3g iPhone // Current

New nano-chromatic iPods and improvements for the rest

Today in San Francisco, reporters and analysts gathered at Apple's "Let's Rock" event eager to hear Steve Jobs talk about the improvements to his line of iPods.

For starters today Apple is releasing a new version of iTunes. The new iTunes will have a few new features including grid browsing and the Genius function. Genius is an all new way to automatically create play lists from your library based on songs that go well together. This works with music and movies. iTunes will upload a list of your music and movies to the internet to be added to a database. This database will gather and compare information from all Genius users to develop a smart play list. The more people using Genius the smarter it will be. Kind of takes the fun out of the mix tape, but still a really cool feature. The new iTunes can be downloaded for free.

The classic iPod is being upgraded to a thinner 120GB ($249) version and the 160GB is being discontinued.

Next was the big announcement. New second gen nano iPods. The new nano's will sport a whole new look. The nano is going back to a more vertical design like the long forgotten iPod mini. Much like the macbook air they have a new curved aluminum design with a curved glass cover for the screen. This new design will make it the thinnest iPod ever. Apple has taken the accelerometer from the touch and iPhone and it does some great things. The nano now has cover flow so you can browse your music by album cover. One of the coolest things about cover flow on the nano is you to simply shake your nano to scroll through. The integration of the accelerometer also means a larger display for watching video. Some of the other nano improvements include use of Genius play list building without iTunes, built in mic, 24 hour battery life (music playback), environmentally friendly (toxics free), and they come in a wide variety of colors. My favorite is the silver with black click wheel. The new nanos will come in 8GB ($149) and 16GB ($199) models.

The rest of the updates were nowhere near as exciting. Steve announced a new set of ear buds that have both a woofer and tweeter, on cable controls, and a built in mic. You can get a pair of these for the steep price of $79.

The iPod touch also saw a few cool updates. The new touch will be thinner even though they are cramming in more features. Taking up space on the inside of the new touch is a built-in speaker, Nike + and volume controls on the side. Steve also showed a tv spot which basically promotes the touch as a hand held gaming device. With about 700 games on the App Store, Steve boasts that the touch is the "best portable device for playing games." Look out Nintendo... Some of the highlighted games are Need for Speed, Real Soccer 2009, and they even managed to get a version of the new hit game Spore for the iPod touch. The touch screen D-pad and A/B buttons that some of the games has as well as motion senor controlling makes the touch a pretty diverse gaming device. The new iPod touch will come in 8GB ($229), 16GB ($299), and a 32GB ($399) models.

The last updates of the event came for the iPhone. No new hardware, but there is a 2.1 firmware update that fixes a lot of bugs. "Fewer dropped calls, big battery life improvements. No crashes with Apps. Backing up is faster." This update is free for all iPhone owners.

With the whole arsenal of iPods improved, its time to start your Christmas shopping. Oh and F.Y.I. Jobs also mentioned that 90% of US cars offer iPod integration. So if your in the market for a new mp3 player and a new car, you can truly combine them.
Today in San Francisco, reporters and analysts gathered at Apple's "Let's Rock" event eager to hear Steve Jobs... more