Jobs announces new iPods

Johnathan Rush 12 Sep, 2006 at 1:56pm ET Article published in Tech

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has announced the eagerly-anticipated changed to the iPod product line.
[list]
[*]Regular-sized iPod’s screen will be 60% brighter
[*]Regular-sized iPod’s battery life has been increased from 4 to 6.5 hours
[*]Earphones have been “improved,” and will come standard
[*]Gapless playback has been added so that songs flow from one song to the next
[*]Better alphabetical searching
[*]Playable games on iPods, such as Zuma, Texas Hold ‘Em, Tetris. Download from iTunes store for $4.99.
[*]30GB iPod: $249
[*]80GB iPod: $349
[/list]
[list]
[*]All new iPod Nano – made out of aluminum
[*]Nano is available in colors!
[*]2GB Nano (available in aluminum only): $149
[*]4GB Nano, available in colors: $199
[*]8GB Nano (available in black only): $249
[*]Nano has a 40% brighter display and 24 hour battery life
[/list]
[list]
[*]New iPods and iPod Nanos are available today
[/list]
[list]
[*]Redesigned Shuffle is small, square, and aluminum
[*]$79 gets you a 1GB Shuffle with dock and earbuds
[*]Can order today, will ship starting in October
[/list]

For more information on iTunes 7 and new downloadable movies and TV shows, check Engadget’s coverage in the linked article.

Source: Engadget

Comments

12 Sep 2006 ~ 2:49pm airbornflght Nice, I love the 80GB, I want one so bad, but the horrors of the battery life that I have heard lead me to be skeptical
12 Sep 2006 ~ 4:00pm Kwitko I really hope that gapless output comes as a firmware update for current iPods.
12 Sep 2006 ~ 5:36pm airbornflght

KwitCo™ wrote:

I really hope that gapless output comes as a firmware update for current iPods.

What? but that wouldnt require people to buy the new ipods, which would mess up apples business plan. I bet you that there is going to be some "hardware incompatibility" that will make the gap less output impossible on older ipods.
12 Sep 2006 ~ 6:35pm V-P

Gargoyle wrote:

Nano has a 40% brighter display and 24 hour battery life

Didn't they say that the first Nanos were suppose to have a battery life of 12 hours? Mine lasts close to 8, so I'm thinking when they say 24, they mean closer to 15-18 hours.
12 Sep 2006 ~ 8:27pm airbornflght they probably test the battery life with the back light on a minimal amount of time.

that 80GB ipod is really tempting for me, but I want to wait and see if creative has any tricks up its sleeve.
12 Sep 2006 ~ 8:32pm Kwitko

airbornflght wrote:

What? but that wouldnt require people to buy the new ipods, which would mess up apples business plan. I bet you that there is going to be some "hardware incompatibility" that will make the gap less output impossible on older ipods.

Yeah, probably. Stupid Apple. :shakehead
13 Sep 2006 ~ 12:39am Private_Snoball

airbornflght wrote:

they probably test the battery life with the back light on a minimal amount of time.

that 80GB ipod is really tempting for me, but I want to wait and see if creative has any tricks up its sleeve.

I don't think creative is going to touch 80GB for a bit, it seems like overkill atm since the 60GB Vision:M and 60GB ipod aren't exactly flying off the shelves. 30 GB seems to be the sweet spot for size and affordability right now. Maybe 60 will be the killer by Holiday but I doubt too many people will see the need for 80GB.
13 Sep 2006 ~ 12:57am Garg That's true. I could maybe use a 60 or 80GB if I had a lot of movies on it, but that's overkill for music. I have something like 30-40GB of music, but a lot of it is pretty old, and it'd just be too much to navigate through on a portable player.

Given that I usually only listen to a few new albums at any given time plus a few old standbys, the 8gb Nano would probably be plenty for me. Although I still would prefer something that plays other formats (WMA, OGG).
13 Sep 2006 ~ 3:57am CyrixInstead Zuma! Gives me a reason to finally buy one just there!!!!

~Cyrix
13 Sep 2006 ~ 12:25pm Thrax

KwitCo™ wrote:

I really hope that gapless output comes as a firmware update for current iPods.

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=4143
13 Sep 2006 ~ 12:42pm Kwitko Yup, ran it this morning. Didn't get a chance to test it, however. New iTunes interface adds a few nice touches. I'm sure they updated the DRM scheme, gonna have to find out later.