e5G iPod Features

Jason O’Grady has posted up a little commentary on the features in the new iPod, some of which are software based, while others are hardware based. He’s indicated that he’s a bit sour about Apple not including the software-only features in the firmware update that came out just recently for the previous 5G iPods. While I share somewhat in the sentiment here, and herhaps we’ll see some adapted versions of the new iPod firmware from someone out there, Apple sold a product with the features that were on the box. A few new ones have trickled down since then, but they’re not taking anything away from you. Sure you get a nice glowing feeling inside if they decide to make all of those brand new features available on your year-old hardware, but there’s nothing really wrong with them deciding to withold things for the newer generation.The same sort of thing applies for the new upgraded resolutions on the iTunes Store. It’d be great if Apple allowed all the old customers to download fresh new versions of their videos in new higher resolution formats, but they needn’t do so, and in the end making both of these free features available costs them money. I’m not just referring to lost sales on buying new versions of an iPod or a TV show, I mean in terms of bandwidth costs, support costs, and everything else that goes along with providing customers with a new product, free or not. Now the next question is, would people be willing to pay a few bucks for the firmware upgrade or an upgraded track. I suppose a lot of people might say yes to that, but I suppose there are other implications there as well, and one might feel even more inclined to complain. This is also not Apple’s style. So, in conclusion… deal with it.