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Apple's Power to Burn When Apple announced that it would not meet its fourth quarter earnings in December, Steve Jobs commented on how they had missed the boat in terms of the CD Writer market. When all of the PC manufacturers were offering CD writers standard on nearly every configuration, Apple was content to simply offer a DVD ROM drive with every computer it shipped. When Jobs comments on an Apple shortcoming, you could have bet then that he was going to make up for it in spades. In an unprecedented leap forward in technology, Apple today announced four new G4 configurations. Normally this is referred to as a "Speed Bump." This is another rule Apple decided to break. The new systems are simply referred to as "Power to Burn." If it sounds frivolous, it's not- these machines kick ass! The new machines have processors ranging in speeds from a 466MHz single processor, all the way up to a 733MHz single processor. Fast is fast, but burn? Burning is what it's all about. With the Internet bridging the gaps between cultures all over the world, people have been communicating like never before. With that communication came the exchange of information. Software like Napster and Hotline grew up out of the woodwork. Files were being traded like never before. MP3's led this charge into a new era in computer history, and the CD Re-Writable market took off. In the year 2000 more than 320 million blank CDs were sold. With this in mind, Apple released each of its "Power to Burn" machines with an internal CD writer. But that only allows Apple to catch up to the rest of the computer manufacturers. Apple doesn't play catch-up; it prefers to lead on the innovative edge. With that, Apple added DVD-R to its high-end configuration! So what exactly is DVD-R? Good question. With all of the competing DVD formats (DVD, DVD-RW, DVD-RAM, DVD-R), you could only hazard a guess. Apple has offered DVD-RAM for some time. These drives were exciting, but had drawbacks. You could write and re-write DVD discs thousands of times over, but they where only readable in other DVD-RAM drives. The DVD-RAM disc was actually encased in a proprietary cartridge. So much for writing a movie to DVD-RAM and watching it on your entertainment center- until now! DVD-R is just what we have been waiting for. If you are like me, this day has been a long time in coming. I had heard the rumors as we all geared up for the January MacWorld, but I didn't think that Apple would beat every two-bit PC manufacturer to the market with this product! DVD-R is exactly what you would think. You can author DVD video content right on your Mac and write the information onto a $10 DVD disc, drop in the mail and send it to your family. The family can then watch your DVD movies on their set-top DVD player or any computer than can view DVD video. A G4 Mac, DVD camcorder, and a little spare time and you too can now make your home movies available on DVD! For anyone who has ever worked with digital video formats, you know that DVD video is encoded in MPEG 2 format. This is normally a very intensive encoding process that requires hardware to do compressing in anything close to real time. Even after spending all of the time to encode the video footage, you still have no way to create the cool DVD menus that you see on all of your favorite DVD movies. With expensive commercial software (most of which is PC based), you can author DVD's and have the fun and interesting menu systems that we have all come to love. But with that, Apple laid waste to the competition. Enter iDVD. In the tradition of iMovie, Apple's end-user based digital video editing software, Apple brings graphical DVD menu editing and MPEG 2 compression to the Mac desktop. With an unprecedented step forward in encoding technology, Apple has drastically cut down the time it takes to RIP a QuickTime movie into MPEG format. And in a simple one window interface, Steve Jobs showed an elated MacWorld audience just how easy it is to use iDVD to take a series of iMovies, select custom icons for each video clip, and author your own customized DVD interface using professionally designed templates. In a matter of minutes you can have your home iMovie ready to burn to a DVD. Then, simply click one button to burn the DVD in its entirety. Sound simple? It is! Apple has constantly lead the market in publishing and multi-media. Today Apple not only led the market, but it is the first to forge new ground and boldly step into uncharted territory with impressive new hardware, and truly easy to use new software, all of this at a reasonable price tag. New systems start at $1699 for 466MHz, and a 733MHz model that comes with a built in DVD writer for $3499. And bundled with the DVD-R in the high-end configuration comes iMovie for Free. Apple has once again raised the bar without breaking the belt! |