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Apple Hawks Madonna iPods
danamania writes "Apple's latest promotion is a gimmick with Madonna, Tony Hawk or Beck's signature, or a No Doubt logo, on an iPod. It seems Apple's really pushing the iPod as a too-cool fashion accessory as much as a too-cooler MP3 player... is Maddie's signature worth an extra USD49 over the standard iPod?" Instead of $50 for the engraved signature, you can spend $20 to print "Madonna's Signature" in beautiful Helvetica.
Could it not argue that having Madonna's signature on your iPod would decrease the value?
"Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence." - Charles de Gaulle
The Cowboy Neal autographed iPod (really just a big X marked in crayon).
But then I realized, of course, that we're living in a Material World.
Does this mean Steve Jobs is a Material Girl?
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
RED AND YELLOW, brutha! Whatcha gonna do when Hulkamania runs wild on you! Say your prayers, eat your vitamins, and use your Mac.
No. Seriously.
"A microprocessor... is a terrible thing to waste." --
GeneralEmergency
why would anyone do this? if they are a die hard fan they will mostlikely try for the real thing not just cheap engraved fake. I don't see why a person would waste 50 dollars more on this.
I am holding out for the limited edition Devo iPod.
Whip it! Whip it good!
I wouldn't be surprised to see Apple start shipping iPods with 'special tracks' from artists.
I bet the RIAA wold love that.
Beware the Madonna iPod, every time you turn around it will shed its outer cover. Plus instead of a blank pause, it will insist on playing "Material Girl" and/or "Like A Virgin" between all your tracks.
Apple will engrave Anonymous Coward for only $19.95!
Why would anyone want an iPod with a printed signature or logo. I understand branding etc, but with signatures most people don't care unless it is real. Also, for the price you could get it engraved with your own custom item makeing the iPod unique. That seems much more practical to me. Then at a later date when you happen to be at a coffee shop in London and Madonna forgets her purse again you can get her to autograph her iPod when she asks to borrow two pounds for that cake she is buying for her kid.i cle.cf m/103366/115819
http://english.planetarabia.com/content/art
Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't some of Madonna's newest CD's made with one of the new copy protection schemes? Doesn't it seem strange for her to be supporting the ipod while her music can't be played on it?
Personally, I dont really see what's wrong with this. It's just like having a signed by . Hardcore fans pay good money for 'autographed' items.
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
The Iron Maiden iPod... The Metallica iPod (just the irony makes it worth $50 more), the Devo iPod, and of course...
The artist formerly known as the artist formerly known as Prince iPod.
You like your new Mac more than you like me, don't you, Dave? Dave? I asked...She said Yes.
This would make more sense if the iPod came preloaded with a bunch of music from the artist whose name is engraved.
Anybody else find that a bit strange, I'd prefer it to show all of my contacts and appointments.
Dacels Jewelers can't be trusted.
fell on Madonna in the forest and someone recorded the audio, could I get that preloaded on my iPod instead?
Que Deus te de em dobro o que me desejas
[May God give you double that which you wish for me]
because i'm sure all these artists understand that the iPod is often used to store illegally obtained music files. can this be construed as tacit approval? what would hilary rosen say?
or perhaps musicians realize that like the VCR the iPod MAY encourage piracy but it has plenty of non-infringing uses. just like gnutella....
smd4985
I've got a slew of Mac Plusses with Steve Jobs' signature engraved inside and it didn't cost me $50 on top of the original $4000.
Jory
Because Marketing, two chimps and a wolverine, at Apple went to "focus groups" (the three idiots that thought Performa was a strong name) and they said, "I will buy something with Madonna's scrawl on it."
And thus there was crap on the shiny back of an iPod to be covered in the thumb prints of day to day use.
(I have a 20GB iPod - Back gets all printy fast)
I don't think the clean look ever really goes out it just becomes less of a fad. Besides I'm sure apple will come out with a "hippie" version soon that comes in a multi colored cases and a roach clip on the back ;-)
First the RIAA will sue me for attempting to put MP3s on my iPod; then Madonna, No Doubt, and Beck will sue me for attempting to steal their iPods. "Why yes officer, that is my iPod, see, that's my signature right there."
before we can get our favourite pr0n image engraved on it? No, I'm not nescessarily suggesting that Madonna be involved...
/.Pod - slashdots any computer that you hook up to it. Keeps on wanting to be "beowoulf clustered" with iPods of the opposite gender (but of course is lucky to even get them to acknowledge it).
K&RPod - Trse UsrIntFace, very flexible though
GPLPod - If you sing along, you must record your singing and distribute the original song along with your singing.
M$Pod/SonyPod/RIAAPod - You hate it because you have to.
CaseModPod - iPod with glear plastic case, neon kit, chipped cpu w/water cooling
Nope... guess again. The use of "hocking" as you suggest refers to leaving something with a pawn broker in exchange for a "loan". Derived from one of its meanings as "last resort". Hawking means, among other things, peddling, usually accompanied by a loud noise or shouting. Sheesh, don't any of you guys read anything besides slashdot! ;-)
Kevin Mitnick edition iPod (plays music, DOSes your iMac).
Hillary Rosen edition iPod (plays nothing, shops you to the Feds for file-sharing)
Nick Cave edition iPod (plays music, but you hear only silence)
Satan edition iPod (plays music in reverse, you hear voices telling you to 'do it! do it!')
MT.
-MT.
How about ipods in *different colors*?? It worked for the iMac, and is a better choice than the signature of the 'flavor of the month'. Cmon, THINK DIFFERENT, indeed.
Better yet, a clear, removable face plate that can cover photos or art of your OWN MAKING.
That sounds more like Apple to me...
No, your Nomad will look just as pleebian as ever and Apple will sell new iPods with more features and new avant guarde styling.
And people will buy them. That's the powerful combination of technology and fashion which Apple's more recent success is almost entirely due to.
_nfotxn
I'm posting this anonymously to protect my job. Not that they'll fire me or anything, but why risk it?
For several years, we (Apple) have been working on ways of customizing computers and electronics. It all started back in the Power Mac Cube days, when we were looking into new injection molding processes. That worked okay, but we got a lot of flak from customers who thought the mold lines in the plastic looked like cracks.
Now we're looking at custom laser engraving, trying to figure out ways to get the cost down to less than a dollar per square inch. The idea is that you will be able to order your laptop with anything at all engraved on the surface: your name, a logo, a picture of your kids, whatever.
This little promo is just some of the runoff from that work.
Oh, and incidentally, Apple isn't doing this for the money. I don't want to say anything else too specific, but there's more going on between Apple and these artists than just this. Expect to see more interesting things in the coming months.
Actually, it looks like you get $30 off at checkout.
It was cool when the iPod was the first easily usable MP3 player with a hard drive that fit in a small space. It was cool when they got linux support. It might've been cool if it was engraved with RMS' signature or CowboyNeal's, or even maybe Steve Jobs'. But remind me one more time why I, a geek/nerd/this/that/whatever, care about this? IANATroll, but this has gone a little too far with the 'slashvertisements'.
Ah well. I can see my karma dropping now. Mods, do your worst...
--j
This could be cool (rather, worth the money) if Apple and the artists' labels got together and offered unique and compelling content only available for the signature-series iPods. Instead of pushing this as a logo gimmick, maybe selling "a year-long subscription to content only available to these iPods" would make the offer appealing.
and your real name is "Wee"?
2 1337 4 u!
They need an Ellen Fiess edition!
Wouldn't it a heckova lot cooler to use flexible displays or electronic paper wrapped around the iPod so you could customize the external appearance yourself? Skins for physical devices -- now THAT is cool!
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
It would be pretty interesting to be able to upload a black-and-white GIF or perhaps some similarly colored vector graphics to have engraved on the back. That sounds like the next obvious step after this pre-made designs and text customization.
I had a friend who asked Apple if they would take a custom TrueTypeFont to engrave. Namely, a TTF for Quenya, and have it engraved in the language of Mordor:
Ash iPod durbatulúk, ash iPod gimbatul,
ash iPod thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul
Apple said no; a pity. I would have liked to have seen The One iPod
Or a portable DivX player with a picture of Jack Valenti on it.
What if I lost my iPod and someone found it and returned it to Tony Hawk?
"Things are more moderner than before- bigger, and yet smaller- it's computers-- San Dimas High School football RULES!"
Ergonomica Auctorita Illico!
Industrial design is a funny thing. I'm not sure I agree that the "brushed-metal-look-plastic and primary colour bezel" look is any more valid (in the long run) than any other choice out there. It may depend on how one defines "timeless", but I'm not sure the current Creative or Panasonic designs are necessarily timeless. Of course, only time will tell.
Both are relatively recent takes on a look that has been around for some time. My first personal cassette player was a tiny Toshiba that was rounded-rectangular, brushed silver with black trim. Very iPod like for the time. That was close to 20 years ago.
Not to mention the creative also offers the NOMAD Jukebox Zen, which is aimed directly at the value-oriented would-be iPod buyer.
Creative is doing what most companies do: creating brand-recognition through design and style, while offering enough of a departure (read: copying other successful styles) to pick up the margin customers.
-- clvrmnky