iTunes 4.9 NOW AVAILABLE!

[Porchland]

It's still white!

The new iPod...

Also the iPod U2 Special Edition is now branded the iPod U2, and it has a color screen.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Obvious n00b question, but what is a "Podcast"? *cowers and runs for treeline to safety*

I really just don't know, haven't read anything about them and I see all this fuss so I assume it is a neat thing....please share.

It's nothing more than a talk show or monolog recorded to an audio format like mp3 or AAC so you can download it to your iPod or other mp3 player. 99% of Podcasts are done by radio talkshow wannabes with no access to the radio waves and are quite boring. There are a few gems, but it's a lot of work to pick them out of the haystack.

Lately a lot of real radio talk shows have been available as podcasts so you can listen to them when you want, not when they are on. Many of these are not free though.

 

[mvc]

Those prices( $299, $399) any better, can't remember previous prices

 

[broken_keyboard]

I'm betting new iPods to go with new iTunes...

Yes... you got it!

 

[andiwm2003]

apple store up. new ipods. didn't see a phone yet.

 

[MightyB]

Those prices( $299, $399) any better, can't remember previous prices

The 30 GB photo was 349...

 

[efoto]

UK store back up, 20 & 60Gb iPods, no photos, all colour screens, 15 hours of battery life... is that it?

I feel the same, that is pretty bunk. So now everyone gets color and photo capability (great, there goes iPod Photo purchase only months ago) and pricing for the line is more tight making an iPod at every pricerange in most cases.

iPod line breakdown:

• iPod Shuffle at $99 (512MB) and $129 (1GB)
• iPod mini at $199 (4GB) and $249 (6GB)
• iPod [Photo] at $299 (20GB) and $399 (60GB)
• iPod U2 at $329 (20GB)

Edit: There is still a rather large gap between Shuffle and mini, $130 to $200, quite the difference although probably not a bad thing really. From the 4GB mini there seems to be an iPod at every $50 increment, nice job Apple (roughly, counting U2 at $330).

 

[broken_keyboard]

Thank God they simplified the lineup a bit. Only 2 models: 20 & 60, and no "Photo" in the name.

Edit: I also think there should only be 1 iPod Shuffle.

 

[PeterBonnar]

UK store back up, 20 & 60Gb iPods, no photos, all colour screens, 15 hours of battery life... is that it?

well its not so much no photo. It just the photo has been renamed to just plain ipod

 

[Porchland]

OK, I'm officially disappointed. Nobody ever said every announcement has to be earth-shattering, but this is nothing more than a rebranding/repricing of the iPod.

Good move, but I was hoping for more.

 

[gleepskip]

The iPod [Photo] 60 gig *was* $449.

 

[asif786]

well, i think it's a great update. we weren't expecting video ipods yet anyway..

it's my birthday on thursday, so i think i know what i'll be purchasing..

 

[john1123]

doesn't seem to work with my iPod shuffle... i can't sync podcasts!

 

[efoto]

Thank God they simplified the lineup a bit. Only 2 models: 20 & 60, and no "Photo" in the name.

Edit: I also think there should only be 1 iPod Shuffle.

I would agree only one Shuffle, a $30 price difference hardly seperates the the two, would have made sense to move all to 1GB, that or offer 1GB for $129 and introduce a 2GB model at $159 or something, although that is still only $30 it would spruce up the line....make it look like innovation which is good.

I would assume consolidation of the Shuffle would save them money, I can't imagine manufacturing the 512MB costs more than $4 or $5 more than the 1GB version, media is cheap, margins are high

 

[gleepskip]

Unfortunately, iTunes 4.9 isn't as feature-rich as I prefer. One of the main features I appreciate in iPodderX is the ability to convert podcasts to bookmarkable AAC. 4.9 does not appear to have that feature. Also, I've yet to see a Torrent-distributed podcast (such as TWiT) download properly. iPX also handles these.

 

[rockthecasbah]

The store is now updated. Podcast banner located top-middle. So far there are ESPN, Disney, KCRW, and ABCnews.com podcasts plus a whole slew of others.

Update, It was working earlier.
Click

To make it valid all you must do is click "publish podcast" in the music store.

 

[Darwin]

OK, I'm officially disappointed. Nobody ever said every announcement has to be earth-shattering, but this is nothing more than a rebranding/repricing of the iPod.

Good move, but I was hoping for more.

Best wait for that event to see if anything other then the Phone shows up

 

[VanMac]

Glad I got my 30GB Photo version a few weeks ago. The extra 10GB is nice, and only $60 CDN more then the new 20GB. Also not as thick as the 60GB.

 

[Porchland]

well its not so much no photo. It just the photo has been renamed to just plain ipod

The main iPod page isn't up yet, but it's defaulting to ipod/color. No mention in the iPod page in the store of photo, so I'm wondering whether Apple is going to redo photos for the iPod as an add-on app of somekind -- iPhoto for your iPod or something.

EDIT:

OK, the iPod page is up and apparently the photo features are the same.

 

[zeppiecr]

Edit: There is still a rather large gap between Shuffle and mini, $130 to $200, quite the difference although probably not a bad thing really. From the 4GB mini there seems to be an iPod at every $50 increment, nice job Apple (roughly, counting U2 at $330).

Could the price gap between shuffle and mini be room for the phone? Or do you think the phone, if it ever comes out, is irrelevant to the actual ipod pricing.

 

[snowdog]

Anyone had any luck adding other podcasts that don't appear in the podcast section of the iTunes store?

Yep, no problem here.
Just select advanced and "Subscribe to Podcast"
Enter the url, and that's it.

 

[Stella]

New Ipods.. seriously lame.

"PodCast ready"..

My G2 works just fine with Podcasts.

Where has the innovation gone?

 

[efoto]

Anyone click the mini once in the ''new iPods'' link and were then sent back to the main store page?

Edit: Nevermind, I can get to the iPod mini page through the normal iPod Store link, link to the minis must be fubbed through that new link...oh well.

 

[Machead III]

Unless we see more at the media event, this was a truly stunningly bad update on Apples part. When the iPod needs significant feature additions to compete with the massive contest that is lining up against it, to simply reprice a couple models is about the single worst decision I could possibly conceive of the company making.

 

[Sharewaredemon]

Glad I got my 30GB Photo version a few weeks ago. The extra 10GB is nice, and only $60 CDN more then the new 20GB. Also not as thick as the 60GB.

Yeah, what a bummer for me, I'm in the market for a new iPod but I want 40 Gb

Hopefully they will come out with a 5G iPod soon.

though a update like this seems like they aren't going to.

Grrrr