東西 | dongxi

Apple announced their updated line of iPods at today’s big Apple event. While not exactly earth shattering, Apple still managed to wow the audience with their products. Here’s a line up of what’s new:

1. iPod Shuffle: Taking a step back to the earlier design, the new Shuffle offers button and voice control as well as a myriad of colors. At 2GB, Apple promises 15 hours of battery life at $49. You can pre-order it now, with it available at stores next week.

2. iPod Nano: The Nano takes a drastic redesign, losing the clickwheel entirely. It’s now touchscreen, offering a 2×2 “app” resolution.  Given the tiny size, it sports a clip now along with a built-in radio and 24 hours of music playback. According to Engadget, both camera and video playback functionality no longer exist.  The 8GB model is $149 and 16GB is at $179. Like the Shuffle, pre-orders start today with availability set at next week.

3. iPod Touch: Pretty much the phone-less sister of the iPhone, the iPod Touch receives the full retina display, 3-axis gyroscope, A4 core, as well as a front and back-facing camera. You’ll also be able to use FaceTime, with both iPod Touch and iPhone users. They’re priced at $229 for 8GB, $299 for 32GB, and $399 for the 64GB. Like the other iPods, shipping is slated for next week.

4. Apple TV: As expected, Apple is revising their video streaming service. Everything is “on the cloud,” meaning it’s streaming from a server – nothing will be stored on the device itself. You’ll be able to rent shows at $0.99 and movies at $4.99. Partners include FOX, ABC, Netflix, YouTube, Flickr, MobileMe, and Rotten Tomatoes. It’ll be streaming at 720p, despite having an HDMI output. Apple TV will ship out about a month from now at $99.

5. iTunes 10: The newest iTunes will include a new “Ping” functionality – pretty much it’s a social network on your iTunes that allows you and your contacts to share your music interests and purchases. It’s on the iTunes only so we won’t see any integration on the web or with other popular services (such as Facebook or MySpace).

Tags: apple, apple tv, ipod, ipod nano, ipod shuffle, ipod touch, nano, shuffle, steve jobs