Holy Freakin' Crap iPod

[Greg King]

I have never been a fan of the iPod. Having said that, I did purchase a black 80GB model last year. While I have since resold it to my unfortunate boss, I can't express in words how slick the new lineup of iPods look. How about that iPod touch?

The Giz is covering everything iPod if your interested.

 

[Greg King]

Did I mention there are new iPods coming?

 

[Rob Williams]

Really? From our news:

There's little doubt that you knew about all of these products already, and it's no real help that we are posting about them an entire day late. I was just so ecstatic all day that I was unable to type up a news post. Really. Our friends at TheTechLounge have posted a report of all that's new, including new iPods, Ringtones, more iPods, Starbucks partnership and more.

Big fan of the iPhone but are too cheap to afford one? You'll be happy to know that one of the announcements was the price drop for the 8GB model: $399. Yes, the phones only been out for a few months but it has already dropped $200. You almost have to feel bad for the early adopters. Of most interest to me personally is the iPod Touch, an 8GB/16GB iPhone-type device... without the phone capabilities. It's smaller than the iPhone, naturally, but includes the same great screen. Overall a great showing.

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Finally, the iPod touch. The iPhone minus the phone. People have been asking for one ever since they laid eyes on the iPhone (Ed - I wanted one ever since I first heard rumors of one, long before the iPhone). And Steve really delivered this time. The iPod touch's screen and device dimensions are nearly identical to the phone, except that it's only 8mm thick (or thin). The iPhone is 11mm thick.

Source: TheTechLounge
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[Rob Williams]

The iPod Touch has caught my interest a little bit, but I am not sure I'd like to pay that kind of premium on a player with such low storage. You could get the iPod Touch 16GB for $400, or a 160GB iPod Classic for $50 less. The Touch is expensive primarily because of it's wicked screen and WiFi capabilities, but I do wish it had larger storage.

In other news, HTC has already filed a patent for "Touch", so it will be interesting to see if anything becomes of this.

http://www.dailytech.com/iPod+touch+Could+Run+Into+Legal+Issues/article8767.htm

 

[Rob Williams]

$100 back for early iPhone adopters:

We posted yesterday that Apple lowered the price of their iPhone to $399, to much expected angst by all of the early adopters who essentially paid a $200 premium for owning the phone for two months. Well, the reaction was so intense that Steve Job's stepped in and in an e-mail, noted that all early adopters would qualify for a $100 gift certificate to use at any Apple store, or online. Personally, I'd prefer cash, but it's not as though most iPhone owners don't ever plan on throwing more money towards Apple in the future anyway. Kudos to Apple for such a quick turn-around to remedy the issue.

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But even given the outcry, we definitely didn't see this one coming. In another open letter to his people, Jobs states that he's giving all iPhone owners a $100 Apple gift certificate (details to follow in the next week -- it goes without saying this will only apply to people who bought before the price drop).

Source: Engadget
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Cold-hard cash would have likely been preferred by most, but this is sure better than nothing.

 

[Agoia]

There is one huge freakin "bash your head through a cinderblock wall" catch to the new ipod touch/ iphone, though. The screen is glass, as opposed to the plastic-based previous ipod screens, to support the high stresses with all the touching. So if you drop it... gg hope you got some accidental damage protection.
On the other hand, 80gig ipod classic are super cheap now, and with that anodized aluminum top cover now instead of the easy to scratch/ chip glossy acrylic like on the first videos, so much more awesome.