iTunes 9 and other thoughts from the 9-9-09 Apple Keynote

So, the big A dropped iTunes 9 last week. After toying with it a bit, the changes are very welcome. The home screen is much easier to navigate and the improved syncing with my iPhone was a god send. The aspect I love the most from my iPhone is the multitude of apps I can download, the downside is how cumbersome it is to arrange these apps on the phone itself, arranging on iTunes 9 is much smoother and more dynamic tan the touch/hold/drag/stop method.

As far as the iTunes LP.. truth is I never use the iTunes store to buy anything, the prices have always been an issue but the iTunes LP looks promising. I'm thinking of buying one soon so I can talk about it, but after watching the keynote speech from the 9-9-09 Apple event I can say that it looks like a nice addition, but the value of it I see is what separates iTunes from any other digital media distributor.

A laughable point from the 9-9-09 Keynote was how Apple tried to take jabs at the big hitters of handheld gaming. When I look at an iPhone and iPod Touch, I see a great overall mobile handheld media device, but above that... I don't see Apple overthrowing the big players in the handheld gaming market, essentially the PSP and the DSi. Sure you can't even begin to compare the devices to an iPhone when it comes to playing movies or music, the app store is uncontested in this market, even with Sony's PSN store. But what you get with a higher price tag on mobile games is a better gaming experience. I'd like to see the iPhone/iPod touch even try to accommodate games like Dissidia, God of War, or even games like Final Fantasy IV on the DS. It just can't... and if we learned anything from the Nokia N-Gage... a mobile phone as a gaming platform cannot overthrow the big dogs in the yard... at least not yet.