RSSApple Adds 1GB nano, Cuts Shuffle Prices
By Ed Oswald | Published February 7, 2006, 10:42 AM
Facing increasing pressure from its rivals, Apple on Tuesday introduced a 1GB nano as well as cutting prices on its Shuffle line. The moves are designed to make Apple's ubiquitous players more affordable to a broader segment of the market, as well as to respond to price pressures from rivals.
Analysts have been predicting a smaller nano since before Macworld in January. However, many predicted after no Shuffle refresh at the yearly convention that the small player's days were numbered.
The new nano would carry the same feature set as its larger siblings, and would be able to hold about 240 songs or 15,000 photos, and would be priced aggressively at $149 USD.
"The iPod is the world's most popular digital music player with over 40 million sold, and now even more music lovers can experience the unrivaled combination of iPod and iTunes," said vice president of Worldwide iPod Marketing Greg Joswiak.
The new unit would be available immediately from Apple's online store its retail outlets as well as through its Apple Authorized Resellers.
Along with its announcement of the smaller nano, prices of the Shuffle models were cut from $99 USD to $69 USD for the 512MB version and from $129 USD to $99 USD for the 1GB. Apple's continuing strength in the flash-based player market as well as better prices on flash memory likely contributed to the price drop.
$149? That's about £85.45 (and I wouldn't be suprised if it retails at £99 here in the UK) - I don't want to sound tight but why would I pay that if it only holds 240 songs?
Edit:
I've just read on the BBC website that the 1gb new iPod Nano will be priced at £109 in the UK! Now that's even worse!! £109 for 240 songs?? I think not somehow.
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"Analysts have been predicting a smaller nano since before Macworld in January."
I was hoping for a smaller Shuffle to use as a flash drive although I suppose it's already the ideal size from it's primary usability standpoint.
P.S. IMHO, the Sony NW-HD5 is a better comparison to the iPod as opposed to the iPod nano, and iPod Shuffle.
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So if I wanted a crap AAC player...now would be the time to buy, eh?
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all are again deceived:) they are still not cheap in a way! but the quality = excellent !
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"but the quality = excellent !", you havent used sony nw-hd5, so you dont know what quality is. ipods brake, scratch too easily. not to mention poooor batteries, and inferior sound quality.
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"iPods brake"
You mean I can use as brakes on my car? That a feature I wasn't aware of!(I know that was nitpicky but it was too funny.)
The battery life on HD-5 is good but I wish Sony wouldn't screw up what could have been a great product which such awful software.
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sonic stage dose suck! but their hardware just cant be beaten, the only reason i still use sony products.
and yes you can use the ipod as friction pads for the brakes on your car, although that might require slight modification to your brakes, and it might go against some safety regulations, atleast over here.
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I would love to see how the iPod brake would work maybe someone on Slashdot has a story they would be willing to share. lol.
If only somebody could create a third party app that worked with the sony network walkman it would be a great product.
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woooo, i wish musikCube was able to manage music on my walkman. that would be excelent.
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iTunes is a resource hog, but I also love the layout of it. Functional and looks really good too. The visualizer is unreal (not that I use that much, but it is still cool). When installing it, make sure to block Quicktime from creating an entry in the "Run" registry folder (it's burried pretty deep in there). I hate when quicktime loads when my computer starts.
Oh and this is good news for the iPod, getting cheaper (and better) all the time. My video ipod is great for trips, although people probably look at me strangely in the airport when I'm dying laughing at a movie, but at least I'm entertained.
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Try Winamp (http://www.winamp.com)
I don't think it's a big of a "resource hog" as iTunes. It also allows you do exactly what iTunes does. With a plugin it can even play music puchased through iTunes and transfer music to your iPod.
Buy through iTunes - play through Winamp.
Just a suggestions cause it works for me.
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Which plugin are you using? The only Winamp plugin I know of that allows you to play .m4p (files purchased from iTunes) requires iTunes to be installed on the PC, which really defeats the purpose of looking for an alternative to iTunes.
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Its not to defeat having iTunes installed, its to defeat USING iTunes as the primary player (because it was suggested that it uses lots of resources, where WinAmp does not)
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"now even more music lovers can experience the unrivaled combination of iPod and iTunes"
Can I now just plug in the device and have it work? Will iTunes not start when ever I start my computer? No well then it is NOT unrivaled combination. It is just a resource HOG.
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Well, I've never had trouble getting an iPod to work when I plug it in to my computer, and I used to have iTunes start up when I turned my computer on. And I still think iTunes is the best organized and best sounding music player out there.
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Not when you use WMP11, true you can't get it but. Of course it works when you plug it in you install the ipod software. With other MP3 players I don't need to install any software it jsut works.
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