Apple unveils new iPods & cuts $200 from iPhone price

James Delahunty
5 Sep 2007 12:14

Apple Inc. has unveiled brand new iPods including a new version of the iPod Nano and a touch-screen iPod based on the iPhone design. The brand new iPod touch features wireless Internet access and a web browser, but obviously no cell phone capabilities. The new iPod Nano brings video playback.
The company is also offering new versions of its normal iPod, dubbed iPod classic, with up to 160GB storage space. The ability to browse through music in "cover flow" has also been added to iPod from iPhone.
Another major announcement was also made concerning the iPhone. Apple CEO Steve Jobs revealed that the company was on track to sell 1 million units by the end of September, and to make the iPhone more affordable and more competitive, the company has slashed the price of the 8GB model from $599 to $399, a very significant price drop.
View details on new iPods

• iPod Touch
• iPod Nano
• iPod Classic

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iPod Touch

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Taking a hint from the alluring touch-screen featured on Apple's iPhone, Apple has brought us this brand new attractive iPod that comes in two models, 8GB and 16GB. It is only 8mm thick and it can store and play back photos, music and videos. Like the iPhone is features a nice 3.5 inch touch screen. It includes the Safari Web browser, including Google and Yahoo search engines and easy access to YouTube videos.
Like the iPhone you can browse your music in "cover flow" and watch your favorite movies and TV shows in widescreen. Due to the built in Wifi, you can purchase songs directly from the iTunes download store where a wireless network is available.

Tech Specs for iPod Touch

Display

• 3.5-inch (diagonal) widescreen multi-touch display
• 480-by-320-pixel resolution at 163 pixels per inch

Audio

• Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz
• Audio formats supported: AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Store), MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, and 4), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV

Video

• H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; H.264 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Baseline Profile up to Level 3.0 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats

Wireless data

• Wi-Fi (802.11b/g)

Size and weight

• Height: 4.3 inches (110 mm)
• Width: 2.4 inches (61.8 mm)
• Depth: 0.31 inch (8 mm)
• Weight: 4.2 ounces (120 grams)

The 8GB version costs $299 and the 16GB version costs $399.

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iPod Nano

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The new iPod Nano is available in two different models with 4GB and 8GB storage. It can playback video content for up to five hours on a single charge. The battery can also play music for 24 hours on a charge. It sports a new 320-by-240-pixel 2.5-inch screen (.5 inch bigger than the current model) to facilitate its video playback capabilities. It is just 6.5mm thick.

Tech Specs for iPod Nano

Display

• 2-inch (diagonal) liquid crystal display with blue-white LED backlight
• 320-by-240-pixel resolution at 204 pixels per inch

Audio

• Skip-free playback
• Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz
• Audio formats supported: AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Store), MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, and 4), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV
• User-configurable maximum volume limit

Video

• H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; H.264 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Baseline Profile up to Level 3.0 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats

Size and weight

• Height: 2.75 inches (69.8 mm)
• Width: 2.06 inches (52.3 mm)
• Depth: 0.26 inch (6.5 mm)
• Weight: 1.74 ounces (49.2 grams)

The new Nano will go on sale this weekend for $149 for 4GB and $199 for 8GB.

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iPod Classic

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Apple has offered up new versions of the normal iPod, now dubbed iPod classic. Of course, the selling feature of this is the huge 160GB capacity that will ensure you never have to worry about storage space for your music and videos again. It is also available in an 80GB model. The company advertises 160GB as being capable of storing up to 40,000 songs or 200 hours of video. Using the click wheel, browsing through albums can now be done in the "cover flow" style on iPhone (and now the iPod touch).
The battery is advertised as being capable of up to 40 hours of music playback on a full charge.

Tech Specs for iPod Classic

Display

• 2.5-inch (diagonal) color LCD with LED backlight
• 320-by-240-pixel resolution at 163 pixels per inch
• Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously

Audio

• Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz
• Audio formats supported: AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Store), MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, and 4), Apple Lossless, WAV, and AIFF
• User-configurable maximum volume limit

Video

• H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; H.264 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Baseline Profile up to Level 3.0 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats

Size and weight - 80GB model

• Height: 4.1 inches (103.5 mm)
• Width: 2.4 inches (61.8 mm)
• Depth: 0.41 inch (10.5 mm)
• Weight: 4.9 ounces (140 grams)

Size and weight - 160GB model

• Height: 4.1 inches (103.5 mm)
• Width: 2.4 inches (61.8 mm)
• Depth: 0.53 inch (13.5 mm)
• Weight: 5.7 ounces (162 grams)

The iPod Classic starts at $249.

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Altogether there was quite a few new announcements from Apple. While the iPod Touch certainly is neat looking and is a strong addition to the line-up of the world's best selling MP3 player, many will be left wondering why a version with larger storage capacity wasn't unveiled. No doubt it was a design limitation, as the iPod Touch uses Flash storage instead of a hard disk drive to store multimedia.
The iPhone announcement certainly was interesting and could bring about a significant boost in iPhone sales for the company, especially in the holiday season.
For more information on iPod / iPhone, visit Apple.com