Wow!!! That's unimpressive!!!

So, its out folks. The new music device that apple fanboys and iPod thieves alike have been dreaming about. The Rokr iPod/ phone hybrid. Sweet! Check out the specs on this baby. TWO speakers!!! 100 song capacity!!! .5 gig upgradable memory card!!! You can't pick which song to play!!!(Looks like there are playlists, the BBC is a bit misleading about this),(Well now I don't know what to think, Steve Jobs is quoted as saying "It’s basically an iPod shuffle for your phone." ) God dammit, what the hell are they doing over there? I'll get to my tirade about iPods later on, but for now lets stick with the phone. This is not new. Hell, my current phone plays mp3s and has a removable memory card. And only a shuffle option? What? Its like you guys took an existing phone and combined it with the concept of the iPod, not the hardware. Great job. You know that Nokia makes a phone with a 4 gig harddrive in it, right? Where's my scroll wheel, bitches? What we all wanted was the iPod we already have to be able to make phone calls, not the exact opposite. Folks, what made the iPod wasn't the ability to play a few songs. It was the high storage capacity and simple yet effective organization and interface. As far as I'm concerned they can stick this thing where the sun don't shine. Come on, you know its gotta suck; its being released here before Europe.

Sorry, sorry, sorry. Lets be fair, there's got to be some pros about this. I do have to give them props for allowing USB transfer, but it sounds like they just couldn't figure out the OTA download scheme in time. Cingular probably won't request a special crappy version of the phone be produced just for them. And the phone will doubtlessly profit from a zippy new silhouette-on-bright-background ad campaign.

Ok, on to the general iPod stuff. You crackheads! You're releasing another iPod? The Nano is to be the new mini. The thing apple had going for itself was the iconical status of the mp3 player. They used to be able to say "This is the best player. Period." Now they're just undermining themselves by pumping out device after device. "Maybe this one is good. How about this? Please be my friend, Please?" Its getting hard to keep track of all the different generations and models, and moreover harder to care when another iPod shortie rolls off the line. So when they do get something exciting to sell, I won't know how to distinguish it for the normal bullshit. Ahh! Sorry, back to the Nano. Basically this thing should have been the shuffle. Its small (maybe too small), has the capacity of an old mini, and looks to have a color screen. All for the usual pricetag of 250 bones. Great. Now tell me why you couldn't just strap this on the back of a Motorola phone and call it the Rokr. Oh, and how about some bluetooth integration? Built-in FM transmitter? Ah, never mind. Just keep pumping out smaller mp3 players with less storage and charging the same price. I'm sure no one will mind.

Small Update
I just found this snippet from the Apple announcement presentation. Its Steve Jobs Ichatting with Madonna.

1:09pm - Madonna to Steve: “I got tired of not being able to download my own music.” Steve: “Do you have an iPod?” Madonna: “Of course I do! That’s so dumb! Every time I get one a new one comes out the next week.”

Nice, isn't she sposed to be promoting your product?