Apple's New iTunes 7 and iPods

I was waiting for Apple's big announcement, and it finally happened last week. I knew they would be coming out with something fairly big for the Christmas season, and it's here - the latest iTunes 7 along with a bunch of upgraded iPods.

With iTunes 7, the iTunes Store now includes movies! Seventy-five movies from Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar, Touchstone Pictures and Miramax Films are available for you to purchase, download and watch on your computer or iPod. Other movies will soon be available on the same day they are released on DVD for $12.99, or if pre-ordered and during the first week of availability, $14.99 thereafter, and library titles for $9.99.

Features in iTunes 7 allow you to better organize your digital music and videos, and include expanded parental controls, an iTunes video playback window with on-screen controls and the Cover Flow view that lets you browse your entire video collection by artwork. All videos purchased from iTunes are downloaded at near-DVD quality at 640x480 pixels (four times higher than before). Video game downloads from iTunes for your fifth generation iPod include Tetris, Mahjong, Mini Golf, Pac-Man, Cubis 2, Bejeweled, Zuma, Texas Hold’em and Vortex. In addition, 220 TV shows are also purchasable from the iTunes Store. A format playable on your flat screen television will also be available shortly.

Apple’s new iPod features a bigger (2.5-inch) display and an additional iPod color to choose from (sleek black). You can buy it in 30GB or 80GB, and with its small under a half-inch-thin size, it takes up about 45 percent less room than the previous iPod. The 30GB holds up to 2,500 songs (or 40 hours of video) and sells for $249. The 80GB holds about 20,000 songs (or 100 hours of video) and is $349. As for the battery life, the 30GB will give you about 14 hours for music playback and about three-and-a-half hours for video. The 80GB will give you about 20 hours for music and six-and-a-half hours for video.

The re-mastered iPod nanos have a smaller, thinner and lighter design with an aluminum body and 24 hours of battery life. Additional accessories (sold separately) include lanyard headphones, an armband, a dock and a super compact USB power adapter (about half the size of the previous USB adapter). The nano comes in 2GB (silver) for $149, 4GB (silver, pink, green and blue) for $199 and the 8GB (black) for $249.

Finally, my favorite of the new iPods is the shuffle. It is so tiny and cute, and about half the size of the original shuffle at half a cubic inch in volume, weighing in at half an ounce. It has an aluminum design with a built-in clip to make it easily wearable, especially with exercise. It holds up to 240 songs with its 1GB size. The asking price will be a very affordable $79 in October.

All these iPods include the redesigned earbud headphones and require a Mac with a USB 2.0 port and Mac OSX Version 10.3.9 or later with iTunes 7. For you Windows users, you’ll need a USB 2.0 port, Windows 2000 (Service Pack 4) or Windows XP Home or Professional (Service Pack 2) and iTunes 7.

For more information on these Apple products, log onto www.apple.com or visit the Apple Store at Ala Moana Center.