Today was a HUGE day for Apple fans worldwide. With the exception of the first moment I got my iPhone I don’t think I have been this excited about Apple products since Steve Jobs’ keynote in January. The Apple “The Beat Goes On” special event took place today, and in his speech, Jobs announced three brand new iPods, a ringtone service for the iPhone, and an iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store. Let’s take a closer look at each one.
The first iPod is the 3G iPod Nano, third generation not to be confused with a wireless network. Essentially it’s an iPod Video in a small, pocket-sized case. However, this little device has the highest pixel density that Apple has ever shipped. There are two sizes, 4GB and 8GB, which will set you back $149 and $199, respectively. Expect to get 24 hours of audio and 5 hours of video playback with this new iPod Nano.
The second iPod is appropriately named iPod Classic, as its exterior resembles the original iPod. Don’t let the design fool you, though, these iPod Classics are supercharged portable media players. There will be two models, an 80GB and a slightly thicker 160GB (for those counting at home that 160GB can hold 40,000 songs). The 80GB will get you 30 hours of audio playback and 6 hours of video. However, the 160 GB will play music for 40 hours and video for 7 hours. The 80GB will sell for $250 and the 160GB for $350.
The third and final iPod Jobs announced today is the iPod Touch. The iPod Touch is Apple’s response to those who said the iPhone was the greatest iPod ever, but refused to fork out the cash to acquire one. In simple terms, the iPod Touch is basically an iPhone minus the phone-specific features and 2-year AT&T contract. Like the iPhone, the iPod Touch includes Wi-Fi, YouTube, Safari, etc. The battery life for the iPod Touch is 22 hours audio, 5 hours video, which seems to be a bit less than the iPhone. There will be two models, the 8GB will start at $299, and the 16GB will start at $399. Hey Steve, how about a service to upgrade our iPhones to 16GB?
Another thing Jobs announced was the availability of custom ringtones for the iPhone (turns out my iPhone ringtones post from last week was correct). Beginning tonight, a new version of iTunes will ship that will allow people to create their own ringtones from 500,000 currently participating songs. The ringtones will cost $0.99 in addition to the price of the song, which seems kind of dumb, but I’m sure a concession like this was necessary to get record label permission. At any rate, I look forward to playing around with this later tonight.
The final thing Steve announced was the creation of what’s called the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store. It is an application that was created for the iPod Touch with four buttons: featured, top tens, downloads, and search. You can preview any song by tapping on it, then download the song wirelessly onto your iPod Touch without ever hooking up to a computer. Best of all though, Jobs announced that later this month an iPhone software update will be released that will bring the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store to the iPhone! This is potentially bad news given my recent iTunes spending habits.
One final item that ties into the last one, Jobs announced a partnership with Starbucks whereby a song overheard in a Starbucks can be remotely purchased via the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store. A Starbucks icon will simply appear when you’re in range and you can browse through and download whatever you like. Pretty snappy!
So all-in-all a great day for all Apple fans around the world, we got some amazing new iPods, custom ringtones for the iPhone, and an iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store. A big thank you to Engadget for their excellent coverage of today’s event, and a special thank you to Mr. Steve Jobs, for further contributing to the hole in my pocket.
3 Comments
Don’t you feel a bit ripped off that the iPhone has dropped $200 dollars??? Only 2 months after it comes out….
Jon, when are we going to get a drink? Or is that below you now?
Not at all, I’ve had the thing for over two months already and have gotten tons of enjoyment from it. I knew going into it that it was a big risk in all aspects, sure I didn’t expect a price drop this soon, but maybe that means a 2nd-gen iPhone will be coming sooner rather than later.
We should definitely plan some sort of drinking engagement. I haven’t been in the city in a while so it’d be nice to go visit. My schedule is kinda up in the air the next couple weeks so once I get a handle on it I will let you know and we’ll plan something.
new gadgets, you don’t need…
the iPhone will suffice
2 Trackbacks
[...] few days ago Apple unleashed iPhone custom ringtone availability through iTunes — I blogged when they announced this last week, but before this week it had yet to be usable. This post is probably a few days later [...]
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