At a special “Its only Rock & Roll” press event this morning given at its Cupertino campus by CEO Steve Jobs, Apple announced brand new versions of its iPod Classic, iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano and iPod Touch lines, an update to its iTunes software to version 9.0 and an update to the iPhone/iPod Touch software to version 3.1.
Here’s a summary of the updates to the iPod line:
• iPod Classic – Capacity upgraded to 160 GB, price stays the same at $249.00.
• iPod Shuffle – Now starting at $59 for a 2GB model and $79 for a 4GB. Now available in pink, green, silver or black and all stainless steel 4GB Special Edition for $99, which is an Apple Store exclusive.
• iPod Nano – Now with a camera supposedly with 640 x 480 resolution H.264 for stills and video. Available today, the 8GB model is $149 and the 16GB is 179. In addition, now has a built-in FM tuner with Live Pause and iTunes Tagging, a pedometer, VoiceOver, support for voice memos and a larger 2.2-inch display (up from 2.0-inches) with 376 x 240 resolution.
Apple says 24 hours of battery life when playing audio, while video playback drops battery life to just five hours. So, figure about half those numbers in “real world” conditions.
• iPod Touch – Oddly, no camera. . . yet. Storage upgraded to 8GB for $199, 32GB for $299, and 64GB for $399.
New features of iTunes 9.0 include:
• Full window iTunes store. For times when that sidebar is just too much.
• Previews from anywhere in the store — don’t have to drill down to preview.
• iTunes LP includes lyrics, liner notes, video, photos, more.
• iTunes Extras. It’s like DVD extras, but with iTunes.
• Genius Mixes. It’s like Genius Playlists, but it plays forever like a radio station.
• App management, letting you set up and arrange your home screens on the iPhone and iPod touch.
• Home sharing enables file transfers between up to five local computers of songs, videos and even apps.
• You can send items in the iTunes Store as gifts, add them to a wishlist, and publish them to Facebook and Twitter.
• It’s available today.
New features of iPhone/iPod Touch OS 3.1.1 include:
• iTunes 9.0 support.
• Genius recommendations for the App Store.
• iTunes Ringtone Store, with over 30,000 ringtones at $1.29 each.
• Improved sync options for movies, tv shows, podcast, music and more.
• Available today.
