I received an invite to boxee sometime back but I join yesterday. So I set about downloading the installer for OS X. I have been hearing for many months now and most of what I had heard was good. But I guess in the last month I had not been think about what it would look like or how it would run. So after doing the install I was not ready for what I was or for how well it ran. It handles so many formats that I will be spending time this week end getting in to it more and do a better write up, So check back monday.

I have in the past said that I had heard way to much hype about the iPhone. I guess that I may have felt that it was a phone that cost so much more than I would pay or that I could afford to pay for a cell phone. Well in many ways I still feel like that, but I am changing the way I see the iPhone and also the iPod Touch.

In the past month I have had a friend buy an iPhone for herself, this is the the first time she has had any thing that came from Apple. She asked me about the iPhone and what I thought about it, that made me give it a closer look. I try hard to not just let how I feel about something be the only info that is used in passing on info to someone when I am asked a question.

I was asked to go with my friend as she went to get the iPhone, so I did just that, off to the Apple store in Salt Lake City. We found them helpful to her needs and when we had all to she wanted to get and started the process of paying for it all, we ran into a snag. Now she was an At&t customer and her contract had come to an end, because of AT&T not being customer friendly she ended up on the phone in the store with them, after some time she got it all worked out. She now had her iPhone, she loves her phone and uses it as her only phone. Now I like to say as someone that does not have AT&T for my phone I am not sure I could change to them after seeing what she had to do to buy a new phone.

As I have helped her with her iPhone and how to do this and that on it, I found that I was no longer thinking that I would not want one. I would want one, but the things I like the most on her iPhone was not the phone or the 3G or the camera. It turns out that it was the part that is what the iPod Touch is, the Wifi, how contacts works with address book and the calendar work with iCal. That is what I thought was the best part of this. I found the touch interface much easier to get use to than it first appeared. The size and shape feels natural in the hand and as far as making phone calls, it natural and the call quality is better than other cell phones I have used in the past. Now keep in mind that I am still carrying a LG 9400 as my cell phone.

Simplifymedia is what is missing with most if not all music players. We all have the music we love to sit down and just enjoy. I for one just love music, new, old, slow and fast it just has a way moving my heart and soul. So if you are like me you may have some that just does not make it on to the iPod because of space or how often you play it. When I get away from my desk I take my iPod but there are so many times what I want to hear is just not on it. Simplifymedia has changed that for me, I can now have all my music at work or at my dads home. Also my friends can share their music with me and I with them. I use Simplifymedia with iTunes and it works just like shared libraries do. I have set this up with my dad who is 80 years old now, he said wow this is so nice. Yeah I have some music my dad enjoys. So take some time download Simlifymedia and try it out for yourself. I would love to hear what you think.

Yes Apple did their thing again today! There will be a new iTunes 8 out some time today with a new feature called “Genius” this will make playlist for you. Also NBC is back on iTunes. This made me ask is it a good thing that iTunes is #1 for music sales?

As for the iPod line there is new iPod Nanos, yes Kevin Rose did have it right. If you have seen the photos that have been on his site or on the web the last two weeks it looks just like that with more colors. Also the “Genius” playlist is on the Nano. New prices also 8GB $149.00 16Gb $199.00. I must say I would look at getting a iPod Nano again, I had a first gen and I loved it, but this new one well I say it is an lot more then I was hoping for. The iPod Touch has had changes made to the case and the Nike+iPod is now built in. I guess the big thing for the iPod Touch is the Price, the 8Gb is now $229.00 the 16GB is now $299.00 and the 32GB is $399.00.

It is still over what the price of the iPhone is at the store, but then there is that two year contract with ATT.

I guess that at this point I am looking to see how iTunes 8 runs on my mac and in windows. I hope that it lives up to all the hype that came from Steve Jobs today. As for myself getting a new iPod well I still have my 5th Gen, so it will not be any time soon. I do know of someone that may be getting their first iPod so I will see what they think.