Breaking News: Apple Updates iPods and iTunes Music Store

[Jeremy Charette]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/09/12/showtime/index.php' target='_blank'>http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/09/12/showtime/index.php</a><br /><br /></div>At a press conference today, Apple announced several new products and services. The iPod has been updated with a screen that's 60% brighter, battery life has been increased from 2 hours to 3.5 hours during video playback, and the 60 GB model has been upgraded to 80 GB. The iPod is now $50 less expensive, at $249 and $349. Despite rumors of a full-screen iPod Video, the outside appearance of the iPod is unchanged. The Nano gets double capacities (2GB, 4GB, and 8 GB), and an aluminum case (to counter customer complaints about the easily scratched front panel. The Shuffle has been decreased in size, has an aluminum case, only comes in 1GB capacity now, and is priced at $79.<br /><br />On the software side, video on iTMS is seeing some improvements. All video will now be 640x480, rather than the current 320x240 pixel resolution. iTunes is now capable of gapless playback. iTunes also has some improvements in the user interface, and will auto-populate your album art if it's missing. In addition, the use of multiple computers is being made much easier, as iTunes will automatically back-fill one computer with content from another when you dock your iPod.<br /><br />Lastly, full length movies are now available for download. New releases are $12.99 for pre-order and for the first week of release, then go up to $14.99. Audio is Dolby Surround. Purchased videos can be shared between authorized computers, but cannot be burned to a disc.<br /><br />These are all admirable incremental improvements, but there's nothing revolutionary here. Where is the full-screen iPod? Or the iPhone? If Apple truly wants to stay ahead of the pack, they're going to need to continue their breakneck pace of innovation. This series of announcements only seems to stem the tide of competition.

[PCKid]

I juist upgraded my current G5 to 1.2 firmware and the new 1.7 iTunes. I seem to now have most of the new features that the new models have. Screen brightness is adjustable and seems brighter. Photo access is much faster. All the new menu choices. Really good improvements in my opinion. So how much better with such a tiny screen can the 5.5 be? I'm the sort of person who if the new one had been the touch screen full widescreen version that was rumoured I would have bought one straight away and worry about who to give my old one to afterwards. But won't bother to upgrade to such a small increment. Since I have a Griffin Roadtrip in the car and therefore charges on the go and charges at night when I'm home battery life isn't an issue. As a consumer I'm very disappointed in this new (sort of new) line up. 2 out of 10 for Apple from me. And this new iTv box thingy sounds very much like the Mediagate MG-25 media box for notebook harddrives that i've used for at least 2 years already to watch mpeg and avi files on my tv. Methinks Apple may be a tad late to the market with that one.