Steve Jobs has become a huckster.  You’ve got to adjust your act when you become the king.  Believe me, Elton doesn’t behave the same way on stage today as he did when he was starting out.  Performers begin humble, their patter is stilted, their acts are unfinished.  But, as they gain success, they become smoother, they develop a relationship with their audience, and they don’t do the same thing over and over and over again.  At least not the GREATS!  Whereas Steve Jobs keeps on going on and on how his latest invention is FANTASTIC!  He’s either got to find another term or start underplaying.  Since now he’s the most admired businessman in America.  So part of me wanted to pass on his presentation.  I GET it Steve.  I’m an Apple BELIEVER!  You don’t have to prove yourself to me anymore.  It’s like a girl you’ve been living with trying to convince you to fall in love with her.  It’s about BUILDING upon the relationship, not ESTABLISHING IT!  Just show me the products.  Let your work do the talking.  Because it’s FABULOUS work.  It’s JAW-DROPPING work.

I don’t give a shit about the video iPod.  It’s all about music with me.  I barely turn ON my television.  I have no desire to watch "Desperate Housewives" in real time or ANY time, never mind pay for it.  Oh, it gets worse.  I look down on the people consumed with Hollywood entertainment.  Not that there aren’t good shows on TV, like "Curb Your Enthusiasm", it’s just that, like Elvis Costello’s radio of yore, TV anesthetizes the way that you feel.  God, can’t everybody go OUTSIDE?  Interact, take in some fresh air?  Isn’t life for LIVING?  I don’t play movies or TV shows in my head, I play MUSIC!  And to be able to take along the actual tunes with me, THAT’S what Steve Jobs has bequeathed to both me and society.  So, I don’t want to rave about the video iPod, which the press is frothing over.  But I DO want to rave about the new iMac.

Did you see the Photo Booth software?

The press only hits the highlights.  Watch the presentation.  Steve isn’t interested in selling the cheapest stripped-down box.  He’s not interested in commodities, he’s interested in WOWING you, with what technology can do.  For you TODAY!

The new iMac comes with a built in iSight camera.  A $150 value.  Actually, MORE, since the camera is BETTER than the add-on.  Suddenly, instant videoconferencing, FOR FREE, will become de rigueur.  At least amongst Mac users.  But what is truly amazing is how the computer takes a picture of the user.  That you can alter like a funhouse mirror.  That you can alter with other special effects.

And then there are the media functions.

What’s truly amazing is that in one fell swoop, Apple has eclipsed the Microsoft MediaCenter machines.  Failures in the marketplace.  Since you had to pay extra and they were frustratingly un-user-friendly.  I’m not sure if I believe in the paradigm, but if you want to control your computer from across the room, switch songs, play movies, watch photos, it’ll take you SECONDS to figure out with an iMac.  Because the Apple remote control has six buttons instead of the over forty of the competitive Microsoft-based products.  It’s ALL about usability.  Something that Andy Lack doesn’t understand, with his copy-protected CDs and DualDiscs.  People want things to work SEAMLESSLY!  They want to be able to do MORE, not LESS!

Then there’s iTunes 6.  Which finally delivers what the business has been wanting.  RECOMMENDATIONS!  Live, ADJUSTING recommendations.  He who is the online filter will be king.  As the labels fight Steve Jobs over pricing, they don’t comprehend that he will now be the man BREAKING the acts.  I’ve bought Dido at the iTMS (using a coupon, not cash, of course).  I’ve got fifteen recommendations.  For Faithless.  Jason Mraz.  Norah Jones.  Well, actually I "bought" acoustic versions of Collective Soul’s "December" and "Shine", so they’re selling me a Seal acoustic EP too.  Oh, it’s learning software.  You can say you don’t like something and it will suggest new tracks.  How well does it really work?  No one has conquered this sphere yet, but the technology is similar to the logarithmic learning junk e-mail filter built into Mac Mail, which is acknowledged to be the industry’s best.  So, this SHOULD be a step beyond other attempts at recommendation software.  Furthermore, it’s close to the selling SOURCE!

But back to the video iPod.  It’s a leap forward.  Apple is willing to try things.  Bob Iger at Disney was less worried about pissing off his affiliates by selling TV shows than not being left out of the future.  To quote Jackson Browne, the labels are a couple of years and a couple of changes behind Jobs.  And their ignorance shows.  It’s not about hearkening back to the past, but accepting and moving into the FUTURE!

Like the lack of a 56kbps modem in the iMac.  Oh, you can purchase an external unit.  But really, who is going to buy this fancy computer and hook it up to a telephone line?  STEVE JOBS is not worried about LEADING his customers.  Playing to the cutting edge.  Lopping off the Luddites who don’t want to get with the program.  And we’ve got labels placating CD users and suing those who want their music in MP3 format.  RIDICULOUS!

Also ridiculous is the close-mindedness of Edgar Bronfman, Jr.  Thinking he’s gonna beat Jobs by fighting him over prices in the press, Jimmy Iovine is stealing his thunder.  Isn’t it curious that the two ads for the new iPods feature U2 and Eminem?  That THEY’RE going to be the beneficiaries of this publicity, not WARNER acts?  You’ve got to be friends before you do business, don’t ever forget this.

The public is already on board.  Now Bob Iger has joined the caravan.  Steve Jobs is the acknowledged Pied Piper, the leader.  Carp about him not licensing FairPlay.  Join forces with Microsoft to foist lame, confusing, unworkable software on the public.  Don’t realize you can put pirate TV shows on the video iPod as easily as encrypted ones.  Deny the future.  See where it brings you.  As Apple’s stock goes up and Warner’s goes down.

Then again, Steve is just selling hardware.  And enabling software.  No one ever listened to iTunes.  It’s the MUSIC that makes it work.  Instead of withholding that music from him, think of NEW ways you can feed those iPods he keeps making.  Maybe with all you can eat unprotected subscription downloads.  There’s more than one way to feed an iPod than the iTunes Music Store…