名盤レコード紳士録

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【9月8日 AFP】新型iPod（アイポッド）の発表か、それともiTunesについにビートルズ（Beatles）登場か。あるいはタブレット型PCの発表か、スティーブ・ジョブズ（Steve Jobs）氏（54）が姿を見せるのか。米アップル（Apple）が9日に開くメディア向けイベントに、例年どおりの熱い注目が集まっている。

　恒例のアップルのメディア向けイベントは9日午前10時（日本時間10日午前0時）に、米カリフォルニア（California）州サンフランシスコ（San Francisco）中心部の劇場でスタートする。例年同様、イベントの中身については事前に明かされていない。アップルはこのイベントに関して毎回、徹底した情報漏えい防止策を講じているほどだ。

　アップルから報道陣への招待状には、iPodを手にして踊る女性のシルエットの絵柄に一行、ローリングストーンズ（Rolling Stones）の曲名をもじった「It's only rock and roll, but we like it」（ただのロックンロールだけど、俺｢たち｣はそれが好きなんだ）が添えられているだけだ。ストーンズの曲名が使われているにもかかわらず、IT系ブログやアップルのファンサイトでは、アップルのオンラインストアiTunesで、ついにビートルズの楽曲がダウンロードできるようになるのではとの憶測が飛び交っている。

　アップルのイベントと同日、ビートルズ全アルバムの初デジタルリマスター版と、ゲームソフト「ビートルズ／ロックバンド（The Beatles: Rock Band、TB:RB）」が同時発売される。ビートルズ説を裏付けるのはイベントの開催日2009年9月9日（09／09／09）で、ビートルズ・ファンならばピンと来るはず。「ナンバーナイン、ナンバーナイン、ナンバーナイン」のフレーズは、彼らの『ホワイトアルバム（White Album）』の1曲「レボリューション9」で唱えられるフレーズだ。

　一部では、以前からうわさになっていた、電子ブックリーダーとしても使用できるタッチスクリーン式のタブレット型コンピューターが発表されるとの憶測も挙がっている。

　しかし、シリコンバレー（Silicon Valley）に拠点を置く調査会社エンダール・グループ（Enderle Group）のITアナリスト、ロブ・エンダール（Rob Enderle）氏は、ジョブス氏が現場に復帰して以降、今回までの時間が足りず、タブレットPCの発表はないだろうと言う。代わりに新型iPodの発表ではないかと予想する。「クリスマス商戦を狙った新型を加えて、iPodシリーズの充実が考えられる。次はカメラがつくかもしれない。iPodにはまさにうってつけだ」

　エンダール氏はまた、病気療養中で前年10月から公の場に現れていないジョブズ最高経営責任者（CEO）が、ビデオ映像などなんらかの形で、必ず姿を見せるだろうと述べた。ただし「ジョブズ氏は現在、ひどく衰弱して見えるので」、アップルは本人が会場に来ることは避けるかもしれないという。「その場合は製品よりも、ジョブズ氏の健康状態に注目が集まるだろう」(c)AFP/Chris Lefkow



10:54 a.m.: Now Schiller is discussing the iPod Classic. Now it will be 160GB for $249, which is up from 120GB.
10:53 a.m.: OpenGL ES 2.0 is also on the iPod Touch now, so games are faster--except for the $199 version, which will not have that.
10:52 a.m.: "$199 is a magic price point in the iPod market," Schiller says. As of today, the iPod Touch is $199 for 8GB. You can also get 32GB for $299 and 64GB for $399 now, all new price cuts.
10:49 a.m.: You can draw plays right on the screen, which draws lots of applause from the audience. Madden 10 is available today in the App Store, Boatman says.
10:47 a.m.: Only one more game developer, Schiller promises. It's Travis Boatman from EA. He's talking Madden NFL 10, which is coming to the App Store for the first time.
10:44 a.m.: Mark Hickey from Gameloft, one of the more prolific app store game makers, is up. He's showing a new first-person shooter called Nova, where you have to defend humanity against an alien attack in space.
10:42 a.m.: Now, Bart Decrem, founder of Tapulous (maker of Tap Tap Revolution) is up. Riddim Ribbon is their new game built "especially for iPhone and iPod Touch." It's a DJ game where you race down a rhythm of a song, Guitar Hero style. You can remix the song by going different directions down the "ribbon."
10:37 a.m.: A few developers of those games are going to come up on stage now. Ubisoft is up first. Ben Mattes from Ubisoft is talking about Assassin's Creed II and how it's coming to the App Store. It'll be out November 11.
10:35 a.m.: He says the iPod Touch is a better gaming platform than the PSP or Nintendo DS. He points to $30 game titles on those devices and the buying experience as "too expensive" and "not a lot of fun." He says there are 21,178 "game and entertainment" titles on iPhone OS, compared to 3,600 on Nintendo, and 600 on Sony.
10:33 a.m.: Now Schiller's talking up the computing aspect of the iPod Touch, with Wi-Fi, browsing the Internet on Safari, e-mail, etc. "It fits in your pocket. Not everybody can say that," he says. And he shows a picture on screen of a Dell Netbook. More giggles from the audience.
10:29 a.m.: First he's going to talk sales numbers. 220 million iPods sold to date, he says. He says they have 73.8 percent of the market, "with Microsoft pulling up the rear with 1.1 percent." There are a few giggles.
20 million of those sold are iPod Touch, he says.
10:28 a.m.: Jobs is back on stage. He says iTunes 9 is free and ready to download today. Phil Schiller will come up to talk iPods now.
10:27 a.m.: There's also something called iTunes Extras. Using Wall-E, he shows there are extra features like short videos, and a way to navigate chapters in the movie.
10:25 a.m.: There are also videos that he says are exclusive to iTunes LP. For example, Ray Manzarek is talking about how they decided to name the band The Doors.
10:24 a.m.: Now Jeff is showing us iTunes LP. He picks a Doors album. Can see all the songs, all the lyrics, and lots of photos.
10:22 a.m.: Can also preview songs directly in the Top Charts section. When browsing the store, you can click an "i" button for a quick preview of the songs on the album which will allow a quick listen without going to the actual artist or album page. You can also Twitter info and post to Facebook about songs you find in the iTunes Store.
10:21 a.m.: There's a new navigation bar in the iTunes Store: music, movies, TV shows, podcasts, audiobooks, etc.
10:19 a.m.: He also shows us how Home Sharing works. You can drag a song or series of songs from other authorized computers to your own library. Can sort by songs that others have that you do not, and can set it so that when others buy new content from iTunes it can be automatically transferred to your library.
10:17 a.m.: Jeff Robbin, vice president of consumer applications and lead software designer for iTunes, is now demonstrating the new iTunes. He shows how to drag and drop apps in iTunes to rearrange how they appear on an iPod Touch or iPhone. You can check and uncheck which games or apps you want on the device.


10:15 a.m.: Another new feature: iTunes LP. "Some of us here are old enough to have bought LPs," Steve says. You can get album art, videos, liner notes, credits, etc. This is clearly the "Cocktail" we've been hearing about. The artists and labels can now have access to adding extras to their albums now.
10:14 a.m.: The iTunes Store also gets a new look, along with improved artists, movies, and TV pages--a "cleaner" layout, Jobs says.
10:13 a.m.: Also something called Home Sharing. With it, you can copy songs, movies, TV shows to up to 5 authorized computers in your house. Can see what's in all the other authorized computers right from your iTunes account.
10:12 a.m.: He says syncing will be better now, too. When syncing playlists you can also sync particular genres or particular artists. Also specific photo albums or specific faces from iPhoto, and specific movies from iTunes. You can also manage your apps syncing in iTunes.
10:11 a.m.: In iTunes 9: Genius Mixes. Like Genius Playlists, Genius Mixes is like a DJ that plays mixes of songs that go together from your own library. Will make up to 12 mixes at a time.
10:09 a.m.: Today, iTunes 9 is out. A new look. Cleaner looking, better navigation.
10:08 a.m.: Now on to iTunes: Steve says iTunes is the No. 1 seller of music in the world. 8.5 billion songs have been purchased and there are 100,000,000 accounts.
10:08 a.m.: iPhone OS 3.1 is free for iPhone and iPod Touch users who have 3.0. It will be made available today.
10:07 a.m.: Also: as Greg Sandoval previously reported, there will be ringtones for sale for $1.29 each. You can buy them the way you'd buy music.
10:06 a.m.: Today: iPhone OS 3.1. Some bug fixes and new features are coming. The Genius playlist technology is now going to work for apps in the App Store. It will recommend apps to you based on the apps you already own. The recommendations will get better as people say what they like and buy, he says.
10:05 a.m.: In the last year, the reason, he says, is the App Store. There are 75,000 apps. 1.8 billion apps downloaded by users, he reports. That doesn't include updates, though.
10:04 a.m.: Today we're talking about music. Phil Schiller and Jeff Robbin will join him. First, iPhone stuff. "Thrilling to report that in two years we've sold 30 million iPhones."
10:03 a.m.: "I'm very happy to be here today with you all," he says. "As you may know I had a liver transplant. I have the liver of a mid-20s person who died in a car crash. Without that, I wouldn't be here without that person's generosity."
He encourages everyone to be an organ donor, and extends a heartfelt thanks to the Apple community. Also, Tim Cook: "He ran the company very ably during that time." "I'm back at Apple, and loving every day of it," he says.
10:02 a.m.: People are still clapping.
10:01 a.m.: Steve Jobs walks out. Standing ovation.
9:59 a.m.: Now playing "It's only Rock 'n Roll" by the Rolling Stones, also the title of the event per the invitation. It looks like we'll be starting momentarily.
9:55 a.m. PDT: Good morning. We're inside and seated, just waiting for the event to begin. There's quite a crowd in here with some notable names already appearing. Greg Grunberg from Heroes is sitting right behind us, and Herbie Hancock and Google's Eric Schmidt have also been spotted.