This evening (morning in America) Apple had their bi-annual press conference where they release new products. This year was no different with the entire iPod range getting a massive overhaul.
The presentation started out with Steve Jobs talking about the newly overhauled iTunes 8. A big feature is that of hi-def movies (useless since we still can’t buy movies here in South Africa) and a new feature called “Genius Playlists”. What this does is it compiles a massive database of all the peope who listen to the same music as you and based on their aggregated tastes will give you recommendations of what music to buy from the iTunes store. From a South African point of view, this is useless due to our inability to buy music.
Next up is a refresh of the iPod Classic. It now features only one size hard drive (at 120gigs) and has the same feature set as before.
The real exciting things are the new iPod Nano and the iPod Touch.
The fourth gen Nano has returned to it’s original long shape and comes in more colours than you can imagine. What’s clever is that Apple have instituted the accelerometer of the iPhone into the Nano so it knows which orientation the device is placed. This is useful as you need to turn the player sideways to watch movies. Space wise you’re looking at 8 and 16 gig versions which is pretty impressive. Interestingly this is the same screen as in the wider third gen Nano just turned sideways. Important to mention is the updated interface which is looking very impressive.
The iPod Touch is somewhat redesigned with a new backplate that is tapered much like the iPhone 3G. Featuring the same 8/16/32 gig options as before but now there is a speaker and volume control buttons built in.
Also announced is a new firmware version for the iPhone and the iPod Touch. I’m impressed to see that Apple is finally looking after it’s older gen products with new software. From an accessory point of view, new earphones have been released that feature a built in remote, allowing you to pause a song or go forwards and backwards on a playlist.
So there we have it, 3 new iPods that are even more innovative that the devices they have evolved from. Personally I think the new Nano is going to be a hit and the iPod Touch is no slouch.
For me the biggest fault of the event was the continual promotions of the iPhone/iTouch platform. I know it’s the latest and greatest platform for Apple but personally I’m waiting for a new Macbook Pro to be released. A good job to Apple even if I am somewhat underwhelmed.
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