Same Great iPods, Brand New Features
Steve was on hand on Wednesday to kick off the It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll Event in San Francisco, and the iPod announcements didn’t disappoint. (Nice job, and welcome back, Steve!)
The iPod family lineup stayed pretty much the same, with a few exceptions. The iPod touch, classic, nano and shuffle are all still around; however, there are some new features worthy of note… here’s a rundown:
iPod touch
- Price changes: $199 now gets you an 8GB model, and the 16GB has been ditched to make way for the 32GB at the $299 price point. A brand-new 64GB has been added at $399.
- Games, games, games: there are over 21K Entertainment titles in the App Store. (That’s a serious amount of games.) Apple is really stepping up the iPod touch (and iPhone) as a gaming device, hoping to compete with Nintendo and Sony. Cool features include gaming with your iPod music in the background and multiplayer options over Bluetooth and WiFi. Gameloft, a presenter, now ships 35 titles as of today. Another game highlight from EA Sports: Madden NFL 10. (As of this posting, it was not yet on the App Store.)
- Speed increases: 32 and 64GB iPod touch models have a faster processor and will run Open GL, a graphics programming interface, both which will make the iPod work and render faster. The 8GB is still the same, separating it from the rest of the crew, a là the 8GB iPhone 3G from the 16 and 32GB iPhone 3GS.
- Bonus earbuds: The 32 and 64GB iPod touches include the Apple earbuds with mic; the 8GB includes the standard Apple earbuds.
iPod classic
- More storage: the hard drive is still around, and Apple has gone back to the 160GB model. With a capacity of 40,000 songs, Apple definitely can’t get rid of the iPod with the biggest storage option just yet—flash memory hasn’t gotten cheap enough.
- Thinner form factor: the width measures just 2.4 inches. Conflicting reports have said that this is the same as the previous 120GB model, though the
- Same price: 160GB for $249.
iPod shuffle
- New colors: Pink, Green, Blue (along with Silver and Black). Plus, there’s a polished stainless steel special edition. (Update: Apple Exclusive only, $99)
- Added capacity: 2GB and 4GB models at $59.99 and $79.99, respectively.
- More headphone options: From Apple: “New headphones will come out and all have the controller for the shuffle.”
- VoiceOver: it now tells you when your battery is full, and when it will close the airlock.
And, perhaps the biggest changes of all…
iPod nano
- Built-in video camera: this is huge! Enter the iPod nano into the realm of ultra-portable video cameras. Ready to record video in portrait or landscape and audio with the built-in mic.
- Larger display: 2.2-inch display is slightly larger than the previous version.
- Brighter colors: Apple has utilized a “polished anodized aluminum” process to amp up the colors on the nano and give them a glossier effect. The spectrum has remained the same (ROY G BIV for you color lovers out there), with the Yellow and Red models being held as Apple Exclusives. There are nine total: Silver, Black, Purple, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red and Pink.
- Built-in pedometer: will work with the Nike+ and is a great addition to runners and hikers everywhere.
- FM radio: basic feature, yes, especially after many years of hearing that people ‘don’t care about having radio’ in their iPods. Better still, though, is the Live Pause feature which brings the magic of Tivo-like controls to your iPod. You can pause live stations—for as long as 15 minutes—and then fast forward back to live to start listening again (or pick up where you left off)!
- iTunes Tagging: hear a song you like but don’t know what it is? With this, you can use your iPod nano’s click to tag the song. iTunes will then create a list of all your tagged songs so you can purchase them when you sync iPod nano.
- VoiceOver: it will tell you who’s singing without interrupting your music, plus additional voice features.
- Price points: 8GB for $149, 16GB for $179.