Apple unveils iPod touch and iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store

[AppleInsider]

Apple on Wednesday catered to the demands of iPod users worldwide, unveiling a new "iPod touch" player featuring the company's revolutionary multi-touch user interface that enables users to find and enjoy all of their music, videos and more on its widescreen display with just the touch of a finger.

iPod touch

First introduced on iPhone, the multi-touch interface uses pioneering new Mac OS X-based software to present the ideal user interface for each application. The iPod touch also includes Wi-Fi wireless networking, the first on any iPod, and three applications that use it -- Safari, the most advanced browser on any mobile device, lets users wirelessly view web pages just as they look on their computer, and features Google Search or Yahoo! oneSearch; Apple's YouTube application lets users wirelessly watch over 10 million free videos from the Internet's most popular video website; and the new iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store lets users wirelessly browse, preview and buy songs and albums from the most popular online music store in the world. The iPod touch is an unbelievable 8 mm thin, and is priced starting at just $299.

"The iPod touch is a landmark iPod, ushering in a whole new generation of features based on its revolutionary multi-touch interface and built-in Wi-Fi wireless networking," said Apple chief executive Steve Jobs. "People are going to be amazed at how thin it is and how much it does."

With its 3.5-inch widescreen display, iPod touch is ideal for watching movies and TV shows, as well as viewing photos and album art. The player also features a built-in accelerometer that automatically senses when you rotate it into its landscape position, just like iPhone. When you're in music, it automatically switches to Cover Flow so you can browse your music collection by album cover artwork with just a flick of a finger. When in Photos, it automatically displays the photo in its landscape aspect ratio; and when in Safari it displays the web page horizontally.



iPod touch -- which features up to 22 hours of audio playback and up to five hours of video playback -- also has a built-in ambient light sensor that automatically adjusts the display's brightness.

iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store

Also launched alongside the iPod touch is Apple's iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store, which lets you browse the iTunes Top Ten lists of songs and albums overall or by genre, check out new releases and "What's Hot," or search for your favorite songs, albums or artists.

You can preview any song for free, then purchase and download the ones you like directly onto your iPod touch over Wi-Fi. The music you download will be automatically uploaded into your iTunes library the next time you sync your iPod touch with your computer.



With Safari, which Apple says is the most advanced web browser ever on a portable device, you can see web pages the way they were meant to be seen, with the ability to zoom into any webpage with a tap of your finger. The Safari web browser includes built-in Google Search and Yahoo! oneSearch so you can quickly and easily find information you need. iPod touch also includes Apple's proprietary YouTube application that allows you to access, browse and search for millions of free YouTube videos over Wi-Fi.

Starbucks partnership

Apple also announced an exclusive agreement with Starbucks that allows you to access the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store for free in participating US Starbucks stores starting next month. When you enter a participating Starbucks location, your iPod touch, iPhone, or PC or Mac running iTunes will automatically recognize the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store. You can see what song is currently playing or has recently played in the store, and immediately preview, buy and download it over Wi-Fi.

Pricing & Availability

The new iPod touch is scheduled to be available later this month. The 8GB iPod touch model is $299 (US) and the 16GB iPod model is $399 (US). iPod touch requires a Mac with a USB 2.0 port, Mac OS X 10.4.10 or later and iTunes 7.4; or a Windows PC with a USB 2.0 port and Windows Vista or Windows XP Home or Professional (Service Pack 2) or later and iTunes 7.4. Internet access is required and a broadband connection is recommended, fees may apply. The iTunes Store is not available in all countries.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[ChrisDaMacMan]

Hmmm 8Gb and 16Gb is that it? i was hoping for more. But everything else...just WOW....droulllll

Definatly getting an iPod Touch when the storage is higher, though I'm guessing I maybe waiting for a while!

[kb9uwu]

Where is the 32gb? Or the 80gb hard drive? Guess I'll just have to be happy with my 40gig 4th gen.

[ecking]

I'm gonna have to get the 16gb touch, but goddamn if they'd just put it's OS into a 512mb-1gb flash chip and put in that 80gb and 160gb drive just for storage, all competitors would be putting revolvers in their mouths.

[TenoBell]

Wow Apple is looking to thouroughly dominate the ports le device market. Its rare Apple offers so many options. The classic iPod for increased storage. I think the iPod touch is a stop gap until flash storage catches up and prices go down.

Now every iPod with a screen can play video. Presumably they all run OS X and two devices that use Safari. Which will have Apple sellig millions more devices that use Safari increasing its marketshare.

[desarc]

WTF Jobs?!?!?

soooo pissed off that i spent an extra $200 on my phone than i needed to.
fastest selling launch in history? and fastest to piss off the early adopters.

[AgNuke1707]

Pretty exciting announcements, but I have to say that I am majorly pissed about the iPhone announcement. I bought a 4GB iPhone about 2 months ago, and now it's gone - really Steve ... why release a product that you're going to kill in a matter of months. Why didn't you just hold the iPhone until well - today. No significant updates for the iPhone since it's release, other the WiFi store today and the stability updates. Really, really frustrating ... other than that though I thought it was a pretty good announcement. I like the fatty nano, and keeping the iPod classic with the 80 GB minimum. Now we'll sit back and see if iPhone and iPod touch deveopment app development will go hand in hand...

[mdriftmeyer]

Originally Posted by ChrisDaMacMan

Hmmm 8Gb and 16Gb is that it? i was hoping for more. But everything else...just WOW....droulllll

Definatly getting an iPod Touch when the storage is higher, though I'm guessing I maybe waiting for a while!

I tell you what. You develop NAND Memory that makes 32Gig chipsets affordable and you'll get your wish.

[mdriftmeyer]

Originally Posted by desarc

WTF Jobs?!?!?

soooo pissed off that i spent an extra $200 on my phone than i needed to.
fastest selling launch in history? and fastest to piss off the early adopters.

F-off. Be thankful you could afford that original price. Most people can't. Now they will have a greater chance and Apple will have a greater chance of success.

What's next? Going to bitch that HDTV/HDMI sets are dropping madly and you spent twice a year prior what they cost now?

[Rich-Myster]

i just got home and when i read this i came a little in my pants.

[TenoBell]

The iPod touch uses flash solid state drives. Which has no moving parts, uses less power and enables the device to be thinner. 16GB is about the most right now because of price and constrained supply. 32GB of flash would cost about $500 right now.

[SpamSandwich]

Originally Posted by AgNuke1707

Pretty exciting announcements, but I have to say that I am majorly pissed about the iPhone announcement. I bought a 4GB iPhone about 2 months ago, and now it's gone - really Steve ... why release a product that you're going to kill in a matter of months. Why didn't you just hold the iPhone until well - today. No significant updates for the iPhone since it's release, other the WiFi store today and the stability updates. Really, really frustrating ... other than that though I thought it was a pretty good announcement. I like the fatty nano, and keeping the iPod classic with the 80 GB minimum. Now we'll sit back and see if iPhone and iPod touch deveopment app development will go hand in hand...

Sorry about your iPhone purchase, but that's life with Apple.

I'm very excited that they are finally expanding their offerings. iPod Touch and the fatso are gonna be huuuuuuuuuge sellers this season. Did I mention huge?

A little weird they didn't bump the shuffle to 2GB, but no biggie, they are still selling like crazy.

[m00nchild]

I don't care what snazzy features the iPod touch possesses. It has no real capacity and chains me to my computer to constantly update its content. Without any real 100gb - 120gb storage solution on the horizon, I'm jumping to the competition.

Yes, their interfaces suck.

No, they don't sync ideally with iTunes.

But I get access to my music when and how I want it. And there are many of us 80gb iPod owners who didn't buy the iPod because it had a glamorous touch screen, but because they wanted all of their music on one device.

Cheers, Apple. You lost me on this one.

[TjOeNeR]

It's actually quite good they launch it with only flash memory.

iPods sell like hot cakes, so they need a lot of flash, so the prices will drop.

[ecking]

Yeah anyone with a 4gb iphone has to feel a bit of a sting, but this is what happens to early adopters unfortunately. People with 8gb model that bought in the last month must feel shitty too. But now when it comes to canada it might actually be a decent price.

[AgNuke1707]

Originally Posted by SpamSandwich

Sorry about your iPhone purchase, but that's life with Apple.

I'm very excited that they are finally expanding their offerings. iPod Touch and the fatso are gonna be huuuuuuuuuge sellers this season. Did I mention huge?

A little weird they didn't bump the shuffle to 2GB, but no biggie, they are still selling like crazy.

Eh, it's cool ... I bought the iMac G5 three days before they moved it to Intel - I didn't think it'd move over so fast since they had just updated it, but oh well. I decided to keep it anyway and I've enjoyed it. The good news is maybe in like 30 years my 4 GB iPhone will be one heck of a collectors item. If I didn't already have more than enough iPods, I'd seriously consider getting the iPod classic for the storage, but oh well - my credit card is still hurting from the iPhone and new MacBook Pro - no more Apple for me for a little while!

[marbiol]

[QUOTE=m00nchild;1137159]I don't care what snazzy features the iPod touch possesses. It has no real capacity and chains me to my computer to constantly update its content. Without any real 100gb - 120gb storage solution on the horizon, I'm jumping to the competition./QUOTE]

If your only issue is capacity then why not sell your current ipod and move to the 160GB classic?

[ThunkDifferent.com]

The iPod Touch is what many people have wanted, now they have it, hurray for today.

[DoctorRobert]

Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer

F-off. Be thankful you could afford that original price. Most people can't. Now they will have a greater chance and Apple will have a greater chance of success.

What's next? Going to bitch that HDTV/HDMI sets are dropping madly and you spent twice a year prior what they cost now?

You know, I think he's right. I'm an AAPL shareholder and I still think it's not cool to do that to early adopters--2 months after an ultra-hyped product to just discount 33%? It's disconcerting, but I think they reassessed their strategy after more data came in, and it's the right thing to do, and there's no easy solution to not piss off the early adopters (who will be rightfully pissed).

[mydo]

No email? WTF?

[pmjoe]

Well, still waiting for 3rd party app development support from Apple on these (iPod touch/iPhone). Otherwise, I'd order one today. You'd think Jobs would be getting tired of seeing all the black space in the icon dock, but he probably sees $ icons when he looks there. Hopefully it's just that they're working on a secure space/mechanism/API to install 3rd party apps.

The prices are good, and the features are good though.

[machei]

Slippin' rippin' dang fang rotten zarg barga ding-dong!

Everything I ever wanted in an iPod with the capacity to hold only half of my 5G, and it's already straining. Sorry Steve. 400 bucks for a flashier interface and WiFi is not something I'm getting if the storage isn't there.

Siiiigh. Well, there's always next year.

[TenoBell]

I think the price drop means we'll see a 16GB iPhone soon.

[ecking]

Originally Posted by m00nchild

I don't care what snazzy features the iPod touch possesses. It has no real capacity and chains me to my computer to constantly update its content. Without any real 100gb - 120gb storage solution on the horizon, I'm jumping to the competition.

Yes, their interfaces suck.

No, they don't sync ideally with iTunes.

But I get access to my music when and how I want it. And there are many of us 80gb iPod owners who didn't buy the iPod because it had a glamorous touch screen, but because they wanted all of their music on one device.

Cheers, Apple. You lost me on this one.

When and how you want it? What are you talking about? As far as I know there's only 1 other wifi music player that has big storage. I think archos makes it.

And if your probably is storage the classic more than covers that.

And there are many of us 80gb iPod owners who didn't buy the iPod because it had a glamorous touch screen, but because they wanted all of their music on one device.

Then get the iPod classic 160gb and shut up.

[pmjoe]

Originally Posted by mydo

No email? WTF?

and iChat for that matter. With WiFi, you'd think these would be no-brainers.

[palegolas]

MAIL... anyone...? Missing feature...
It's like saying iPhone is for communication, iPod Touch is for play...
I hope there will be mail, I was ready to buy but now I won't... More than half the thing with internet is e-mail after all... oh well...

[KennyWRX]

Come'on guys... it was obvious that the iPhone was overpriced... the price sum Steve did last time didn't make any sense... and most people were like... what?!?! It's the price to pay for having it first... or in other words... it pays to be patient.

[m00nchild]

[QUOTE=marbiol;1137166]

Originally Posted by m00nchild

I don't care what snazzy features the iPod touch possesses. It has no real capacity and chains me to my computer to constantly update its content. Without any real 100gb - 120gb storage solution on the horizon, I'm jumping to the competition./QUOTE]

If your only issue is capacity then why not sell your current ipod and move to the 160GB classic?

Capacity really is my issue and I'm upset that Apple continues to not respond to a segment of the iPod user community that keeps clamoring for larger capacity.. Otherwise I adore iPods. But I have a large music collection and I use my iPod in a number of situations (underground radio shows, club performances, etc.) where having access to my entire collection is preferable.

What do you mean by 160GB classic?

[melgross]

Originally Posted by kb9uwu

Where is the 32gb? Or the 80gb hard drive? Guess I'll just have to be happy with my 40gig 4th gen.

Price, baby, price. 32GB would have increased the price another $100 to $150.

[ZagMac]

So glad there is "iPhone" option now that doesn't require at&t. Converged phones are overrated in my opinion. Why give my money to Stan Sigman (remember what a fool he made of himself during first iPhone event???) and the Death Star when I can have great T-Mobile service on the cheap for calls and an iPod Touch to do oh so much more. Besides initial cool factor, who needs a giant iPhone (or Sidekick or Blackberry or Treo or etc.) with them when out on the town, at a ballgame, etc. Just have never understood that need. Give me a thin Samsung or even the RAZR (RAZR 2 looks fun, too!) everyone is bored with and I'm good.

Anyway, I know lots of people like lots of different things, but this feels like heaven to me.....now if only I could time warp to cheaper flash memory and an 80GB Touch.......

[melgross]

Originally Posted by ecking

I'm gonna have to get the 16gb touch, but goddamn if they'd just put it's OS into a 512mb-1gb flash chip and put in that 80gb and 160gb drive just for storage, all competitors would be putting revolvers in their mouths.

I think they're going to be doing that anyway. Along with the price drop for the iPhone, there is no product line as good as this one

[m00nchild]

I love how rude people are when confronted with frustration that someone might have. Instead of saying: Did you hear about x? or did you think about y? Then just launch full on into "shut up" or "get out" -- when the frustration wasn't even originally directed at them.

I just found out about the Classics. That model was buried underneath all the other iPod announcements.

Thanks for the person who told me I should check it out.

I'm less frustrated by Apple now.

[bambuhiphop]

Originally Posted by m00nchild

I don't care what snazzy features the iPod touch possesses. It has no real capacity and chains me to my computer to constantly update its content. Without any real 100gb - 120gb storage solution on the horizon, I'm jumping to the competition.

Yes, their interfaces suck.

No, they don't sync ideally with iTunes.

But I get access to my music when and how I want it. And there are many of us 80gb iPod owners who didn't buy the iPod because it had a glamorous touch screen, but because they wanted all of their music on one device.

Cheers, Apple. You lost me on this one.

Did you watch/read the event? They announced a 160 gig ipod. Sure it doesn't have a touch screen but its got more than enough storage. There is not enough demand for flash memory yet so the prices are still a bit high. The same thing happened with the original ipod. After they sold a crap load or them prices for hard drives dropped and larger capacities became available. Its called a product life cycle. Sure its nice to want everything now but in the real world of "business" you cannot do that and still turn a profit. If you really want a ipod touch give it a while and the prices on flash memory should drop and they can put larger capacities into the ipods. But if you are looking for capacity I should think the 160 gig will do.

[SpamSandwich]

Originally Posted by mydo

No email? WTF?

Get mail from Yahoo, Gmail through Safari... what's the problem?

[melgross]

Originally Posted by AgNuke1707

Pretty exciting announcements, but I have to say that I am majorly pissed about the iPhone announcement. I bought a 4GB iPhone about 2 months ago, and now it's gone - really Steve ... why release a product that you're going to kill in a matter of months. Why didn't you just hold the iPhone until well - today. No significant updates for the iPhone since it's release, other the WiFi store today and the stability updates. Really, really frustrating ... other than that though I thought it was a pretty good announcement. I like the fatty nano, and keeping the iPod classic with the 80 GB minimum. Now we'll sit back and see if iPhone and iPod touch deveopment app development will go hand in hand...

People complain that the price is too high, and don't buy it. People complain that Apple lowered the price after they bought it.

I can't feel sorry for someone who bought it when it first came out. I do feel a bit sorry for people who just bought it.

But this is the life we face these days. Everything is fast paced.

I never worry when prices go down shortly after I buy something when it involves electronics. It's to be expected.

[desarc]

there is a difference between a YEAR and two MONTHS.
my tv was 2200 at christmas last year. it's 1800 now. that's a 19% drop in 9 months.
the iPhone just dropped 33% in 2 months. that's f'ing insulting.

[SpamSandwich]

Originally Posted by bambuhiphop

Did you watch/read the event? They announced a 160 gig ipod. Sure it doesn't have a touch screen but its got more than enough storage. There is not enough demand for flash memory yet so the prices are still a bit high. The same thing happened with the original ipod. After they sold a crap load or them prices for hard drives dropped and larger capacities became available. Its called a product life cycle. Sure its nice to want everything now but in the real world of "business" you cannot do that and still turn a profit. If you really want a ipod touch give it a while and the prices on flash memory should drop and they can put larger capacities into the ipods. But if you are looking for capacity I should think the 160 gig will do.

I agree, keeping the so-called "classic" iPod is a smart move for those most interested in storage/capacity. iPod Touch is for browsing/surfing. I wouldn't mind owning both!

[asdasd]

Without any real 100gb - 120gb storage solution on the horizon, I'm jumping to the competition..

Well don't let the door... on, wait. I forgot. There is a 100gb-120gb on the horizon. Announced today, in fact. Called the iPod classic, it maxes out at 160gb.

So no for slamming you on the ass on the way out then, is there? You can have your cake and eat, not caring, as you dont, about interfaces you can remain a happy member of the iPod family.

I assume you did not know this, and I guess they kept the classic range for that very reason: peopel like you.

[melgross]

Originally Posted by m00nchild

I don't care what snazzy features the iPod touch possesses. It has no real capacity and chains me to my computer to constantly update its content. Without any real 100gb - 120gb storage solution on the horizon, I'm jumping to the competition.

Yes, their interfaces suck.

No, they don't sync ideally with iTunes.

But I get access to my music when and how I want it. And there are many of us 80gb iPod owners who didn't buy the iPod because it had a glamorous touch screen, but because they wanted all of their music on one device.

Cheers, Apple. You lost me on this one.

Good bye

I hope you find something almost useful..

[bg_nyc]

Originally Posted by palegolas

MAIL... anyone...? Missing feature...
It's like saying iPhone is for communication, iPod Touch is for play...
I hope there will be mail, I was ready to buy but now I won't... More than half the thing with internet is e-mail after all... oh well...

Lack of chat is ridiculous... but cant you access your mail accounts via safari? just log into yahoo or hotmail or whatever you use.

I was pissed at first, but then i realized that when i want to get online, i bring my powerbook. The touch only appeals to me due to the larger screen. If I can get a large, vivid screen and 160GB storage, its all good! But instead, they left the screen the same. That what annoys me.

Now, since i cant get big storage with a big screen, my only option is to wait another year, build more playlsits, and keep using my 80GB 5G.