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A New Nano and the Return of the Prodigal Network
By Dave Peterson | September 9, 2008
Tuesday was Apple’s “Let’s Rock” event. Announcements spanned the range from the expected new iPods and iTunes 8.0 to surprises like the return of NBC programming to the iTunes Store. Kevin Rose gets big prognostication points as his leaks/predictions were pretty much right on the money.
The thing that seems to have the most people talking is the new Nano line. The Nano is sleeker than ever and is now the thinnest iPod ever made. It comes in 9 colors; pretty amazing for a player that you could once get in any color you wanted as long as it was white. It now has a wide/tall screen for video playback and an accelerometer similar to the Touch and iPhone that will re-orient your screen image when you rotate the player. The curved screen that seems so prone to glare is very much present. Hands-on reviews in the next few days will determine whether glare is a problem. The Nano is available in 8 and 16 GB sizes priced at $149 and $199.
The Classic saw the surprising move of a drop in its maximum storage size. For the last year it’s been available in 80 or 160 GB sizes, but now it’s averaged into a single choice of 120GB for $249. Good news if you wanted more space than the 80, but didn’t need the full 160 GB, bad news if you’ve got really huge media carry-around needs. The old 160 is still available until retailers sell out. If you need that much storage space, this might be the time to make a buy.
The Touch has received some cosmetic changes, with a slimmer profile and rounded edges in the style of the iPhone 3G. It also now has a built-in speaker (for full enjoyment of App Store games) and physical volume controls on the side. It’s available in 8, 16, and 32 GB sizes for $229, $299, and $399.
The Shuffle gets a new mix of colors, but is otherwise unchanged, with 1 and 2 GB sizes at $49 and $69.
Not to be overshadowed by the hardware, the iTunes software got a nice functionality addition with the grid display format and the Genius functionality, which makes suggestions and playlists based on the songs you tell it that you like. The changes to iTunes were exactly as Kevin Rose predicted, right down to the layout of the screen. He had some good sources this time. Finally the iTunes Store now has HD-quality TV shows for $2.99 an episode (one dollar more than non-HD).
It may be a little sad how excited I am about the return of NBC to iTunes. I feel it was a great loss to the concept of AppleTV as a broadcast/cable/satelite replacement, when NBC left the iTunes store in a huff last fall. For me, it’s great news that “Heroes”, “Monk”, and “Battlestar Galactica” will be available once more to my AppleTV. NBC’s departure left a definite hole in the TV offerings and it’s good to see that gap once more filled.
It was a good Apple Event for me, with hardware I don’t need and feel pleasantly uncompelled to buy (although there are some nice choices for someone looking for a new iPod), but improvements to iTunes, HD TV shows, and the return of NBC.
Topics: Gadgets |