On Wednesday 5th September 2007, Apple announced major updates to the iPod family at its “The Beat Goes On” special event in San Francisco. Candy Robinson gives us this exciting summary, including important information about the compatibility of the new iPod line with all the accessories,speaker systems and add-ons.
Summary
The iPod shuffle saw a refresh with new colors and packaging, an all-new iPod nano with video playing capbaility was introduced, as well as the iPod classic (which replaces the original “iPod Video”) and the all-new "iPod Touch". Our stock arrives 27th September, with the Touch arriving 3rd week October. You will need to order now to ensure availability as 75% our stock normally gets accounted for through pre-orders when new products come out.
iPod Shuffle 3rd generation
The new iPod shuffle is available in several new colors, including a (PRODUCT) RED model, light green, light blue, and light purple. The smallest iPod also received updated, smaller packaging, while storage capacity remains at 1GB.
iPod Nano 3rd generation with video playback
The all-new iPod nano has a larger 2-inch, 204 pixel per inch, 320x240 resolution screen for video and photo viewing. The all-new design is made from anodized aluminum (front) and polished stainless steel (on back, like the old iPod video) and is available in five colors: silver, black, blue, green, and a (PRODUCT) RED special edition. It offers 24 hours of audio playback or five hours of video playback on a single charge, and includes three bundled games: Vortex, iQuiz, and Klondike. The new iPod nano also receives an enhanced iPod interface with Cover Flow. It will be available in two storage capacities — a silver-only 4GB model and an 8GB model available in all five colors. “We’ve taken the most popular music player in the world and added stunning video playback just in time for the holiday season,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “The iPod nano just keeps getting better and better with each new generation.”
iPod Classic (iPod Video 6th generation)
Replacing the fifth-generation iPod in the company’s lineup, Apple’s new iPod classic features a new, thinner, all-metal anodized aluminum (front) and polished stainless steel (back) enclosure, the same enhanced iPod interface as the new iPod nano, including Cover Flow, and increased capacity and battery life. In addition, the iPod classic also comes bundled with three games: Vortex, iQuiz, and Klondike. The new 80GB iPod classic is thinner than the fifth-generation 30GB model, and offers 30 hours of music playback and five hours of video playback. The 160GB iPod classic offers storage for up to 40,000 songs, up to 40 hours of music playback and seven hours of video playback from a single charge. Available colors are silver and black.
iPod Touch
Building on the momentum of the iPhone’s iPod interface, the iPod touch features the same touch screen multi-touch interface found on the iPhone, as well as integrated Wi-Fi, the Safari web browser, a 3.5-inch widescreen display, and a 8mm thin enclosure. The iPod touch offers up to 22 hours of audio playback, up to five hours of video playback, and will be available in both 8GB and 16GB capacities. Our stocks arrive 20th October and we are taking orders now as they will all be sold out when they arrive.
iPhone
Apple also dropped the price of the 8GB iPhone to $399. “The surveys are in and iPhone customer satisfaction scores are higher than we’ve ever seen for any Apple product,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’ve clearly got a breakthrough product and we want to make it affordable for even more customers as we enter this holiday season.”
Compatibility with accessories
Cases and covers
iPod Nano 1st and 2nd gen covers/cases won't obviously fit the new 3rd generation Nano due to the dramatically different shape. iPod 5th generation Video cases/covers will still all be compatible with the new Classic iPod. 80GB Classic will fit old 5th gen 30GB cases/covers and 160GB Classic will fit old 5th gen 80GB cases/covers. All iPod Shuffle covers and cases will still be compatible. No cases are available for the iPod Touch yet.
Chargers/Earphones
All the new iPods use the standard iPod 30-pin "dock" connector to ensure ongoing compatibility with the accessory eco-system. All wall chargers, car chargers, Earphones, PowerJolt charge kits and TuneJuice battery backups etc will be fully compatible with all the new iPods.
FM transmitters
All In-Car FM transmitters that use a cable to connect to your iPods docking port will be fully compatible, such as the Kensington FM transmitter, the Kensington RDS, and the Griffin iTrip Auto. The Griffin SmartDeck cassette adapter will also be compatible.
FM transmitters that use the iPod screen to tune (Belkin TuneBase FM) will not work.
All portable FM transmitter products for the 5th generation Video will work with the new Classic. None of the portable FM solutions for the 1st or 2nd generation Nano is likely to be compatible with the 3rd generation Nano due to the drastic difference in size, thicknes and shape. The Griffin iTrip with dock connector and the iFM radio/remeote will work fine though.
Docking stations
The bad news is that the new iPod Nano, Classic and Touch will NOT be compatible with any existing docking stations or AV cables currently on the market for video/photo output. This includes our our top selling iPod AV iDock, DLO HomeDock, DLO HomeDock Deluxe-II, Universal docking cradle and PocketDock docking solutions. You will need a special component AV cable to view photos and videos on your TV
Speaker systems
All speaker systems should not pose any compatibility issues. Systems such as the FullBlast, Amplifi, Evolve, iHome Alarm Clock/Radio, Kensington FX300 and FX500 , XtremeMac Luna / Tango should work with the Nano and Classic and Touch. The top-selling iFun will work with the Classic and soon a cradle will be available for the Nano 3rd Gen.
Software
All our specialised iPod and DVD conversion software will still work with the new Classic iPods as well as the new video capabilities on the iPod Nano.
General electroncis
Any accessory that uses the iPod screen to display information or function correctly will not work with the new iPods. This inclused the iPod Camera connector, Belkin TuneBase FM, Belkin TuneFM and the Nike Sports Kit. Voice recording solutions such as the Belkin TuneTalk stereo ARE however compatible with the new iPods.