Apple's New Product Upgrades: New iPods, Apple TV Revamped, More

Unless you've been living under a rock (or are vacationing in a coastal area with limited Internet access, as I am), you've heard about Apple's product announcements at its Sept 1 shindig.

As usual for these Fall announcements, this one was heavy on the music-related products, and that means refreshes to the iPod line.

The iPod Touch has been revised, and now comes with FaceTime, the "retina display," HD video recording, and Game Center.

There is a new, smaller iPod Nano that returns the the squarish form factor and eliminates the clickwheel with a multitouch screen. The unit is said to be lighter and have longer battery life, and like the iPod Shuffle that it now resembles, it has a built-in clip for attaching to shirt, belt, etc. The new iPod Nano retains the previous version's pedometer and other features, but drops the video camera.

Speaking of the iPod Shuffle, it now contains a control panel for the first time.

Apple TV has been revised yet again, with a new focus on streaming content. Apple has signed up with ABC, Fox, and Netflix as initial partners in this new effort. Ninety-nine cent rentals are part of the new strategy.

Apple's New iPods and More

As expected, Apple did indeed introduce an array of new iPods at its "Let's Rock" event yesterday. I'll let iPod Observer tell you about all the various developments:


* NBC Comes Back to iTunes - in High Definition

* Apple Unveils Redesigned iPod nano with Accelerometer

* Apple Tries its Hand at In-ear Headphones Again

* Apple Revamps Sleeker iPod touch, Adds Speaker

* iPhone, iPod touch 2.1 Update Due Friday

Guess we'll have to wait a while longer for those new MacBooks.

Apple "Let's Rock": New iPod Nano and Touch, iTunes 8

The consensus for tomorrow's Apple "Let's Rock" media event on Sept. 9th is that we will see new iPod Nano and iPod Touch models, new iPhone firmware, and probably iTunes 8. Macrumors also suggests additional possible developments, saying that the afore-mentioned items would be welcomed but not are not worthy of the buildup Apple has sought to create for this event.

Among the possibilities Macrumors mentions are GPS/turn-by-turn features for the iPhone and "secret features" in iPhone 2.1 that haven't been revealed yet.

Podcast News: New iPods, "Quick and Dirty" Podcasts

Apple Refreshes, Revamps iPods:
The big podcasting news this week was Apple Inc.'s announcement of new and rejiggered products in its market-leading iPod media player line. In brief:

* The Nano has been reconfigured into more of a square shape to accommodate the viewing of video, the first time that's been possible with that model.
* The traditional hard-drive iPod is now called iPod Classic, with a larger storage capacity (up to 160GB).
* A totally new iPod, the iPod Touch, combines the features and user interface of the new iPhone with iPod media playing functions. Basically, it's an iPhone without the phone. It's flash-based, which limits storage capacity (going only as high as 16GB).

If you're interested in buying an iPod, which should you get? Fortunately, there's a handy column on iPod Observer that explains the pros and cons of each option.

Publisher Seek Profits on "Quick and Dirty" Podcasts:
Publishers Weekly has noted that publisher Holtzbrinck has launched a network of downloadable audio clips called Quick and Dirty Tips, based on the ever-growing "Quick and Dirty" series of podcasts. (I've reviewed two of the Q&D podcasts here, those by Grammar Girl and Money Girl.)

PW notes that Holtzbrinck's move is the first time a publisher has tried to establish a money making podcast business. It says that the site, Quickanddirtytips.com, will get revenue from online ads and content licensing agreements. The arrangement arose because of the publisher's relationship with Mignon Fogarty, a.k.a. Grammar Girl, who has a book coming out with the publisher, "The Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips to Clean Up Your Writing."

The Quick and Dirty site was launched this week with five other podcasters, PW says.