Apple Unveils New iPod Lineup, Features and Price Drops

The Woodlands, TX -- Apple unvieled the all-new iPod lineup Wednesday during a press conference in San Francisco. Among the announcements were a new Ipod shuffle, Ipod Nano, Ipod Classic, Ipod Touch, price drop for the Iphone, and ringtones through iTunes.

iPod touch

The new iPod® touch uses Apple’s revolutionary multi-touch user interface, seen in the iPhone. The iPod touch also includes Wi-Fi wireless networking, the first on any iPod, and features Google Search, Yahoo! oneSearch, and Apple’s YouTube application. The iPod touch has a 3.5-inch screen and is 8 mm thin.

It also has a built-in ambient light sensor that automatically adjusts the display’s brightness. iPod touch has up to 22 hours of audio playback and up to five hours of video playback.

Available later this month, the 8GB iPod touch model will go for $299 and the 16GB model for $399.

iPod classic

The new iPod® classic, featuring 80GB or 160GB of storage will hold music, photos, video, podcasts and games—up to 40,000 songs or 200 hours of video. The iPod classic is priced at $249 for the 80GB model and $349 for the 160GB model.

It features up to 40 hours of music playback and seven hours of video playback in the 160GB model, and up to 30 hours of music playback and five hours of video playback in the 80GB model.

The new iPod classic comes pre-loaded with iQuiz, Vortex, and Klondike. Additional games will be available for purchase for the new iPod classic later this month from the iTunes Store, including Sudoku, Tetris and Ms. PAC-MAN.

Both iPod classic models are available now in silver and black.

iPod nano

The all new iPod nano features a 204 pixel per inch display that is 65 percent brighter than the previous generation and delivers 320x240 resolution that will allow users to watch videos. iPod nano also features Cover Flow, so you can scroll through your entire music collection by album cover artwork using the Click Wheel.

The all new iPod nano comes pre-loaded with iQuiz, Vortex, and Klondike. Additional games will be available for iPod nano later this month from the iTunes Store, including Sudoku, Tetris and Ms. PAC-MAN.

The new iPod nano has up to 24 hours of audio playback or five hours of video playback. Available now, the 4GB iPod nano comes in silver for $149 and the 8GB model comes in silver, black, blue, green and a red special edition for just $199. Both are available now.

iPhone Price Break

To make iPhone affordable this holiday season, Apple is lowering the price of the most popular 8 GB model iPhone from $599 to $399. The iPhone 4GB model will be discontinued and sold while supplies last.

The 8GB iPhone is available through Apple’s retail and online stores and AT&T retail stores.

iPod Shuffle

iPod Shuffle will be available in new colors - red, silver, blue, lighter blue, and greenish blue. The shuffle comes with 1 GB of storage for $79.

Ringtones from iTunes

For an extra dollar you can turn 30 seconds from a song you buy from iTunes into a ringtone for your iPhone. For now, only 500,000 songs on iTunes will be available to make into a ringtone.

Wi-fi Music Store

Apple also announced an exclusive agreement with Starbucks for an iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store for free in participating US Starbucks stores starting next month. When you enter a participating Starbucks location, your iPod touch, iPhone, or PC or Mac® running iTunes will automatically recognize the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store. You can see what song is currently playing or has recently played in the store, and immediately preview, buy and download it over Wi-Fi.

After its debut in New York and Seattle on October 2, the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store will continue its national rollout to 350 Starbucks stores in the San Francisco Bay area on November 7; 500 stores in Los Angeles in early February 2008; 300 stores in Chicago in March 2008; and additional markets throughout the nation later in 2008.