Apple Unveils new iPod line, iTunes 9, and iPhone/iPod Touch 3.1 Update
September 9, 2009
Steve Jobs returned to the stage today, at Apple's iPod and iTunes event in San Francisco, California, to introduce a new lineup of iPod devices, as well as the latest version of Apple's iTunes software.
iPod:
At the lower end of the price scale, the iPod shuffle now has five colors to choose from, and starts at $59 for a 2GB model, and $79 for a 4GB model. Both models are now offered in silver, black, pink, blue and green, and are available now.
“iPod shuffle is the world’s smallest music player and now comes in five great colors starting at just $59,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “iPod shuffle is so small that you almost forget it’s there, yet remarkably, it holds up to 1,000 songs and talks to you.”
Also announced for the shuffle, was news that several third-party companies will be making headphones that will include the shuffle's unique controller, which is incorporated into the cord of its included earbuds. A feature of the new line of iPod shuffles that was not very popular with those who wanted to use a different brand of headset for the device, the news should bring some relief to those looking for other headsets to listen through.
Further announcements included a storage space update for the iPod Classic, which now comes in at 160GB for $249, instead of the previous 120GB model that had the same price. Also announced were updates to the iPod touch line, including a 8GB iPod touch for $199, along with a 32GB model for $299 and a 64GB model for $399. All of the new models feature 50 percent faster performance, and Open GL ES 2.0 graphics.
“At just $199 the iPod touch is the most affordable gateway to Apple’s revolutionary App Store with more than 75,000 applications that you can wirelessly download right into your iPod touch,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “You get a great iPod, a great pocket computer with the industry’s best mobile web browser and a great game player, all in this super-thin beautiful enclosure.”
And one more thing...
Perhaps the biggest update to the iPod line came in the form of the new iPod nano. Now featuring a larger 2.2-inch color display, video camera, microphone and speaker, FM radio, Pedometer for the Nike + iPod Sport Kit, a Voice Memo application, and the VoiceOver feature that allows the nano to speak your artist and song information, the new nano tackles many of the features of its competitors and then some. It is available in an 8GB model for $149 and a 16GB model for $179. It also comes in nine colors including silver, black, purple, blue, green, orange, yellow, (PRODUCT) RED and pink.
“iPod nano is the world’s most popular music player with over 100 million sold,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “And now we’ve added a video camera to its incredibly thin design, without any additional cost to the user.”
The new nano also allows you to sync it with a Mac or PC and share videos you record through its camera on YouTube, MobileMe, Facebook or via email. The iPod nano can also shoot videos with real-time effects such as Thermal, Film Grain, Kaleido and X-Ray, and is available in stores now.
iTunes 9 and iPhone OS 3.1:
iTunes 9 made its debut as well, with new features such as iTunes LP, Home Sharing, and Genius Mixes. The new iTunes also features a redesigned store, as well as improved syncing.
“iTunes 9 is a great iTunes release, with innovative features that make using iTunes better than ever and iTunes content richer than ever,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iTunes LP, for example, lets artists share more of their creativity with fans and gives music lovers the feeling of being immersed in an entire album with art, lyrics, liner notes, photos and videos.”
iTunes LP is a new way to enjoy your favorite albms, with features like live performance videos, lyrics, artwork, liner notes, interviews, photos, album credits and more. iTunes LP debuts with albums including Bob Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited,” Norah Jones’ “Come Away With Me,” The Grateful Dead’s “American Beauty” and Dave Matthews Band’s “Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King: iTunes Pass.”
iTunes Extras, similar to iTunes LP, brings new features to your favorite video titles, such as documentaries, deleted scenes, interviews and interactive galleries. iTunes Extras is available for select movies including “Twilight,” “Batman Begins,” “WALL-E,” “Iron Man” and “The Da Vinci Code.”
Home Sharing is now featured in iTunes 9, which allows you transfer music, movies and TV shows to up to five authorized computers in your home. Family members can now view up to five iTunes libraries on their home network, see only the portion of these libraries they don’t already have, import their favorite content directly to their own libraries, and automatically add new purchases from other computers into their library.
Genius Mixes, which are created using the results of over 27 million music libraries with over 54 billion songs that have been submitted and analyzed by Genius, now includes Genius Mixes, which automatically generates up to 12 endless mixes of songs from your iTunes library.
iPhone users with the new OS 3.1, can now organize their iPhone apps from within iTunes, and they will automatically appear on their iPhone with the same layout. Syncing music, photos, movies, and TV shows can now also be done by artist and genre and photos can be synced by Events and Faces. The iTunes Store on iPhone will now also feature precut ringtone downloads with over 30,000 ringtones priced at $1.29.
iTunes 9 is available as a free download at www.itunes.com, and the iPhone 3.1 OS update is available free to iPhone users now.
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