloaded lots of cds on to my new ipod 30gb video everything works great until i downloaded madonnas new cd.IT all downloads okay but when i look on my ipod menu for artists name she is not on it but the albulm is etc WHY????please let me know?