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In Mac- and Apple-focused activity this week, bloggers and commenters have been beating up on allegations of premature iPods deaths as well as speculating on the next generation of redesigned MacBooks and MacBook Pros.
Also in the air is a mysterious MacBook firmware update and the supposed upcoming downfall of Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) TV.
iPods Alive and Still Kickin'
In an article appearing in the UK's The Independent (and later syndicated with permission by MacNewsWorld), writer James Daley kicked up a storm of criticism by suggesting that Apple's software updates intentionally beat up and eventually knock out older iPods at about the time they reach two years old. This assertion came after his iPod started crashing and he started asking around, specifically to his wife and friends.
"My partner, however, was not remotely surprised. My problems, she said, were yet further evidence in support of her conspiracy theory that Apple deliberately tries to destroy its older iPod models by designing software updates that make them malfunction. Generally, she insisted, these updates begin to eat up your iPod around two years after you bought it, eventually forcing you to buy the latest model out of frustration," Daley wrote.
While Daley says he'll likely end up buying another iPod anyway, that didn't placate readers, who rained down the comments, with key phrases like:
- "Ridiculous"
- "What complete rubbish!"
- "This is silly talk."
- "Spectacularly wrong article on all counts."
Some commenters added their own evidence to the contrary. "I've had five iPods, starting with the first one. All still work. Battery life is a little short on the oldest ones, but no batteries have had to be replaced," noted hembreeder on a MacNewsWorld post on the subject. "Assuming your conspiracy theory is correct, I suspect Apple has a conspiracy against you, personally, but not other users, such as me."
Other bloggers jumped in as well. For example, in his Apple a Day blog, David Zeiler of the Baltimore Sun said the allegation was "over the line," noting, "Perhaps a significant percentage of iPods do fail after two years. But how many last three years? Or four? For that matter, what's the failure rate of competing MP3 players? Better than Apple's? Worse? The same? Daley offers us no data, just unsubstantiated opinion."
Laptop Lineup Looking for a Redesign
AppleInsider.com published a rumor-oriented article based on unnamed sources who say that Apple's next generation of MacBooks and MacBook Pros will see a redesign some time in the third quarter of this year -- when they are also likely to use Intel's (Nasdaq: INTC) next-generation Montevina processors. AppleInsider reports that Apple will likely ditch the plastic casing for MacBooks in favor of more environmentally friendly aluminum and stainless steel. The MacBook Pro, which is already encased in aluminum, would likely sport a refreshed look more in line with the MacBook Air.
"All I have to say is: FINALLY. Keeping more or less the same design from 2003 until now (for the current MacBook Pros) is VERY un-Apple. I've been waiting to replace my current MBP until a new design refresh comes out, and it seems like my wait will soon be over. Hooray!" noted bemaniac on the AppleInsider.com post.
Comments have been all over the map, covering scratches, plastic and whether white MacBooks are truly "tawdry," but the comments do lack the frenzy of anticipation that preceded the latest round of processor, disk and memory refreshes that came to the MacBook and MacBook Pro earlier this year -- until June, perhaps.
The Mysterious Mac Firmware Updates
Apple released extensible firmware interface (EFI) updates for the MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air and iMac on Tuesday, but the company wasn't particularly forthcoming about what the firmware updates actually do. Apple's description was particularly short: "This update fixes several issues to improve the stability of [MacBook Air, Macbook, MacBook Pro, iMac] computers," MacRumors.com reported, and it sparked fire of speculation over what it actually was supposed to fix.
Firmware updates aren't installed automatically by Apple's Software Update, and they require a complete shutdown and reboot.
"Hopefully it fixes the 'display never wakes from sleep even though the computer itself does' problem I'm having with my MBP," noted TilJ on the MacRumors.com post.
"Didn't do anything to my Aluminum iMac 2.0GHz at work. Of course, I didn't see any issues before," noted iMouse.
"Firmware usually refers to the programmable content of a hardware device or a program that is tightly linked to or embedded in a hardware device," Charles King, principal analyst for Pund-IT, told MacNewsWorld.
"The firmware applications that most people are aware of are the device drivers -- for printers, scanners, MP3 players, etc. -- that allow peripheral devices to connect to and work with conventional computers," he explained. Apple also released a firmware update for its sleek aluminum Apple keyboards, but the company said the update was to fix an issue where a key would repeat unexpectedly while typing.
"Firmware updates can also be used to enable older systems to support new processes and devices. Given the close, complex interaction between the firmware and OS, updates are typically incorporated in larger, self-installing system updates. Once installed, it's fairly difficult to uninstall system firmware," he added. That brings up the consternation that so many blog posters have expressed -- it's kind of nice to know what something does before you install it instead of having to wonder whether it will inadvertently create a new problem that's a pain to fix.
One commenter noted that it made his iMac startup faster, while naroola noted, "Apart from fixing some issues, I think this firmware update is a prep for the 10.5.3 release."
Is 1080p's Rise Apple TV's Downfall?
Hadley Stern, posting on the Apple Matters blog, wrote about loving his Apple TV -- except for the problem that it only displays at 720p resolution, not 1080p, and it falls way short of Blu-ray in terms of quality. "Watching a movie in 1080P is an unmistakable step up. This is HD (high definition) on steroids. This is a picture so smooth, clear, sultry and perfect that anything less is ... well, less," Stern wrote.
"Watching 'HD' content on the Apple TV does not compare to the true HD experience of Blu-ray," he added.
His posted generated quite a handful of responses, some which countered that Apple TV is in fact capable of displaying at 1080p.
"The Apple TV hardware is capable of both 720p and 1080p HD rez and 16:9 and even anamorphic aspect ratios," commented Robomac Infidel, who noted that the key difference in quality coming out of Blu-ray is the bitrate. "Whereas Blue-Ray is typical multiplexed rate is 50Mbps (megabits per second), iTunes HD rentals' typical muxed bitrate is only a measly 2-4Mbps."
Of course, several posters noted that Apple isn't offering 1080p downloads from iTunes because the file sizes would be prohibitively large for downloading via most homes' Internet connections.
"Apple TV as it relates to HD Video rentals is currently at the sweet spot. It sells on instant gratification, not on max quality. All that has to happen to make it better is more selection," noted Doug Petrosky.
When it comes to the question of quality, it doesn't necessarily relate to a correlation of market success 
. Standard DVD purchases and rentals, however, still dominant the home movie watching landscape. The real question is how long that dominance might last. Two years? Five years?
"DVDs will still hang on for a while. I am not sure if it will last five years," Van Baker, a vice president of media research for Gartner (NYSE: IT), told MacNewsWorld.
"As for Blu-ray, it will definitely see some gains going forward, but there are so many alternatives in the market now that offer digital downloads, such as VOD (video on demand) from cable, Netflix digital, Amazon Unbox, iTunes movie rentals, etc., that Blu-ray will struggle to achieve the degree of domination that DVD has enjoyed," he explained.
So ... long live the Apple TV!
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