U2 iPod, Photo iPod and Additional iTMS Localizations Released

[MacRumors]

Apple released today an all-black U2 edition iPod digital music player in conjunction with the release of the new album by U2. The new iPod is a 20 GB 4th generation with a RED 'click-wheel' iPod with the U2 band's signatures laser-etched onto the mirror-finished back of the device, and comes with a coupon for U2's new studio album "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb." The iPod is available for pre-order from the Apple Store.

Apple also released today a color-screened (220x176, 65,000 color) iPod Photo for holding up to 15,000 songs and up to 25,000 photos. The new iPod Photo is available within 1 to 2 weeks, for either $499 for a 40 GB model or $599 for a 60 GB model. Both offer up to a 15 hour battery life, offering a 1.5x increase over previous models, and TV out, for sharing photos on a television screen.

Additionally, the iTunes Music Store opened its doors to a large number of new customers and now covers the US, Germany, France, the UK, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain, with the EU countries offering songs at .99 Euros each. These countries represent the entire collection of EU countries that are adopting the new Euro currency, with the notable exception of Ireland. Localized versions of iTunes software are available for download free from apple.com. A credit card account in your specific locale is required to create a user account.

Notably absent from the list of newly-included countries are Japan and Australia, which were widely expected to be included in this new wave of localized stores.

Updates: Apple also announced that it will launch the iTunes Music Store in Canada in November.

iTunes 4.7 is now available for download for Mac OS X, Windows 2000, and Windows XP.

QuickTime 6.5.2 is now available for download. Messages in iTunes report that QuickTime 6.5.2 is required to use music purchased from ITMS in other applications such as iPhoto or iMovie.

[Jovian9]

15 hours of battery life! Wow!

[ipacmm]

cool....might be ordering the 60GB one soon.

[Stella]

iPod Photo- WHOOO hooo.

15 hours with colour screen!!!! My next iPod!
When are they available from? I didn't see any event coverage.

Though apple are screwing us with exchange rates.... CA$799

[stoid]

What's new about iTunes 4.7? Just increased support for new stores or is there some new functionality?

[evilgEEk]

I must admit, that photo iPod looks pretty sweet....

[Rower_CPU]

I may have to finally upgrade from my 1st Gen 5GB.

[zelmo]

I've been saying that I won't upgrade just for a color screen, but now that it is out...I want one!

I was going to get my wife a Pink mini for our anniversary. Do you think she'd kill me if I gave her my 20GB 4G and got a 40GB Photo iPod for me? Yeah, that's what I thought...

I was really hoping for a smaller, sub-$200 mini this time around.

[AoWolf]

u2pod is ugly but I like the photo pod Os.

[munkle]

Can't resist joining in with the 'me too, me too!!' excitement of a new product! Dang those things look sweet! How rare are these things going to be this Christmas!

[SilentPanda]

Anybody daring enough to try their hymn'ed songs in iTunes 4.7?

[Zaty]

Cool, Apple understands how to bring the iPod to the next level! No get busy working on getting iTMS to even more countries. There are still millions of potential customers in Australia, Canada, Japan and all non-Euro Zone countries waiting for it!

[MacNut]

So it looks like we may be a step closer to Ipod Video.

[sinisterdesign]

..cccan'''tt tyype credditt cardd # quuick ... ennough . ... mmuust buyy ppphphoto podd. . .. .

[g4cubed]

I like it. Now to come up with the cash to get it.

[Stella]

Is the iPod photo available world wide in 1 to 2 weeks.. because on the Canadian Apple section, iPod Photo is nowhere to be seen?

Or is this a case where the majority of the world have to wait half a year for availability as for the iPhoto Mini?

[dornoforpyros]

OMG! WHY NO ITMS IN CANADA YET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Who cares about viewing photos on a 2" screen. I wanna be able to buy music for my damned iPod already without buying a plastic disk that's just gonna sit on the shelf after being ripped.

grrrrrrr


ok sorry. deep breath.

[Natron]

*ducks to avoid Canadians*

[elgruga]

Expect some kind of application soon from Apple to 'bind' all the media stuff together.
Presumably iPhoto will need changes to handle iPod photo library?


anyone know how I can change the constant 'negative' button on my posts?

[bedrock22]

this is awesome. at this very moment apple owns the entire world.

awesome stuff, apple - color ipods WAY sooner than i expected!

[whooleytoo]

Available to the entire euro zone except Ireland? Bizarre.. Presumably must be a licensing issue, since the language and currency is already covered.

[Badradio]

Is that a U2 iPod or a Knight Rider iPod?

[hob]

U2 pod looks lovely! I'd get one in a second if I really liked the band - I love the colours!

iPod Photo for christmas! Thank god for educational discount!

[Metatron]

Okay, hate me everyone. But can we hack it to play movies. It will show pictures and sound, why not movie pictures and sound. Obviously the iPod is heading that direction. But an photo iPod seems useless. We have the new apple newton basically stripped. This thing is a stylus sort of being an all out PDA. Not that I want a PDA, that is usless to me, I just want to be able to take all my DVD's, export them to h.264 with the upcoming tiger, and play them anywhere.

As for the 15 hours battery, wow. And the U2 iPod is great looking.

[Sharewaredemon]

Yeah and there is a new ipod store online now too.

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPL....3.1.0.0.0.1.0