Apple Inc. emphasized its leadership in the digital music market this morning at an event in San Francisco, as CEO Steve Jobs introduced new models of its most popular iPod music players, as well as a new version of the company's iTunes media management software.
The revised version of the iPod Touch and iPod Nano, as well as iTunes 8 all include a new feature called “Genius," which Apple touts as an easy way to create playlists based on the song you're listening to and the music in your library.
The fourth-generation iPod Nano is the thinnest player Apple has ever made, at just 0.2 inches thick. It returns to the portrait orientation of the first two generations of the Nano, while preserving the same screen size as last year's third-generation model. Additionally, there is now an accelerometer built into the Nano, which allows for instant resizing of photos and menus based on the orientation of the player, just like the iPhone and iPod Touch.
The accelerometer is also used for a new “Shake to shuffle" feature, which senses when you shake your player, and automatically enters the shuffle mode. Apple also touted the environmental chops of the new player: “We think these are the cleanest, toxic-free iPods we've ever built," said Jobs. The nano will ship in eight colors which are much brighter than the previous finishes, and are rated to play 24 hours of music or four hours of video on a single charge. Two models will be sold: $149 for an 8-GB model, $199 for 16 GB. They should be available in the next week.
The revised version of the iPod Touch and iPod Nano, as well as iTunes 8 all include a new feature called “Genius," which Apple touts as an easy way to create playlists based on the song you're listening to and the music in your library.
The fourth-generation iPod Nano is the thinnest player Apple has ever made, at just 0.2 inches thick. It returns to the portrait orientation of the first two generations of the Nano, while preserving the same screen size as last year's third-generation model. Additionally, there is now an accelerometer built into the Nano, which allows for instant resizing of photos and menus based on the orientation of the player, just like the iPhone and iPod Touch.
The accelerometer is also used for a new “Shake to shuffle" feature, which senses when you shake your player, and automatically enters the shuffle mode. Apple also touted the environmental chops of the new player: “We think these are the cleanest, toxic-free iPods we've ever built," said Jobs. The nano will ship in eight colors which are much brighter than the previous finishes, and are rated to play 24 hours of music or four hours of video on a single charge. Two models will be sold: $149 for an 8-GB model, $199 for 16 GB. They should be available in the next week.
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