iPod Tall, the iPod Grande, and the iPod Venti

I don’t know why Apple just doesn’t grab me by my ankles and shake my money out of my pocket. They really make it hard for me to resist picking up their new toys. A revived and renewed line of iPods was annouced yesterday, and there are some nice surprises:

iPod nanos have been redesigned and now plays video. This comes as a surprise as I thought Apple would stick with the more gym-friendly/pack of gum shaped player. The new players appear to be the size of an iPod cut in half, with a 2-inch screen that Apple claims has the same high quality resolution as the full-sized video iPod. They come in a 4GB ($169 CDN) and an 8GB ($219 CDN) version, with battery life estimated at 24 hours audio, 5 hours video playback. These will be in the stores this weekend.

The video iPod is slightly touched up with a new name (iPod Classic), a new metal shell, and a hell of an upgrade on the storage size: an 80GB model ($279) and a 160GB ($399) model. Holy crap, it comes in “Jason Size”. Nice to see that I can back-up all my music on the iPod and still have room for TV shows and movies. The new iPod Classics are on the shelves this weekend.

The winner though is the new iPod Touch model. Basically it’s the iPhone without the phone service, but you still get Wireless Internet! You get a touch screen iPod with a web browser, and now you can finally buy music wirelessly direct from the new WiFi iTunes store. Add in the direct link to YouTube videos and that’s good geeking right there. I wasn’t waiting for an iPhone, but I’d love to use an iPod Touch. The memory appears to be flash like the nano, so the capacity is smaller than a standard iPod. The 8Gb model runs $329 CDN and the 16GB model runs $449. This model won’t be in stores until the end of the September. It will sell well this holiday, but I hope to see a 80+ GB model soon. Now that would sell.

No changes to the iPod Shuffle aside from some new colours. It runs you $89 CDN with 1GB storage.

No announcements on the iPhone coming to Canada yet, but the price in the US dropped. The iPhone is now only available in an 8Gb model, but the price dropped down to $399 US.

Another interesting initiative: Apple and Starbucks are in partnership to sell music wirelessly in Starbucks outlets. You go into Starbucks, you hear the song playing, you break out the iPod Touch and go to the WiFi store, and it shows you what songs are playing right there in the Starbucks. A couple taps and you can buy the song right there on the iPod Touch. Holy corporate synergy. It’s not exactly a feature that fans were clamouring for, but it’s an intriguing idea. Apparently iPods and coffee go together. No idea if this is US only or when it will rollout in Canada.

Apple’s lineup for this holiday season: the iPod shuffle in 5 great new colors; the iPod nano with video; the renewed iPod classic with up to 40k songs/160GB in your pocket; and the hot item this season, the iPod Touch with WiFi. Consumers, start your spending.

Full coverage of the Apple presentation by Steve Jobs

Apple Store Canada