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Apple Announces iTunes Wi-Fi, Ringtones, Price Cuts

Submitted by Ben Levine on September 5, 2007 - 12:58pm.
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There was big news in the Apple world today. At 'The Beat Goes On' event, Apple announced a lot of new features for iTunes and updates to the whole iPod lineup. There were also quite a few announcements for the iPhone including ring tone service from iTunes, iTunes Wi-Fi music store, Starbucks integration, and an unexpected $200 price drop. Say goodbye to the 4GB iPhone and hello to the $399 8GB iPhone.

ITunes store ring tones are official. The ring tone service on iTunes is limited to only 500 thousand songs on iTunes. How it works is when you find a song that you want as your ring tone, a bar comes up displaying the song in a very similar way to Garage Band. You then select the portion of the song that you want to use, and that's your ring tone. This costs $0.99 in addition to the $0.99 cost of the song. It's not clear yet if you have to buy the song in order to make the ring tone. The ring tone service is going to be activated this week. Songs that are ringtonable(?) are indicated by a small bell icon next to them when you plug in your iPhone.


The iTunes Wi-Fi music store came with the announcement of the 'iPod Touch', the new touch screen iPod from Apple. This is an iTunes store client for iPod and iPhone that allows you to purchase and download music directly to your device, and then synch the new music to your computer. The new iTunes Wi-Fi store was also announced with 'Starbucks integration.' Starbucks integration allows iPod/iPhone users to find out what music is playing in the Starbucks they're in, and then purchase it immediately on the iTunes Wi-Fi store. This will not be available in all Starbucks upon release, but is expected to be fully integrated by 2009. iTunes Wi-Fi store and Starbucks integration will be available later this month.


The last big news of the keynote concerning the iPhone was the removal of the 4GB iPhone and the drop in price of the 8GB. The 8GB is available, starting today, for only $399. This is quite a large price drop and will most likely keep iPhone in the number one spot of smartphone sales. The 4GB will be available while supplies last for $299, according to MacRumors. Get 'em while you can.

Thanks to The Mac Observer and Gizmodo for the live coverage of the event.


Submitted by Unregistered (not verified) on September 5, 2007 - 2:01pm.
Yes it is quite a price drop and I am highly PISSED! It is just 2 months old and already $200 cheaper!!!!!!! Apple better get ready for a lot of people dissatisfied with this announcement. Anyone else feel they deserve their $200 back?

Submitted by chr1s60 on September 5, 2007 - 2:05pm.
A price drop of this magnitude is uncalled for after being released under 70 days ago. That is almost $3 per day we have been charged to use our phones since June 29th. Not only that, but many of us have posted feedback and have worked as testers for Apple for a $200 charge. Anyone mad about this needs to go to apple.com and voice your complaint in the iPhone section. Mad about it or not, this is just wrong to do to people this early into release.

Submitted by Unregistered (not verified) on September 5, 2007 - 2:08pm.
ya this seems like a bad move. why buy any of these new products when when they might be cheaper in a few months. doesn't look like wall street likes it either. a bunch of new ipods and the stock is still down 7 bucks so far. not a good sign for apple. glad i didn't buy in. someone should organize an apple boycott. just to fuck with em at least.

Submitted by vdz415 (not verified) on September 5, 2007 - 2:33pm.
maybe a 16gb iphone coming out soon?

Submitted by unity on September 5, 2007 - 2:43pm.
The backlash of the price drop is in threads and forums all over. Its to the point where all the other announcements have taken to the back burner. It should have been a great day of announcements, but for many its a day of regress!!!!!

Submitted by Unregistered (not verified) on September 5, 2007 - 2:59pm.
I'm furious about the price drop and a little sad about no radio app...

Submitted by Unregistered (not verified) on September 5, 2007 - 3:27pm.
Yea this is a big kick in the nuts.

Submitted by Bones6 on September 5, 2007 - 4:34pm.
Damn... it sucks finding out that they just lowered the price...

I bought the 4GB one and this kind of makes me mad, cause I bought it in the middle of August...

Now, I still have the reciept, would they give me an exchange for the newer one + whatever else would add up to the $580.00 i threw down for a phone they don't sell anymore (I still have the box and all the items it came with.)??

Cause if I waited the F*&%ing month, I would have gotten an 8GB iPhone instead of the 4GB iPhone (And I like to listen to music on it...)

Submitted by Pepper on September 5, 2007 - 5:18pm.
ya i'm disappointed about the price cut but, i don't think they are going to let you exchange.

Submitted by Bones6 on September 5, 2007 - 5:53pm.
I'm going to the store Friday, if i get them to exchange it for mech in the store or get to exchange it and take a loss, i'll let ya know...

the most disappointing excitement

Submitted by Unregistered (not verified) on September 5, 2007 - 7:05pm.
I feel like I woke up on Christmas morning, saw that I got a thousand gifts from Santa, but discovered that there were socks in all of them.

I am most upset about the ringtones, the price drop, & the touch iPod. None of it makes sense.

I will no longer buy apple products within 6 months of the release date. I got screwed out of a ton of money. I would have gladly waited to save $400 on my & my wife's iPhone. Sour taste.

Why would you release an iPod that is built for watching movies, but not five enoughdisk space to hold a ton of movies? Sour taste.

An lastly, the ringtones issue. Apple has proves that they have no problem bending all of us over on behalf of AT&T, & they dont even playfully pull our hair. Apple is effectively making us pay a dollar so that we can use our own property. They are gonna give us the ability to transfer ringtones, but only the one they want. So if I wrote my own music in Garageband(an Apple product), I can't use it as a ringtone. It is nuts.

Apple has become the man.

Submitted by unity on September 5, 2007 - 7:52pm.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered View Post
An lastly, the ringtones issue. Apple has proves that they have no problem bending all of us over on behalf of AT&T, & they dont even playfully pull our hair. Apple is effectively making us pay a dollar so that we can use our own property. They are gonna give us the ability to transfer ringtones, but only the one they want. So if I wrote my own music in Garageband(an Apple product), I can't use it as a ringtone. It is nuts.
As Steve stated, many carries charge $2.49 per ringtone and you have no way to edit it the selection you want.

So in that sense, its a deal. But I agree that paying 99 cents to make a ringtone out of something I may already own is insane! Paying ANYTHING is insane.

So Audio Hijack to the rescue. Or any other method to strip the DRM. But I bet iTunes will not let you make a ringtone out of non-DRM stuff.

Give it a few days, someone will crack iTunes I bet!

Submitted by Unregistered (not verified) on September 6, 2007 - 10:54am.
i am pissed!!!!!!!!!

drop prices

Submitted by yande on September 6, 2007 - 11:43am.
i hope they give us our money back because its not fair for the people who brought the iphone at its regular price!!!

Yes!

Submitted by Unregistered (not verified) on September 15, 2007 - 11:02am.
if u put the 30 second ring-tone into itunes as a .m4r file, then go into itunes folder, find the ring-tones file, change he extension to .m4a, they are recognized by itunes, and they go onto your phone!