[Macworld]

Post your comments for The 24th Annual Editors? Choice Awards here

[macFanDave]

Is it just me, or does anyone else find it funny that they chose two high-end digital cameras and one low-end camcorder for Eddys? There are no consumer-level cameras nor mid-range to higher camcorders.
Maybe the Eddy committee thought that the best in those classes was still mediocre? Nevertheless, it would be like the Academy handing out three Oscars for Sound Editing, but none for Sound Mixing.
Anybody else find this odd?

[Chris Breen]

macFanDave said:

Maybe the Eddy committee thought that the best in those classes was still mediocre? Nevertheless, it would be like the Academy handing out three Oscars for Sound Editing, but none for Sound Mixing.

We don't work the same way as the Oscars. In that world you have to choose a winner for a set series of categories. We, on the other hand, look at everything that came out in a year and decide what we believe is worthy of this great honor. We don't look at particular categories, rather just what we believe is an outstanding product.

[AbbiV]

Congratulations to all the winners, especially BusySync & Freeway; great choices, Chris! But I do want to point out that almost a 3rd of the winners are not Mac specific, meaning you have websites & digital cameras and printers on the list that should be getting their awards from Cameraworld or Printerworld or something similar, not Macworld. The Eddy awards are supposed to be the pinnacle of achievement for the Mac community, so shouldn't they reflect the very best Mac only products? I'm not saying the product shouldn't be cross platform, but I do feel it should be directed towards/ intended for the Mac community (the keyboard from Logitech is a good example of what I'm talking about). You say in the comments that you don't choose winners by categories, just products that are outstandin. If I wanted to find an outstanding camera or printer, I would look to publications that specialize in those fields, not Macworld. Why waste an award on products like cameras and printers not intended for the Mac market. Otherwise, why not list a BMW here- it's pretty outstanding, AND it works with iPhone ;-) I hope Macworld adjusts their criteria next year to focus on products targeted @ the Mac community because there's plenty of companies like LaCie, Kensington, Sonnet, Belkin, Griffin, Newertech, Fastmac, etc that make hardware products deserving of your awards.
PS: I thought the Oscar analogy was valid, given how the award even looks like Oscar himself :-) But maybe those are your readers choice awards coming next month?

[Chris Breen]

Although I understand the BMW line was a joke, bear in mind that we cover digital cameras and printers as part of our beat. Yes, you don't need a Mac to use one -- just as you don't need a Mac to use a hard drive, PCI card, mouse, keyboard, etc -- items such as digital cameras and printers have become accepted peripherals to the Mac experience. If we review them in the magazine and web site, they're also fair game for an Eddy.

[louielu12]

I too wish the Eddy's had gone to more Mac specific products, but it seems to be the market. I feel like there weren't as many shinning Mac specific products this year as other years.
As a side note, I would love to see iPhone app Eddy's. There weren't any so far that I see as able to trump the software that won this year (or anything as deserving as, for example, HandBrake was last year), but I would love to see Macworld, in some way, list great apps so far this year

[thebiggfrogg]

The dearth of Mac specific products says something about the state of the Mac, IMHO. No longer are we in the bad old days of the 1990s when we had to find specific Mac stuff and paltry options. Now most stuff for the PC also goes for the Mac. Sounds good to me. HOpefully the Mac market will continue to climb to 20 to 25%. Big enough for third parties to take notice, but hopefully small enough to give the virus hordes and the crapware that clogs the Windows software world away.

[Jason Snell]

By the way, we will be doing iPhone App awards this year -- but separate from the Eddys.

[louielu12]

Jason Snell said:

By the way, we will be doing iPhone App awards this year -- but separate from the Eddys.

Great! I'm excited for that!

[sterlingz]

Thanks guys! Great choices, and some of the products I'd heard about, but now have started using them as a result of your endorsement. I absolutely love Flock, it's really changing the way I use online social networking services. I get much more use out of Facebook. And I making the switch from Parallels to VMware and am excited for the performance boost.
Thanks again for the great coverage! Look forward to the iPhone App awards - that will be hugely useful!

[alansky]

@macFanDave: The Nikon D300 could be called a "high-end" camera, but surely not the Canon Digital Rebel! Nevertheless, the presence of two DSLR's and a camcorder does seem a little odd.

[mkappy4054]

Are the editors saying that NO consumer camera is Choice worthy? Hard to believe that none are worthy. Consumer camera's become more and more capable with every release of a new model. one should consider the price differential between the big boys on the block and the consumer cameras also.