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TUAW Best of the Week
What a week for Apple fans. After a slow Labor Day, we got a huge midweek event, new iPods, and what turned out to be the week's biggest story: the iPhone is now $399.MobileChat iPhone AIM Client DebutsStarted off the week with not one but two IM iPhone betas.MarsEdit 2.0Red Sweater's blogging client gets a new interface and Flickr integrationMass-media messup: NBC doesn't get the iTunes storeNik tells us why the peacock should leave the pricing to Apple.Ask TUAW: External Front Row, iSight mirroring, booting from an external HD, and moreYou ask, we answer, and you don't even have to pay an extra buck just to read it for 30 seconds on your iPhone.The Beatles: whateverScott doesn't care if the Beatles showed up on Wednesday or not.Metaliveblogging "The Beat Goes On" eventWhat's the next best thing to being in Moscone West? Reading our commentary about it.iTunes: Free WednesdayFeaturing Dave Matthews and The Pick Up Artist (not the same person).iPhone ringtones on the cheapGet all of the ringtones, with none of the price.Apple screwed you. So now what?The most useful thing we posted all week.Bye, bye HiFiApple's speakerbox gets an inconspicuous farewell.Found Footage: Quicksilver Google Tech talkSure, Quicksilver's creator isn't the best public speaker, but if you're interested in UI design at all, this is a must-see.Apple giving early iPhone buyers $100 creditSteve gives some back. Thanks early adopter whiners!iTunes 7.4 breaks iPhone hacksA speedbump (albeit a very, very small one) for iPhone hackers.Why did Apple drop the price?We consider the reasons behind this week's biggest surprise.
The Beatles don't go on
Well the one rumor that I thought was least likely (that the Beatles were a no go at this morning's event) turned out to be true. There is still no Beatles music available on the iTunes store, either in the WiFi store or otherwise.Not that Steve didn't taunt us. Over and over again, he threw down hints the whole time-- he played "Give Peace a Chance" as a ringtone (joking that it was for when NBC called), played Lennon to demo the new WiFi store, and played Paul McCartney to bring the chairman of Starbucks on stage. Heck, the name of the event was "The Beat Goes On." He knows we want the Beatles (even if Scott doesn't), and he played with our emotions all day.But when "One more thing..." came out, it was the Starbucks deal and KT Tunstall performing. And we're left with no idea when (or if ever) we'll be able to buy Apple recordings in Apple's online music store.
iPod is now officially a Classic
While the iPod Touch will probably get all of the attention today, the iPod isn't going anywhere. Apple has rebranded it the iPod Classic, made it thinner, added more memory, put the CoverFlow interface in it, and turned it into a lean, mean music playing machine.But the best reason to buy the iPod Classic over the Touch is actually inside: it's the memory. The Touch only reaches a disappointing 8gb and 16gb, and for any respectable music fan, that just doesn't cut it. Fortunately, the Classic has room for everything in your music collection, and then some: $249 for the 80gb model and $349 for 160gb. Sure, a shiny interface and a WiFi connection are nice and all, but if all you're looking for is a way to carry all of your CDs in your pocket at once, the iPod Classic (in silver or black) is what you're looking for.
No Beatles at next week's event?
No Beatles next Wednesday? Like pretty much everyone else, I figured the whole "Beat" goes on thing, not to mention that the third Beatle got added to iTunes recently, all pointed to next week's event as not only showing off new iPods, but Beatles music to play in them (and I wasn't the only one-- mockups are all over the place).But now the rumor mill (so, again, grain of salt with all of this) says it's a no go on the Beatles. There will be a new iPod, and supposedly a brand new Ringtones system will be brought to the iPhone, where you can use iTS purchased music as a ringtone, but we won't actually meet the Beatles.Then again, no one really knows but Apple-- Gruber speculates that since the event is being held at Moscone West, McCartney will be on hand to play live. And let's be realistic-- even though there is evidence for both a new iPod and the whole ringtones thing, no one's really sure what's going down anyway.So, as usual, we'll have to wait until next Wednesday to find out (or at least until next Tuesday, when the New York Times confirms what blogs have been saying all alone). What do you think?Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
(PRODUCT) RED iPod shuffle coming on the 5th?
AppleInsider totally called it last time with the Oprah-launched (PRODUCT) RED iPod nano, so we're inclined to believe that they may have the inside line on Bono's latest attempt to cozy up with the Jobsian Empire, in the form of a signature-red shuffle refresh purportedly being announced at the upcoming "Beat Goes On" event. For those of you tracking these sort of things, this (PRODUCT) RED shuffle claim follows the nano Phatty, iPod Touch, Beatles on iTunes, and portable Coverflow rumors on the list of possible announcements to be made on September 5th at the Moscone Center -- among many others that we probably haven't picked up on. Okay, back to your regular programming, but don't get too comfy, because the next 'inside scoop' could be just minutes away...[Image courtesy of AppleInsider, thanks jungzandvliet]
