Apple User Podcast

Just in time for the holiday season, Apple today unveiled a massive revision to it’s 110 million selling iPod line.

The revisions began with the iPod Shuffle, this small iPod is the size of a stamp and clips onto a lapel or shirt collar in a discreet manner suitable for bringing on trips to places that an iPod Nano might be too valuable to have, lke the beach, a jog through the woods, or when you’ve got to carry as little as possible. The iPod shuffle is now available in five new colors, including a Product (Red) edition which benefits African charities, they are still $79.

The iPod Nano received one of it’s most sensational revisions yet when the third generation became a video playing, game playing slender and sleek model. The iPod Nano starts at $149 for the 4GB model and $199 for the 8GB model, prior to hands on testing, the blogosphere was concerned it was too broad, but Engadgets Ryan Block said this after getting hands on with it at the Moscone center:

Ok, we know we’ve been calling it the fatty, but we’ll be straight up with you guys: the third gen iPod nano is friggin’ tiny. It’s maybe not the most beautifully proportioned iPod we’ve ever seen, but its tapered edges and ridiculously thin frame make up for the squatness going on here.

The iPod that we’ve known and loved has gotten a beautiful aluminum wrapper and beefed up storage, it can now hold 80GB of music videos and pictures for $249 or 160GB for $349. The iPod classic is exactly what can be expected a sleek and good looking elder iPod who seems content to hand the throne over to the successor King, his beautiful and technologically amazing son, the iPod Touch

The iPod Touch is the iPod to rule them all, Multi Touch Wide Screen Display, Web Browser, iTunes purchasing on the go, slender as can be, and absolutely gorgeous. Starting at $299, it’s got a generous 8GB of storage and goes up to 16GB of storage for $399 (at which price you can also now buy an iPhone 8GB model)

The iPod Touch and iPhone have similar feature sets with the iPhone having enough extras to make it a tantalizing temptation, Maps, Email, and, Camera are certainly three of the top reasons I’ve got my iPhone, it’s a business tool through and through, the iPhone meets a certain user set and I’ve a feeling the iPod touch is going to meet the larger user set who is simply seeking an iPod, after all, two days ago folks were paying $249 for an 8GB Nano with a small screen, they’ll surely love a full screen multi touch display, with Wifi web browsing and iTunes purchasing built in. They don’t even need a Mac or PC anymore to fill it with Music.

Both the iPhone and iPod Touch are gaining the superpower of Wireless iTunes purchasing through a new custom application that looks nice and simple.

With this revision of the iPod lineup, Apple is sure to reignite the interest of consumers and leave competing music players scrambling for competitive solutions, the iPhone price drop is a masterful piece of Machiavellian marketing, let Steve Ballmer and others scoff at the iPhone for the last six months, “Pfff, $600 for a phone!”

Then stun all by making it incredibly affordable, to compare, examine the price of unlocked Palm Treo’s and Rimm Blackberries, both sets of smart phones are in the $350 plus price range with the Palm 750 at $599. Out of the clear blue sky the iPhone is now a major competitor on price and a clear winner in terms of functionality.

One more feature worth noting is the existence of CoverFlow on all three of the new iPod models, iPod Nano, iPod Classic and iPod Touch, more than making these devices incredibly sexy to navigate, this confirms the existence of a OS X style operating system under the hood, great news for all Mac Programmers, developers and users, it verifies Apple’s commitment to the OS and their skills in advancing their software for the benefit of customers.