macworld 2009 minus steve jobs - the world did not end!

applenatics and stevenatics gave a collective sigh - the world did not end when macworld started and ended without steve jobs giving the keynote address and the world did not end.

the world also did not shake with the announcements made during the event. with the kind of announcements made at the macworld, it made sense that steve jobs stayed home to rest and recuperate from his hormone defficiency.

of the new things, two favorites of mine is the new 17" MacBook Pro and lower itunes prices. the longer battery life, 8 hours of oomph is exciting.

Apple unveils software updates, new laptop


Ryan Kim, Chronicle Staff Writer


The presentation included updates to the iLife and iWork software suites, a new 17-inch MacBook Pro with an 8-hour battery and a new digital rights management-free iTunes library with tiered pricing.


Starting at $2,799 and available in late January, the new MacBook Pro features Apple's unibody aluminum enclosure, which other models received this past summer. But the big news was the battery life for the machine, which has a 40-percent larger battery capable of up to eight hours of continuous use.

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ITunes is finally getting a full slate of digital rights protection-free music that will come in a higher-quality 256 kbps AAC encoding format. About 8 million songs will be available immediately, and by the end of the quarter the remaining 2 million songs also will be available without digital rights management protections.


Also, Apple is now offering music at three price points: 69 cents, the traditional 99 cents and $1.29. Most albums will still sell for $9.99. The move satisfies one of the longer-running complaints of the music labels, which have wanted more flexibility in pricing in the iTunes Music Store. Users can upgrade their existing library of songs to DRM-free iTunes Plus for 30 cents a track or 30 percent of an album price.

read in full here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/07/BUL6154I2V.DTL