iPod Nano gets video playback capabilities.
Apple announced on Wednesday in the US a complete overhaul of its line of iPod portable music players, including a wireless-enabled player resembling the iPhone.
The iPod Touch, essentially a phoneless version of the iPhone, has the same 3.5-inch screen, multitouch interface and home screen as the smartphone. The iPod Touch has the ability to connect to the Internet with 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, slower than the current 802.11n shipping in most notebook PCs. The Touch comes with Apple's Safari Web browser and has built-in Google and Yahoo search.
The new iPod comes in two configurations, an 8GB version that costs AU$419 and a 16GB model that costs AU$549. The battery in each can handle 22 hours of audio playback or 5 hours of video, according to Jobs. Both versions are expected to be available this month.
iPod Touch comes with Wi-Fi for Web browsing and downloading music.
Apple is also revising some of its previous iPods including the regular iPod, the Nano and the Shuffle. Now known as the iPod Classic, Apple will offer a 160GB version of the regular iPod, which is enough storage for 40,000 songs, according to Jobs. It is thinner than the regular iPod and has better battery life, enough to handle 40 hours of audio. That model will go for AU$479, and an 80GB version will now be AU$349, a price drop of AU$150. Those iPods will be available immediately, according to Apple Australia.
Apple is making only minor changes to its iPod Shuffle line, which will come in new colours and is available now for the same price as the previous line. A new Product Red Shuffle will benefit a program fighting AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
The iPod Nano will now have video capability, though its screen is only 2 inches wide. It comes loaded with new games and Apple's Cover Flow software, which lets users scroll through album covers when searching for music. The Nano will come in two configurations, a 4GB version priced at AU$199, and an 8GB version that will cost AU$279. The Nanos will come in the same new colours as the Shuffle and are expected to be available in stores this weekend, according to Jobs.
iTunes Music Store goes Wi-Fi
On the software side of things, Apple announced a new version of its iTunes media player, which is planned to be released Wednesday night.
Apple also announced the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store, which allows consumers to buy songs wirelessly. Users can preview, download and listen to songs right away on their iPod Touch (after a software update expected later this month). Upon syncing the device with a computer, those songs will be transferred into the user's iTunes library.
CNET News.com's Michael Kanellos and Marguerite Reardon contributed to this report.
The new iPod family (from left): iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano, iPod Classic, iPod Touch and the iPhone.
An iPod Touch with a disk drive would have had me reaching for my wallet, even if it did end up a little chunky. 16GB just isn't practical when you have several thousand songs and don't know what you fancy listening to from one day to the next. Sorry Steve, I think I'll be giving this one a miss.