2009

March 11, 2009: Apple announced the world's smallest music player, the third generation iPod shuffle. The new shuffle was now smaller, thinner and lighter than ever before, finished in anodized aluminium and was about the length of your little finger. The secret for this size reduction was the repositioning of the controls on to the earphones cable. The Shuffle also came with a new feature called VoiceOver, which would tell you the name of the track that is playing and of the playlists that you have on the memory. The new shuffle was sold in two colors; silver and black and came in only one memory capacity, 4 GB.

September 9, 2009: About a month ago. Apple updated the entire iPod range again. Starting with the smallest, the iPod shuffle got three new color options; blue, green and pink along with black and silver. An option of 2 GB model was also added. Also, there was another special edition -- iTunes Store exclusive iPod shuffle finished in polished aluminium available in 4 GB capacity at $79.

 

Next we come to the iPod nano. The iPod nano got the biggest upgrade of all the iPods this year. Most importantly, it now has a video camera built-in which records videos in VGA resolution at 30 FPS in H.264. It also has a bigger 2.2" display with a 240 x 376 pixel resolution.

The new nano also has a built-in FM radio with the live Pause feature that lets you pause live radio and then begin from where you paused without missing anything. There is the VoiceOver feature, carried over from the shuffle, which helps those with visual disability to find their way around the menu and know what song is playing. It also got a pedometer and Nike + iPod support and can now record videos with the built-in microphone and playback music without headphones with the built-in loudspeaker.

As for the physical changes the new nano has a polished aluminium finish and comes in the same set of colors as the previous model but the yellow and the (PRODUCT) RED Special Edition are now an iTunes exclusive. Most astonishing thing however is that despite the hardware upgrade the new nano measures in at the exact same dimensions as the previous generation model.

It was widely believed that the iPod classic would be discontinued this year but Apple has given its aging player another shot in the arm by upgrading the memory capacity from 120 GB to 160 GB while maintaining the price. Apart from that there has been no other change to the classic.

Next we arrive at the iPod touch. The new iPod touch is available in three models 8 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB. The 8 GB model is the same as before and has just received a price drop and the new OS 3.1 update. The 32 GB and 64 GB model have gained much more. Specifically, there is now a more powerful processor underneath both these which is essentially the same as the one in the new iPhone 3GS.

 

The new processor promises to make the new touch about 50 % faster than before which means your games and applications will load faster and run smoother. It also has support for OpenGL ES v2.0, which would let developers create games with superior graphics. Apart from this the new touch also has Voice Control, a feature carried over from the iPhone 3GS, which in the touch, lets the user control the music playback or get information on the currently playing track or play any other track simply by using his/her voice.

The new earphones that come with the 32 GB and 64 GB iPod touch have a microphone and playback control built-into it. Two features not available as of now is support for Wi-Fi 802.11n and FM radio receiver and transmitter, both of which were discovered during the teardown of the iPod touch. So although the hardware is there, the software to utilise these features is yet to be made available by Apple. There has also been a tiny space for camera that was noticed inside the new touch. Although the fact that the new touch did not get a camera was disappointing, we can expect an update soon enough with a camera built-in, probably the same as the one on the new nano.


So there you have it, a timeline of history's most popular range of music players till date. From the basic and bare bones 1st generation iPod to the latest iPod touch, the iPod series have come a long way and we can only expect more advancement.  Thinner, faster and with more memory, we can only imagine how the new iPods will be, as Apple will go ahead and make something that will shock us once again and make us wonder how they manage to do it. Having used all the products in the current iPod line-up and many of the ones that came before them, we can say for sure that all the success that the iPods got over the years was well deserved. Here's hoping the series continues for a long time with many more innovations along the way.