Apple (Sort Of) Rocks

By James Alan Miller on September 10, 2008 3:34 PM

Author: Damon Brown

Nothing groundbreaking at "Let's Rock!" event, but the wide range of products introduced should keep the faithful content until the January MacWorld conference.

After receiving a jubilant Apple "Let's Rock!" invitation earlier this summer, many analysts predicted some major news from Steve Jobs. A new line of desktops and laptops? Yet another iPhone update? The entire Beatles catalog finally on iTunes?

After yesterday's presentation here in San Francisco, it was hard not to be a *little* let down. Now, there wasn't any bad news - pictures show Jobs in solid health, more than 100 million apps have been downloaded since July, etc. - but even the most die-hard Apple optimist would have difficultly getting excited.

We have a new line of iPod Touches and Nanos, iTunes 8 and new games announced as well as the much hyped Genius application. Jobs also promised more stable firmware for the iPhone which, really, should be a given. Nothing groundbreaking here, but the wide range of products should keep us happy until the January MacWorld conference. Let's take a look.

The new Nanos look good. Wisely leaving behind the wide, pudgy design, the Nanos are now tall and svelte, curving slightly to make an oblong circle. There are now 10 colors, a la the iPod Mini, including a light purple, mossy green and a creamsicle orange. The good-old touchwheel is still intact.

A nice addition is an iPhone-style accelerometer: turn it sideways to flip the cover art and shake it to shuffle the music. We'll have to wait and see how well the shake shuffle works, especially when people are jogging, dancing and such. The 8 GB/16 GB hold 2,000/4,000 songs and 8/16 hours of video. They go for $149 and $199 respectively and are available now.

The popular iPod Touch also got a facelift. The body is now less thick and slightly curved a la the new Nano and comes with a built-in speaker. A cool new feature is wireless Nike + iPod support, which allows the iPod Touch Nike software to instantly communicate with special Nike computerized shoes.

Finally, the iPod Touch now does up to 36 hours of audio and 6 hours of video (comparatively, the iPhone does about 24 hours audio/4 hours video). The 8 GB/16 GB/32 GB hold about 1,700/3,500/7,000 songs and 10/20/40 hours of video. They run $229, $299 and $399, respectively, and are available now.

Finally, the iPod Classic now has less and more storage: 120 GB - about 30,000 songs/150 hours of video - for $249. That's 40GB less than the now-defunct 160GB model and 40GB more than the equally abandoned 80GB edition. It also has added battery life, matching the Touch with 36 hours of audio and 6 hours of video. It is available now.