Exitlog | Leaving Impressions

New MacBook envy laments the lack of FireWire…

For the last few days, and alongside another visit to the Apple Store, the new MacBook has garnered a lot of attention. Carved from a single piece of aluminium its new unibody enclosure is a very different MacBook than the, sometimes prone to crack, polycarbonate shelled model. With a bright LED screen and improved, NVIDIA-powered graphics the new MacBook has everything going for it (nearly).

Following the announcement fanfare and fanboy adulation are the legions of Apple faithful, many of whom are video and sound professionals and enthusiasts. They are very disappointed with the lack of FireWire. All the unpacking videos on YouTube and disassembly slideshows can’t stem their sinking desire. With hopes that the new MacBook would have finally been a credible inheritor to the portability and power of the old PowerBook G4 12″ these metal MacBooks should be flying off the shelves into every creative studio and editing suite.

From Canon and Sony to M-Audio and MOTU there are a lot of quality FireWire-enabled peripherals (HD cameras, controllers and sound input decks) out there in use – brands relied on by top agencies, producers and musicians. Given this, the omission of FireWire seems at odds with the market. As a standard it may well be on the way out, but then as a standard we are not talking floppy discs here. FireWire has been, and is, very useful.

The Apple faithful represent a significant number of career creatives and aspirational hopefuls; and they have been some of Apple’s most vociferous advocates. They are not just the choir, but real users with large investment in FireWire-based equipment. They are the one group a good marketing team and product manager should have considered.

The future? Apple now has the opportunity to create (and sell by the dozen) an adapter to restore FireWire to the MacBook – just look at the modem adapter, the new DisplayPort adapters and even the remote control (which used to be free) and witness the success. Still, we’re not sure they will bother. The debate still has further to rage but the early assessment is that this might be the own-goal in an otherwise great product launch.

No need for fanboys… the touch is alright

Two months ago, and annoyingly before the newest release, I upgraded my ageing 20GB iPod 3G. The short Nano was a possibility and a lot of consideration went to the Classic for its massive storage. Against more reasoned judgement I opted for the 8GB iPod touch. The Apple Store Trafford Centre, Manchester, had quite few out on display, and, like many, I couldn’t get enough.

The transition from iPod 3G to iPod touch was almost easy. My old iPod had buttons so I wasn’t a scroll wheel die-hard. What really took time to get use to was rationing my music – 20GB does not divide easily to 8GB. When I finally got to grips with smart playlists my listening habits completely changed. Now I listen to a lot more tracks than I did; those lost, buried or overlooked songs are now more available using Genius, shuffle and random playlist placement.

What wasn’t so easy, and look a lot of time were movies. There is a big investment in ripping DVDs to mp4, luckily Handbrake is very helpful. Music might be the main staple of an iPod, but having a few video podcasts, movies and the odd bit of TV make a train journey much more pleasant.

The biggest transition came not from trading one iPod for another, but in the (declining) use of my MacBook. With WiFi access my touch time is spent checking my email, the latest points haul of my fantasy football team and applications from the App Store*. My MacBook is now relegated to meetings (away from the office) or writing documents.

Leaving impressions: the iPod touch is certainly worth attention. The interface and your interaction with it feels right, considered and useful. I don’t care about the virtual keyboard. Typing on the touch is as important as texting on a phone – occasionally useful, but not paramount to use. It might not be a phone (there are better phones on the market – those meant to be phone and nothing else) but it is a great media player, a lean email and web access device and not bad with games.