MacWeek
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iPod2 i i uo
November 2004 U2 iPod Revealed.
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iPod Photo Revealed.
MacWeek
November 2004
Table of contents
Job, Credits, Help
iPod Photo U2 iPod
Mary Franciono, Editor in Chief Jil Lilliannas, Hardware Editor Gene Miller, Senior Photographer Seth Furchgott, Photographer Jim Louis, Hardware Tester Keith Loe, Software Tester Ken Loeny, Game Tester Jona Thon, Beta Tester
Financers:
Apple Adobe Macally Memorex Epic Records
Bungee Spy Mac Mac Mall Game Spot iPod Lounge
MacWeek
November 2004
Nov. 8 issue - Steve Jobs is feeling rather vindicated these days. “The iPod is three years old,” says the Apple CEO. “When we started this, nobody knew what it was, or they didnʼt believe it would be a big hit.” But last week at San Joseʼs vintage California Theatre, Appleʼs CEO, apparently at full strength after cancer surgery last summer, was triumphantly unveiling the newest twists on his megahit digital music player—with the extra oomph of a performance by U2ʼs singer Bono and guitarist The Edge. As the game Irish frontman belted out a tune from the bandʼs upcoming CD, a verklempt Jobs punched a colleague on ber this to forrememthe rest of our lives.” the leg and said, “Weʼre going Financial analysts will more likely remember the sales results that Jobs unveiled. Specifically, 2 million iPods sold between July and September. It was more than Apple had planned—which didnʼt stop Jobs from announcing two additions to the iPod collection. While Jobs believes that screens on hand-held devices are too puny for movies, theyʼre fine to view personal pictures (and can be easily plugged into a TV set for group appreciation). Ergo, iPod Photo, with a color display and storage for up to 25,000 of your favorite digital snapshots. The two-inch screen isnʼt spacious, but Jobs feels that the ability to bore anyone, anywhere, with images of your recent vacation—and Appleʼs clear interface
and painless integration with your computer—will make the iPod the palm-size photo viewer of choice.
Also, consumers with bucks to burn may spring for the $499 and $599 photo pods just to get a color screen, which makes the bundled-in Solitaire game actually playable. THE DIGIT 8.7: Percentage decline in worldwide shipments of PDAs (i.e. Palm and Pocket PC). Sales have dropped for three straight quarters compared with previous years. Source: IDC Market Research The second innovation is the $349 U2 iPod, which is colored the same shade of midnight as Bonoʼs leather jacket (the click wheel is fire-engine red) and festooned with the band membersʼ laseretched signatures on the back. The real significance, though, is the relationship Apple has forged with one of the elite bastions of rock, possibly a harbinger of new business models in the digital age. For the last few weeks weʼve all been inundated with Day-Glo iPod commercials featuring U2, which previously had not lent itself to ad campaigns. But as The Edge explains, “Itʼs easy to be in the iTunes ad because iTunes is
MacWeek
November 2004
promoting us.” In addition, Apple will be exclusively selling a $149 “digital boxed set” consisting of all of U2ʼs official recordings, plus 25 previously unreleased cuts. This can be purchased with a single mouseclick (you might want to buy a case of Guinness to pass the time while the songs download, since Jobs estimated it will take “a few hours” to get the 400 songs). Down the road, Bono and Jobs both envision new opportunities to sell songs and build fan communities, like offering concert recordings at the iTunes store. “Weʼre getting ready to do it,” says Jobs. “Wouldnʼt it be great if the morning after the concert, you can buy it on iTunes, and anyone in the world can listen to it the next day?” The bottom line for U2 is that success of the iPod and other initiatives has firmly discredited record executives who prophesized that the digital transformation would doom the music industry.
November 5, 2004 By Jeremy Horwitz contributertoZiff-Daviselectronicentertainment magazines. For years, iPodders have known that holding down the correct two sequencesofbuttons(currently,hold Menu plus central Action button, then Reverse plus Action button) would reset an iPod and then bring upahiddendiagnosticmode.Various tests,includingharddisk,screen,and Wheeldiagnosticswouldappear,and the iPod could even be forced into a slave-like disk mode from this menu system. But the diagnostic menus were written in geek Greek – odd abbreviations that only techies (read:engineers,computerscientists,ortrained technicians) would understand. Apple could plausiblyblametheiPodʼsscreenforthis,asthere just werenʼt enough characters per line (using ChicagoorthebizarroAsiaticTimes-alikefont usedontheiPodtestmenus,atleast)todisplay morethanahandfuloflettersforeachtest.The practicalconsequencewasthatfewpeopleplayed with the tests – incidentally a good thing, most likely–andthediagnosticmenubecamethesort of relatively open secret that someone would charge$19.95totellyouaboutinaniPodbook.
ByzantineiPodDiagnosticmenu,whichappears in the photo gallery attached here. At the top of the menu is what appears to be the latestsoftwarerevision(SRV),ofOctober 8, 2004, which would be only slightly before the date of Appleʼs October 20, 2004iPodSoftwareUpdater.Beloware seven choices: Diskmode isthesameastheaforementionedslave mode from old iPods, and reset just restartstheiPodPhoto,bringingupthe Applelogoandthenitsmainmenu.The top five menu items are the options of most interest. Memory Includes tests of the iPodʼs SDRAM, Flash memory, and IRAM. SDRAM has an option called SDRAM Fulltest which takes a few minutes, indicated by a percentage number at screenʼs bottom (picture 11), then displays a screen saying SDRAM OK. MENU cancels this, andmanyothertests.Flashrunsachecksumtest oftheiPodʼsflashmemory,verifyingthrougha codednumberthatitscontents(iPodfirmware)are asexpected.IRAMwaitsforawhile,apparently runs a quick test, then resets the machine.
The iPod Photoʼs enhanced screen provided Apple with an easy way to create a far less
IO
MacWeek A deeper menu than Memory, IO has the following options and sub-menus. Comms is the communication ports menu (picture 3). It includes USBTest (is a USB cable connected?), FireWireTest (is a FireWire cable connected?), and Remote (is an iPod Remote connected? If so, plug it in and you can test the fivebuttons,otherwiseitreportsnothing(NG)in the HP (headphone port)).
Wheelpresentstwooptions:Keytest(hitallfive buttons to end) and Wheeltest (first checks the wheelʼspartID,thengivesyouareadoutofwhere your finger is on the pad), LCD also has two options. Backlight tests the iPodʼsscreenʼsbacklighting,whichdefaultsat 128 and can be lowered to 0 or raised to 255 – almost twice the default brightness level. Colorletsyouseethescreendisplayflatcolors, gradients, and a checkered pattern HeadphoneDetectgivesyoutwooptions,present andhold.Areheadphonesconnected?Isthehold switch being used? HardDrive includes four options. HDSpecs presentsalldetailsoftheHD,fromsizeandserial numbertotemperature.HDScanperformsafull read verify scan of the hard drive, which uses the backlit screen (unlike most tests) for some reason.HDSMARTDatapresentsmoreharddrive
November 2004 statistics.Finally,HDRWisaread-writedisktest, with pass or fail readouts.
Audiopresentstwooptions.Playbackplaysan audiosampleandMICperformsarecordingtest. Power Asimplemenuthateitherperformstestsorputs the iPod to sleep. A submenu called A2DTests leadsintomultipleoptions:PhilipsIDjustchecks to see that the power management system is active,whileA2Dlistsaseriesoftestresultsfrom othertestslistedhere(picture10),namelyBattery A2D, VCC, Battery Temp, USBDP and USBDN. Thesejustmeasurethebatteryʼscurrentstrength and operating characteristics. Status Displaysthestatusoffourpotentiallyconnected systems.LCDislistedasSharp,themanufacturer oftheiPodPhotoʼsscreen.HPindicateswhether headphonesareconnected(0=no,1=yes),while FWPWR and USBPWR say whether power is being transmitted via a cable to the iPod. SysCfg Finally,theSysCfgmenulistsyouriPodPhotoʼs serialnumbers,hardwarerevision,andApplepart number.
MacWeek
November 2004