Apple has announced its new line in the dominant iPod series and plans to distribute Walt Disney Company’s Disney, Pixar, Touchstone and Miramax line via direct download on iTunes.
Among the new additions to the technophile’s sweet tooth, an 80gb iPod for $349, a thinner iPod Nano with 24 hours of battery life, and a teensy 1gb iPod Shuffle. Apple also plans to launch a $299 device that will allow users to stream content to their televisions and home theater setups. The product, tentatively called iTv, will cost $299.
We all knew they were coming soon, but I think one colleague worded it best: the new iPod killers are being made by Apple, not Sony or Microsoft.
These toys are good. They are everything the previous version of small iPods should have been.
The Nano is no longer a scratch magnet for starters. The piano black iPod Nano was shiny and beautiful out of the box, but as a car depreciates as soon as you leave the dealership, the Nano is prone to scratches as soon as you plug in your earbuds.
As for the Shuffle; it just wasn’t ready when it first came out. The new iPod Shuffle is the most portable ever. Instead of buying an armband or belt clip (and instead of Apple letting third party manufacturers take a piece of their pie) the new Shuffle IS a belt clip. It’s small, but still functional.
The 80gb iPod finally enables the user to take a full library of media files with them. It is the next logical step in the right direction.
Also announced today, Apple has teamed up with the NFL to bring users all of this seasons games and NFL GameDay for $1.99 each.
Apple has, once again, set the bar high as the competition does what it can do to catch up with the last generation.