PMP Stocking Stuffer Alert: iPod Touch Or Zune 2?
Let the holiday season music player battles begin. Both Apple and Microsoft have unveiled new options for you to mull over as you sock away pennies before the season for giving. We'll start with the little we know of Zune 2, which comes courtesy of Gizmodo:
Looks like Zune devotees will now have an 80GB model and a nano-styled 4GB flash player to fondle. Or, to have tattooed. Also, they've taken $50 off the price of their 30GB, so that's bowing at $199. Nothing to squirt over, surely. More substantive reports come on the Apple front courtesy of Steve's little conference earlier today. As for new products, there's a new Nano (short, vid capability), some new Shuffle colors, new prices on the "iPod Classic" ($249 for 80GB, $349 for 160GB), and the big news: iPod Touch...
An iPhone without the phone part. That means touch screen, pictures, video, and Wi-Fi (with Safari browser). Why Wi-Fi? For YouTubes and for -- finally -- mobile iTunes store accessibility. (Don't worry iPhoners, you get the iTunes store widget, too -- via iTunes software upgrade, tonight.) Another item for both iPod Touch and iPhone: A new Starubucks widget, which will pop on your PMP when you head in for a latte and give you the option to buy whatever's playing at the time. Hear Now, believe later. The new iPods come in the touching prices of $299GB for 8GB, $399 for 16GB. Plus, there's a price slash for iPhones (8GB for $399). Oh yeah, and ringtones for iPhone! But only for tracks you've purchased via iTunes, and only for an additional 99¢. Ugh. Someone needs to get that 17-year-old soldering iHack on this one.
Posted at 2:40 PM
Tags: Apple | Microsoft
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8gb and 16gb ipod touch with video capability = useless. who cares about the zune...
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The iPod classic seems to be the best deal of the bunch. Thinner, with a brushed metal look.
I may have to sell my 30gig and get the new 80gig.
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yeah no point in video iPod's being any less than 30GB so that's a blatant marketing scheme. No doubt itll take another year or so before they release the new touch one with larger hard drives. I need a new ipod, but I'm not getting anything less than 80GB, so I'll probably go for the classic.
as for zune, it just smells.
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"Nothing to squirt over, surely."
So it's come to this.
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who is going to watch video on a nano screen? and the menus are now twice as small? ive got decent eyesight and i was squinting like a bastard with the old nanos. you're going to need one of those jeweler's magnifying glasses for it
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@Stephen: A *larger* hard drive? With capacities of 8GB & 16GB, the iPod touch must be flash-based. I presume the iPod touch is too thin for a hard drive, so don't hold your breath for a later version with one, at least not in this form factor.
The iPhone blog over at macrumors.com recently described a couple of apps that allow you to make ringtones of song files:
http://www.macrumors.com/iphone/2007/08/31/itoner-1-0-released/
http://www.macrumors.com/iphone/2007/09/04/iphoneringtonemaker-supports-protected-aac/
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i believe they meant to put 80gig and 160gig, which would match the non-touch screen models' capacity.
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Elitist bastards. This still moistens my panties. Godspeed, Apple.
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@chris: Nope, other sites give the capacities of the touch models as 8GB & 16GB, too, e.g.
http://www.macrumors.com/2007/09/05/announced-at-apple-september-5-special-event/ which also says the touch is 8mm (about .3 inch) thinner than the iPhone.
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Whoops, that page actually says, "Thinner than the iPhone - only 8mm"
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I dont see the urgent need to jump on the touchscreen. i have a 5g click wheel and it works just fine. But that 160gb hard drive ipod is pretty sweet. im still on a 60gb and have to limit my videos becuase they take up so much space.
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These "classic" ipod photos looks like a bad bevel and emboss effect in photoshop
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do not buy anything with the name 'zune' on it. i did and im sorry. :(
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only 16 gb :(
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My 2gb nano more than does the trick on my daily commute or a long trip; 8gb should be plenty, too much and I end up having trouble deciding what to listen too and/or iTunes takes forever to load in the gargantuan XML file that is my library.
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i think we are all forgetting the more important issue here and that is the new ipod nano commercial which features feist's 1234 music video. the indie kids are blowing up !
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Greeeeat. This would be swell if only iTunes worked in South East Asia.
The 160GB looks mighty temptin'.
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The nano looks really cool, I'm pretty sure the screen the same size as the old iPod video. Plus it's the cheapest 4GB nano yet. It's also really tiny (fat, but tiny)
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i want the iphone w/ touch screen in 160 gb. i wonder how many years im going to have to wait...
~T
PS: any chance you can add me to your blog roll? i put you guys on mine..
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ANDY! Finally someone mentions Feist! My head exploded when I saw it. Screw the Polaris! With an iTunes commercial single that song will be on the charts for a while.
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The MacRumors iPhone blog has a post on a simple way of converting an AAC file to a ringtone! (I haven't read the comments about the post so I don't know if it works with protected AAC files.)
http://www.macrumors.com/iphone/2007/09/07/free-custom-ringtones-in-itunes-7-4/
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