Apple iPod nano 8 GB Pink (4th Generation) - PINK

Apple has announced a pink version of the iPod Nano Phatty, which is truly a phatty in my own humble opinion, which is well within my budget. To May, you’ve got yourself a pretty hot “I care about your happiness” gift. Just don’t strain your lovely eyes watching the old Charlie’s Angels TV show.

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The new 4th generation from Apple - Best player ever!

By Simon Drivdal "simdrivdal"

The new 4th generation from Apple is awesome - once I turned it on and heard the first song it was like coming into another world. So clear and good sound that you forget you even have your headphones on.

This new generation has an accelerometer as well as the iPod Touch and iPhone which means you can rotate the iPod 90 degrees to get coverflow view on your albums. Also let's say you find a random song that is in the middle of an album you have you can easily turn on to coverflow, push the center button and browse through every song on that album.

Some says that the coverflow gets in the way for easy volume changes, and that is in one way correct, but the reason why I'm still at five stars is because it's not worth making a big deal out of it. If you have it vertically in your pocket it's no problem. Volume adjustments works immediately. If the player somehow is horizontally, it's just to reposition it, wait for 1-2 second and you can adjust volume. I won't call this a problem.

Shake to shuffle is also a really cool thing they have built in, and it works great. Note that if you are on a running trip and may be running in a steep downhill that may turn the shake-to-shuffle on unwanted you can of course turn it of in the setting menu.

Video playback is better that expected on such a small screen, and you don't need large resolution to get stunning pictures on it. Choose if the image should fit the screen or not, what TV standard (PAL or NTSC) along with other settings. TV shows are automatically presented horizontally. Be sure to have the correct encoding on the movies of TV shows if the battery should hold 4 hours. On a Mac which I use you can encode the movies by export them from Quick Time Pro. There is a preset called Movie to iPod. Then it's just to open the video in iTunes and sync the iPod. Video playlists are also automatically created.

Hope this helps who ever read it!

Updated iPod Touch Delivers Nice New Features

By Stephen Hall "books911"

The iPod Touch debuted only one year ago, and this is the first update. I was excited to pick up the new iPod Touch at the Apple Store because I had never owned a first generation, though I do own iPhones.

I want to concentrate primarily on the new features:

First, physical volume buttons are now placed on the side of the iPod Touch as they are on the iPhone. This is very convenient. It allows you to adjust the volume of your music, without having to pull the entire device out of your pocket and activate the screen. A time saver.

Second, many people requested a built-in speaker for the iPod Touch like is available on the iPhone. Apple listened. However, there is one important point to make on this! The iPod Touch is incredibly small, and Apple is forced to put an incredibly small speaker. The speaker in the iPod Touch sounds worst than the speaker in the iPhone. I have compared it side by side, and it's fairly significant, and the iPhone speaker isn't that great to begin with. However, in a quiet room, the speaker is still useful for previewing a song you might want to buy, or for playing games. However, still, if you want great sound, you need to connect your headphones.

Genius - This new feature is really surprisingly good. When you're listening to a song you enjoy, select the genius option. It will create a playlist for you, with songs that go together nicely with the one you started with. It helps you rediscover great music from your collection with a playlist suited to the mood you're in. I didn't think it would do a good job compiling this list, but it has been quite impressive.

Applications - It's great to have the ability to buy (or get some free) applications right on the iPod Touch. Furthermore, with the software update this new iPod Touch comes with, the Application installation process is so much smoother than it had been even on my iPhone. It now works how you want it to, seamlessly. I like having a weather application that includes doppler radar images, and that is free. I also have several games on it. There is a great variety of applications available from hundreds of third-parties right on the iPod itself, so you are certain to find something that interests you. I really like the new release of Spore, for the iPod Touch and iPhone. Apple is really pushing the games and quietly suggest they are challenging Nintendo and Sony. They are innovative and interesting games, but I think they have a ways to go, to challenge those game makers.

Nike + is now built in too, so if you have the shoes and the puck, the iPod Touch is ready to receive the data from it. Battery life is improved to 36 hours audio and 6 hours video according to Apple. I find the audio number fairly accurate if you don't light up the display much, but the video number is a slight bit harder to achieve.

Of course, the new ipod Touch does look and feel even better than the first generation, from my small experiences with the previous one. I also think it feels cooler than my iPhones, but obviously your interpretation may very. I like the metal back on the iPod Touch. It looks classy, though it is prone to scratches.

One of my favorite features continues to be, when in my home on Wi-Fi, to reach down for the Touch, use Safari web browser and look something up. It's great.

Overall, it was a solid update for the iPod Touch. I wish the speaker could be better on it, but I believe that is due to the physical restrictions of the small device. I could have knocked it to four stars for that, but I think most people realize a built in speaker isn't the way you want to listen to most audio on an iPod to begin with. I'm impressed by the second generation iPod Touch, and I think with the third party applications getting better and becoming more popular, more people will consider the Touch.

Apple iPod classic 120 GB Silver (6th Generation)

The updated iPod Classic was probably the least exciting of the new iPods announced in the September 2008 update, but that does not mean it should be dismissed. I own the 160 GB iPod Classic that has now been discontinued, but there are few differences (perhaps the biggest being the much slimmer shape of this 120 model), and I did get to check this updated 120 GB version out at the store, when picking up the new nano and touch. Firstly, the 120 GB version is again smaller than the largest capacity available last year, but it is a single platter hard drive, which allows it to maintain the slim shape of the 80 GB version from last year. More storage, a hundred dollars less, and just as small. That is progress despite calls from others that the classic isn't exciting. It still serves its purpose as the original iPod idea. Big capacity in a simple to use device. Next, the software has been slightly updated on the iPod Classic. It now includes Genius, like iTunes and the other new iPods. This allows you, when on a song you enjoy, to select the genius feature. The iPod will then compile a list of songs (playlist), which goes together with the original song you were listening to. This helps you rediscover music in your library, with a playlist to fit your mood at the time. I have been using the genius feature for a few days now, and it is impressive the way it compiles these playlists. I was skeptical, but overall, it does a good job. Furthermore, as another review mentioned, the iPod does seem more responsive with this update from what I saw at the store compared to my original 160 GB iPod Classic. Some speculation has been that the older iPod Classics will receive the software update of this new one, but I'm not holding my breath on that. Overall, the original iPod concept was so good, and that is why the iPod Classic is still a solid choice for a music and media player. It will hold thousands and thousands of songs (up to 30,000 according to Apple at 128 bitrate). I also backup some important files to my iPod Classic, in disk mode, so that I have that additional extra copy of my most vital files. When you have such a large iPod, you can do that. It shouldn't be forgotten either that while the display of the iPod Classic isn't as good as the iPod Touch or iPhone, it is still quite good and you can play music videos, TV shows, and movies purchased on the iTunes Store. Battery life for this new 120 GB model improved over the 80GB model from last year. Apple now estimates it at 36 hours audio and 6 hours video. I'd recommend the iPod Classic without hesitation, to those who have more than 8 or 16 GBs of music in their iTunes library and want to carry their entire collection. Furthermore, if you have videos and video podcasts you want to always carry with you, again, you can't beat the storage. I have the lower capacity flash devices as well, but the big hard drive based iPod Classic continues to play an important role in my iPod Collection.