 "Apple Announces New iPods, iTunes")
Hot off the September 12 keynote, Steve Jobs has just dropped the new bag and annouced redesigned and renovated iPod Nanos, the new iPod Shuffle, an upgraded iPod and new iTunes 7.
The new iPod Nano pays homage to the iPod Mini that it replaced, by now having aluminum shells in different colors. The new iPod Nano is thinner than the previous Nano! But it still bumps up the capacity to 8 GB, letting you store almost 2,000 to 2,500 songs. The screen is now supposedly 40% brighter, and yet the battery life has been upped to around 24 hours. The new charger is also around 40% smaller in size.
The new iPod Shuffle also has a silver/gray alumunim casing and is even smaller! Now roughly the size of a matchbox (only thinner), the player still holds in 1 GB of space. It also comes with a clip that you can use to latch the Shuffle on to your jeans pocket, shirt, bag or whatever.
The regular video iPod was also upgraded, though only internally. The new one is a mighty 80 GB large! One of the most interesting features is gapless playback, so if you listen to live sessions into split up tracks pretty often, the new iPod won’t break your flow. The search feature has been enhanced to imitate Spotlight on the Mac, with what is essentially an on-screen keyboard appearing right below the search box to facilitate the process. Not as effective as a touch screen iPod would have been, but this is still better than before. The new iPod also does games that are all designed to be played with the wheel, like Zuma, Pac-Man, Mini Golf, Cubis, Tetris etc., but they will be sold separately for $4.99 each. Speaking of prices, the 30 GB iPod retails for $249 while the 80 GB iPod retails for $349. No word on Indian pricing just yet.
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The screen of the new iPod is now 60% brighter, while keeping the battery life at a new high of 6.5 hours, over from 4 hours.
All the new iPods come with a new set of earphones which do look a whole lot more comfortable than the current ones.
New iTunes 7 is now available for download. The new iTunes has been redesigned to look cleaner and be more easy to use. There is a new 3-pane switch — sort of like Outlook’s view. The new pane above the list of music offers a new Cover Flow view which gives you the feel of actually flipping through your CD collection in your CaseLogic. Even if some of your music doesn’t have covers, the new iTunes will find and download it, something Windows Media Player has done for years now.
The US will be able to enjoy the new 2006 NFL season highlights on their iPod by paying per game or for the whole season. The downloaded video resolution has also been upped to 640x480 from the existing 320x240. The new iTunes Store also has movies now, though only from Disney, Pixar, Touchstone and Miramax, which are all owned by Disney. Movies like Sixth Sense, Cars, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, The Incredibles, Finding Nemo etc. are all available. The new Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest will be available on the same day it releases on DVD. The introductory price for new movies is $12.99 while other movies are $9.99.
But this is not all! Jobs also offered a sneak peek at a new product that will be out early next year. It’s a wireless media receiver that will take media from your Mac or PC via WiFi and show it on your HDTV to which it can be connected via HDMI or component video. The device is flatter than the Mac mini, and also does USB 2.0, LAN, optical audio and also analog RCA audio. It comes with a remote control that you can use to sit back in front of your TV and control it just like Front Row on the iMac. The iTV is expected to sell at around $299 when it releases.
