Apple Announces 'Rock & Roll' Event, Act Surprised

I'm a little late on this story, but theirs merit in what I have to say.

 Often you come across these rumors of Apple events, but no one dares solidify their stance on the information they have. It's always rounded of with a pinch of salt.
If you don't think it's more than 95% true, and or likely to happen, where's the value in telling people about it? Rumors are nice, but they're also annoying.

Apple-event

Putting musings about an Apple Tablet aside, the other big pseudo news has been talks of an Apple event to be scheduled for the 9th of September.
 
Well, let's break that down a little. First off, each year without fail, for the past few years, Apple have held student deals offering a free iPod with every purchase of a new Mac. This years offer is set to expire on the 8th of September. Hmm... isn't that a nice coincidence? Sometimes I get the feeling that the more questions a site posts, the more their audience will return in search of answers. For me, it's getting a little old.
 
It's interesting however, that there have been no 'leaked' images of a new iPod line, bar the iPod touch with camera of course.
 
If you have links to articles you think might have leaked information on the new iPods, please leave them in the comments below!

Google CEO Eric Schmidt Bails From Apple Board

CUPERTINO, California—August 3, 2009—Apple® today announced that Dr. Eric Schmidt, chief executive officer of Google, is resigning from Apple’s Board of Directors, a position he has held since August 2006.

“Eric has been an excellent Board member for Apple, investing his valuable time, talent, passion and wisdom to help make Apple successful,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Unfortunately, as Google enters more of Apple’s core businesses, with Android and now Chrome OS, Eric’s effectiveness as an Apple Board member will be significantly diminished, since he will have to recuse himself from even larger portions of our meetings due to potential conflicts of interest. Therefore, we have mutually decided that now is the right time for Eric to resign his position on Apple’s Board.”

It was only a matter of time. I don’t see this negatively affecting Apple in the long run, though the speculation surrounding recent events could put fuel to the fire that this ‘mutual decision’ wasn’t so mutual.

Thoughts?

My girlfriend broke up with iTunes.

So, after a long and mutually beneficial relationship my girlfriend broke up with iTunes.

A few months ago, the introduction of a variable pricing model to the iTunes store wasn't exactly met with a warm reception. The vast majority of iTunes users are affected by the change, simply as a result of their taste in music, but whether this affects their spending habits is yet to be seen.

Competition in the music download space is tense, with the two main runners being Amazon with their young but gun-ho MP3 store and Apple with its deep rooted iTunes store. I can safely say that up until a few months ago I would have got into bed with iTunes every time, but that's changing.

Image

Just looking at the top 10 list of singles available both from iTunes and Amazon, it's a no brainer which is the better choice for consumer. Downloading 256K non-drm tracks from Amazon still allows you to import them into your iTunes library, removing a barrier to entry most people would be put off by.

I never really took into account the real impact this change for iTunes would have, but a real music fan closes the door on 1 Infinite Loop, that's when you know there's trouble ahead.

What's your opinion on this variable pricing model, and how could iTunes fight back? Sound off in the comments. [image courtesy of engadget.com]