# New iPad Pro is the highlight...



## rustyintegrale (Oct 1, 2006)

New Apple announcements tonight...

http://www.apple.com/apple-events/september-2015/

iPad Pro is great. The other stuff looks embarrassing to be honest...

So US centric and the presenters are from Dumbville. :roll:


----------



## rustyintegrale (Oct 1, 2006)

I'm truly embarrassed.

Everything from Apple is now dumbed down.

Where is hi-res audio support FFS?


----------



## TJS (May 6, 2002)

...and as for the keyboard / cover ....

http://hijinksensue.com/comic/surface-tension/


----------



## rustyintegrale (Oct 1, 2006)

TJS said:


> ...and as for the keyboard / cover ....
> 
> http://hijinksensue.com/comic/surface-tension/


 :lol: :lol: very good!

Apple has said all along that the iPad did not 'need' a keyboard or a stylus. Now we have a poor interpretation of an already crappy Microsoft product and an Apple 'pencil' that is a rework of this one that has been around for ages...

http://www.fiftythree.com/pencil


----------



## cherie (Oct 23, 2014)

rustyintegrale said:


> I'm truly embarrassed.
> 
> Everything from Apple is now dumbed down.
> 
> Where is hi-res audio support FFS?


They're catering to the largest part of their market: the sheep who just have to buy the next Apple product, regardless of whether it's actually any good or not. So they have to make their products usable by the lowest common denominator. When you consider the story that cropped up recently of the young lad who took his car back to his local dealer because the ipod dock was not working, it's hardly surprising they're having to dumb down their mainstream products:










I'll stick with my 1st gen surface pro for now, bought last year for a fraction of it's price on release.


----------



## Spandex (Feb 20, 2009)

rustyintegrale said:


> TJS said:
> 
> 
> > ...and as for the keyboard / cover ....
> ...


I don't think you can really compare a proper pressure sensitive stylus to a basic capacitive one. That's like calling a Wacom tablet a giant touchpad.

And Apple's comment about not needing a stylus still stands as far as I can see. It doesn't *need* one. It's an accessory for a specific use. The point they were making at the time was that existing resistive touch screen devices pretty much required the use of a stylus for any kind of touch input because it was the only way to reliably use the UI. The iPhone was the first mainstream device that didn't need one.

I don't see the problem with the rest of the announcement either. Improvements to existing product lines as you'd expect, no? High res audio will always be a niche market, no matter how much you like it.


----------



## TJS (May 6, 2002)

The problem with Apple is that its product development currently seems to hinge on maintaining revenues by producing "innovative" products to fill niches that don't exist. The iPad / iPhone 6 seem to cannibalise each other in terms of sales, iPhone 6 get bigger, sales of the smaller iPads decrease .... so, cunning plan, make iPads bigger than ever until it impacts on the small mac book. Fortunately, the trick works due to its brand loyalty and marketing which has pushed products into fashion items rather than functional kit, albeit pretty good kit. As a family we have a drawer full of Apple devices, different iPods, iPhone, iPads and an iMac (the upside down pudding bowl screen swivelling jobbie). All work providing to can find the correct plugs etc. Oh, and a Psion 3c

I use an iPhone 4, an original iPad and for flying an iPad mini with Sky Demon. The value of upgrading due to new apple "technology" is now very diluted and, to my mind, simply not worth it, gone are the days when an iPod replaced a Sony CD walkman and an iPhone replaced Psion and HP PDA's. As for the pencil ... I will stick to real pencils and Bic pens, what use is a pen or pencil you can't chew.!


----------



## Toshiba (Jul 8, 2004)

Its easy to poke fun at number 1, but when you become a leader at something you are expect to innovate and wow.
Apple are neither innovating or wowing. if it wasn't for China sales i think it would be problem time for apple.

OS X is frankly second to W10, I'm so fed up of the bugs I'm tempted to just stick W10 on my mac books.
iOS is no better, 3D touch - give me a break, how about you just take a year off and fix the problems on both platforms and make things work again.

so much for not being a me too company, apple have become just what they ridiculed. large phones, large pads, pencil tablets and stick on keyboards....


----------



## jamman (May 6, 2002)

Jesus I'm agreeing with Spandex again must get to the docs.

I've never understood why people get so excited with bashing Apple... calm down go for a walk.


----------



## Spandex (Feb 20, 2009)

Toshiba said:


> so much for not being a me too company, apple have become just what they ridiculed. large phones, large pads, pencil tablets and stick on keyboards....


Damned if they do, damned if they don't.


----------



## rustyintegrale (Oct 1, 2006)

Spandex said:


> High res audio will always be a niche market, no matter how much you like it.


I suppose that's why we all stuck with 78s, needles and horns is it? :lol:

Seriously Spandy, do really think a company can dominate the music streaming business by offering a poor quality product at an inflated price? That's a pretty tall order, even for Apple's brilliant marketing department.

I don't believe it is a niche market at all. It's just relatively difficult to implement because the devices we use to play it are not enabled and/or the software running it is poorly designed and clunky to use.

Apple should do what they habitually do. Take a good idea, give it a reliable engine and a simple, elegant and efficient interface.

That would get me signed up to Apple Music.


----------



## Spandex (Feb 20, 2009)

rustyintegrale said:


> Spandex said:
> 
> 
> > High res audio will always be a niche market, no matter how much you like it.
> ...


It's ironic that you chose vinyl as an example - a format that was killed off by customers who valued convenience over audio quality.

How did cassette tapes win against other physical formats offering higher quality? How did Laserdisc never become mainstream when it's only competition was VHS and Betamax? How did MP3, a heavily compressed format, beat CDs? There are loads of factors involved, but ultimately in pretty much every format war that's ever happened, audio/picture quality is the lowest priority to the consumer.

Look, I've worked in the 'entertainment industry' on the engineering side for almost 20 years now, and I used to think like you do - I knew what 'the best' was and I thought that's what everyone should have. But the majority of consumers don't have the same priorities as you do and eventually you just have to accept that this doesn't make them (or the companies giving them what they want) wrong. Vive la difference.

As for Apple, I don't think they offer a 'poor quality product', they offer one that is more than acceptable to the vast majority of their customers. Funnily enough, they prioritise other elements of the service over outright audio quality - it's almost as if they understand their customers or something... :wink:


----------



## rustyintegrale (Oct 1, 2006)

Spandex said:


> As for Apple, I don't think they offer a 'poor quality product', they offer one that is more than acceptable to the vast majority of their customers. Funnily enough, they prioritise other elements of the service over outright audio quality - it's almost as if they understand their customers or something... :wink:


Well there's the rub. Take up of Apple Music after the free trial period has been way less than expected. Gotta question why since you say they have every other base covered. :wink:


----------



## Spandex (Feb 20, 2009)

rustyintegrale said:


> Well there's the rub. Take up of Apple Music after the free trial period has been way less than expected. Gotta question why since you say they have every other base covered. :wink:


Questioning why is certainly a good thing to do. And if you honestly think the audio quality has significantly impacted the uptake of Apple Music, then you're massively out of touch with the modern consumer.

I didn't say they have every other base covered, but they have prioritised things that matter more to consumers over audio quality. Clearly they still haven't found the perfect balance with those other elements but let's face it, iTMS core customers are more likely to listen to their purchases streamed to a mono bluetooth speaker than on a decent 'hi-fi' system. That's not meant to disparage them - I completely understand why people chose convenience over quality.

If you can find a review of Apple Music that singles out audio quality as a significant negative, post it here because I'd be interested to read it. I searched and found nothing of note. I did find a test done by The Verge with back to back 'consumer' listening tests of Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal and the results weren't particularly conclusive, with 29% of people finding no difference between the three. Sure, that doesn't mean that there is no difference - but it does mean that a LOT of people can't hear it and I suspect another big clump of the people who CAN hear a difference would still prioritise other functionality and features over outright quality.


----------



## rustyintegrale (Oct 1, 2006)

Spandex said:


> rustyintegrale said:
> 
> 
> > Well there's the rub. Take up of Apple Music after the free trial period has been way less than expected. Gotta question why since you say they have every other base covered. :wink:
> ...


So when you want real high resolution cheaply, using Apple hardware and some third party software, let me know.

Everyone else?

Don't waste your money on Sonos. Don't subscribe to Apple Music. Don't buy Deezer, Spotify or Tidal (unless you pay for hi-res).

Above all don't bin your hifi and don't be brainwashed!

Rich x


----------



## rustyintegrale (Oct 1, 2006)

Spandex said:


> rustyintegrale said:
> 
> 
> > Well there's the rub. Take up of Apple Music after the free trial period has been way less than expected. Gotta question why since you say they have every other base covered. :wink:
> ...


So when you want real high resolution cheaply, using Apple hardware and some third party software, let me know.

Everyone else?

Don't waste your money on Sonos. Don't subscribe to Apple Music. Don't buy Deezer, Spotify or Tidal (unless you pay for hi-res).

Above all don't bin your hifi and don't be brainwashed!

Rich x


----------



## TJS (May 6, 2002)

So where does Pono fit into the scheme of things ?

https://www.ponomusic.com/ccrz__CCPage?pageKey=aboutus


----------

