Happy Apple Christmas! Tim Cook's Annual iPhone Gymboree didn't just give us a slick 4-inch, iPhone 5 with LTE—we got a beautiful new iPod Nano, a new version of iTunes, an upgraded iPod touch, plus tons more loot. Here's everything you need to know about the gadgets you'll be lining up to buy next week and beyond.
Apple brought a whole gang of new iPods to its event today in San Francisco, the third of which is a refreshed Shuffle. The new guy isn't all that different from its predecessor, save for five new colors. It costs $50 for 2GB. A boring non-update, unless you are a multi-colored gadget enthusiast.
In Steve Jobs' two stints at Apple, the company made some great products. Their most amazing products. But no one's perfect. Not even Steve Jobs. And Apple produced a few pieces of total crap during his reign. Here're the worst.
Like John Brownlee at Cult of Mac, the Shuffle just doesn't fit with how I like to listen to music. Give me Tusk—in its entirety! So then, Matthew Irvine Brown's album written just for the Shuffle intrigues.
It didn't take much effort for Apple to design the new iPod Nano and iPod shuffle. All they did was cut the old iPod nano in half. [reddit via thedailywhat]
With the latest iPods shipping this week, you'll be wanting to know whether an upgrade is necessary—or whether to take the plunge into the wild world of iPoddery. So far, this is what the reviews are saying:
It's not an easy thing, admitting you were wrong. But with the 2010 iPod Shuffle, Apple's owned up to the previous generation's follies in the best possible way: fixing them. Mostly.
Apple's given the shuffle back its buttons, despite the smallest form factor yet. Even more impressive: it's got 15 hours of battery life, 2GB storage, and a price tag of $50. And I have to admit, it's kind of adorable.
If you had to pick just one thing you want to see Apple dish out at tomorrow's music-centric event, what would it be?
iLounge claims that a "highly reliable source" has told them quite a few details about some new gadgets coming from Apple, including a new iPhone that will finally fix the antenna problem, which allegedly will be released in early 2011.
What to make of the diminutive iPod Shuffle? It's handy for working out, but immediately less handy if you don't have a sporty top to clip it to. That leaves you with two options: your earlobe or the Pod-à-porter neckband.
A particularly sweaty Californian man has already filed a lawsuit against Apple for the iPod Shuffle headphones, but as of this week Apple is offering anyone who's had problems with them a replacement pair for free.
Imagine being so angry at your $59 iPod Shuffle conking out, that you'd file a lawsuit against Apple. He must have a serious lack of shame too, as his reason for the Shuffle breaking? It wasn't immune to his sweat.
If you're even thinking about buying an Apple product, wait until after you've read this guide to product cycles and refreshes. It's not always a good time to buy—and now might be an especially bad one for some.
Apple makes some of the most specialized mainstream devices around, but the gear is never very cheap and, let's face it, it stinks for any one company to own your wallet. So here are the best alternatives for each iProduct:
The iPod Classic just got bumped up to 160GB for the old price of $250. The Shuffles are now at $59 for 2GB, $79 for 4GB and come in black, silver, pink, green and blue. They're all shipping today. Updated
Praise Belkin, for they will save any iPod shuffle owner from the suffering of having to use the Apple-provided headphones. All thanks to the aptly-named Headphone Adapter for iPod shuffle. Available for $20 at the end of July. [Belkin]
Some think the button-less iPod shuffle is just okay, and others see it as near-unusable, impractical and irritating. The Scosche TapStick adds buttons and supports normal headphones, in case you hated the shuffle but for some reason bought it anyway.
The iPod Shuffle's controller placement makes replacing headphones difficult and doesn't allow the use of third party accessories. Ozaki's latest adapter, the iCommand Controller, looks to fix that by putting the controls back in your hands.
Way to ace science, Billy! Here's a gift! Oh no, it doesn't actually play music. The iMagnet just hangs your report card on the fridge for the family to see. Billy? Put down that knife! Billll— $6.95 [X-TremeGeek via ChipChik]
