Apple’s “One More Thing…” Event Rocks. Small Rocks.

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Apple moved iTunes from version 5 to version 6 in about a month. So, the new version must have all kinds of new goodies, right?

Nope. It’s ‘evolutionary, my dear Watson.’ There’s music videos. There’s ‘gifting’ so you can send a song or video to a friend or relative and it’s theirs to keep. And reviews.

Then, there’s… what else? Nothing. Yep. Nada. iTunes should be 5.1 or 5.5 at best. Not 6.0, which signifies something substantive.

Little notes:

The new iMacs don’t ship with a built-in modem. You’ll need to buy a USB modem to connect to the internet if you’re a dial up user (over half of Americans are now on broadband).

The Apple Remote (sold separately at the Apple Store, included in the new iMacs) uses infrared, IR, to communicate with the Universal Dock which you plug your new video iPods into.

I can’t find the IR port on the iMac but it’s there somewhere. Inside the iSight camera housing, maybe?

Since it’s IR and not Bluetooth, will the Apple Remote work with any IR-equipped Mac? Oh, the Unviversal Dock is IR, too.

Front Row is the application that makes the new iMacs a ‘media center’ to compete with Microsoft’s Windows Media Center.

From what I can tell, Apple does it better all around. Almost. There’s no TV tuner, but there is a six button remote (better than 43 buttons), and Front Row brings a familiar interface for navigating through music, DVDs, movies, photos, and slideshows.

Front Row looks slick. Will it work on any other Mac? We don’t know. Yet. I’m not buying a new iMac just for Front Row.

Is all of this bad news, boring news, not news, or good news? It’s a little of everything.

320x240 resolution for music videos and TV shows is sad. Apple and Disney could do better but can’t because the rest of the entertainment industry wants ‘restraints’ and ‘control’ on the process of delivering digital entertainment.

What’s missing is Airport Express A/V which lets your Mac send photos, music, DVDs, movies, direct to your TV set via wireless. Why isn’t that included?

Again, the ‘entertainment industry’ doesn’t want it.

2,000 music videos is anemic, paltry, anorexic (I’m repeating myself), but I expect it to get better, especially in the run up to the holiday buying season.

Apple is on a roll. A big roll forward. They’ve done so well with iTunes and iPods that to do the same thing, overnight, for video would be asking too much.

But that’s what I’m asking. Apple has delivered only incremental steps, albeit steps that just might work.

It’s an ‘Evolution in the Valley.’ The ‘revolutionaries’ have all grown up.

Now, ‘One more thing…’ I talked with Tera today. Twice. Once this morning and once after lunch. Click Here for details and an update.