Thoughts on iTunes 10 and Ping

Here are just a few random thoughts I had about the new iTunes and Ping.
(not the logo, we’ll talk about that later)

I’m pretty impressed with the speed of the new iTunes. Especially when playing videos. In previous versions, simply starting a video was nearly unbearable. Now, it picks up the video quite quickly and I’m able to scrub through quite well.

Ping is okay for now. The biggest issue any social network has, is that it’s usefulness is entirely dependent on the size and diversity of its user base. Currently, there are very few people and artists that you can find. They also don’t make the browsing of Artist profiles really easy. Maybe it will get better when they have more artists, but right now you are basically stuck with two options when it comes to finding artists to follow.

1. Go by the iTunes Suggested Artists list – which is basically just their “featured” artists. At this point, it seems more like they are just the ones with actual accounts. (I have no other explanation for them suggesting I follow Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga).
2. Blindly search for the artist. Good luck finding most of them.

The sign up process was another issue with me. As someone who has a rather large music collection across a wide array of genres, allowing me to only pick 3 genres to say that I’m interested in is a little narrow. I’m forced to narrow what my profile says about who I am when it comes to music. Not real conducive to developing community. On the same note, you are tied down to just the iTunes pre-approved, populated genres. I understand this from a feature perspective. If they add, at some point, the ability to search for people based on their genre choices and then also their music, I get it. But I have a few issues with some of the genres. I have long believed that the iTunes store (and most online stores like Amazon MP3) need a separate category for Scores and for Soundtracks. They are two truly separate things. If you like, you can stick Scores in Classical, but then most Classical buffs will get upset.

Overall, I’m impressed with the minimal, but striking updates to the UI in iTunes 10. The uniform coloring in the Library/Store/Devices/Playlists pane is a nice touch, as is the new volume slider. I did notice on the OSX version, that they have flipped the usual array of buttons at the top right. They are now laid out vertically rather than the Mac standard horizontal. Could this be a glimpse into the future of OSX?

Textured Thunder – iPhone 4 edition

Here are a couple new wallpapers just for your iPhone 4. Click the image to go to the full size image on Flickr.

Lock Screen Wallpaper

Home Screen Wallpaper

Textured Thunder

An OKC Thunder wallpaper for the iPhone (the generations previous to iPhone 4).

Don’t Sell Your Old Gadgets – Gazelle Them

Following the announcement of the new iPhone 4 from Apple, I decided it was high time I tried out Gazelle.com. I’d heard about it for awhile from Leo Laporte on his various TWiT podcasts. Needless to say, I was looking forward to getting to try out their service. I got on to get an offer for my iPhone 3g 16gb that I would no longer be needing after June 24th, and I got a great offer, plus a bonus for selecting payment in the form of an Amazon.com gift card.

I’ll be posting again after I get my new phone and complete the Gazelle process by sending in my old phone. Can’t wait.

If you want to give it a try, use this link.
Get Cash For Your Gadgets at gazelle.com!

Seattle’s Best (or worst) Logo

Ever since the new Seattle’s Best Coffee logo popped up on blogs about a month ago, I’ve been trying to come to terms with how I feel about this redesign. Not being a Seattle’s Best Coffee drinker myself, I don’t have a lot of emotion attached to the old logo. So I’m going to try to come at this the best way I can.

It’s one of the most radical shifts in corporate branding I’ve seen. While the old logo portrayed warmth and authenticity, the new one feels almost too far shifted in the other direction. Rather than feeling new and hip, it feels cold and sterile. One of my first impressions of the logo was to confuse it with a mark for a blood donation campaign. I wish I could see a uvula or a drop of coffee (a la Maxwell House), but the red is so overpowering that I can only think of blood. Call me dark or macabre if you will, but it’s the starkness of the logo that makes me feel that way. And the cold feeling I get from the logo is the last thing I want to feel when thinking about coffee. It takes a lot to take a warm color like red and give off cold. But then again, Starbucks took the cool color green and I feel warmth when I see it.

On the other hand, the company is clearly going for a more mainstream, approachable look. They are planning on distributing their coffee at Burger Kings and AMC Theaters. So it’s understandable that they would want something that incorporates the prevailing minimalist design trends. The steely grey outer ring, matched with the ample white space is definitely something you could sticking out from the side of a sleek, polished stainless steel and red cafe. And many have argued that the logo is meant to represent the round shape of the top of a coffee cup and that the red half-moon is also meant to double as a mouth smiling while catching the last drop of a great cup of coffee.

I do think that the old logo was due for an update. An UPDATE, not a radical shift. Maybe dropping the wrap-around cigar band look and leaving the oval with an update to the font. The dark red and brown trim helped to keep the red of being so overbearing. Something that the stainless color cannot do for the new logo. And don’t forget about the years of brand equity this is going to trash. People who weren’t super familiar with the brand but knew the logo will not connect the new logo with what they remember of the old brand. And you’re risking alienating a passionate group of coffee drinkers (a marketing segment that is known for fierce loyalty). Can you really afford to lose such a staunchly loyal group?

In the end, the consumer is going to make the call. If this new venture and branding is a success, we’ll know it. What do you think? Do you prefer the old or new logo?