Meet The New Zunes And iPods
It's a big week for people in the market for new PMPs. Today Steve Jobs hosted an event titled "Apple: Let's Rock," with the purpose of introducing upgrades and updates to the company's ever outdated stable of gadgets. This prompted Microsoft to make some announcements its own yesterday to offset Apple's inevitable post-convention bounce. So first to the Microsoft Zune device, which not only still exists, but now comes with the ability to buy music directly over via its on board wi-fi connection. Two more new features worth noting: "Buy From FM," which allows you to tag a song you hear on the radio and purchase it right away, and a new song recommendation system which allows you access to playlists pre-programmed by music biz type people. As for new models, look out for a hard-drive based 120GB model ($249) and flash-based devices at 16GB ($199) and 8GB ($149). Here's how they're looking:
The "Apple: Let's Rock" stuff's more expansive. Here's a quick rundown:
First there's the Shuffle, which gets new colors (still available at 1GB and 2GB, for $49 and $69 respectively). A color swatch:
The biggest cosmetic upgrade comes to the Nano, which is back to its pre-shorty height and will boast a larger screen and an accelerometer for shifting screen orientation.
There's a new line of iPod Touches, too -- thinner, stainless steel case, inbuilt Nike+, Genius playlist creation (it'll make playlists based on what you're listening to at the time, taking into account structural elements of your music, somehow), and $100 cheaper ($229 for the 8GB, $299 for the 16GB, and $399 for the 32GB).
And finally there's the iPod Classic, now maxing out at 120GB for $250. Good news: that used to be the cost for the 80GB. Bad news: It's the highest capacity iPod money can buy (i.e. no more 160GB, sorry). Also some good news for existing iPod and iPhone users: Check for updates on your iTunes today to find version 8, which features a Genius sidebar (creating Genius playlists, essentially some sort of a "smart" shuffle) and the ability to purchase video content in HD. And on Friday, Apple will release version 2.1 of its iPhone/iPod touch software, which engadget reports will offer "fewer dropped calls, big battery improvement, and faster backups."
Also, Jack Johnson performed. Apple, let's rock.
(photo via engadget)
Overall verdict: exciting if you don't own a PMP. More in depth coverage at Gizmodo and engadget.
Posted at 4:01 PM by amrit
Tags: Apple | iPhone | iPod | Zune
if there is anyone who epitomizes "rock" it's surely Jake Jansen. I mean, look at that photo right up there- his rock-god poses shame those of Plant and Townsend.
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you kiddies thought I was serious..........awesome
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duh da duh dun dun da duh dun da
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aha i guess they are going to wait till after the holidays to have an iphone with larger memory. probably next spring will be iphone 30g and 16g
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did they get rid of the 80g version of the ipod classic? it's not up on the apple website.
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Yup, they got rid of the 80 and 160, and moved to the middle ground of 120 GB. Probably a smart move on Apple's part since the 160 uses 2 drives and isn't probably selling as many as the 80.
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I am so glad they changed that stupid design of the nano. It looked like my grandmother's blood sugar meter thing... horrible!
The only thing that keeps me from buying a nano is the capacity. But hurrah to the new 120GB for 250 classic! Cause that's what I was gonna get anyways, been waiting like 4 months for them to announce their late year revamps.
My almost 3yo G5 has basically no battery life, like 4/6h tops!, and for the last 3 weeks the screen backlight only works when it feels like it *sigh* I've suffered enough!
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Just did a post at my blog about the new iPod ads / guided tour and what music they have on the iPods. If you pause it at the right time you can see M83, Cut Copy, Hot Chip, The Go! Team, Ladytron, LCD Soundsytem, Justice, MIA, Interpol MGMT, Klaxons, etc... I'm thinking the people that make these iPod videos spend a lot of time on Stereogum.
http://musicforants.com/blog/?p=882
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that Genius program sucks. the recommendations they give are completely off and it makes the worst playlists ever. all in all this update sucked.
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I like the design of the iPod touch more than the iPhone. When I upgrade, I'm going to miss the metal backing...
And for what it's worth, I like the new iTunes. Hopefully the Genius playlists will get smarter, but in the meantime, I like the recommendations in the sidebar.
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