TheQuantumByte

Apple at its 9/9/09 iPod “Rock n’ Roll” event updated its entire iPod product line. After a long talk about the iPhone and iTunes, Phil and Steve transitioned over to what everyone was waiting for: hardware. And I must say, this was a disappointment.

Phil spent the next 10 minutes praising what an amazing product the iPod touch is: and although we all knew that was meant to be a brainwashing session, it worked. The point? No radically redesigned iPod touch. They dropped the price of the 8GB model to $199, and introduced newer slightly upgraded models. While the 16GB model is no more, a new 32GB version with upgraded processors akin to that of the iPhone 3GS, takes its place at $299, and a brand new whopping 64GB (flash!) model at a whopping $399. The new models feature Voice Control and Accessibility features, and include the Apple headphones with Remote and Mic. Again, what Apple is doing with the low-end 8GB model is similar to what is is already doing with the $99 old iPhone 3G, and the $1199 white MacBook.

Next was the iPod shuffle, which simply saw a price drop to $59 for the 2GB model, and $79 for the 4GB model. New colors were also abound, including a new “stainless steel” Apple store special for a higher price. Silly, I know.

The next 20 seconds were dedicated to the age-old iPod classic, which saw its capacities go back up from 120GB to 160GB, and for all you people with huge music libraries, the single model is priced at the same $249 price.

Then, the one more thing.

Everyone literally forgot about the iPod nano: it seems like that was Apple’s intention: the element of surprise. The surprise certainly didn’t end there. Apple introduced a brand new iPod nano with a small video camera, microphone and speaker attached to its back, a built-in pedometer, built-in radio functionality, and more. The colors were also updated to feature a stronger, brighter, anodized aluminum build. Prices? $149 for the 8GB model and $179 for the 16GB model. So, remember the rumors about the iPod touches with cameras? Seems like those were true, but Apple probably experienced some last-minute problems and so was forced to default back to the older version, and instead, they stuck cameras that cannot take still photos into the iPod nano! What??